‘I do indeed. The French can be so… what is the English word? Aggravating?’
‘Very apposite. Was it generally known you were to attend the concert?’
‘It was.’
That cleared up that mystery. Jacob had been wondering how the gunner had known in advance that his target would attend ‘And did you say that you would sit in the pavilion?’
‘My wife isn’t one to stand for long. Miss Petrovna told us that it would give us the best view.’
‘Do you know if anyone would want to kill you, or get you out of the way at the very least?’
The count’s eyes gleamed. He did indeed have someone in mind. ‘You are wondering if it was an attack on Russia? A French sympathiser planted in the orchestra perhaps?’
‘No, not exactly. Let me explain.’ He unfolded his theory as to what had been going on behind the count’s back. The injured man was quivering with rage by the time Jacob finished.
‘I’ve got to get up!’ He made to rise, but Jacob, who was expecting this reaction, put his hands on the count’s chest to keep him flat.
‘Don’t give your enemy the satisfaction of completing the work they started last night.’
Vorontsov let out a huff of disgust at himself and at the situation. ‘You’ve told me all this for a reason. What do you want me to do?’
So Jacob explained.
Chapter Thirty-Three
64 Sloane Street
Up in Miss Austen’s room, after a busy afternoon and evening of organising and rehearsing, Jane sealed the last invitation while Dora finished off her own assignment.
‘Good, we are done.’ Jane added her card to the basket and rang for a maid. ‘Hill, please see that these last ones are sent out at once.’
‘Very good, Miss Austen,’ said the maid, bobbing a curtsey.
Jane got up and stretched. ‘I haven’t written so much in one sitting for years. Do you think they will all come?’
‘How can they not? They were all asked to the original auction so they will be eager to get a chance to win the bid.’ Dora blotted her work and folded it up.
‘And the Frenchman?’
‘We asked Kir and Mr Smith to talk loudly and indiscreetly about the auction in the mews outside our office while they played knucklebones. Percy will have his spies deployed by now so he will invite himself along, I have no doubt.’
‘Then there is nothing more to be done tonight.’
‘Agreed, though it is in many ways the most dangerous hour. Someone wanting to circumvent proceedings might well strike tonight. That is why we are all here to guard the premises. The men are downstairs but, if you don’t mind, I’ll stay in here with you. We know the attackers have identified your room and made use of that drainpipe before, so it is better we be prudent and make sure you are not alone.’ Dora did not want the loss of a friend and such a promising novelist on her conscience. Jacob had seconded her in that. Eliza Austen had her husband at her side; Jane had no one in her bedroom, what with her sister Cassandra being at home with their mother.
Jane nodded. ‘Thank you. I’d like that.’ They’d closed the curtains some hours ago, but now she went to check through the gap. ‘It is horrible to think someone might try to break in tonight.’
‘Rather than fret your poor nerves, why don’t you sit down and read a book to take your mind off things?’
‘It is likely that the only thing that would get my mind off what is going on is to work.’ She went over to her little writing desk and got out some paper. ‘I’ve been making notes for my novel afterPride and Prejudice. I’ll work on that.’
‘Might I see the book you have in draft?’
Jane looked apprehensive. ‘You really did likeSense and Sensibility?’
‘I really did.’
The author went to her chest and pulled out a ream of paper, holding it close to her heart. ‘Cassandra thinks people will like this one even more than Elinor and Marianne, but I don’t share her confidence. It was the work of my youth, or begun then, when things were so much sunnier than they are now. I wonder if it is too light, too funny, not serious enough for our present time?’
