Most frustrating of all was that I could not stand in front of Daniel and demand to know what this strange business was all about.
I could only hope that Hannah would find a way to communicate with me again soon. A greater hope was that Danielwould find evidence on whatever culprits he needed to and go home, ending his obligation to Mr.Monaghan.
I tucked the letter into my apron pocket so I could return it to Miss Townsend, and made myself concentrate on finishing up the apple dish.
We laid our apple slices into the baking pan and dotted them with butter. Next came a spread of apricot jam, then the custard cream, then another layer of apples. We continued to pile the apples, jam, and cream into the dish until it reached the top.
So intently did we focus on our task that we spoke about nothing but the dessert until I carried the whole thing carefully to the oven and slid it inside.
“Everything all right?” Tess asked me as we turned to preparing scones for afternoon tea for the upstairs. “You were pale as a ghost reading over that letter. Am I right it was another of the foul ones?”
“Indeed.” The letter felt heavy in my pocket. “Miss Townsend passed it to me on her way inside.”
“Awful what people spew at a lady just because she’s rich and pretty,” Tess said as she cut chunks of butter into a bowl of flour. “Of course, the poor get the same sort of venom. You should hear what some have said about my brother.”
Her words pulled me from my own troubles. “Oh, Tess, I am sorry. They have no call to hurt you two like that.”
Tess squared her shoulders. “We’re used to it. Besides, since I’m not a proper lady, I can give them a punch in the nose.”
I hid my surge of pride in her. “Indeed, having to smile and nod at the world when they are taunting you is a drawback of being a well-bred lady. It’s no wonder Lady Cynthia puts on trousers and smokes cheroots. Her armor against the world, I suppose.”
“Suppose,” Tess said dubiously. She finished with the butter and stirred in the cream. “I don’t need to don my brother’s clothes to defend him though. I’ve taught plenty to be scared of me fists.”
“Good for you, Tess. Now, do not mix currants into all of the scone batter. Miss Townsend prefers them without, so we’ll make a plain batch for her.”
Once Tess had finished mixing up the dough, I gently rolled it out, and then we used a round cutter to form the scones. These went into the oven to bake beside the apple-cream dish.
I always kept a selection of small pastries on hand, or ordered them from the nearest confectionery, for when Mrs.Bywater took it into her head to host an afternoon tea, the sort made popular by the Duchess of Bedford, lady-in-waiting to the queen some forty years ago.
That kind of tea is quite different from what is known as high tea, which is a cooked meal taken in the early evening, usually by working-class men and women. The dainty delicacies that wouldn’t keep a fly satisfied were for the gentry.
We prepared trays of little sandwiches, the scones, and the tiny pastries along with bowls of lemon curd and Devonshire cream. These went up the dumbwaiter for Mr.Davis to set out for the ladies. The apple dish would be served later, at supper.
I never enjoyed fixing the tea that Mrs.Bywater used to impress her friends, because it cut into time I needed for the evening meal. Mrs.Bywater always expected me to serve a substantial supper by eight, even after she’d stuffed herself with scones at four o’clock.
As Tess and I threw ourselves into our tasks, the letter and Daniel’s involvement in it continued to push itself to the front of my mind.
What had the letter writer meant bymen spying on other free men, taking notes on what they do?
Daniel often disguised himself to spy on people, but always to make certain they didn’t hurt others. I did not consider that to be the same thing as simply making notes on someone at random. I myself had been busy sending out lads to tell me about people I’d never met, but this was to make certain Daniel was not endangered by them.
However, I could well imagine Mr.Monaghan heading up a secret body of policemen and intruding on the rest of us without compunction. I could also believe him coercing Daniel into this body of spies and forcing him to do his deplorable work.
I most definitely would have to speak to Mr.Monaghan.
At about five o’clock, Maggie, one of the downstairs maids, came to tell me Miss Townsend wished to speak to me. “To heap praise on ya, Mrs.H.,” Maggie said with a mocking smile. “She said to meet you outside the front door.”
“Thank you, Maggie.” I would not return her jeering with unkindness, so I added, “There are extra scones in the servants’ hall for us all. Jam too.”
Maggie’s sneer turned to eagerness, and she hastened into the servants’ room, where I’d laid out sandwiches and currant scones.
I made certain the letter was secure in my apron pocket and departed through the scullery to climb the outside stairs to the street. Miss Townsend made a show of adjusting her gloves while our footman rather impatiently held her coach door for her.
“Mrs.Holloway,” Miss Townsend said brightly, as though happy to chance upon me once again. “Thank you for the lovely scones.” She lifted her hand toward me, a crown coin between her fingertips.
“No need for that,” I said hastily. “They were naught but butter and flour, held together with a bit of cream.”
“And ingenuity,” Miss Townsend assured me.
