“The boy appears to wish to express his displeasure again, so we may discuss more later. For now, we will require some water and flour. If you have milk, you may add a bit, but milk is not necessary. Just a bead of the mixture placed in his mouth so he does not choke.Perhaps some sugar water or honey, but not too much because young babes do not always tolerate those well. Come. I shall show you how to survive until your sister returns, hopefully before her milk goes dry.”
Dragging herself from memories of her earlier encounter and back to the present, Victoria said, “My sister is very ill, sir. She cannot care for the child at this time. I promise he will be no trouble. He will sleep while I am working.”
She waited through several elongated minutes while praying for a miracle. “Though you are a superb seamstress, and I am very pleased with your work, I must warn you neither Mrs. Sustar nor I will tolerate being disturbed by the child. Moreover, youmustnot use the babe as a reason for not completing your work. Remember, I will not condone this arrangement for longer than is necessary. This is all highly irregular, and I am not best pleased.”
Victoria agreed. “Highly irregular,” she whispered as she took up her position in the work room. “Cassandra,” she moaned, “how could you be so carefree with all our lives?”
As she worked, her sister’s words rang in her head.
A letter from Cassandra had been placed at the bottom of the basket in which the child slept. She had read it once Mrs. Taylor had assisted her with changing the child’s nappy and showed her how to make pap from water and flour to sustain the child in her sister’s absence.
Victoria,
I beg your forgiveness once again. I sincerely wish I was as strong as you, but I am not. I never was; otherwise, I would have recognized Jonas Betts’s lies. I had a position in a wealthy household for a month or so, but few will hire a woman, especially once I could no longer disguise my condition. I left on my half day off and never returned, for the housekeeper learned of my condition from one of the other maids.
Now that the child is safe, I pray my steps may be returned tosomething more productive. I have been told by a man—a former soldier with one hand—that there is a cook’s position in a nearby inn. Though I am not an expert cook, while you were away teaching in Bath, Mama and Papa’s cook taught me a few dozen meals. Once I am settled, I shall return for the child, and we might reunite. I have not named him yet: I thought my favorite sister should have the honor.
Please tell him that I truly adore him. Do not mention how weak I am nor my continued poor decisions: He is not one of them.
Cassandra
Victoria grieved for her sister’s loss of face, but she could not permit herself to do so for long. Not only did she have herself to support, but Victoria would be required to tend to a child and find new lodgings, as well as maintain her position at Sustar’s Draperies. “If Cassandra could not claim employment because of a baby, then how am I to do likewise? I swear she never considers how her choices affect others.”
She fed the child some more of the pap and rocked it to sleep. She would claim some of the scraps of material that would be thrown away or given to the poor and fashion a gown or two for the child and perhaps some more nappies. “No coat of many colors like Joseph in the Bible,” she told the child as he drifted off to sleep. She paused before saying, “‘Joseph’? It is a respectable name, but it sounds too similar to his father’s Christian name of ‘Jonas.’ I shall keep thinking.”
Thompson set acup of tea and a plate of cheese and bread on the small table beside where Justin Hartley watched Amgen House. The government was quite convinced that Lord Honfleur, along with aman named John Yates, who was a cohort of William Booth, a man arrested in March for forgeries, planned to flood the British banks with fake notes.
“I understand Beaufort again conducted a lesson on recognizing the forged bank notes for Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s staff,” Benjamin said as he took his place at the other telescope.
“Honfleur and his daughter have regularly called in at the Lyon’s Den after the entertainments where they purposely lose a large amount while playing foolishly and then are ‘pacified’ when winning only a handful of pounds. Quite genius, if you ask me. Every day we collect more and more fake bank notes. I am not confident we will ever remove them all. This training will be an asset for Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s staff going forward.”
“It is a good thing Beaufort is so knowledgeable about such scams,” Benjamin responded.
“Duncan not only saved each of you,” Hartley said before taking a bite of the cheese and chewing it, before finishing his thought, “but he matched your specialized training with your personalities.”
“And that means?” Benjamin asked with a playful lift of his brows.
Hartley shrugged. “Just that each of you have been permitted to develop skills that match your interests. Duncan could easily have quashed your interest in medicine, but, instead, he permitted you to attend school in Edinburgh with the likes of Mr. Rheem.” They were quiet for several minutes before Hartley added, “Beaufort has released his mistress.”
“Really?” Benjamin remarked in surprise. “Do you know why? He has seemed more than a bit distracted of late, but I thought it had something to do with his maternal grandmother. I heard she is ill. Lady Klare’s man of business has asked Beaufort to come to Klare Fields as soon as it is possible after he finishes this Parliamentary term.”
Hartley admitted, “I was not aware of problems in Ireland. Is Lady Klare ill?”
“I am not confident,” Benjamin admitted, “but assuredly Beaufort would be upset. Lady Klare is the last of his mother’s immediate family.” Benjamin paused to consider how he should present Beaufort with his support. “It has been a good while since Navan and I have dined together. Just the two of us. He should be told he has no need to travel this road alone. I could even go with him, if he has a use for me.”
“I wonder when Honfleur will return from France.” Hartley did not remark on Benjamin’s news, but that simply meant the man was digesting the information. “It seems a bit foolish for two of us to watch a house when Miss Moreau is there alone. She does not even light a candle at night.”
“You may leave if you like. You have duties at the Home Office tomorrow and likely duties to your parents this evening. As you say, it does not take two of us to watch a nearly empty house. I understand Honfleur forbade the girl from leaving it.”
Hartley smiled deviously. “My parents are dining with relatives who hang on the hopes of my father’s early demise, for they think I will be easier to manipulate. They assume with my Home Office position and the promotion to the British Embassy, that I have no need for the life of a lord of the Realm. I find I despise all the fawning, but my father would not approve of my saying so aloud.”
“Neither would have my father,” Benjamin admitted. “Our priorities are quite different from the gentlemen we have replaced.” As they again turned their attention to Amgen House, Benjamin suspected Hartley also was considering how their lives varied greatly from many with whom they associated each day. Finally, he asked, “Did our men learn anything of importance about the coat?”
Hartley finished off his tea. “The coat was smaller than what we expected.”
“How so?” Benjamin inquired.
“Well, to begin, we all described the man equal in height toMarksman. Remember how the man bumped Marksman’s shoulder when he strode through the middle of our group?”
