“You’re the best of women, but I don’t see myself returning.” He offered her his arm. “Shall we go? And as we do, you must tell me what Mrs. Hood said to you! She is a delightful woman, but sometimes her tongue runs ahead of her.”
“She—told me you had suffered a disappointment in your youth.”
“Oh, did she? How excessively accurate of her; particularly considering I never told her.”
“She said you were bitter and cynical.”
“The more I was.”
“I wish I had chosen differently then,” Anne said. “I decided long ago that if another young lady was ever in such a situation, I would counsel her very differently than I was counseled.”
“And I wish I had come back to speak to you sooner—when I knew I could support a wife! I wish my anger hadn’t stolen years from us.”
“Not so many years. And I liked Mrs. Hood excessively. I hope we shall be friends.”
“I’m sure you will.”
15
Caroline retreated to her room with the newspaper to avoid taunting the others until she was ready to share. Her dutiful selflessness had given way after Richard offered the paper to her. There were limits, were there not?
SometimesThe London Gazettewas only a few pages, while other editions were longer. This was a nice thick one, which she was glad of, especially since they were reduced to the one paper. Usually she skimmed the news and spent more time on the society pages, but now she hungered for fresh news. She read every page, even the military updates and the boring summary of a dust-up in the House of Lords.
Only then did she allow herself to go on to marriages and deaths, Royal doings, society announcements, and notable sermons to be preached at St. Paul’s for the coming week. She even read about a lecture series at the Royal Conservatory. Most everyone of note in the society pages she knewof,though only a few she knew personally.
She stopped shy of reading every advertisement placed in the back half of the newspaper, but she read many of them, so eager was she for text of any sort.Ladies Boarding School,on the Parade, one advertisement was titled.This House being at length repaired and improved, to render it commodious and complete for a liberal Establishment, Miss West proposes to receive Young Ladies on Monday, the 9thof next month; this unavoidable delay is principally in consequence of disappointment in the arrival of Furniture…”
One could practically hear the headmistress’s voice. Caroline smiled, continuing to run her eyes over Respectable Young Persons seeking employment as apprentice cabinet-makers or junior smithies, and Young Ladies of Refinement seeking posts as companions, governesses, and piano-instructors.
In the business and financial notices, however, she could not even feign interest, for despite knowing all the words used, such as Investment, Exchange, Collateral, and Interest, she was quite unable to make sense of them strung together. Only one caught her eye, and she could hardly say why…
The East India Company, in conjunction with Bow Street, does seek a most Heinous Counterfeiter, who has created forged Bonds and Bills of Exchange equaling three to five thousand pounds. It is believed the man is recent of Cambridge and is between nineteen and thirty years of age. His true name is unknown, but nom de plumes include Christopher Duncan and Arthur Adamson.
Perhaps it was the “recent of Cambridge” that caught her eye, for Mr. Belvedere was forever mentioning his alma mater.And there was the matter of those letters of recommendation, which no one quite believed, although they could not prove they were fake…
She showed the notice to Richard when he came into their cabin, and he frowned over it. “I see what you mean, but it is precious little to base an accusation on. A vague age and the mention of Cambridge…”
“That’s true. I am far from insisting we accuse him, I only noticed. Perhaps the paranoia of the last weeks is affecting me.”
“You and all of us,” he agreed heartily. “That is why I am hesitant to throw another brand on the fire. And the East India Company!” He whistled. “I would sooner betray the British government than they. The Home Office might be bargained with, but theHonorableEast India Company will see their man hanged.”
Caroline shivered. “If that is true—do we really wish Mr. Belvedere todiefor his crimes? I do not. Should we warn him, perhaps, if he is being hunted?”
“We still have no proof it’s him. Butifhe is fleeing the country, I’m sure he already knows they are onto him.” Richard suddenly struck his forehead. “Oh, strike me with a feather, you may be right—what ifhetampered with the mail? Perhaps Mr. Belvedere knows that notice of his crimes is going to the Company agents in Portugal. He might try to destroy the orders to give himself more time. There may even be aWrit of Arrest.”
“Oh… That does seem possible. In that case, perhaps I should warnSophia, for despite what she says, I think she is not indifferent to him.”
“Ugh, I hoped I had scotched that. They have no longer been so pointed, have they?”
“What did you say?”
“I warned him that he had grown too particular and that he ought to remember she was not unaccompanied and unprotected.”
“I’m not sure he took that to heart.”
“I’ve not heard anything much in the past two days.”
“It is not in what theysay,my dear, it’s in their faces, in their manner—oh, I cannot explain it to you, but I assure you they are blindingly aware of one another.”
