Read Online Always a Temptress by Eileen Dreyer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eileen Dreyer
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involved?” Barbara asked.
Her calm a hard-wrought facade, Kate sat on her rickety little chair running one of Bea’s handkerchiefs through her fingers. Barbara had returned a few minutes ago for a bit of gentle interrogation over tea. “I truly don’t.”
At least it was keeping Kate occupied. The hours till dark and escape would be long enough.
Barbara, for her part, had the courage to sit on the bed, as if she hadn’t noticed the puff of dust that lifted when she sat, or the spiders that danced away over her head. “But Major Lidge said that you were at the wedding last week when the Surgeon was killed,” she said.
“Indeed I was. Most entertaining house party I’ve attended in ages. One should always count an assassin among one’s acquaintances, Barbara, if only for the notoriety. But if he told anyone that I was involved, he seems sadly delusional.”
“He said you have the verse.”
“And we proved I don’t.”
“You know many people, Lady Kate. Could you know someone in the Lions?”
“I know everyone , Barbara, which means that chances are very great that I do. But so far none has suggested I help him drive a knife into Prinny’s back.”
Kate paused for a bit, her eyes on the shuddering flame as she tried to gather her scattered wits enough to see if she might have ever heard something suspicious. It didn’t take long to shake her head. “No. From what I know about the Lions, they sound to be archconservatives; Liverpool’s kind of people, who seek order above all else. As you can imagine, that kind of person doesn’t frequent my At Homes. I draw those who delight in being scandalous, of course, but only because they befriend artists and literati and such. And people like Byron are much more interested in Greek independence than British insurrection.” She smiled. “I believe it is because the costumes are so much more romantic.”
Barbara nodded. “Yes. That is what my operatives have surmised.”
Kate couldn’t help but grin. “Do you really run an army of domestics who spy for the Crown?”
“Indeed I do.” Barbara smiled genuinely for the first time. “It was an ingenious idea of Dic…Mr. Hilliard’s. After all, the staff know what happens in a house before anyone else. We’ve been able to gather quite a bit of proof and give the government the names they seek.”
“But you aren’t a domestic.”
Barbara’s smile became mysterious. “Of course I am. I am an excellent abigail.”
Which meant Kate would learn no more. “Tell me what you know, then. Maybe new information will spark my memory.”
But Barbara shook her head. “I know very little more than you, my lady. Some of the people who have been named, of course. Some who aren’t named yet, but as you say, none who would frequent your affairs. I know, of course, that these are in the main aristocrats who think that the country needs a return to the government of the last century, and that placing Princess Charlotte on the throne will accomplish this. There are only about three or four people at the core of the Lions who know all. The rest, I understand, are broken up into smaller…squads, I suppose, who don’t know one another except by an identifying sign—”
“Like the verse. Yes. I gathered that.”
She was awarded another nod. “There have been no arrests as of yet, although the Earl and Countess of Thornton are reported to have escaped to the Continent along with Mr. Geoffrey Smythe, who worked with them. I know that Mr. Hilliard has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to insert himself into the Lions, although we don’t know whether he has been successful yet. And I know that his father the bishop was killed after admitting to his own complicity. From what I gather, his task was to bring the House of Lords into line when the time came.”
Kate nodded thoughtfully. “If anybody believed he was more worthy of ruling a country than the king and Parliament, it was certainly my uncle Evelyn.
Her calm a hard-wrought facade, Kate sat on her rickety little chair running one of Bea’s handkerchiefs through her fingers. Barbara had returned a few minutes ago for a bit of gentle interrogation over tea. “I truly don’t.”
At least it was keeping Kate occupied. The hours till dark and escape would be long enough.
Barbara, for her part, had the courage to sit on the bed, as if she hadn’t noticed the puff of dust that lifted when she sat, or the spiders that danced away over her head. “But Major Lidge said that you were at the wedding last week when the Surgeon was killed,” she said.
“Indeed I was. Most entertaining house party I’ve attended in ages. One should always count an assassin among one’s acquaintances, Barbara, if only for the notoriety. But if he told anyone that I was involved, he seems sadly delusional.”
“He said you have the verse.”
“And we proved I don’t.”
“You know many people, Lady Kate. Could you know someone in the Lions?”
“I know everyone , Barbara, which means that chances are very great that I do. But so far none has suggested I help him drive a knife into Prinny’s back.”
Kate paused for a bit, her eyes on the shuddering flame as she tried to gather her scattered wits enough to see if she might have ever heard something suspicious. It didn’t take long to shake her head. “No. From what I know about the Lions, they sound to be archconservatives; Liverpool’s kind of people, who seek order above all else. As you can imagine, that kind of person doesn’t frequent my At Homes. I draw those who delight in being scandalous, of course, but only because they befriend artists and literati and such. And people like Byron are much more interested in Greek independence than British insurrection.” She smiled. “I believe it is because the costumes are so much more romantic.”
Barbara nodded. “Yes. That is what my operatives have surmised.”
Kate couldn’t help but grin. “Do you really run an army of domestics who spy for the Crown?”
“Indeed I do.” Barbara smiled genuinely for the first time. “It was an ingenious idea of Dic…Mr. Hilliard’s. After all, the staff know what happens in a house before anyone else. We’ve been able to gather quite a bit of proof and give the government the names they seek.”
“But you aren’t a domestic.”
Barbara’s smile became mysterious. “Of course I am. I am an excellent abigail.”
Which meant Kate would learn no more. “Tell me what you know, then. Maybe new information will spark my memory.”
But Barbara shook her head. “I know very little more than you, my lady. Some of the people who have been named, of course. Some who aren’t named yet, but as you say, none who would frequent your affairs. I know, of course, that these are in the main aristocrats who think that the country needs a return to the government of the last century, and that placing Princess Charlotte on the throne will accomplish this. There are only about three or four people at the core of the Lions who know all. The rest, I understand, are broken up into smaller…squads, I suppose, who don’t know one another except by an identifying sign—”
“Like the verse. Yes. I gathered that.”
She was awarded another nod. “There have been no arrests as of yet, although the Earl and Countess of Thornton are reported to have escaped to the Continent along with Mr. Geoffrey Smythe, who worked with them. I know that Mr. Hilliard has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to insert himself into the Lions, although we don’t know whether he has been successful yet. And I know that his father the bishop was killed after admitting to his own complicity. From what I gather, his task was to bring the House of Lords into line when the time came.”
Kate nodded thoughtfully. “If anybody believed he was more worthy of ruling a country than the king and Parliament, it was certainly my uncle Evelyn.
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