Letters to a Lady Read Free Page B

on Harrup’s doings as her mentor. He was too highly placed to be a suitor to her, and too old to have featured as the hero of her girlish daydreams. As he never stirred a finger to introduce her to any of his eligible friends, he was out of mind as soon as he was out of sight. He had been a fully grown man for as long as she could remember, treating her as a mere youngster. When she thought of him, it was as a friend of her father’s and Peabody’s, and a neighbor who was more interesting than most by dint of his position as lord of Harrup Hall.
    “Since he has had the sense to break off with that creature, I wonder if he is thinking of getting married. It is high time for it.”
    “That’s probably it,” Diana agreed.
    “Who can the lady be?”
    With such intriguing material to conjecture, the first lap of the trip passed quickly. Lunch was taken at the Red Lion in Welwyn, and there the conversation continued in their private parlor.
    “Harrup will be embarrassed—that might be of some help when Ronald speaks to him about a position,” Diana said. “I mean—well, he can hardly mount his high horse when he is looking so foolish, can he?”
    “My dear, we must not let on we know a thing about these letters,” Peabody exclaimed.
    “Then we shall have to pretend we’ve suddenly become blind and stupid,” Diana answered, laughing. “Now that we know what Mrs. Whitby is, I realize it was written all over her, and the love nest, too. Everything brand new, and good but not fine. Oh, you know what I mean.”
    “He doesn’t know we were there.”
    “He’ll know it the next time he speaks to Mrs. Whitby,” Diana pointed out.
    “I trust he has seen the last of her. We shall say we sent our own footman. And I’ll wrap the letters in plain brown paper before I hand them over to him.”
    “Lying, Peabody? Tch, tch. I, for one, have every intention of ringing a good peal over Harrup.”
    Peabody pursed her lips and shook her head. “You are growing a little old to be still playing the hoyden with him, Di. It was all well and good to tease him and play off your tricks when you were a girl. Now he will expect better behavior from you.”
    Diana’s smile showed that she did not mean to argue or to give in. “Are you ready to leave?” she asked, glancing at her watch.
    “Just let me freshen up. You can go and have the carriage called while I do it.”
    Diana went to the desk and sent for their carriage. Several clients were milling about the lobby, and servants carried dishes to and fro in the area of the private dining rooms. She glanced at the newspapers on the desk, waiting for Miss Peabody. The first notion she had that anything was wrong was a high-pitched scream from their parlor. She recognized her chaperon’s voice at once and darted forward. If she hadn’t known Peabody from her cradle days, she would scarcely have recognized the wraith holding on to the table for support. Peabody was as white as paper, wide-eyed and trembling.
    Diana flew forward, calling, “Peabody! What’s the matter? Are you ill?”
    “Somebody stop him! Stop that man!” Peabody begged in a quavering voice. A shaking finger pointed to the lobby.
    “What man? I didn’t see anyone.”
    The manager came pelting in to add to the confusion. Peabody had soon recovered sufficiently to enlighten him and Diana. “A thief! My reticule has been stolen. Somebody go after him. A tall, dark young fellow.”
    “Which way did he go?” the manager asked.
    “He didn’t go out the front door. He turned the other way,” Peabody said. “I watched him dart out. I was too overcome to give voice for a moment. One doesn’t expect to be robbed in a respectable inn,” she added blightingly.
    They all ran into the hall. “The other way” wasn’t much help. The man might have gone into the taproom, upstairs, to the kitchen, or out the back door. All these possibilities were investigated during the next few minutes.
    The other clients came