And as the architect of the chaos, Archibond would be perfectly poised to catapult himself into power. He might rail about the downtrodden and the disadvantaged, but I had traversed the globe and met few saints upon the way. Archibond was like every other fanatic I had encountered: fixed upon his own ambitions while cloaking them in a mantle of beneficence. The slender compensations of life in public service, even if he rose to the pinnacle of Special Branch, would never satisfy his aspirations. He, like so many other greater men before him,longed to leave his mark upon the world, and he cared nothing for the devastation that might ensue.
As I pondered the unthinkable, Eddy managed to piece together the implications of one rather chilling omission on Archibond’s part.
“They haven’t sent a ransom note,” he said quietly. “That means they intend to kill me.”
“You cannot know that,” I told him in a harsher tone than I meant. “Besides, you are not going to die here. I forbid it.”
“You are a very managing sort of person,” he said with a courageous attempt at a smile. “I would fear to disobey you.”
“See that you don’t,” I told him.
His smile faltered then. “I can’t believe they really murdered her. She was a lovely woman,” he lamented. “Kind and generous, well-read, witty.”
“You were fond of Madame Aurore.”
He gave a little shrug. “I suppose. I was not in love with her,” he said quickly. “You must not think we were more than friends.”
“Most gentlemen of her acquaintance were more than just friends of hers,” I observed.
He blushed a little. “I know. And I spent time in her rooms, private time. But only for conversation! She was very easy to talk to.”
I raised a skeptical brow. “Is that really the extent of your endeavors there?”
“It is!” he insisted. “At least, that is all I did with Aurore. One couldn’t very well go to such a place and not have a sporting time,” he added seriously.
“I wonder what your Princess Alix would make of such activities,” I jibed.
He drew himself up. “It is a gentleman’s obligation to be experienced in the marriage bed. Naturally, I would not continue such activities once we were wed.”
“Then you would be a distinct departure from the rest of your family,” I told him. I returned to the subject of Madame Aurore. “What kinds of things did you talk about?”
He laced his long fingers together. “Mostly Alix. She was advising me on how to woo her properly. She was very kind.”
“I rather liked her myself,” I told him. “We were not so very different.”
“We used to play cards,” he confessed. “Usually two-handed whist. For ha’pence a point. I owed her rather a lot of money at the end.”
“If you were only friends, why did you give her the star?” I asked.
He shrugged. “She needed money, she said. Running her establishment is terribly expensive. Only I couldn’t give her money outright because I haven’t any, not enough to help her, at least. Papa keeps me on a bit of a short lead,” he said, his moustaches quivering a little.
“How did you expect to pay for the diamond star?”
“Oh, well, Motherdear has an account at Garrard. I thought if I just ordered a trinket there, then Aurore could sell it at her discretion and they would send the bill along and Motherdear’s solicitor would see it paid.”
He seemed so cheerfully unaware of how ridiculous it was to expect his mother to pay for a jewel for his friend that I did not have the heart to mock him for it. Instead I smiled by way of consolation. “You have a generous heart, Eddy.”
He blushed again, this time in pleasure, I think. “Motherdear often says so. Papa has a less flattering opinion of me.”
“Do you not get on with him?”
He struggled to find the words. “I’m not sure anyone really gets on with Papa. He’s frightfully intimidating in person.” I had only seen my father once, from a distance, but it was enough to know that Eddy’s assessment was correct. “Of course, one of his lady friends has nicknamed him Prince Tum-Tum,” Eddy confided with a grin. “And when I think of that, it makes him less terrifying.”
“I am sure he does not mean to terrify you,” I assured him.
“Oh, I don’t know. He is petrified of his own mama, and I think he has some idea that is how things are supposed to be. Even George is frightened of him and he isn’t frightened of anyone.”
“George? Your brother?”
