Reaching her room minutes later, she found Aggie already there.
“I just told my sister that hunting men was disgusting,” Mary said, falling onto the side of the bed.
“Well now, I can’t say I’m disappointed. You’ve stood up to her lately, and it’s a good thing to my mind. She has too many people agreeing with her, which is why she’s the way she is.”
“I fear the retribution will be unpleasant, but I feel better for speaking my mind, Aggie. I will also not need that dress.” Mary pointed to the lovely cream dress lying across her bed.
She and Aggie had spent hours looking at everything that had arrived. Spencers, dresses, and so much more. She’d sent a missive to Dimity that it was too much and that of course her father would settle the bill. The reply had been “it is our gift to you.” It was humbling and horrifying that her friend had paid for all of her clothes. Her mother was not pleased either. But her father had simply shrugged and said that Lord Raine had more than enough money.
“Have you received word?” Aggie asked.
“I have. I need to go out tonight.”
Her maid’s mouth thinned, but she knew better than stating her disapproval. Aggie was the only person other than Monty and Geraint who understood what Mary did. She wanted to keep it that way.
“Where is it you go?” Aggie asked, dropping to her knees to pull the box out from under the bed. Opening it, she removed a black cloak. With it were two dresses that she’d never wear in the normal course of her life, and her hat and veil.
“Madam Bolade’s, it’s a brothel.”
“I know what it is, and that it’s in Spitalfields. ‘Tain’t right,” Aggie said. “You are a lady and should not be entering such places.”
“And yet I will, but as always, I will be in disguise,” Mary said, having had this conversation more times than she cared to count.
A knock of her door had Mary stilling.
“Mary, are you well, child?”
“I am, Mother, and in bed. Aggie is getting me a tisane.” Why was she asking after her? No one asked after Mary when she took to her bed with a headache. In fact at any time.
The handle rattled.
“I-ah, I was checking on you.”
How odd.Mary frowned at the door.
“I am going to sleep, Mother, I will see you tomorrow morning.”
There was no sound for a few seconds and then, “Very well. We are leaving now. Rest well, Daughter.”
The sound of her mother’s retreating footsteps was loud on the wooden floors.
“Well now, it’s past time, but it shows promise your mother asking after you like that,” Aggie said, bustling about the room putting the clothes Mary had stripped off away.
“It doesn’t show promise at all,” Mary said. “I have no wish for my family to suddenly notice me.” Which wasn’t entirely a lie, as she did feel a small kernel of warmth inside her because her mother asked after her for the first time in… well, forever really.
“The black tonight please, Aggie,” Mary said.
She pulled on the dress that fitted tight over her breasts and had long sleeves. After she’d stepped into it, she sat, and Aggie pulled her hair up in a bun. Her feet were laced into boots.
“Check if my family’s carriage has gone, Aggie.”
When her maid had left, Mary pulled some money from the box, as well as the small hat and veil. Lastly, she took out the note she’d received from Geraint. She then locked the box and slid it back under the bed.
A French prostitute had been found dead outside a brothel. Mary’s orders were to go to Madame Bolade’s and see if she could get someone to tell her what they knew about the woman and the other who had been found floating in the Thames days ago. Ottilie Beauchamp was the first. She had worked in Lady Louise’s house of pleasure. It had been there Mary encountered Zach.
He’d asked her questions on the very thing she’d been there investigating. What connection had he to the missing documents from Lord Blackhall’s house? She’d run through many scenarios and could still not come up with any answer barring one. He was investigating the missing papers on behalf of someone as she was.
Zach? The man who spent his evenings flirting, gambling, and indulging in revelry. Why would he be investigating those missing papers? It made no sense.
