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least.”
    She looked up quickly. “Are you implying what I think you are implying?”
    “I’m not sure yet.” Tobias raised his voice and spoke to the keening man. “Who are you?”
    The thin man regarded him with a dazed expression. “Burns, sir. His lordship’s valet. That is to say, I
was
his valet. It was an excellent position. We had just finished placing an order for several new coats and a dressing gown. His lordship was to be wed, you see. He wanted to appear in the first stare of fashion for his new bride. I wonder what will become of all his fine clothes?”
    “You will pack them up and return them to his family, of course,” Lavinia said.
    “Oh, no, madam, I shall not do any such thing.” Burns scrambled to his feet and took a step back. “There is no one to pay me now. I must find a new position.”
    “When did you last see his lordship alive?” Tobias asked.
    “This evening, when he went downstairs to the costume ball. He looked his best tonight, I saw to that. He was very pleased with the knot in his cravat. I invented it and named it for him, you know.”
    “You did not see him after that?” Tobias pressed.
    “No. He instructed me not to wait up for him.”
    “Was that unusual?”
    “No, sir. His lordship was fond of a bit of sport with a willing wench before he went to sleep. He did not like me to be in the way.”
    “Come.” Tobias tightened his grasp on Lavinia’s arm and steered her away from the scene.
    “Where are we going?” she asked.
    “I want to take a look at Fullerton’s bedchamber.”
    “Why? What do you expect to find?”
    “I have no notion.”
    Tobias stopped the partially dressed butler and asked him which room had been assigned to Lord Fullerton. The man gave him directions. Lord Beaumont, still quite agitated, trotted forward.
    “What is it, March?” he asked. “Has something else happened?”
    “No, sir,” Tobias said. “I merely wish to have a look around Fullerton’s bedchamber. Perhaps it would be best if you accompanied us.”
    It was a thinly veiled command, but Beaumont did not appear to be aware that he was being ordered about by a man who was his social inferior.
    “Yes, of course,” Beaumont said. He turned quickly and led the way back toward the house.
    When Tobias spoke in that deep, resonant, utterly sure voice, people tended to obey without question, Lavinia thought. He had an uncanny ability to assume command at times when others were dashing about mindlessly. She suspected that the subtle skill was more complex than he knew or would ever acknowledge.
    In the course of their last major investigation, an incident had occurred that had convinced her that Tobias possessed the raw, untrained talent of a powerful mesmerist. She was certain that the source of his abilities lay deep in that pool of midnight inside him. She was equally certain that he would never acknowledge those abilities, not even to himself. For reasons she did not fully comprehend, he had chosen to bury that side of his nature beneath several layers of stubborn logic and an iron will. Until he met her, he had labeled all mesmerists charlatans and frauds who preyed on the weak and the gullible.
    When he had discovered that she was trained in the art, his first reaction had been to dismiss her skills. Lately she had sensed his grudging acceptance of her abilities, but she was very well aware that he still preferred to ignore them as much as possible.
    Inside the castle, she and Tobias followed their host up the main staircase. Beaumont was breathing heavily by the time they reached the landing. He paused to catch his breath.
    A large number of guests milled about on this floor. One of them was a woman with lustrous brown hair bound up in a loose knot.
    Lavinia did not recognize her until she turned around. Aspasia had removed the black wig and cobra diadem, and she had changed into a heavily embroidered green silk dressing gown.
    She spotted Tobias and walked swiftly toward