Page 32 of The Untamed Heart

The man shook his head. “No, not at all, and yet… and yet there is something.”

“You’ve seen his name?”

Prufrock nodded, hurrying to the table and searching through the piles of ledgers and papers. “Not the order books,” he said to himself.

“Casualties?” Sherry suggested.

“Not the first return. A supplemental list from Brussels. The first reports had already gone forward.”

“If Strangways is on that supplemental list, he may have died whilst trying to deliver the message.”

“Perhaps,” Lucius replied, though he did not look entirely happy at the suggestion.

“What—” Sherry began, only to have Lucius speak over him.

“Find him,” Lucius said to Prufrock, who stiffened with indignation at being so ordered. “Everything may hinge upon this Captain Strangways. In the meantime, I believe we ought to pay a call upon Major Keller. Do you know where we might find him?”

“No, but the orderly room will know where he is attached,” Prufrock replied at once, his eagerness to get Lucius out of his domain not lost on Sherry. “Failing that, the officers’ mess. Someone is bound to know where he lodges.”

Lucius nodded and scribbled a few words on a scrap of paper. He got to his feet and handed it to Prufrock. “You may forward anything you find to the Duke of Hawkney, care of this address. Find that name, Prufrock, and let us know the moment you do.”

With that he strode out, snatching up his coat as he went.

Sherry sighed. Going on such an errand with Lucius was likely to end in disaster, but at least they could leave this dismal room and get some fresh air. He sent Prufrock a sympathetic smile.

“Look on the bright side, old man. You don’t have to go with him.”

“Oh, I am doing so, my lord,” Prufrock said fervently. “I am indeed.”

Cecil Court, St Martin’s Lane, London, 23rd September 1816

Sheringham stepped down from the carriage and wrinkled his nose. Their surroundings were definitely down at heel.

“Are you sure this is it?”

“Certainly, and my supposition that our man was down on his luck rings true, does it not? Shabby gentility is the best you could say about the place,” Lucius said, looking appallingly smug.

Sherry frowned at him. “Our man? You mean you think Keller—”

“We shall see,” Lucius said, hurrying up the steps to the front door.

Sherry cursed and tried to get ahead of him. “Hold now, Lucius. Why not let me do the talking?”

Lucius stopped on the steps, frowning at him. “Why?”

“Because you are the rudest man in England.”

For a moment Sherry wondered if he’d hurt Lucius’s feelings, he looked so shocked, but then he shrugged.

“Very well. If you think you can do better, be my guest.”

Lucius made a dramatic after you gesture, and Sherry hurried to rap on the door before he changed his mind.

A large, florid-faced woman of middling years with a hard, unwelcoming expression opened the door and scowled at them, her arms folded.

“Well?” she demanded suspiciously.

Sherry adopted his most solicitous manner. “Madam, I am sorry to bother you, but we are friends of Major Keller and were hoping to have a word with him.”