I silenced him by hugging him again, though less desperately than I had before. “I am simply happy you are out of it and safe.”
“Not entirely out,” Daniel said as his arms enfolded me, I resting again on his shoulder. “Monaghan is trying to find another way I can bring down the ring, which will probably involve something even more dangerous. I haven’t fulfilled my mission yet.”
I popped my head up. “Well, he can give you a few minutes to catch your breath, at least.” I tapped his chest, happy he was here for me to touch. “By the way, how did you know about Hannah? I thought she’d be undetectable.”
“Who is Hannah?” Daniel asked in perplexity. “Oh, youmean the maid. She gave her name as Marjory Smith. No one, including me, suspected it wasn’t.”
“Then howdidyou know? I cannot believe she betrayed herself at any moment.”
Daniel’s amusement returned. “She never did—I’d never have had doubts about her at all, had I truly been Thomas Delamarre, that twit of a secretary. But there were a few things. She so conveniently turned up soon after I was instated, though I admit the other maid departing to marry couldn’t have been foreseen. I was the one who checked Marjory’s references—Mrs.Proctor, the housekeeper, said she was too busy to be bothered. They were excellent references, but I noticed that one house she claimed she’d worked in, you had also worked in. That might be a coincidence—there are only so many large houses in Mayfair where a person can be a servant. But then, she asked that her day out be Thursday.”
“Ah.” I’d told Hannah to use whatever day out she could get, but I suppose she’d wanted to make certain she could find me away from both our houses.
“No one else but me would have put those facts together.” Daniel’s eyes twinkled. “Conclusion—you sent her to watch over me.”
“Mr.Grimes told me you knew, drat you.”
“It was a clever ruse.” Daniel regarded me admiringly. “If I’d not known as much about you as I do, I never would have guessed. Your Hannah is the perfect upstairs maid, but not so perfect as to draw unnecessary attention. She made certain she had flaws, such as scolding the downstairs maids if they weren’t diligent and fawning to the upper staff.”
“Hannah is still in the house,” I said, stricken. “I didn’t worry about her as much with you there to guard her, but now she is alone with them. They are Fenians, are they not?”
Daniel heaved a weary sigh. “If they are, I can’t prove it. Lord Peyton’s bookkeeping is excellent, and I couldn’t find any evidence of him and his mates gathering money or purchasing weapons. The Fenians are definitely planning something, and they have agents all over the metropolis, but I couldn’t find the connection to Lord Peyton.” His shoulders sagged. “Needless to say, Monaghan is not happy with me.”
“That is hardly your fault. How can Monaghan believe that you, by yourself, can expose the ring and thwart every plot the Fenians come up with?”
“Because he is unreasonable, and he is angry.”
“Also a killer,” I said, recalling what Inspector McGregor had told me. “I know that he—”
“Mrs.Holloway.”The shocked tones of Mr.Davis rang behind me, accompanied by a draft that told me he’d opened the door. “Have a care for your reputation,” he went on, aghast, then his voice hardened. “You.Out.” He pointed a thin finger at Daniel and made a sweeping gesture into the hall.
“Don’t you worry none, Mr.Davis,” Daniel said merrily. “I’d never let harm come to our Mrs.Holloway. All right, all right, I’m going. The rest of your order is arriving tomorrow, Mrs.H.” This last Daniel said to me as he eased past Mr.Davis. “I’ll send me lad around instead so our Mr.Davis ain’t scandalized.”
I strove to recover my aplomb. “See that you do.” It was a weak statement, but the only one that sprang to mind.
Daniel threw a last wink at me, and then he was gone. I heard Tess’s joyful greeting to him as he went through the kitchen, with a few of the footmen calling out to him as well. Everyone liked Daniel, with the current exception of Mr.Davis.
“Do not lecture me,” I told Mr.Davis as he drew breath tospeak. “I’ve not seen Mr.McAdam in some days, and we were catching up. I can’t help it if the door blew shut.”
Mr.Davis’s expression told me he didn’t believe me for a minute. “I care not what you get up to with McAdam on your days out. You might have a second home and ten children with him for all I know, though I presume you have more sense. But if the mistress catches you canoodling with such a man, you’ll be out before you can speak.”
“I was hardly canoodling,” I said indignantly. “What an appalling expression. I’d never do such a thing in the larder,of all places. In any case, it really isn’t your business, Mr.Davis.”
“I recall a day when you meddled inmybusiness.” He referred to the afternoon he’d caught me coming out of his bedchamber when I’d gone in to snoop. I’d been worried about Mr.Davis’s absence and was trying to discover what had happened to him, but he’d been right to be angry. “Itismy concern, Mrs.Holloway. I am fond of you, and I do not want to see you dismissed. Or throwing your life away on a waster.”
A felt a trickle of warmth that Mr.Davis professed such friendship for me but was still affronted on Daniel’s behalf. “Mr.McAdam is not a waster. He has employment and looks after his son just fine.”
Mr.Davis remained unconvinced. “That is all very well, but if you wish to marry, you should take up with someone who can provide for you, like an innkeeper or a gent who owns a shop. You’ve drudged all your life—you ought to be able to put your feet up afterward.”
“No thank you,” I said decidedly. “An innkeeper or shopkeeper would be pleased to have me cook for them or assist in the shop without wages. At least my drudging brings in a salary. I am saving for my future, as you advised me, and am not thinking of marriage to anyone.”
Not quite the truth. I’d pictured myself and Daniel snug in a house together with Grace and James often enough. But that vision was hazily in the distance, not an immediate reality.
Mr.Davis continued to frown. “Thought I’d give you a friendly warning.”
“I appreciate your concern.” I moved pointedly toward the doorway Mr.Davis blocked, and he stiffly stepped out of my way. “I know it was kindly meant, but please do not make me jump out of my skin again.”
“Do not let any doors blow closed, and all will be well.”
