Alice looked to Daniel. He frowned slightly, which she interpreted to mean,You might as well inform them of our business, since the only hope now for us surviving the piratic horde is to persuade them you did not just assault Cecilia Bassingthwaite but in fact saved her life—although I do suggest you talk fast and get ready to run.She opened her mouth to convey the gist of this—
“It was me!” Jane interrupted with a desperate shout.
Everyone turned to stare at her. She flushed, nudging her little round spectacles higher upon her nose in a futile effort to hide the crimson wash of emotion. “I lured you all here under false pretenses.”
A shocked gasp burst from the company.
“The weapon does not exist!” she declared.
Another gasp.
“Queen Victoria is safe after all!”
Silence; a few shrugs.
Jane stiffened her shoulders with determination. “I felt certain Cecilia would guess my supposed weapon involved Wordsworth. She and I have long discussed his genius. Debated it. Had sword duels atsunrise over it. When she did not attend the party, I bade Frederick hide the bust away again, in case it became damaged in one of the games. But then word arrived that Cecilia’s cottage had been seen flying nearby. So I brought out the bust once more, reset the plan, and waited for dearest Cecilia to succumb to my murderous trap.”
Cecilia looked at her coolly. “I always knew you to be truly degenerate.”
Jane’s eyes shone with tears as she pressed a hand to her heart. Bemused, Alice consulted her inner manual of Facial Expressions, for she thought the lady lookedpleasedby Cecilia’s words, and surely that could not be right. But she found the manual burned, mangled, and with a pirate dagger stabbed right through. These people were simply beyond comprehension.
“I knew I could rely on you, Cecilia,” Jane continued. “The very second you took hold of Wordsworth’s noble form, the panel above should have collapsed, along with several weights stored in the crawlspace.” She eyed the ceiling with annoyance. “You’d have been instantly killed—assassinated by me, in front of our peers! I would at last succeed you as the mostdaring!the mostdangerous!the mostnefarious!pirate of our Society!!”
Alice waited for the company to gasp yet again, but a taut silence followed this speech. Cecilia’s expression was inscrutable. Ned’s jaw twitched.
“And what if I had been holding Evangeline at the time?” Cecilia inquired mildly.
Jane’s blush reignited. “Why, I’d have stopped you, of course! I would never harm a child. ‘Trailing clouds of glory do we come / From God who is our home: / Heaven lies about us in our infancy!’ ”
Cecilia raised one of those perilous eyebrows. Alice held her breath, anticipating explosions. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw hands grip sword hilts all about the room.
Then—
“Well done, Jane dear!” Cecilia declared with a smile. “Such an excellent scheme! I am naturally glad it’s execution (pardon me) did not succeed, but I cannot fault your inventive planning. And I am truly honored that you’d try to kill me.”
Jane lowered her eyes shyly. “I only ever wanted to be your friend—and murder you, too, of course.”
“Of course,” Cecilia said.
“There is also the small matter of a fortune being on your head,” Jane continued. (“Idiom,” Daniel whispered to Alice, saving her from a moment of significant confusion.) “I am determined the fortunes of the Bassingthwaites of Starkthorn Castle shall be restored, even if I have to sell heirlooms and steal from my guests” (indignant cries ofExcuse me?andWell I never!arose from the crowd) “and take up a number of contracts on your life, dearest Cecilia.”
“Completely understandable,” Cecilia replied. “I shall assist you however I can—er, not by offering myself up for murder, you understand, but I can rob a bank or two if that would help.”
She stepped forward, and as Jane opened her arms to welcome an embrace, instead took one hand and shook it. Jane’s other hand flopped awkwardly down, but she smiled as if she was not in that very moment entertaining new schemes for assassination.
Cheers rang out from the crowd. Alice’s brain spun in confusion. The pirates werehappyJane had tried to kill Cecilia? She looked instinctively again for Daniel, needing his steadiness and good sense—only to find him staring expressionless into the middle distance as if refusing to acknowledge the existence of the scene before him.
“This calls for sherry!” Mrs. Rotunder declared.
“Hurrah!” the crowd agreed.
Ned stepped forth and, masterfully avoiding a dozen eager, grandmotherly hands, presented Evangeline to Miss Darlington. Shehesitated, looking for all the world like he was trying to hand her a sack of infested opossums. Reaching out, she patted the child’s head, then clicked her fingers peremptorily. At once, Jake was at her side. He took Evangeline in the crook of one massive arm, Miss Darlington set her hand on his other arm, and they proceeded toward the door.
Alice saw Cecilia cast Ned an amused but weary look. Then suddenly, without warning, the red-haired pirate was staring directly at her. Alice’s senses went immediately to battle stations.
But Cecilia smiled. “Thank you again, Miss Dearlove.”
“Just doing my duty,” she replied brusquely.
