Lady Polly Part 92

It must have been a most disturbing experience for you. " "Finding Mr Dit ton creeping into my bedroom in the dark was indeed unpleasant,"

Polly agreed tartly.

"There were other events that night, however, that I found equally disturbing!"

Henry's lips twitched.

"Indeed! Whatever could those have been?"

"A door that was locked which mysteriously became open before locking itself again," Polly said coolly, 'and a meeting I witnessed between yourself and Lady Belling ham which led me to believe that both of you were engaged in the business of smuggling! " There was a silence whilst the dancers spun before them and the strains of the music swept on.

"Three curious events in one evening," Henry said thoughtfully.

"Yes, and those were only the three I witnessed! Who is to say that there were not more!"

Polly saw the flash of amused appreciation in Henry's eyes.

"You have suspected me for a long time, I think," he said easily.

"A.

smuggler, a malcontent, a rabble- rouser, the rich patron of a dangerous criminal, perhaps. What extraordinary deeds you have credited me with.

Lady Polly! I wonder that you dare be alone with me! " "We are not alone," Polly pointed out, still cool.

"We were when I came up the turret stair the night before last and unlocked the door into your bedroom!"

Polly bit her lip to prevent the gasp that was almost audible. She had sought to provoke him without believing that she would hear answers such as this. Her dark eyes kindled.

"I might have known you had the key!

Creeping around in the middle of the night, and into a lady's bedroom--' "Yes, you have no idea how much I have wanted to be there,"

Henry said smoothly.

"You were fast asleep and looking quite delightful with your hair tumbled all over the pillow! I was tempted--' " Lord Henry! " "Must you be forever interrupting my most ardent dreams. Lady Polly? Alas, that the reality is far colder than the fantasy! Or at least--' his tone dropped '--I used to think so..."

Polly fought to get a grip on matters before they slipped beyond her control.

"Lord Henry, I believe that you owe me an explanation! That is the point at issue, not your fevered imaginings!"

"Well..." Henry looked around at the crowded ballroom 'it is too busy here for complicated explanations. If you will walk a little with me, I undertake to tell you all you wish to know. Or almost all," he added with a whimsical smile.

Polly eyed him with suspicion.

"Truly?"

"Truly!"

"But can you tell me? Should you?" Polly suddenly felt uncertain.

"Perhaps I do not wish to know after all--' " Too late," Henry said laconically, pulling her to her feet.

"You already know too much. Lady Polly! A little knowledge is more dangerous than the whole truth!"

At one end the wide ballroom doors led through to the winter garden, with its palm trees and warm, ferny twilight. They strolled slowly along the tiled path.

"Where to start?" Henry said thoughtfully.

"I suppose the beginning is in London, with the arrest of Chapman at the gunsmith's and his subsequent escape. As you know, he is a dangerous malcontent and one of the most wanted men in the country. He has undoubted gifts of oratory and can stir up the populace to riot and revolt. He uses other men's discontent for his own ends, for he has no real interest in improving the lot of the common man. He has planned and executed more robberies with violence than I could tell of, and I have been hunting him down ever since he escaped."

Polly stopped and drew in a sharp breath.

"Then you mean that you... You must work for the authorities--for the government?"

There was an atmosphere of intrigue conjured up by the intimate darkness and the watchful stillness of the warm night. They started to walk again, very slowly, neither of them paying much attention to their surroundings.

"Yes, I have worked for the government for the last five years, under many names and in many guises." Henry sounded very matter of fact, as though such an admission was commonplace.

"You mean that you are a spy?" Polly kept her voice level, finding it difficult to match his practical tone. She was astonished. Her images and perceptions of him had been plunged into a complete whirl.

"I suppose you could call me that." There was an element of amus.e.m.e.nt now in Henry's voice, although he did not smile.

"I do not care for the word.

It is too. melodramatic. I have done all kinds of work--whatever is required. In the recent wars I spent some time abroad, in both France and elsewhere. I also collected. " he hesitated 'information from sources along the south coast."

Polly knew what he meant. The smugglers who brought in contraband goods might also have very useful intelligence from the continent, but the business was dirty and dangerous. She remembered the times when Henry had vanished completely from Society, how the gossips and tattle-merchants always had him conducting some scandalous love affair, or wasting his patrimony on gambling.

He had covered his tracks well. And yet the strength and integrity she had seen in him, the contradiction with his superficial lifestyle had always puzzled her. Now it took on new meaning.

"I thought..." she said hesitantly, 'we all thought that you were simply.

amusing yourself. " "Hardly surprising, since that was precisely the impression I wished to give." Henry shrugged.

"What better way to convince people that I was interested in little beyond women, gambling and the set of my neck cloth?

Very few people know the truth of it, and only those I can trust completely.

" Polly registered the implied compliment with a little glow of pleasure.

"Then, all through the Season you were intent on finding Chapman?"

"Yes, indeed, at Hamp stead Wells and during the riot and even at the the Royal Humane Society! A fine dance he has led me!

And all the time, you were basely suspecting me of being the criminal!

" Polly blushed.

"The riot... I see now why you were carrying the pistols!

But you put your search aside to rescue us, which surely you should not have done--' There was a harsh note in Henry's voice.