Several moments of silence followed after Sir Knollys left as His Highness appeared to gather himself and consider what he would say in response to Brodie’s last question.
“There are matters that might be best spoken of between men,” Prince Edward eventually replied. “Perhaps the young lady would like to see the gardens in the solarium.”
Perhaps? It was not a suggestion. And while I might have insisted on remaining while Lily toured the gardens, I decided to accompany her.
I was confident that Brodie would ask the questions we had discussed. Still, it was the idea of being set aside, as women often were, that frustrated me, people assuming that we had no brains or the stomach for the deeds of men.
“Of course,” I politely replied.
I caught that bemused expression on Brodie’s face as Lily and I departed. He had obviously been waiting for me to make a comment that might have been considered inappropriate.
However, I thought our time might be just as useful for something I had in mind.
“Ye let them just send us off!” Lily exclaimed after the library door closed behind us.
“There are times we must pick our battles. This was one of them. Mr. Brodie will provide the details afterward. However…” I added as I glanced about for any among the staff, including Sir Knollys, who might interfere with what I intended.
“Do we wait for Sir Knollys to show us the way to the solarium?” Lily inquired.
The head stablemaster had been questioned after the dreadful incident during the birthday celebration. Yet, I know well enough there were things that might have been overlooked or simply not mentioned. And returning, specifically to inspect the stables, might be hindered by someone watching over my shoulder.
“I believe a visit to the stables could be far more interesting.”
“The stables?” Lily replied. “Are we supposed to ask permission?”
“There does not seem to be anyone presently about to ask.” I caught her confused expression.
“You do know the way to the stables?”
She smiled and we proceeded toward the solarium, then left Marlborough House by way of the glass doors on the far side that opened out onto the green, with the long row of stables and the coach barn beyond.
The lawn was soggy, my boots sinking in as I gathered up the hem of my skirt and crossed it quickly, arriving at the main stable building where Lily had followed the man that previous night.
“It was just here that I encountered the stablemaster and lost sight of the man as he cut through the hedgerow and disappeared,” Lily explained.
“What are we looking for?” she then asked.
“He came this way and then disappeared,” I replied. “Look for anything out of the ordinary that might tell us how he accomplished that.”
What I hoped we might find by daylight was not within the stables proper but perhaps along the east side that led to that hedgerow and the woods beyond.
I slowly rounded the front of the stables, scanning the ground as we gradually approached the hedgerow behind the stables and coach house.
The gap in the hedgerow was almost indiscernible, yet there were several branches that had broken away where someone could have passed through.
“How did ye know he would have come this way?” Lily asked.
“It is the only way he might have come without being seen by the guards along the wall.” Short of explaining that I’d had myshare of escapes in the past, I simply explained that it was very like the forest at Sussex Square.
I pushed through that narrow gap. Branches snagged my hair and skirt as Lily followed. We eventually emerged into the woods behind the hedgerow.
It was filled with deep shadows as light barely reached through the canopy of the trees overhead.
“What do we look for now?” Lily inquired.
She had mud on her skirt. I could only imagine what I might have accumulated breaking through the thick hedge.
“There has to be some place where the man you saw passed through, a path perhaps, more broken branches. Search in that direction.” I indicated the direction to the right as I moved to the left.
