His words appeared to hold her in place. “What am I to do, Beaufort?” She rose quickly from the bench. “Marksman wishes to search Uncle Jacobi’s study. I am not to enter the room. It is likely marked so if someone else touches anything, my uncle will know. He is clever in that manner, but both you and Alexander have told me how Uncle andCaroline are passing forged notes, and I do not wish for others to suffer because of them.”
“I spent a good portion of my day yesterday teaching dealers and others at a gaming hell how to recognize the uttered notes passed by your uncle and cousin,” he admitted. “We have men collecting the forgeries all over town.” Navan was taking a chance that she would not inform Moreau of Navan’s confession, but his instincts said the woman possessed a refreshing goodness about her.
She motioned for him to sit, and he finally closed the door. They sat together at the small table. “How terrible it must be for others,” she observed.
“Your relations and a small army of what we call ‘street forgers’ are flooding London with uttered notes. Shopkeepers. Young girls selling vegetables out of a cart. Liveries. Even donations to the church are all happening, while your uncle and cousin live a life not earned, but rather taken as if they were privileged to do so,” he explained.
“Then you are saying I should assist Alexander and Lord Duncan?” she asked.
“I am saying you should finish pouring the tea before it becomes too cold for either of us to tolerate. As to anything else, it must be your decision. I will continue to be your loyal friend no matter what you decide.”
Though she wasnot assured she had made the right decision, she was delighted with the addition of one Lionel Carter to her new friends, though she supposed he was an old friend from her childhood in London.
Audrey could not previously recall ever having laughedso hard and so long. Lionel Carter had a charming way about him, and he told story after story of her short life as Robert Dutton’s daughter living in the rookeries. Her brother and Lionel brought her enough food for several meals, which she quickly stored away where the cook could not see them.
“Can’t tell you how many times I pulled Axe here from the way of a coal cart or the rare horse passin’ through the alleys. He’d have ye hoisted up on his shoulders and you’d be saying ‘Top,’ to stop people from stepping in front of you, but not everyone thought you as special as Axe and me.”
Through her laughter, Audrey said, “Having two gallants made me special, and I realized how fortunate I was, even then.”
“You were one then, and, if Marksman says so now, I believe you will still be as before.”
Her brother laid his serviette on the table. “Not that I am not enjoying these tales of our childhood together, but I feel a necessity to protect your future. If you are still agreeable, my dear, I would have your permission to search for information on Honfleur’s plans when he returns.”
Audrey again felt a bit of guilt at the idea of spying on her uncle. She still experienced some difficulty in believing the man who had raised her as a second daughter would be involved in some sort of ruination of the Bank of England. Yet—yet, she had to admit, her Uncle Jacobi, over the past three years, or perhaps longer, if she were honest in her assessment, had changed in his treatment of her. He blamed many of his faults and his failures upon her. Most assuredly, he would never have left his real daughter alone in London in a house with no servants and the home’s owner demanding payment for past and present rents. She had talked most of this through with Beaufort last evening. Ironically, her friend had permitted her to come to her own decision, which she was now questioning for a totally different reason.
“You will practice excessive caution in all you touch, will you not? I would not be surprised if my uncle has not rigged the drawers and shelves in some means of knowing if I have invaded his personal property. He did something similar when we were aboard ship with the valuables he had plundered and had stored in his quarters. Used a dark thread to indicate whether something had been disturbed or not.”
“The English government provides its agents with various means to examine such spaces,” her brother assured.
She stood slowly. “Then, let us straighten the kitchen. I do not want Cook to realize you were kind enough to feed me properly.” Audrey chuckled softly when she looked upon her empty plate. “I did not know how hungry I was.”
Her brother started stacking dishes to return them to the baskets he and Lionel had brought with them. “I believe you enjoyed the company equally as well as you did my cook’s food.”
“I did,” she admitted. “You have been most solicitous in meeting my needs.”
“Not as much as I would prefer,” Marksman countered, “but I understand you require small steps in claiming your birthright.”
“You were the same,” Lionel declared. “You didn’t want to give up your freedom, even for the privilege of a steady meal to fill your stomach.”
Her brother smiled easily. “I was fortunate to have had Lord Duncan as my mentor and to ease my way. There was much for me to learn of the ways of the aristocracy. Duncan, I must say, has the patience of Job.”
After her few encounters with Lady Theodora, Audrey said cattily, “I imagine Lord Duncan has multiple reasons to practice more patience than the average Englishman must display.”
It was Lionel’s turn to bark a laugh. “Aye, he do, my lady. Lady Theodora can be a real test to any sane man’s fortitude.”
Forty minutes later, they entered her uncle’s study, having foundnothing but empty drawers in Honfleur’s quarters. The fact her uncle had not even left as much as a handkerchief behind had Audrey again wondering how little she really knew of her uncle’sbusiness.
“It assuredly appears as if Uncle Jacobi never meant to return,” she had whispered as her brother and Lionel moved carefully about the room. The words had barely left her lips when Lord Marksman caught her up in his embrace.
“You will never be left alone again unless such is your wish.”
He held her tightly for more than a minute until she presented him a nod of gratitude. Now, he led the way into her Uncle Jacobi’s study, after they found a key hidden in a nearby vase. “Examine the bookshelves first. A book with a carved out inside is a common hiding place for important papers.”
Audrey was not confident regarding for what she searched, but she studied each shelf carefully. The room required dusting, and she thought of her cleaning duties for the first time in several days. When they had finished their search, she would remind her brother not to call tomorrow, for Cook, and possibly the housekeeper, would show. Audrey would return to her cleaning duties in other parts of the house tomorrow, but not her uncle’s study. She would permit this particular room its loneliness.
“Dark string,” Lionel announced. “Just as you suspected, Miss Anna.”
When she had previously mentioned the chance of a string, Audrey had not thought such might prove true. She was quite proud to have contributed to their search.
