‘Crawford and Cooper are outside. Do you need assistance?’ asked Jacob.
‘I think not. There will be a nurse on hand. Our attacker would be very bold if he thought he could take on so many.’
‘We are expecting word from our people in London. Let’s hope between us we can find that proof we need for our killer to be detained before anyone else gets hurt.’ Jacob held out his hand and Moss shook it. ‘I hope you have a quiet night.’
Dora offered her hand, and Jacob was a little annoyed that Moss chose to kiss it rather than shake. He suspected Moss did it just to get on his nerves.
‘We’ll see you in the morning,’ she said.
‘Don’t go anywhere alone, Miss Fitz-Pennington!’ Moss reiterated, as he set off up the hill to his lodgings.
Jacob gave Dora a boost onto Nero’s back so they could ride together. It felt good to have her back in his arms after the risks they had both taken today.
‘What do you think of Mr Moss?’ she asked, leaning back so the top of her head tickled his chin. He rested it briefly on her crown then adjusted their position so she sat sideways.
‘He’s too damn glib with you.’
She chuckled. ‘You mean the hand kissing? He does have a devilish charm to him. Being what he is, I’ve no doubt he’s as talented an actor as many I’ve performed alongside.’ She looked up at him, her deep brown eyes serious. ‘But you agree that we can trust him?’
‘We can trust him to aid us in getting to the bottom of this mystery, but beyond that, I’d say it would be prudent to keep him at arm’s length. The spying game is an ugly one. I saw it in the Peninsula. It takes a certain breed of men– and I’m not talking here about his family background; I’m talking about someone who is happy to work alone and live his life as a solitary.’
‘I was surprised he told us so much about himself.’
His Dora was no fool. ‘So was I, which made me suspicious.’
‘Do you not believe him?’
‘I think he made a whole cloth out of the patches of truth he cobbled together for us. There’s more to him and more to this than we know.’
‘I’ve been thinking about Mr Barton and what Mr Mossdidn’ttell us about him.’ Dora rubbed his forearm affectionately. He liked it all the more that she didn’t seem aware she was doing it.
‘You’re right– he said barely anything about our missing man. What were you thinking?’
‘If Mr Barton is part of a radical group plotting trouble, then why did he bring us into the investigation? Wouldn’t that risk exposure?’
‘You make a good point. If they were already in each other’s confidence, a cabal of revolutionary young men talking treason, why did Barton not confront his friends and ask who’s been stirring up unnecessary trouble by taking the poem? He could argue it must be returned so the Wordsworths don’t get too interested in them and their doings.’
‘That hadn’t crossed his mind and he gave me their names and their addresses without blinking. The only explanation that makes sense to me is that he genuinely believed they were a group of friends on summer holiday. His only concern was that I didn’t break the gentlemanly code and accuse them of stealing.’
‘Then, if I follow you correctly, you’re thinking that Barton, by asking us to investigate, proves his lack of involvement in anything more nefarious?’
‘Exactly. I see him rather like you.’ She patted his chest.
He put his hand over hers to keep it there. ‘Like me?’
‘You’re a reformer. You like this new poetry that puts the ordinary person at its heart, labourers with work-roughened hands and not Arcadian shepherds and shepherdesses. You read Godwin, Paine, Wollstonecraft and probably others I’ve not heard about. You want society to change, but you don’t want to blow it up.’
He chuckled. ‘That’s a fair enough summary of my position. Someone’s been paying attention.’
She smiled. ‘Of course– you are my favourite character to study. And I think Mr Barton was likely that kind of man too, fashionably progressive. I would wager he thinks Wordsworth is on the right path wanting to make change through philosophical poetry.’
‘And yet you and Moss laughed at the idea.’ He still felt a little bruised by their mockery.
‘Yes, we did, as both of us are horrible cynics, but imagine how it would strike a hot-blooded revolutionary who really thinks the time is nigh to change society. It’s urgent. We must strike now! Barton’s attitude would be annoying to someone who thinks such incremental steps frustrating or useless.’
‘Then Moss might be looking for the one firebrand in a pile of gently smouldering progressives?’
‘It could be a couple, I don’t know, but there’s another person who I think is no firebrand.’
