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time in a sennight she allowed emotion to get the better of her. She let out a sigh of relief and nodded, wanting to believe him. But then she burst into tears, turned away, and allowed herself to be gathered up in the old man’s embrace. It was some time before she was more herself. She apologized for falling apart, and was most embarrassed to discover she had wept all over the front of Plantagenet Halsey’s fine red wool waistcoat. He told her gruffly not to worry herself over a trifle, pressed his clean white linen handkerchief into her hand, and took her through to the adjoining drawing room with its view of the Green Park. Here he sat with her on a silk striped settee while Alec poured her a cup of tea.
    “I’ve re-read your note several times since receiving it in Bath,” Alec told her conversationally as he handed her the teacup on its saucer, then perched on a wingchair opposite. From a deep frock coat pocket he produced a folded single sheet of paper and a green shagreen case that contained his wire-rimmed spectacles. “And I’m afraid it raises more questions than it answers, so I hope you won’t mind if I ask you to explain a few puzzling details to me?”
    “Oh dear, I can hardly remember what I wrote,” the Duchess apologized, sipping at her tea. “I was in such a state of distress I fear I fainted when Cobham announced Emily was being held hostage. He told me—just like that! As if it were the most mundane thing in the world—”
    “Insensitive blackguard!” Plantagenet Halsey interrupted, grinding his teeth.
    “More fool than fiend in Cobham’s case,” Alec replied mildly. “Go on, Olivia.”
    The Duchess put her cup on its saucer and continued, saying with a sigh, “Yes, he is—both! So once Peeble had revived me, Cobham waved a letter practically under my nose, as if it, too, were hartshorn! I barely heard one word in five of what he was saying. Besides, what did I care about the politics of the place, or who was ruling, or who had started a civil war, or what our British consul has done to help—and on he went! You may smirk at my lack of interest in a country I know nothing about, my boy, but none of that matters, does it, when it is Emily’s and Cosmo’s lives that are at stake! All I wanted to know was if Emily and Cosmo were safe and well. And how does Cobham answer me? He shows me… He shows me—Forgive me, I am not being very strong, am I?”
    She thrust the cup and saucer at Plantagenet Halsey and when he took it, rummaged through her velvet reticule for a handkerchief, until quietly reminded that in her fist she had the old man’s. After dabbing at her eyes, then blowing her nose, she sniffed and continued.
    “He showed me a snip of blonde curl, saying it was Emily’s and sent as proof she was indeed being held hostage. And a ransom has been demanded. He said the sensible—if you can believe he had the audacity to use the word sensible —thing to do would be to prepare myself for the—for the—worst! Well, of course I fell all to pieces again! So you mustn’t take as gospel the details in that letter I wrote you. All that I truly know is that my darling granddaughter and my nephew are prisoners in a far-off land that is at war, and here I sit, unable to do anything, powerless and frustrated, and-and useless . I knew you and Selina would return to London as soon as you were made privy to this shocking state of affairs. And here you are, my boy, and already making plans to effect a rescue. You cannot know how-how— soothing it is to have you sort through this mess; even Cobham says you are the only one who can help them.”
    At that, Alec looked up over his rims from skimming through the Duchess’s note and frowned. “Cobham said that—about me ? I wonder why?”
    “The man’s just statin’ the obvious.”
    Alec grinned at his uncle’s categorical affirmative. “Thank you. But why would Cobham say it?”
    “I agree with your uncle,” the Duchess said. “But