“We must learn more of Honfleur’s plans and if he holds a connection to Margaret Childers and forging bank notes,” Duncan summarized the obvious.
Alexander agreed. “We must bring someone in to court Lady Caroline. We originally thought of Beaufort. Are we still in agreement about using Navan?”
“Orson would likely have been our best choice, but he and Lady Emma have known enough gossip without Richard being seen courting another woman,” Duncan spoke of the obvious.
“Miss Moreau did admit her uncle was English,” Alexander shared, “though she was instantly sorry to have said so afterwards. Honfleur is supposedly the half-brother to Miss Moreau’s mother. She said her parents were English and lived in the West Indies. The father sailed away one day and never returned. The mother was the housekeeper in an English household.”
“Then she was not from an aristocratic family?” Dora asked.
“Who is to say?” Alexander responded. “The woman may have had no choice but to ply her few skills after her husband did not return.” He told Duncan, “From my initial evaluation of Miss Moreau, I would say she appears interested in life, in general. She possesses an inquisitive mind, but fears Lord Honfleur, so if we wish to use her for information, we could well be disappointed.”
“I understand,” Duncan said deep in thought, which was customary for him. “Somehow, we must discover whether Honfleur is meeting with others of Margaret Childers’s nature. Heaven help the British government if Liverpool’s cabinet is not fully in place when the Bank of England collapses.”
Theodora questioned, “Are we to view an army of the poor and the disenchanted filling the streets and alleys and carrying homemade weapons, stealing anything to sell for a few pence? Should we consider things so dire?”
As much as Alexander adored Theodora, she would never understand how it was for many who wonder each day if they will have a wedge of salt bread to ease their hunger. He knew that particular gnawing in his stomach well. With no skills with his hands to earn a living, Robert Dutton had sunk lower and lower until his father had done the unforgivable simply to survive. Alexander had assuredly never forgiven the man, nor did Robert Dutton forgive himself. The desperation had broken his father’s spirit, and it was not until he read of Lawrence, the 10th Earl Marksman’s death in a discarded newsprint found in the street, did Robert claim sobriety long enough to hope for his family’s redemption at the hands of his brother Richard.
Obviously, even with his eldest brother’s passing, Robert had never considered the possibility of his becoming the earl. He had only held out the hope Richard would provide him a place on the estate, even if he was working the fields along with the other tenants. “At least, you’d not be fighting to keep both of us alive,”he had said one day when Alexander came home with a bloody nose and a cut over his eye while defending a loaf of bread for their supper. “Richard will prove kinder than either my father or my eldest brother. We must simply hold on until Richard is the new earl,” Robert Dutton said over and over again until someone told him Richard was also dead. “We’ll not do well with Evert,” he had explained to Alexander, “but I’ll seek him out and beg for his leniency.” Neither of those plans for the future came to pass before Lord Duncan’s men found Alexander and his father in one of London’s worst neighborhoods.
“We cannot ignore all those protests over the last decade,” Alexander cautioned. “Those in Sheffield and the surrounding villages have not forgotten their ‘lowest mechanicals’ and the formation of a Constitutional Society. Nor have many forgotten Christopher Wyvill writing ‘No King,’ ‘Liberty,’ and ‘Equality’ on the marker cross at Barnard Castle.”
Alexander looked off as if viewing the scene from the future. “I cannot shake the feeling, Dora, how something monumental is about to occur, and Honfleur, his daughter, and his niece will play a pivotal part in whether we know success or those who wish to snatch our system of government from our hands and smash it to smithereens will claim the prize.” He paused in contemplation before saying, “I have lived on both sides of the coin, Dora. Heads and tails.”
“You think I am not aware of your life before you were Lord Marksman?” she accused.
“I know you to be sympathetic to my former lot; yet, we should not forget, war debts have made it hard for the average citizen, as well as many wealthy landowners, to continue life as we have always known it. Large parts of the poor in Ireland were forced to accept what they consider to be a false church and a puppet Parliament. Is there no wonder why men such as Edward Despard and others knew disillusionment? Despard wasan Irishman first and last, despite his serving in the Royal Navy and as superintendent of the Crown in the Colony of Honduras. Nor can the people forget how Pitt’s tax program weakened parts of the economy, and you are well aware of how I cannot feign disinterest in naval matters.”
“You wish to know the fate of your mother,” Duncan said in sympathy.
“How could I not?” Alexander responded with feeling. “I stood beside my father and watched my mother carried onto a ship, which sailed away with her and my sister. My mother was crying and pleading, but my father would not bend. I struck him and kicked him as hard as I could, but he made no effort to save his wife. He simply stood there—half out of his wits from heavy drinking and watched it happen.
“I should have known what he intended when we went to the market that day. We had no money. Why go to the market? I should have screamed his sins for all to learn. I should have gone after her. After he humiliated her by placing my mother for sale,” he whispered hoarsely through the tears forming in his eyes. Memories of that particular day always set Alexander on a wave of emotion, one crashing into the shore as images of the despair he felt flashed before his eyes.
“You were only a wee boy. There was nothing you could have executed to prevent what occurred,” Theodora assured.
No matter how often Dora and Duncan made their affirmations, Alexander continued to blame himself, and he would do so until he learned the fate of his mother and sister. He argued, “I should have spoken to the authorities.”
“They could not have acted. The ship had left the port, and your father’s actions were not a crime under English law,” Theodora declared. “Men of the lower classes could essentially seek a divorce by selling their wives in a marketplace.”
In order to reclaim his composure, Alexander scrubbed his face and eyes with his hands. “My mind tells me all you have said is true; yet—”
“Yet, you wish to share your newfound wealth with your mother and sister,” Duncan said softly.
“Madelyn Smithfield Dutton could be the Countess of Marksman. My sister could be Lady Annalise Dutton.” He confessed, “Do you realize how often I have considered those very facts?” Alexander did not wait for a response, for he had asked the same questions on multiple times and always with the same result. “I would not be alone in this world,” he groaned.
“You are not alone, Alexander,” Theodora said with her customary adamancy when he “took a walk on Self Pity Lane,” as she termed his emotions. “Father and I are with you.”
“I know,” he said softly. “And I am truly blessed by your continued allegiance. Yet, all who carry my blood in their veins have left this earth.”
“Someday, you will have children of your own, and you will again claim a family.”
He nodded sharply. Alexander would not argue longer, for, whenever he did, Theodora would suggest he could marry soon, meaning he could marry her soon, and Alexander was not prepared for such a commitment. He had witnessed what had occurred when his parents married for love. Love, in his opinion, was not strong enough to withstand the rigors of married life. “Naturally, you are correct. Until that time, we will learn more lessons on how the Establishment quashed the mutinies happening on the Royal Navy ships.”
“Meaning, the ships which should have rescued your mother,” she said in understanding.
“I understand the Crown’s reasoning, but, admittedly, the British government has not made my task an easy one. Overthe last two decades, a variety of Prime Ministers have made enemies of the men who should willingly serve our government.”
Duncan sighed heavily. “Many in Parliament still criticize a Scot holding an English title.”
Alexander said, “I imagine, my lord, how you must often feel as if you have betrayed your homeland by serving the British government.”
Theodora said quietly, “My father does what he does for his family. For mother. For me. For his brothers and sisters. Taking care of those who depend upon him assuredly does not make him a traitor to Scotland. The clans always demand fidelity to family. He is loyal to his family.”
Realizing they had ranted against the world long enough, Alexander said, “Our maudlin has captured us today, has it not?”
Duncan rolled his shoulders into place. “Yes, but it is time to return to the issue at hand. We must determine if Lord Honfleur is passing off forged bank notes or whether he is the forger and is distributing them to others to place in circulation.”
