Lord Barbury had in no way convinced me that he had not himself murdered the woman called Peaches. He might have quarreled with her, he might have tried to end the affair and she resisted, or she might have threatened him. His grief seemed genuine, but I had met men before who could portray grief and be perfectly sanguine a moment later. It would be easy enough, however, to discover Barbury’s whereabouts between four and five o'clock that afternoon, though that was not to say that a man of his standing couldn’t hire others to do his dirty deeds.

Barbary was looking at the ring again. His arrogance had crumpled, a man trying very hard to not believe the worst.

I said, "I will see what I can do."

"Please do," Barbury glared at me. His grief made him abrupt, but I sensed that even in the happiest of times, he was a man of impatience and who brooked no fools. "I want to find whoever hurt Peaches, and I want to watch him dance from the gallows."

Whatever I thought about Barbury, I shared his wish. No matter what Peaches had done in life, I vowed that the man who had hurt that helpless and frail young woman would feel my wrath.

Grenville and I learned as much as we could from Lord Barbury before he departed the house, sunk in grief. The next morning, I visited Thompson to return the ring and tell him the story.

Peaches, Lord Barbury had told us, was in truth a lady called Mrs. Chapman. She had a husband, a barrister, and significantly, his chambers were in Middle Temple. Born Amelia Leary, Peaches had been an actress, moving from company to company in search of better roles, rather like Marianne did. Her sweet charm on the stage soon attracted Lord Barbury, and they’d become lovers.

Then, about five years ago, Peaches had left the theatre, married Mr. Chapman, and ceased to be Barbury’s lover. Barbury had spoken of this in clipped, dry tones. Peaches, it seemed, had had ambition. She must have realized fairly soon that Barbury would never marry her, she being beneath his station, so she'd turned her sights to another mark, the barrister called Chapman.