If this woman was indeed Catherine, the implications were beyond anything he’d ever dared to think, to dream. The logical part of his brain rebelled most violently against the idea that the woman he had seen was indeed her.
What was needed were facts.
There had to be proof.
Indisputable proof that she was Catherine.
ChapterSix
Hector had thrownup several times in the carriage, then fallen into the sleep of the dead. After the fiasco with Talleyrand, they had left him in the servants’ quarters with Mona watching over him while they finished their performance. The next morning, the poor boy had a headache.
“I will never touch alcohol again for the rest of my life,” he groaned.
Mona placed her hand on his forehead. “Let this be a lesson to you, Hector Arenheim. This happened because you got greedy. How many of those cherries did you eat?”
Hecki pulled a face. “I picked them off the cakes first, and then I saw a bowl of them and ate them right out of the bowl. They were so delicious I couldn’t stop. I also drank some of the liquid. How could I have known that they were evil cherries?”
“Oh, Hecki.” Lena shook her head. “Does your head still hurt?”
“Like the very devil,” the boy groaned.
Lena had been torn between embarrassment for her son, concern for his well-being, and the fear that Talleyrand would have them all thrown into prison for having ruined his expensive shoes. To her immense relief, the gentleman had a sense of humour. “It reminds me of the time I drank mynounou’s cherry liqueur which she kept hidden in her cupboard,” he said, a smile playing on his lips. “I was about the same age as that boy and rendered incapacitated for an entire day. How long ago that was, and yet I remember it as if it were yesterday…”
“But your shoes, monsieur,” Lena wailed. “Please allow us to have them cleaned.”
“What, and have me run around in my stockings in the meantime?” he chuckled. “Never fear, madam. My servants will attend to it.” He lifted a finger and a footman came running.
“You are too generous to overlook this,” Lena had told him.
“At least this otherwise tedious and dull evening has seen a touch of excitement, even if it was at my expense.” His eyes had twinkled merrily.
Later, Lena confided in Theo and Mona. “Perhaps all this performing is folly after all. Because not only are these people highly eccentric, but they keep late hours, which is difficult for the little ones, and I am beginning to doubt whether in the end it will have all been worth it.” She had kept the secret agreement she had with Agent August to herself, only mentioning that this opportunity had been presented to them unexpectedly at the last moment.
“They paid you, didn’t they?” Theo asked, suppressing a yawn.
She opened the purse to show him the coins she’d been given before they left.
“Well, then it was worth it,” he said, a mischievous grin spreading over his tired face. “Even if Hecki nearly caused a diplomatic scandal. I wonder whether theWiener Abendblattwill run a story on this tomorrow. I can see the headline now: ‘Even children vomit on French diplomacy!’”
“Theo!” Lena groaned. “Please don’t even joke about that.”
He laughed. “As much as I dislike the French, I must admit, I rather like this Talleyrand. Seems to be a good sport.”
Lena agreed.
They hadn’t arrived at home until three in the morning, and now everyone was still asleep, even though it was midday.
She brewed herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table to write the missive for the spy. The instructions were to document everything she’d seen and heard that evening.
She chewed on her pencil, then began to write. The image of the man who’d been staring at her arose in her mind. She nearly dropped the pen.
Who was he?
And why had he stared at her like that?
Had she just imagined him? He’d disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Shaking her head as if to rid her mind of these images, she continued writing her report.
