“Spoken like someone with a soft heart,” Jacob whispered to Graham.
Elizabeth glowered at him.
“Unfortunately, not at the moment,” Graham answered. “Most workers are terrified of retaliation by Mr. Throckmorten. At the slightest sign of disloyalty or insubordination, he won’t hesitate to eject an entire family from their posts.”
“We’d give every worker enough gold to avoid cotton mills for generations if we could,” Jacob said. “But there are hundreds at this manufactory and thousands more just like it. England needs bigger change than we can implement on our own.”
“Then I hope Parliament moves swiftly,” Elizabeth said fervently.
“As do we all.” Jacob glanced down at his wrinkled clothing. “If you’ll excuse me, I must visit the barn before my bath arrives and goes cold.”
Graham waited for his brother to leave the sitting room before asking Elizabeth the question that had been burning in his chest from the moment he arrived home.
“Where’s Kunigunde?”
Elizabeth harrumphed and leaned back against her pillows. “Probably with Marjorie. They’re thick as thieves now. All full of private jests and giggles.”
Graham blinked. He could not imagine Kunigunde giggling, or quiet Marjorie spending hours in chatty conversation. But most of all, he had never witnessed his sister Elizabeth ever once express a wish to become close friends with a non-Wynchester.
“You’re not…jealous, are you?” he asked carefully.
“Jealous!” She shot up, grimaced, then sank back into the pillows, glaring at him as though this lapse was his fault as well. “Ispend more time with Kunigunde than Marjorie does. They have only the evenings together, whereas Kunigunde andIspend all day in armed reconnaissance.”
“You do?” His muscles stiffened. “I thought she didn’t want help.”
Elizabeth stared at him as though he were dotty. “I don’thelpher. Why would I help her? She can do anything.”
The opposite of a forlorn princess in want of a knight or a more lasting flirtation.
“I don’t doubt her ability to achieve her mission. But it will take every minute of her time here.” Time that she wouldn’t be able to spend with Graham—or even enjoying England. “It’s an inefficient use of her limited resources when we’ve got the answers she seeks over there on the wall.”
“That’s what I thought,” Elizabeth said. “But it isn’t any faster. Nobody but you can fathom the method to your madness. Except maybe Philippa. She made a wonderful filing system for Tommy. You should ask her to do the same for you. It would take me years to sort through all those journals, but Philippa could probably finish by Friday.”
He glanced at the tall shelves of thick albums. Between a lifetime of recordkeeping and his clandestine mission for the Crown, the information Kunigunde neededwasin there. But Elizabeth was right. Useful details were buried amongst thousands of pages of intelligence unrelated to Kunigunde’s needs.
“Here’s the situation,” Elizabeth said. “You want to help her, and she doesn’t want your help. There’s only one way for you both to win.”
He stepped back in surprise. “Thereisa way?”
“You create the report you’re dying to build,” his sister answered. “You’re the only one who knows where to find the information. Begin a new album—you know you love to—and prepare the most comprehensive compendium the King of Balcovia could ever desire.”
Graham was already halfway finished with the compendium he was to deliver to his government. Making a copy of the most salient points for Kunigunde would not take much more effort.
“And then I give it to her?”
“And then youdon’tgive it to her. She doesn’t want or need it. But the reason Balcovian envoys are here is because their royal family is visiting in the near future.That’swho you might impress.”
But not Kunigunde, apparently. “I would have better luck impressing the King of Balcovia?”
“You know better than anyone that reconnaissance is not a onetime task, but an ongoing process. When His Balcovian Majesty arrives, his information will be out of date. And you will just happen to have the solution.”
“You think I should create the same thing Kunigunde is…but not tell her,” he repeated. “Then later, I bring my intelligence to her king, and somehow become a Balcovian favorite in the process?”
“Exactly!” Elizabeth beamed at him. “If anyone can do it, it’s the man who knows everything and can infiltrate anything. You’ll just pop in with the exact information His Highness lacks. He’ll have no choice but to officially recognize the undisputed brilliance of Graham Wynchester.”
At which point…Kunigunde might recognize his worth, too. “I can’t tell if your advice is brilliant or cork-brained.”
She nodded sagely. “That’s how most of my advice goes.”
