“And satisfaction brought it back. One thing’s sure—there’ll be no danger from anything to do with the fifth viscount.”
Chapter 36
Braydon was at Beaumont’s house with Sir Stephen Ball and a friend of Ball’s, the Earl of Charrington. Charrington had arrived in Town on a brief visit and been roped in because of a familiarity with delicate matters in high circles. He was a dark-haired man with a notably Continental air, having been born and raised in diplomatic circles, mostly abroad. Braydon had met Charrington in Turkey back when the then Lord Haybridge had still been in the diplomatic service. He’d been born in Turkey to diplomatic parents, and traveled with them apart from the years he’d spent at an English school. He was an elegant sophisticate who spoke eight languages, and Braydon had enjoyed his company.
Not long after that, Charrington had been swept into the army as an aide to Wellington with particular duties to smooth away temperamental crises among the great. Braydon had no need of a sophisticated linguist, but a smoother of crises might well prove useful—especially if the chaotic Princess of Wales was, in fact, involved.
“Are you likely to be here long?” Braydon asked him.
“I planned on only a few days.” There was a humorous, resigned tone to that, and Braydon smiled.
“I’ll try not to delay you, but you might be the very person to interrogate the Duke of Sussex.”
Charrington’s brows rose at the word “interrogate.”“About whether he staged a plot to blow up his brothers? He could have slipped away at the crucial moment.”
It was a joke, but Braydon considered it. “Any one of them could have planned to dispose of the other two, and it’s not the most harmonious of families.”
“Jockeying for positions in line for the throne?” Ball asked. “That should rule out Sussex. He’s currently sixth in line.”
“Are you seriously considering prosecuting one royal duke for the attempted murder of two others?” Charrington asked.
They looked at one another in silence. Nothing good could come out of that, for the nation or themselves.
“We simply find the truth,” Braydon said. “Then we decide what to do with it. I’ll toss in another alarm. My wife wondered if the Princess of Wales might be involved, striking at the royal family for neglect of her daughter.”
“Jupiter!” Charrington exclaimed. “A grieving mother could be capable of that, especially an unstable one. But she’s in Italy.”
“Which could explain why she’s not acted until now,” Ball said. “I understand that the Regent didn’t even write to inform her of her daughter’s death. She heard of it by accident. Not surprising if she immediately dispatched someone to do harm.”
“I am not,” Charrington said, “traveling to Italy to interrogate the Princess of Wales on a matter of murder.”
Ball said, “How fortunate, then, that her apartments at Kensington Palace are being prepared in anticipation of her arrival.”
Braydon looked to see if he was joking, but clearly not. “I’ll talk to Sidmouth,” he said. “Not about our speculations, but because the government will have people keeping an eye on her, if only to find the evidence the Regent needs for divorce.”
“And if she is the culprit?” Charrington asked. “And coming here with yet more vengeance on her mind?”
Beaumont broke the silence. “I don’t believe it. There’s a cunning to the plan, and if Caroline of Brunswick had been capable of cunning, she’d have fared much better in her marriage.”
They all nodded.
Ball said, “We need to focus on the princes and find out what each has to say about the arrangement of the evening, and, if possible, about who might hold a personal grudge against any of them. Though Charrington has the social address, I have a reasonably good relationship with Sussex because of his interest in reform. I’ll take him.”
“A thousand thank-yous,” Charrington said. “That frees me to approach Clarence. I have no relationship there, but Bath isn’t far from Temple Knollis, so my speedy return there becomes a noble duty.”
Until recently, Braydon would have thought such desire to return to family odd, but no longer. He was aware of being slightly distracted all morning by thoughts of Kitty. He might even forget some parts of this discussion. Charrington’s willingness to return to live most of the year in the country was less easy to understand, especially in a man who’d lived in some of the greatest cities in the world.
“Which leaves a trip to Brussels,” Beaumont said with resignation. “As Dauntry needs to play spider in the middle of this web, I assume I take on that mission.”
“Thank you. Also, Kent might deal better with a military man and, if you’ll excuse my mentioning it, a maimed one.”
“Good that it serve some purpose.”
“If you take a couple of pigeons, you could wing important news back. That’s probably not necessary with Bath, Charrington, but take some if you wish.” Braydonwent over everything in his mind. “I believe we’ve completed our business for today. I thank you—”
“One moment,” Charrington said. “I’m intrigued by your wife’s question about immediate benefit. Could anyone have already gained by this?”
“No,” Beaumont said, “because it failed.”
