According to what he explained to me when he returned several hours later, he told Sir Avery that it was a reliable source, but for safety purposes he could not reveal the name of the person who had provided that information.
I would like to have been a wall-fly during his response. Sir Avery was the sort of person who insisted on being in control of all aspects of a situation.
Not that Brodie didn’t have his moments, yet as I had heard him say numerous times—there were many things in an investigation that were beyond control. That included unknown persons involved in a crime, risks that could not be accounted for, and those who waited at the edge of the crime for the outcome.
There had been much discussion about that. He was most adamant about not wanting me to attend the reception, notwithstanding the fact that Aunt Antonia was to attend, along with my sister and her husband.
“I dinna want ye to be part of this,” he had made perfectly clear earlier.
It was not the first time he’d made his feelings plain about my involvement in what might possibly be a dangerous situation.
However...
I had pointed out, quite diplomatically I thought at the time, that while he had no practical knowledge of St. James's Palace and the surrounding grounds, I was familiar with the Throne Room where the reception was to be held. As well as the State apartments, though I did not go into detail about my adventures exploring those rooms.
I was just past my fifteenth birthday at the time. Nor did I mention the young man with me who thought to give me a belated birthday present and chose to take advantage, much to his disappointment, considering the black eye I had given him.
If memory served me right, it was not nearly as glorious as Brodie’s, which had now faded to a mere shadow above the cut he’d received.
Still, he did cut quite a dashing figure in formal attire, a combination of the proper gentleman and a man who made no claim to be proper. Particularly with that cut just below his eye.
As for the gown I was to wear, I had promptly removed the bows and lace, which exposed somewhat more above the bodice. Even though I was somewhat taller than Linnie, the volumes of purple satin in the skirt disguised it, as well as my black walking boots. Linnie had included a black satin wrap and long gloves. I had left my hair down.
“Will Sir Avery be attending?” I inquired.
“Aye.”
He actually spoke! A single word, but an improvement from the silence after our previous ‘discussion.’
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked and braced for another argument.
“I was thinking how beautiful ye are.”
I was highly suspicious. Brodie rarely made compliments, except...those were in private moments. This was somewhat unusual.
“Flattery will do no good,” I informed him.
“Is that right?”
“Most certainly.”
“Wot if I was to throw ye over my shoulder, carry ye into that room, and have my way with ye?”
“We would be late to the reception. However, you are forgetting an important part to that.”
“Wot might that be?”
“What you are suggesting requires two persons.”
“Aye. And ye have never been one to object, from the time I found ye on that Greek Island.”
“I have no clear memory of that.” Although not quite true. “It must have been the ouzo.”
Years before...before so many things. And yet he remembered it very clearly.
“Ye were naked as the day ye were born, and I thought I might have been too late in fetching ye back for her ladyship.”
“You were not too late, Mr. Brodie. Although there was the possibility of that on the return to London.”
