Sir Avery had explained the possible consequences in one of our last meetings before leaving London. Those documents had the potential to advance the possibility of a war with devastating consequences.
“Go to bed,” Brodie eventually told me when it was very near midnight. “There is nothing more to be done tonight. I will be in the common room below with Herr Schneider. There are things to discuss.”
I could only imagine what those might be, considering the danger we could be facing.
“Do you trust him?”
“We are forced to, if this plan comes together.”
I washed in the guest’s bathroom in the hall after he left, then returned to our room. There was no need of a fire on the stone hearth as it was not cold. I slept little, waking from time to time as one does in strange places to discover that Brodie had not yet returned.
It was quite late when I heard the door open. I had discovered the electric in the room earlier, but he didn’t turn it on. Instead, he undressed in the dark, then climbed the small step up into the bed.
“Bloody hell!” I heard the exclamation as he eventually found me and pulled me against him as was his way, as if he thought I might slip away again. Not that I minded. It was most pleasant. Now particularly, so far from London.
“One could break their neck getting out of bed in a rush. And we’re sinking into the damned thing.”
“It’s a down mattress, quite thick actually. I believe the idea is that you are not supposed to leave the bed until morning,” I replied.
“Or ever,” he replied. “It’s a wonder yer ancestor lived through conquering Britain if the beds were like this.”
“I’m told that he eventually returned to France. Perhaps the beds were larger and firmer there.” Although, by our experience, they were much the same unless one was sleeping on the floor.
It hardly mattered. With everything that had been set in motion, we were both restless and unable to sleep. He eventually climbed out of the bed, and I listened drowsily as he rummaged around a bit. A match flared as he lit his pipe, and in the glow of that brief flame I glimpsed that dark gaze and those handsome, intense features.
Then he put the match out and there was only the faint glow as he sat on that chair before the darkened hearth and drew on the pipe, that fragrance floating in the still air inside the room.
I climbed out of the bed and crossed to him. His hand found mine in the darkness and he pulled me down on his lap. I laid my head on his shoulder, my hand on his chest.
We sat there for the longest time, his body warm against mine as the room chilled.
“Tomorrow…” he started to speak, barely more than a whisper.
I pressed my fingers against his lips. I knew what he was going to say, that it would be dangerous at best, perhaps even that he didn’t want me part of it.
“Tomorrow is soon enough,” I whispered, then bent his head toward me, finding him as I pressed my mouth against his, my fingers stroking through his beard.
He set the pipe aside, then stood, taking me back to the bed with him.
It was well after eight o’clock when we rose the next morning. Brodie dressed, then left to return to the hotel for any messages that might have come in since the last time he was there, while I shared breakfast with Karl in the common room.
When he returned, I knew immediately that he’d received a message. He handed it to me. It was from Herr Wagner.
He was finally able to meet late the night before with his client, who had reluctantly agreed for me to participate in the auction. It seemed that greed was great motivation.
Herr Wagner asked to meet with both of us as soon as possible as the ‘event,’ as he called it, was to begin at eight o’clock that evening at a private location that would only be disclosed just prior to beginning.
Before that could take place, a deposit of ten thousand in francs, marks, or English pounds was to be made with thedirector of the local auction house who had been retained to conduct the private auction.
“I sent a telegram to London last night,” Brodie told me. “I explained what has happened and about the auction.”
There was only one person he would have contacted. Sir Avery.
“There is no word as of this morning,” he added.
I heard the unspoken in his voice, that we might not hear from him in time.
“Ye understand?”
