My careening thoughts threatened to land me in a panic. I told myself that Hannah was inside that house, and there wasn’t much that frightened her. She’d look after Daniel, which was one reason I’d immediately thought of her for this covert task.
One of the grooms noticed us lingering and started toward us. I turned Grace, gave the groom a little smile and nod, andwalked on. We were simply two ladies who’d stopped to admire the fine homes and the carriage houses that went with them.
The groom nodded courteously back, but he watched until we were out of sight.
* * *
Grace and I returned to wander through Hyde Park, as we’d come all this way, but we were both distracted.
“When will Uncle Daniel be able to come home?” Grace asked. “It must be awful to be a police detective.”
I agreed, though I’d always wondered what sort of role Daniel actually played at Scotland Yard. He certainly did not sit behind a desk with his name on a placard as did the sergeants and inspectors I’d met there.
“I wish I knew,” I told Grace. “It is devilish worrying.”
“James wants to be in the police,” Grace announced. “He says then he could be paid for running about nosing into things, which he does anyway.”
“Does he?” Time was marching on, so I led us out of the peaceful park and its vast stretches of green back to the road. We passed the gate to the splendid Apsley House and entered Piccadilly. “When did he tell you this?” I hadn’t heard James mention his future much when he’d joined us on our outings.
“A few weeks ago. James comes to the house to visit sometimes. He’s a nice lad.”
I had not known of this. James was nearly a grown man and could visit whomever he liked, but I didn’t realize he was a regular guest at Joanna’s.
Grace was growing more lovely every day. She was a bit younger than James, but…
Oh dear.
My heart beat swiftly as I hurried toward a hansom stand and a cabbie waiting there.
Grace and James? It was natural that they would become friends, as Daniel and I were growing so close. Grace was still a girl, but the five-year difference in age between her and James would become less important in time.
Nonsense,I told myself. Grace was still far too young to attract the attention of a lad like James. Joanna’s daughter Jane was turning into a pretty young lady. Perhaps James’s interest lay there.
This relieved me somewhat, but not entirely. I could think of no finer young man than James McAdam to court my daughter, but gracious, it was far too soon to be worrying aboutthat.
Once we were in the hansom, I determinedly turned our conversation to everyday things, such as what Grace was learning under Joanna’s tutelage and how Joanna and Sam’s oldest son, Matthew, was now in a good grammar school, thanks to Sam’s hard work and a scholarship Matthew had earned for his diligence.
Sam was employed again, thank heaven, after his firm in the City had tried to have him blamed for all sorts last year. He now was a clerk in a quiet solicitor’s office near Gray’s Inn, earning a decent salary helping his solicitor sort through lawsuits. Not anything I would understand, but Sam was happy enough.
So chatting, we wended our way across the metropolis and into the City to alight in Cheapside.
Saying good-bye to Grace grew more difficult each time. I was missing her growing-up years, and one day soon, I feared she’d want our little outings to cease altogether.
I held Grace as long as I could, liking that she held me back as tightly.
Our excursion had taken enough time that I could not stay for tea. Instead I’d return to Mount Street and make tea for others. That was what I was paid to do, I reminded myself. If I ceased making a living, I’d not be able to provide what little I could for my beloved girl.
Both Grace and Joanna waved at me cheerfully as I departed, but I wiped my eyes as I emerged into Cheapside.
Because my quick tears had blurred the crowds, I did not see the man in spectacles who cut across the street until he stepped in front of me.
“Mrs.Holloway,” he said in his expressionless voice.
I knew two gentlemen who wore spectacles. One was the congenial Mr.Thanos, who didn’t like to be seen in his, though he squinted at everything without them.
The other was the gray-haired, cold-eyed Mr.Monaghan, who commanded Daniel’s life and held his fist around his soul.
I stopped short, my heart in my throat, but I refused to allow this man to know how much he unnerved me. I lifted my chin and met his cool gaze with one of my own.
