“The groom,” said Worth, picking up a wafer and sealing his letter, “has been taken to a spot somewhere near Lancing, and shipped aboard a certain highly suspicious vessel bound for the West Indies. Whether he ever reaches his destination is extremely problematical, I imagine.”
“Good God, Worth, you can’t do that!”
“I have done it—or, rather, Hinkson has done it for me,” replied the Earl calmly.
“But Julian, the risk! What if Hinkson turns on you?”
“He won’t.”
“You’re mad!” Captain Audley exclaimed. “What should stop him?”
“You must think I choose my tools badly,” commented the Earl.
The Captain glanced towards Peregrine again. “I think you’re a damned cold-blooded devil,” he said.
“Possibly,” said Worth. “Nevertheless, I am sorry for the boy. But the date of his marriage being fixed was his death-warrant. He must be put out of the way, and really I think I have chosen quite as land a way of doing it as I could.”
“Yes, I know, and I see it had to be, but—well, I don’t like it, Julian, and there you have it! How I’m to face Judith Taverner with this on my conscience—”