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A sardonic smile flitted across Amelia’s soft lips "You would voluntarily attend a flower show?"

"I like flowers," Cam said innocently

"Yes, scattered across anized in raised beds and neat little boxes"

"I can tolerate it for an afternoon," Cam assured her Idly he toyed with a loose lock of hair that had fallen on her neck "I suppose it’s worth the effort to gain an in-law like Bayning" He smiled as he added, "We need at least one respectable man in the family, don’t we?"

Chapter Five

An invitation was sent to Michael Bayning the next day, and to Poppy’s elation, it was accepted immediately "It’s only aherself fro to be Mrs Michael Bayning, and I love hiI even love your s, Poppy and Beatrix dressed for a walk It was a clear, warraveled paths, were a syo out," Poppy said, standing at theand staring down at the extensive gardens "It almost reminds me of Hampshire, the flowers are so beautiful"

"It doesn’t remind me at all of Hampshire," Beatrix said, "It’s too orderly But I do like walking through the Rutledge rose garden The air sardener a few o, when Cam and Amelia and I went out, and he told e and healthy"

"What is it?"

"Fish broth, vinegar and a dash of sugar He sprinkles theht before they bloom And they love it"

Poppy wrinkled her nose "What a dreadful concoction"

"The e is especially fond of roses, and people have brought hiarden The lavender roses are from China, for example, and the Maiden’s Blush variety coe?"

"Well, he didn’t actually say Mr Rutledge was old I just can’t help thinking of him that way"

"Why?"

"Well, he’s so awfully mysterious, and no one ever sees hie, locked away in his apartrinned "Perhaps they keep Mr Rutledge up in the attic"

"Bea," Poppy whispered urgently, filled with an overwhel to tell you, but it must remain a secret"

Her sister’s eyes lit with interest "What is it?"

"First promise you won’t tell anyone"

"I pro"

"I swear on St Francis, the patron saint of all ani Poppy’s hesitation, Beatrix added enthusiastically, "If a band of pirates kidnapped me and took me to their ship and threatened tosharks unless I told them your secret, I still wouldn’t tell it If I were tied by a villain and thrown before a herd of sta horses all shod in iron, and the only way to keep fro traht, you’ve convincedher sister to the corner, she said softly, "I have e "You have? When?"

"Yesterdaythe passageway, the curiosities roo she left out was the kiss, which, as far as she was concerned, had never happened

"I’er," Beatrix said earnestly "I apologize on his behalf"

"It’s all right, Bea OnlyI do wish he hadn’t lost the letter So long as no one finds it, I suppose there’s no problee is not a decrepitdisappointed

"Heavens, no"

"What does he look like?"

"Quite handsome, actually He’s very tall, and--"

"As tall as Merripen?"

Kev Merripen had come to live with the Hathaways after his tribe had been attacked by Englishmen who had wished to drive the Gypsies out of the county The boy had been left for dead, but the Hathaways had taken hiood Recently he had married the second oldest sister, Winnifred Merripen had undertaken thethe Ramsay estate in Leo’s absence The neere both quite happy to stay in Ha the beauty and relative privacy of Ramsay House

"No one’s as tall as Merripen," Poppy said "But Mr Rutledge is tall nonetheless, and he has dark hair and piercing green eyes" Her stoave an unexpected little leap as she remee isunsettling He’s char He’s like soel from a William Blake poem"

"I wish I could have seen him," Beatrix said wistfully "And I wish even more that I could visit the curiosities roo interesting has happened to one through nearly the entire London season?"

Beatrix rolled her eyes "The London season is about as interesting as a snail race In January With dead snails"

"Girls, I’m ready," came Miss Marks’s cheerful summons, and she entered the room "Make certain to fetch your parasols--you don’t want to beconified pace along the hallway Before they turned the corner to approach the grand staircase, they became aware of an unusual disturbance in the decorous hotel

Men’s voices tangled in the air, sory, and there was the sound of foreign accents, and heavy thu

"What the devil" Miss Marks said under her breath

Rounding the corner, the three woht of a half dozen men clustered near the food lift A shriek rent the air

"Is it a wo pale "A child?"

"Stay here," Miss Marks said tensely "I’ll undertake to find out--"

The three of them flinched at a series of screams, the sounds blistered with panic