leigh?" he asked, turning to the tall, distinguished man who
had been first through the door.
The first man sighed and glanced toward the Earl of
Shoreham. "My wife has a tendency to meddle," he ex-
plained Lady Cranleigh stiffened and recovered her usual
color, but her husband gave her a look that caused her to
subside without saying anything. Kim was impressed; there
must be more to this stuffy-looking cull than at first appeared.
"A tendency to meddle," Lord Granleigh repeated. "And
considerably more ambition than I had realized- I believe she
was trying to arrange for me to be the next Minister of Wiz-
ardry." He gave the Earl of Shoreham another sidelong look
as he spoke, as though checking his reaction.
"Nonsense, Stephen," Lady Cranleigh said unconvincingly.
"You are perfectly capable of managing such matters yourself."
'True," Lord Granleigh replied "A fact which you would be
well advised to remember in the future, Amelia. Your inter-
ference this time could very easily have had unpleasant con-
sequences. "
"I don't know what you are talking about," Lady Cranleigh
254
said even more unconvincingty than before. "I am only here
to keep Marianne from ruining herself with Freddy Meredith,"
"I don't believe it," the last of the three toffs put in
"Freddy's a good lad. He wouldn't do anything, er, dishonor-
able."
"Freddy said something about a special license before he
left, Mr Bramingham," Robert said, ignoring Lady Cran-
leigh's glare.
"Yes, I believe he has one with him," Maireton said. "Amaz-
ingly sensible of him, too Any number of things might have
gone wrong between here and Cretna Creen, if he'd chosen
that route."
"Sensible?" Jonathan goggled at Mairelon "Freddy?"
"There, you see?" Mr. Bramingham said to the room at
large His eye fell on St. Clair, and he frowned. "Shoreham,
what's Baron St Clair doing in the corner with this fellow
pointing a pistol at him?"
"'E's under arrest, in the name o' the Law," Stuggs informed
him. "Along with these other two- I 'aven't got straight yet
which o' 'cm did what, but they 'as all done somethin', and 1
'ave my duty."
"You ought to be arresting that man as well," Jonathan Ab-
erford grumbled, pointing at Mairelon- "Whoever he is
Didn't someone say he was wanted?"
Andrew's face set in grim lines. Mairelon only smiled and
looked at the Earl of Shoreham- Shoreham returned the
smile, then said to Jonathan, "He is certainly wanted by the
French, but though our relations with them have improved a
good deal, I don't think our cooperation would stretch so far
as to turn one of our people over to them Particularly a man
with such a distinguished record "
"You're too kind," Mairelon said.
"Probably," Shoreham agreed blandly.
255
Andrew's mouth had dropped open, as had Lady Gran-
leigh's St. Claire had gone white,- Renee D'Auber and Hunch
looked smug. "What are you talking about?" Jonathan de-
manded
The Earl of Shoreham sighed. "For the past five years,
Richard Merriti has been one of the best agents the War Of-
fice has had the good fortune to employ is that clear enough
for you?"
"But—but I thought he stole the Saltash Set," Jonathan
said, frowning
"Merrill?" the Earl of Shoreham said "It's your turn to ex-
plain. "
"In a minute I don't think we were quite through with Lord
Granleigh yet," Mairelon answered "I still don't understand
what Lady Granleigh's ambitions for her husband have to do
with the Saltash Set, or how she found out about it in the first
place."
"She listened at doors, that's how," Jasper Marston said
waspishly, lifting his head for the first time since the Earl and
his companions had arrived
Lady Cranteigh gasped "Jasper, how dare you—"
"Oh, stop it, Amelia," Jasper said "There's no use pretend-
ing to injured innocence- They already know most of it.
They know you," he added spitefully
"You are not thinking about what you are saying," Lady
Granleigh said in a tone that could have frozen the Thames at
mid-summer
"I know exactly what I'm saying! This whole mess is your
fault, Amelia, and I'm not going to take the blame for it."
"My fault? You are the one who brought along that Bow
Street Runner! I suppose you are going to claim you knew
nothing about it."
"As it 'appens, 'e didn't," Stuggs put in. "I know my busi-
256
ness, and it ain't lettin' no buffleeaded toff in on the nick,
beggin' your pardon, sir "
"It was your idea to get hold of that blasted platter'" Jasper
said, ignoring Stuggs "The whole thing was your idea, start
to finish!"
Mairelon cleared his throat, which recalled the presence of
an audience to the combatants Lady Granleigh closed her
mouth on whatever she had planned to say, and Jasper sub-
sided on the hearth once more, holding his head Mairelon
smiled blandly "And how would Lady Cranleigh's, er, acquir-
ing the Saltash Platter advance you with the Ministry, Lord
Granleigh 3"
Lord Granleigh looked at Mairelon in surprise "Good
Lord, man, recovering the Saltash Set and catching the thief
would give anyone a boost! One of those chaps down at the
Royal College came up with a gadget that said so, and the
whole Ministry has been buzzing ever since "
"A gadget?" Mairelon frowned, distracted "Not one of
Fotherington's crystals? He's been trying to get them to make
accurate predictions forever, do you mean to say he's finally
succeeded?"
"As it happens, yes," the Earl of Shoreham said "You can
discuss it with him later "
"How did he get it to—"
"Later, Richard Right now, we want your story, and you
must admit we've been very patient"
"Too patient," Hunch said darkly
"Oh, very well I think I have enough of the pieces to put
together a fairly good picture It's a long tale, though, you'd
best make yourselves comfortable "
The Earl suppressed another sigh and leaned against the
door Mr Bramingham, looking mildly puzzled, held a chair
for Renee D'Auber, while the rest of the company (with the
257
exception of Stuggs and his prisoners) settled themselves
around the room Watching Lady Granleigh and Jonathan
Aberford vie for a chair, Kim was glad she'd bagged the
footstool before it had occurred to anyone else to sit down.
"The story begins about five years ago," Mairelon said, and
Kim smiled, recognizing the familiar lecturing tone "The
Saltash Set, of which this is part, was being displayed in the
antechamber of the Royal College of Wizards, to which I had
recently been elected
"Lord St Clair—" Mairelon gave him an ironic half-bow,
"—had for some time been att
empting to obtain the Saltash
Set from the College, but for one reason or another, the Col-
lege refused to sell So he decided to steal it Having no
experience with the finer points of theft, he approached his
illegitimate half brother, Daniel Laverham, for assistance
"Laverham sent St Clair a young man named James Fen-
ton, who 1 must suppose was both an accomplished house-
breaker and extremely loyal to Laverham Laverham, you see,
disliked and distrusted St Clair—"
"With reasoni" Dan Laverham interrupted, glaring at Lord
St Clair
"Quiet, you," Stuggs said "You'll 'ave your chance to talk
later "
"St Ctair arranged for Fenton to steal the Saltash Set,"
Mairelon continued "St Clair must have taken care of the
Royal College's magical precautions against theft, and Fenton
did the rest, including dropping one or two items he'd stolen
from me in the antechamber to make it look as if I were the
thief He had even timed things so that I'd be on my way
home alone from my club when the theft occurred, so he had
no reason to worry about laying information at Bow Street
against me
"Unfortunately for St. Clair, things began going wrong at
that point I ran into Shoreham here outside the club, and we
—258—
got to arguing about the use of invocations in wards and pro-
tective spells We ended up at Renee's, experimenting with
catnip and powdered pearls until the watchmen made their
morning rounds "
"Then why didn't you say so?" Andrew burst out "Why did
you let everyone believe—"
"At first, because I didn't see the need," Mairelon said "I
didn't think anyone would take the accusation seriously And
there was Renee's reputation to consider "
"Which was a great foolishness," Renee D'Auber said em-
phatically "t am the eccentric, me, and no one pays the least
attention when I do odd things "
"Not now." Mairelon agreed "But five years ago you were
barely eighteen, and it would not have done."
"Bahl" said Renee, dismissing these imaginary terrors with a
wave "You are altogether English, and very silly besides
Papa and I would have contrived something "
"But once you knew the Runners intended to arrest you—"
Andrew said and stopped, looking from Mairelon to Renee
uncertainly
"By then 1 had asked them not to say anything," the Earl of
Shoreham said "It was the perfect excuse for Richard to fly
the country and take up residence on the Continent, and we
needed someone like him to do just that Someone who could
deal with any level of society, someone who wouldn't look
too suspicious, and above all, someone who knew magic
Richard was perfect "
"So Hunch and I fled to France," Mairelon resumed "Mean-
while, Fenton took the Saltash Set to Laverham instead of St.
Clair Since Laverham didn't know the set had magical prop-
erties, he broke it up and sold it to spite his brother By the
time Fenton learned that the set was more useful together
than apart, it was too late The pieces were scattered, and
practically impossible to trace "
259
Laverham and St. Clair were looking at Mairelon as if he
had suddenly acquired two heads, the rest of the company
was listening with rapt attention Kim shook her head in ad-
miration Mairelon had put it together so neatly that he
might have been eavesdropping on Laverham and St Clair
the whole time
"One of the pieces of the set, the bowl, was purchased by a
German Baron," Mairelon said "I got wind of it, and after the
war 1 stayed on the Continent to track it down It took me
nearly a year Meanwhile, Laverham had recovered two of
the four spheres, and the platter had fallen into the innocent
hands of Mr Aberrord's little group "
Jonathan Aberford scowled, and Kirn wondered whether he
was more annoyed by Mairelon's reference to the dmids as a
' "little group" or by his characterizing them as innocent
"That was the situation some four weeks ago when I .re-
turned to England," Mairelon said, giving Jonathan a charm-
ing smile "And things began to get complicated Naturally I
couldn't return as myself, the Runners were still after me, and
I have a great deal of respect for their abilities " He and
Stuggs exchanged nods "So 1 chose the rote of a market per-
former No one expects a real magician to work for pennies
and the occasional shilling in a market, so I didn't expect
anyone to look for me there But I did send word to
Maireion paused and looked at Lord Cranteigh expec-
tantly Lord Granleigh nodded "He did We discussed the
implications at some length " He glanced at his wife and
added, "In my study "
"That will be how Lady Granleigh heard about it," Mair-
elon said with supreme tack of tact "She, ah, persuaded her
brother to help her find me, intending, I suppose, to collect
me and as much of the Saltash Set as possible and present the
lot to the Royal College on behalf of her husband "
—260—
"And a proper mull 'e made of it," Stuggs put in, looking
scornfully at Jasper Marston "Went around askin' this one an'
that one, with no more sense nor a baby Word was all over
St Giles before the day was out"
"How was I to know?" Jasper complained "'Find this Mer-
nll person,' she said; well, how do you find one man in the
whole of London without asking?"
"Which explains how Bow Street heard of my return,"
Mairelon said, "and undoubtedly how Mr Laverham heard of
it, as well " He glanced at Dan, who glared and said nothing
"Bow Street arranged for Mr Stuggs here to keep an eye on
Mr Marston At least, I presume it was Bow Street" He
threw a sidelong look at the Earl of Shoreham
The Earl laughed "Right again, Richard Stuggs has done a
job or two for me before, though this wasn't one of them
How did you guess^"
"He recognized you when you arrived just now," Mairelon
answered "And only one of your people would call you 'sir'
and not 'my lord '"
Lady Cranleigh sniffed, but a look from her husband kept
her from saying anything
"Once he found Mairelon the Magician, Mr Marston hired
Kim here to look through my wagon for the Saltash Bowl I,
er, found her in process and persuaded her to come with me
after she completed her commission from Mr Marston "
"Cloth-head," Kim muttered, not entirely sure whether she
meant Marston or Mairelon
"I suspect it was Laverham's men we gave the slip to on our
way out of London," Mairelon went on blandly "It doesn't
matter, though. Shoreham told us where the platter was, and
we came here to recover it I'm not sure how Renee found out
where we were headed—"
"Lord Shoreham told me," Renee said "And since Monsieur
Andrew Merrill was of an unhappmess, and had besides hea
rd
261
some of the rumors, and since I also heard that the Bow
Street Runners were of an interest, ! thought, me, that it
would be best to come here and arrange matters myself "
"Renee'" Shoreham looked horrified
"Oh. I was very discreet/' Renee assured him "No one
knew I was not in London, except of course Madame Bra-
mingham and her guests, and Monsieur Andrew stayed at the
inn in that town with the dreadful name 1 cannot remember "
"SwafHton?" Mairelon murmured
"Yes, that is ft," Renee said "And it has all turned out well,
so there is no reason for you to pull your mouth down, so,
and make faces as if you have the stomachache "
"You should have left matters to me," Shoreham said, shak-
ing his head
Renee opened her eyes very wide 'Truly? But it does not
seem to me that you have done very much "
"It wasn't necessary," Mairelon said "Any more than it was
necessary for you to come "
"Well, but it might have been," Renee replied, unper-
turbed. "And it is better to be too ready, is it not^ Also, I do
not see that you would explain anything at all to me if 1 had
stayed in London, and I do not wish to perish of the curi-
osity So I am glad 1 came, and 1 do not care if you look very
sour about it "