“Yes,” Phineas agreed. “I should like to know, too. But perhaps not in front of small pitchers.”
“‘Small pitchers have big ears’,” Lydia quoted. “He means us, Harriet.”
Harriet sighed. “I know. Auntie Harmony says the same thing. I’m not sure why, though. Pitchers don’t have ears. Why don’t they just say ‘people’?”
“Well, small pitcher,” said Allan, “I see no reason not to tell you that Papa and the uncles are not hiding anymore. Thatmeans the marquess will be very, very angry. I want all three of you children to promise you will stay close to your grownups.”
Melody nodded her agreement. “That means no running off to see someone or something. Do not trust anyone, children, except the adults here in this carriage. If someone comes with a message from one of us, it could be a trick. Go straight away to one of your own grownups and let them know about the message. Especially if the people with the message say to tell no one.”
“Are the color men our grownups?” Benjie asked.
A questioning look to Phineas elicited an explanation. “The guards you sent. They call themselves Green, Grey, Brown, Red—those are the ones with us today—and also, Black and Blue, who will be on duty later tonight.”
“You were not even meant to know the guards were there,” Melody complained.
Phineas shrugged. “We figured out we were being watched. I was worried the marquess had found us. Harmony asked them who employed them and invited them in for dinner.”
His hand over Harmony’s and the warm smile he gave her said more clearly than words how he felt about the widow. “She tries to look after everyone,” he said.
“Well?” asked Lydia, returning to the point. “If we cannot find Uncle Phineas and Auntie Harmony, should we stay close to the color men?”
“Yes,” Allan replied, and Melody added, “As long as it is one of the color men you know.”
Once they were at home in Jasmine Close, the children were sent with the maid to change their outer clothing, leaving without complaint once Allan and Melody had promised to come and see Benjie’s cage of pet mice, and the rag dolls that Harmony had made for Harriet and Lydia.
Once the door closed behind the children, Allan gave both adults a fuller explanation of their current situation and their intentions.
“So, you are staking yourselves out as bait,” Phineas growled. “I do not like it, Allan.”
“We are taking every precaution,” said Melody, soothingly. “We have the guard from Moriarty Protection. We are eliciting the sympathies of the ton. We are being careful.”
“I knew something was up when I saw the guard,” grumbled Phineas.
“The marquess can be beaten,” Allan pointed out. “We’ve beaten him before. You, your brother, and I rescued Lydia. Cornelius and Thomasina fooled him with a fake suicide. We have been leaving the tower where he thought he had us imprisoned for years, and he has only recently become suspicious.”
“All of those were defensive actions,” Melody said. “He still made mistakes, mainly because he thinks he is all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful, so he does not see the gaps in his own thinking. Now we are on the offensive, we shall push him into reacting without thought. We shall defeat him for once and for all, and all of you shall be free.”
“Well then. I hope you are right,” Phineas said.
*
At the ballthat night, they met so many people that Mel’s head spun. They finished the evening with promises of a sympathetic audience from a glittering array of peers and their wives, and outright offers of support from the Earl of Nottwick, older brother to Phineas and to Allan’s dead wife, and the Duchess of Kempbury, who had once been in the same line of work as Mel.
“Felix’s sister-in-law is not in Town, though she and Somerville are expected,” Adaline Kempbury said. “Nor are most of my former clients currently in London. “I shall visit those who are available. Have you considered drawing up a lawyer’s brief on a charge of false imprisonment, and having it presented to the House of Lords? That might set fire to Teign’s coat-tails.”
It was a good idea, and a lawyer might be able to suggest other crimes they had evidence enough to prosecute, though a prosecution was not actually the point. Arousing the marquess’s indignation until he lost his temper, that was the point, hopefully pushing him until he went after them in full view of witnesses, preferably witnesses with high rank and a solid reputation.
The feeling began as they were waiting for their carriage home to be brought to the steps. Mel was familiar with the uneasy sensation, as if something with many legs was crawling down the back of her neck. “We need to move out of the tower tonight,” she said to Allan, as soon as they were in the carriage and alone, with only Baldwin and Clara to hear.
“Your reason?” Baldwin asked.
“The marquess will be stepping up his efforts to find the secret exit from the tower. Perhaps he never will. But perhaps someone will realize that the floor of the hidden room in the dining area is actually a hatch. Or perhaps someone will remember the barred and locked way into the courtyard, and investigate. The lock won’t stand up to a determined assault, and I don’t want to be trapped in the lower tower with no way out.”
“I prefer being close enough to see what he is doing,” Allan objected. “London is full of entrances to sewers and cellars and caves. No one has investigated the three that lead to the tower. Perhaps ever. Certainly not since we first discovered them from the other end.”
“Moriarty Protection can keep watch from outside, and see nearly as much as you can from the tower,” Baldwin argued. “It is foolish to take any extra risk.”
“You can stay with us,” said Clara. “Let us stop by the tower and collect your luggage.”
