Branch jumped over the fence and made his way to a carriage house just down the street. The residents of the fine home had left for the summer. With no one around, it was the perfect place for Branch to hide away. Since he had been working in Philadelphia, he didn’t stay in the same place too long in case he was being watched. The carriage house was tucked behind the main house and situated on a path that gave him the advantage of hearing footsteps if anyone did try to sneak up on him.
As he sat in the loft of the carriage house, enjoying every bite of the meal Mrs. Washington had packed into the basket, he smiled.
Although ruffling Lucy’s feathers was part of the assignment, he greatly anticipated the task.
Four
Lucy jumped as the bell on the shop door jangled, announcing another visitor. When she realized it was only Mrs. Collins, who often stopped by to peruse the jewelry selections, she released a tense breath.
“You’re as jumpy as a frog on a hot rock,” her father said, placing a hand on her shoulder as he stood and walked behind the stool where Lucy perched at their workbench.
The first time the bell jangled earlier that morning, frayed nerves caused her to drop the rosette ring to which she had been adding one of the fifteen carved Burma rubies she had painstakingly cut and shaped. Rather than risk losing a ruby by dropping it again, she put the ring away to complete later and avoided any task that required concentration and a steady hand.
Last night, after Mrs. Washington had assured her a courier would be by sometime today to retrieve the locket and the message it contained, Lucy had been on edge, wavering between excitement and fear. It made no sense at all, but she had experienced the most unsettling feeling someone had followed her and Theo home.
Once she had finally gone to bed, sleep eluded her. Lucy had awakened early, rushed downstairs, and half expected to see someone waiting at the shop door for her. Regardless of her notions, the streets had been quiet and empty. Resigned to seeing to her usual morning chores, the sound of a door slamming caught her by surprise, and she had spilled half a bucket of precious water on her skirt.
It was then, as she had shaken the water from the fabric, that she had concluded she might not be prepared for a life of intrigue and subterfuge.
Theo had been wound as tightly as a top when he had raced into the shop after he had completed his chores, but a whispered reminder that he couldn’t say anything to anyone sent him scampering upstairs to his room.
Lucy feigned polishing a watch while keeping one eye on the street outside. She had no idea what the courier would look like, but kept repeating the code word over in her mind, should anyone mention it in her presence.
The locket felt as though it might burn through her pocket and sear her skin. Anxious to turn it over before an enemy caught her with it, she had no idea what to do other than wait in an agitated state that worsened by the minute.
Her father convinced Mrs. Collins to purchase an expensive pair of pearl earrings set in gold. The woman preened before the mirror they kept on the wall near the glass display case as her father placed the earrings in a small box, then tied it with a white ribbon before he accepted the money from Mrs. Collins, noted the purchase in his ledger, and had her sign, then he escorted her to the door.
“You seem not yourself today, Daughter. Did the heat keep you from sleeping well?” her father asked, walking behind Lucy and resuming his seat on his stool. He was making an intricate bracelet, ordered by one of the men of the Continental Congressas a gift for his wife, who was not pleased about his being in Philadelphia.
Ward had spent hours making sure each silver link looked perfect. When it was finished, it would resemble a curving branch with leaves, all set with rose-cut diamonds.
Before she could stop herself, Lucy’s thoughts drifted to Branch Barton and the confident manner in which he had stood in the shop the previous afternoon, looking far more handsome than any man had a right to. Although he wasn’t unkempt, something about him seemed slightly untamed. She found that fact more worrisome than his attempts at talking her into giving him Mrs. Washington’s gloves. Had he known about the locket? Had he been trying to steal it before it could make its way into the hands of the Continental Army?
Questions assailed her, doubts plagued her, and the knots in her stomach tightened.
“The heat, Lucy. Did it bother you last night?” her father asked, offering her a concerned glance.
“It was dreadfully warm,” she said, not wanting to tell even a slight stretch of the truth to her father. Ithadbeen dreadfully warm, with hardly a breeze to blow in the open window, but that wasn’t the reason she had been unable to sleep. No, it was the idea that she was about to turn into a spy that had kept her tossing and turning long into the night.
“This heat has been terrible, although it doesn’t seem to have kept people at home. We’ve had five sales already this morning,” Ward observed as he blew on a link in the bracelet, then studied his work through a small quizzing glass that magnified the details.
“It has been a busy morning,” Lucy agreed as she continued polishing the silver watch case. Under normal circumstances, she would have been thrilled by the number of shoppers who had not only visited their store but also made purchases.
A man walked by the window and looked in. Lucy’s hand stilled in mid-polish, wondering if he was the courier. When he continued walking, she forced herself to draw in a breath and resume polishing the watch.
Five minutes later, when she was still absently rubbing a polishing cloth over the watch, her father placed his hand over hers. “If you keep on that way, you’ll rub a hole through the case, Daughter.”
“Oh, I …” Lucy’s voice trailed off, uncertain what to say. She stood and carried the watch over to the shelf where they were displayed and set it between two gold watches.
“You seem quite distracted today, Lucy. I think you—”
“Papa! Mama wants Lucy and me to bring back a fish from the market,” Theo said, racing into the room and interrupting their father. “May we go? Please?”
“You may, Theo.” Ward grinned and ruffled Theo’s already mussed hair. “But you mind your sister.”
“I will,” Theo promised. “I’ll tell Mama we get to go!” He ran back to the kitchen.
Lucy watched as her father dug his fingers into the pocket of his cotton waistcoat and retrieved a few coins. He held them out to her, and she caught them in her hand.
