‘Finn, how many times have I told you not to run off in a strange place,’ he huffed loudly, drawing yet more unwanted stares from the surrounding tables – though it had to be said the looks were now a trifle more interested.
‘Sorry, Da,’ the boy answered cheerfully. ‘But look, ah foond the Revren fer ye.’
‘Percy! What a surprise,’ Reverend Shackleford boomed, causing everyone within a hundred yards to jump.
The curate glared at his superior before turning his attention to Dougal. Suspecting he might well be looking for signs of demonic possession, Reverend Shackleford felt sweat begin to gather under his dog collar.
‘An, Da,’ Finn continued excitedly, before Percy had a chance to whip out his bottle of holy water, ‘the Revren wants me tae dae a spot o’ nosin around… On aship.’
Seven
‘I’m sorry, Grandpapa, I cannot possibly countenance keeping my father in the dark about something so important.’ Henrietta firmly replaced her bonnet and turned to Percy. ‘It is a pleasure as always to see you, Mr Noon,’ she declared, ‘even though it appears that no one actually knew you were coming.’ She looked back at the Reverend and narrowed her eyes. ‘Aside from my grandfather, I suspect.’ She stepped away from the table with one last parting comment. ‘I think you can safely assume that my father will wish to speak with you on your return, Grandpapa.’
And with that, she swept towards the entrance. ‘Thunder an’ turf, when the devil did she turn into such a deuced harpy?’ Augustus Shackleford muttered as they watched her march up the street.
‘Ah reckon the lass be all bum and parsley,’ Dougal declared without much conviction.
‘Well, since I have no idea what on earth Miss Carew is talking about, I am more than content to leave it to those that do,’ Percy announced, before turning towards the Scot who was nowarguing in heated whispers with Finn over the last biscuit. ‘How are you feeling, Dougal?’
The Scot glanced up in surprise before snaking his hand out to snatch the biscuit while Finn was looking over at his father.
‘Och, ye gaunnie nae dae that,’ the boy protested indignantly as Dougal stuffed the entire wafer into his mouth.
Percy shook his head sadly, muttering, ‘Gluttony, that’s a definite sign.’
‘Oh, for pity’s sake, stubble it, Percy,’ Reverend Shackleford retorted irritably, finally losing his temper with the whole sorry business. ‘Dougal is no more possessed than you are.’
‘What be possessed?’ asked Finn, looking with interest at the elderly Scot’s red face as he tried in vain to chew and swallow at the same time.
‘Are you certain, Sir?’ the curate responded doubtfully as Dougal began gasping for air.
‘Ah reckon he be gaun tae boke,’ Finn added helpfully.
Augustus Shackleford hurriedly climbed to his feet and began thumping the Scot’s back. Seconds later, a large piece of wafer shot across the room.
In her never-ending search for the ultimate snack, Flossy instantly jumped off Finn’s lap and immediately took a shortcut straight between the Reverend’s legs, only to get hopelessly tangled in her master’s cassock as her lead whipped round and tightened round the clergyman’s left leg.
With a yell, the Reverend fell backwards with a whoomph onto Henrietta’s vacated seat just as Flossy re-emerged into daylight.Seeing the piece of wafer mere yards away, the little dog put on one last burst of speed, dragging her captor straight off the chair to land at the feet of a waitress carrying a large tray of crumpets.
With a shriek, the serving girl fell over the Reverend’s prone form. The tray she was holding flew towards the intended table with all the speed of a musket ball, where a rather buxom lady only narrowly missed being decapitated by a flying butter knife. As it was, the stuffed peacock on her bonnet looked livelier than it had ever been when it was still alive.
The whole debacle was over in seconds, but the resulting pandemonium looked likely to last for the rest of the day. Indeed, there was no guarantee that the Reverend would be able to get up off the floor before closing time.
Flossy, on the other hand, pounced on the piece of wafer with all the aplomb of a conquering hero, crunching triumphantly under a convenient table while completely ignoring the uproar around her…
Henrietta had hoped to speak with her father as soon as she got home, but on walking through the door, she was told that the Viscount and Viscountess Northwood had arrived in her absence, though sadly they were not accompanied by her cousins.
Sternly reminding herself that they were not preparing for a family outing, Henrietta hurried up to her bedchamber to remove her outer garments and make use of the chamber pot. Likely, both her parents were bringing their guests up to date. Should she interrupt?
In truth, Henri was torn. She was entirely certain that her father loved his family more than anything. But second to that came his crew – some of whom had even been with him on theAlbatross. The information she possessed was important – of that she was certain, but if she blurted out what she’d heard and her father feared his crew in danger from a traitor, she was afraid he might be tempted to do something rash.
In the end, she remained in her bedchamber for the better part of an hour which just as well since it took It took most of that time for Gabriel Atwood to calm down – and that was mainly due to his wife’s calm, pragmatic nature. Indeed, Henrietta would likely have been quite shocked to hear her uncle shout that he was breaking off the engagement and putting his daughter in a convent. Fortunately, her Aunt Hope managed to quell his rancour before the arrival of his prospective son-in-law by evenly pointing out that success in proving Tristan to be the legitimate heir to the Montclair title would at the very least secure Roseanna’s future. Her husband’s muttered, ‘Providing we all survive the attempt,’ was roundly ignored.
Eventually, Henri could bear it no longer. Anxiety about sharing what she knew and wondering what was happening behind closed doors had her pacing her bedchamber floor until, finally, swearing under her breath, she wrenched open the door and stalked to the top of the stairs. She was just about to start her descent when the doorbell rang, and although she was unable to see who was on the other side, she could tell there was more than one person. Three steps down, she paused as their maid, Sarah, appeared to open the door.
On the other side stood her Uncle Nicholas, TristanMontclairand Raphael Augustin.
To her complete and utter confusion, the sudden surge of relief flooding her only occurredaftershe caught sight of the King’s chief intelligence officer…
