Fielding lifted his glass. “To the nursemaid,” he said sardonically.
Baines echoed it with gleeful cruelty. “To being Miss Vale’s shadow.”
Arch fixed him with a look that would have silenced a lesser man. It did not silence Baines—nothing did. Baines had once continued laughing while being shot at, and Arch suspected this quality was either courage or moral deficiency.
Renforth’s tone cut through the amusement with the easy authority of a man who did not require volume. “Enough,” he said. “Manners has accepted the duty. We are here to support his efforts. Did you ascertain anything from Miss Vale this evening?”
“Nothing beyond what we already knew.”
O’Malley reappeared, replenishing glasses without appearing to listen, which meant he heard everything. Then he withdrew again, as silent as a shadow.
“What might that be?” Stuart asked.
“That her solicitor, whom she trusts implicitly, is a supporter of radical ideas.”
“Is she aware of it?” Fielding asked.
“That is unknown to me. I was told the information by our mutual godfather, Sir Percival Lockmore.”
Renforth gestured lightly towards the table where a small portfolio lay. “This is what we have on Kendall.”
“So he is known to us?” Baines enquired.
Renforth inclined his head.
Arch felt his irritation sharpen. The evening’s social theatre dissolved, replaced by something more familiar, more precise. “What have you discovered?” he asked.
Stuart reached for the portfolio and opened it with a quiet competence. “Kendall is not merely a solicitor,” he said. “He is a solicitor with friends.”
Fielding leaned back. “Would they happen to be friends with influence?”
“Influence is not a crime,” Stuart remarked.
“No,” Renforth agreed, “but the manner of acquiring it may be.”
Baines smiled as he read over Stuart’s shoulder. “We have a list.”
Stuart drew out a folded sheet. “Kendall has attended certain meetings in Manchester and was connected to Peterloo,” he said. “He has dined with men who speak loudly of representation and secretly of violence.”
Arch’s fingers tightened on his glass. “You have already set someone upon him?”
Renforth did not answer directly, which was as good as confirmation. “You were summoned today,” he said, “and it would have been negligent not to anticipate why.”
Arch had the distinct sensation of being both relieved and irritated. “You might have warned me,” he said.
“I did,” Renforth replied, “by offering your compliance.”
Baines’s eyes brightened. “We have wagered whether you would be provoked into proposing before the Season’s end.”
Arch ignored him with a discipline that should have been rewarded.
“It is one advantage to marriage, that we shall not be called upon to perform bachelor duties,” Fielding added.
Stuart returned to the topic at hand, “Kendall’s name appears in correspondence connected to a small circle calling itself the Friends of Liberty.”
Baines let out a low whistle. “A fine name. It sounds like a charity, which means it is either a fraud or a revolution.”
Arch frowned. “I have heard of them,” he admitted. “They publish pamphlets.”
