“He’ll arrest you.” My own distress was ebbing to be replaced by worry for Daniel. “Did you not hear me?”
“He won’t.” Daniel’s mouth was a hard line. “McGregor is on my side, as are the few superintendents Monaghan will heed.”
While I prayed this was the case, I wasn’t as confident as Daniel appeared to be. “All will soon be resolved though, won’t it? You have a map of the bombings, past and future, and Scotland Yard has arrested Lord Peyton’s colleagues.”
“Yes,” Daniel said hesitantly.
“They were arrested, were they not?” I asked in surprise. “Inspector McGregor was most adamant they should be.”
“They were, indeed. Fagan came in more quietly than anyone imagined. The Lofthouses, especially Mrs.Lofthouse, were far more unruly. McGregor’s constables also found the doctor and the Earl of Pelsham, who were both part of the group. The trouble is, none of them seem to be the villains we are looking for. I suspected that already, but it was made clear today.”
I sat back in confusion. “None are the villains? Then why did Monaghan have you sitting in Lord Peyton’s house all these weeks?”
“Because his information was wrong. Even he admits that, though grudgingly.”
“Then what on earth were they doing?” I demanded. “What about the map with the incendiary devices marked on it?”
Daniel lifted the teapot and calmly poured out tea for both of us. “According to the Lofthouses, Lord Peyton wasadamantly working topreventthe Fenians and other anarchists from wreaking more havoc. He was gathering as much information as he could to rally his friends around London and in the government to act. He had no faith in the police, the Home Office, or the new Special Irish Branch, which he opposed being created.”
“What did he suppose his friends could do that the police could not?” I asked in bewilderment.
“Peyton had connections in the highest of places, including Gladstone and ministers close to the queen. I’m not sure what he’d have them do, but I suppose they could even summon the army if they had to.”
“Well, he died for trying to take matters into his own hands, didn’t he?” I said in both pity and disapprobation. “As did his secretary, Mr.Howard. Did Lord Peyton knowyouwere with the police? Is that why he kept you out of the meetings?”
“Kat.” Daniel caught my hands to still my flow of questions. “Let us enjoy our tea, and I will tell you everything.” He sent me a smile. “A bite of something wouldn’t go amiss.”
I huffed in feigned exasperation as I threw off his touch. “I ought to have known you came here tonight to satisfy your stomach.” I rose as I spoke and hurried down the hall to the larder to fetch what I’d put aside for him. “Tess made an apricot tart,” I announced when I returned. “Her baking is coming along well.”
I laid the piece of tart, with apricot preserves in a buttery crust and a dollop of cream, in front of Daniel and resumed my seat.
Daniel dug in with pleasure. “Tell her it’s the finest apricot tart I’ve ever eaten,” he said after the first bite.
“I will. Now tell me.”
Daniel took another bite and sip of tea—to plague me, I suppose—before he spoke.
“Fagan gave us the most information, in the end, though he was the least willing to speak at first. He was devoted to Lord Peyton, grateful to the man for giving him a chance to earn an honest crust when so many wouldn’t. Fagan was arrested in the past for brawling, given hard labor for a few years for mangling another fellow, and he had difficulty finding work after that. Lord Peyton needed him, and Fagan appreciated that. Fagan was a go-between among the group, and also a guard, making certain they were undisturbed.”
“I don’t quite understand all this,” I said when Daniel paused to enjoy finishing off the tart. “I thought Lord Peyton wasforIrish Home Rule.”
Daniel nodded as he scraped the plate. “He was. This is quite well done, you know,” he said as he set the plate aside. “You are right that Tess is becoming accomplished. Viscount Peyton supporting Irish Home Rule made him unpopular, but rather than being a radical, he was a man of moderation. He did not believe in having Home Rule at any price. He thought there ought to be a separate parliament in Ireland, but one still subject to the British Crown. He was fervently opposed to Fenians, as were all in their group.”
“Mrs.Lofthouse is a staunch supporter of the Irish, according to Lady Fontaine,” I broke in.
“Mrs.Lofthouse is indeed an agitator. She told us as much. She marches about for the causes dear to her heart, including Irish Home Rule and women’s suffrage. But she is quite opposed to the use of violence against innocents to achieve an end. She agreed wholeheartedly with Lord Peyton about that and gave him what support she could. Lord Peyton used her asa source of information on the reformist groups that Fenians try to infiltrate, because she is a member of them all.”
“And the others? The doctor and Lord Pelsham?”
“The doctor claimed he was there to make certain Peyton didn’t overexcite himself and become ill. Lord Pelsham, of like mind to Viscount Peyton, used his various contacts, including ones in Boston, to gather information on Fenian activities. He provided the intelligence about the bombs scheduled for the thirtieth, and Mrs.Lofthouse confirmed it.” Daniel huffed a laugh. “They were all more interested in chastising Inspector McGregor for not preventing the previous bombings than in talking about their meetings. None of them have any trust in the police.”
“If Monaghan is an example of who they’d need to trust, I don’t blame them,” I said. I’d downed my slice of Tess’s tart while Daniel spoke and now studied my empty plate, sorry I’d not paid sufficient attention to what I was eating.
“Lord Peyton never allowed me into the meetings, because he couldn’t be certain I wasn’t a Fenian myself,” Daniel said with a wry smile. “I turned up very conveniently after Mr.Howard departed, didn’t I? My references were good but from gentlemen out of the country for one reason or another.”
“The men who attacked me more or less admitted they killed Mr.Howard.” I shuddered, pitying the poor man and knowing that they’d have dispatched me as heartlessly. “Was Mr.Howard in on the group’s plots?”
Daniel shook his head. “Fagan was unshakable in his opinion that Mr.Howard knew nothing. They shut him out, as they did me. But no one has tried to grab and interrogateme. Perhaps Howard was working for the Fenians himself, and they turned on him.”
