The Heart That Lies by April Munday Read Free Book Online Page A

be alive if Meldon hadn’t introduced him to General Warren. He couldn’t make that mistake with another man.
    “You see a great deal.”
    “I see a bit and imagine the rest.”
    “Ah, ever the poet.”
    Finch came up to them. “I believe, Mr Smith, that Miss Arbuthnot would welcome an invitation to dance from you. She has been muttering about Mr Sinclair’s clumsiness.”
    Smith bowed slightly.
    “Then please excuse me.”
    He did not look happy to be called to dance with the beautiful Miss Arbuthnot and Meldon wondered why, then realised that she was not the woman that Smith loved. Smith had said that his lover was older than himself, but Miss Arbuthnot was more or less the same age.
    Once again Meldon watched Smith wind his way up and down the dancers. He was certain he did not imagine the frequent glances that Smith sent in his direction.
    “He dances well,” said Finch after a while.
    “He sees through people,” offered Meldon as an explanation for his study of the young man. “He says you are not as stupid as you appear.”
    “Does he indeed? Then he might be dangerous.”
    Meldon thought for a moment.
    “You think he might be an agent for the French?”
    Although Meldon had almost convinced himself that this was not the case, he still valued Finch’s opinion.
    “I am inclined to think not , but a man who gives voice to thoughts like that to a man not well known to him could be a danger to himself.”
    “I do not feel that he is that open with everyone.”
    “He will bear watching.”
    Meldon was only too happy to agree.
     
    After his guests had departed, Meldon sat at the pianoforte and ran through a couple of sonatas that had arrived recently from Austria. He was relieved to find it still in good condition; Miss Howard had a tendency to hit the keys carelessly. He would have to tune it, but that could wait until tomorrow.
    More at peace with himself now, he was able to look back at the evening more objectively. He had received much information and his particular talent lay in examining different pieces of information, seeing a common thread and making connections that other men would miss. First he looked for information that he could pass to Warren. Ever mindful of his duties in that direction, two of his guests had been men who had attracted Warren’s attention earlier in the summer. Meldon had been instructed to seek them out and befriend them. They had visited his table at the gambling club a few times and dined with him twice. He had gone hunting with one of them and entertained the other at Meldon Hall. This was the first time that he had had them both in his company at the same time. Their conversation had not caused him any concern this evening, but still he considered it again and looked at what they had said to his other guests in his hearing. It had all been innocuous, except for... Ah! There it was. Meldon smiled. It was a small enough prize for the amount of effort he had put in, but that was often the way of things. It would please Warren.
    Now he set himself to discovering Smith’s lover. By the end of the evening, Smith had danced with most of the women. He had been pleasant to each of them and had complimented them on their dancing ability in exactly the same way. He had not lingered with any of them after the set was over. Try as he might, Meldon could not see that he had shown a preference for any one of them. Miss Arbuthnot had certainly shown her preference for him, but Smith had danced with each of them only once. He had spent some time talking with Meldon during the dancing, making complimentary comments about each of the dancers. Either Smith had lied about his lover being present this evening, or he was much better at hiding his feelings than most men, which Meldon knew was not the case. Then he remembered that Smith had said that he would not dance with her. That gave him a much smaller number of women to consider. Still he could not discover which of the remaining women