She put up her brows. “I believe you are quizzing me. Why should it be a day of triumph for me?”
“My dear ma’am, did you not guess that at last you have succeeded in making me feel grateful towards you?”
“Odious creature!” said Miss Thane, without heat. “I had a mind to go myself to rescue Ludovic.”
“You would have been very much in the way, I assure you. How is the boy this morning?”
“I fancy he has taken no harm. He is a little in the dumps. Tell me, have you any real hope of finding his ring?”
“I have every hope of clearing his name,” he replied. “His adventure last night will at least serve to convince the Beau that we mean to bring him to book. While no danger threatened, Basil was easily able to behave with calmness and good sense, but I do not think he is of the stuff to remain cool in the face of a very pressing danger.”
“You think he may betray himself. But one must not forget that last night’s affair must surely have betrayed you.”
“All the better,” said Shield. “The Beau is a little afraid of me.”
“I imagine he might well be. But he cannot be so stupid that he will not realize what your true purpose in his house must have been.”
“Certainly,” he agreed, “but his situation is awkward. He will hardly admit to having laid a trap for the man whose heir he is. He will be obliged to pretend to accept my story. Where is Ludovic, by the way?”