“Oh, on the contrary,” Georgiana said. “Lord Asturt was there and accompanied me to the gate.”
Of course, Lord Langley’s valet, Marcus, had been there too, but she did not like to mention it in case he had slipped out of the house with nobody the wiser.
“Lord Asturt…hmm…he is a bit, I do not know, really. I’d thought I had met his father some years ago, I very specifically remember there was an estate in Ireland. Though, I also seem to remember that the name was Astur, not Asturt. Perhaps it is not the same or perhaps my memory betrays. In any case, it is said the gentleman has ample means and heisa lord, perhaps you might do worse.”
“Oh! No, indeed!” Georgiana said, wishing to disabuse Lady Mendleton from that idea.
Lady Mendleton patted her hand. “I am glad you say so, at least for now. I would not wish to part with you so soon.”
“Nor I you,” Georgiana said, repressing the urge to inform the lady that she wished never to be parted from her, by way of marriage to her son.
“Well, shall we proceed out into the day?” Lady Mendleton asked. “I have a great mind to paper Bond Street with bills to be paid by my husband. We shall choose out all sorts of pretty things—bonnets, gloves, perhaps order you some new ballroom slippers? Oh, and I must be fitted for a number of new gowns, you do recall what the queen said about brocade? Those outré dresses are on their way to being made into new draperies for the servant’s quarters, though don’t tell the duchess!”
Chapter Fourteen
Jasper had beenadmitted to Buckingham and led to the usual room. Arriving unexpected, he noticed the lack of regularity in the activity around him and once again thought it was a mistake to leave the office of Lord Chamberlain vacant for so long. As hehadturned up unexpected and had no idea what the queen was engaged in at the moment, he directed the senior footman who led him in to tell the queen the word “meddle.”
The footman, as was to be expected, could not make hide nor hair of it and Jasper had been forced to repeat it to make certain the fellow understood. It had long been the word used between himself and the queen to indicate that something of importance had arisen and she should leave her ladies behind. The queen herself had designated the wordmeddle, it amusing her to do so. When she had arrived to England as a young woman to marry the king, one of the first things he’d said of any import during those early days was that she was not to meddle in politics.
Of course, she had meddled, and quite often. Particularly when it had pertained to German affairs. The king had discovered he did not mind her good counsel, he had only been afraid of having a wife who stirred whatever pots were on the boil among his own countrymen. As it happened, Queen Charlotte had never been drawn to court skullduggery or parliamentary intrigue, other than the amusing gossip those boiling pots might provide. Society might shudder to think what tidbits she’d heard, commented upon, added to, and passed on, but the debates in Parliament or power maneuvers at court rarely captured her attention. The safety of the monarchy at home and abroad was her first concern. Who was in power in Parliament was of no importance—they were rather like reeds in the wind, they might bend one way today, but the wind direction would change on the morrow. The rest of her concerns tended toward who wore what and who said what and who had triumphed in a battle of witticisms.
The doors were thrown open and a bevy of footman preceded the queen and her blasted Pomeranians. The dogs, in particular, appeared irritated to find their routine disrupted on Jasper’s account.
After the doors were shut, the dogs settled themselves to softly growl under the table and the queen bid him to sit. She said, “Must I hear of something terrible so early in the day?”
“I am afraid so, Your Majesty,” Jasper said. He laid out the newspaper to the article and allowed her to peruse it.
“The lamb and the venison,” she said with a sigh. “The trap you set in your own house.”
“Yes,” Jasper admitted. “I am afraid my fears regarding Miss Wilcox have been realized, though I wish they had not. I do not believe she acts alone, though. I think she is only a pawn in a larger game.”
The queen’s brow wrinkled. “Clever Miss Wilcox? A pawn?”
As the queen did not seem to think the idea likely, Jasper hurried on with all of his reasons for thinking so. Baron Manley likely having got himself into some difficulty, the proposal to spy, and no doubt the idea that it was all only a harmless poking at the monarchy. Neither Manley nor his daughter were likely to understand it was any more than that.
The queen laid down the paper. “So you believe that Miss Wilcox’s only motivation has been to save her father from ruin?”
“I cannot know it absolutely, but I expect so. What other motivation could she have?” Jasper asked. “I really do not think either of them understand what sort of plot they are involved in. Whoever Miss Wilcox repeated the story of venison and lamb to quite deliberately added mention of theregent’sparticularities regarding food to establish a connection. They seek to prove that the king’s malady has been passed down to the son.”
“The Stuart, of course. Who else would wish to prove it? And then, I suppose a loyal daughter might well do anything to save a father.”
“Ma’am, might I suggest a way to proceed in this matter?”
“Please do, as I have no firm ideas myself at this very moment. I am very vexed, indeed.”
A soft knock on the door brought in a tea service and they were silent while it was laid out, the only sounds in the room the clinking of porcelain and the occasional growl of a Pomeranian.
After the doors shut, Jasper said, “I believe we should attempt a quiet unraveling. It does not appear that the Stuart has raised any troops or at all attempts to go about things as the Jacobites have done in the past. He does not seek to overpower, but to turn public opinion by means of reports in the newspapers. Were we to respond publicly, we would play into the Stuart’s hands by making it a matter of debate in the taverns, in the papers, or even in Parliament. If the Stuartisin league with France or Russia, they have clearly taken a wait and see approach. After all, the Stuarts do not have a record of success in this matter. Miss Wilcox will only be one of the outermost strands of the web, but if we set a watch on Baron Manley’s house, someone might arrive, providing a strand closer, and so on.”
“And so on and so on. Then, if we were lucky, we might follow enough strands right to the heart of it and to the Stuart himself. Wherever he has hidden himself.”
“Precisely,” Jasper said.
The queen sighed and said, “I find myself nostalgic for the old days when one only needed to locate an enemy army and settle on a plan of attack. This feels like walking with one’s hands in front of one through a dark expanse and hoping to run into somebody.”
Jasper had not thought of it that way, but he supposed the queen was right—bold incursions were easily seen, but this sort of operation was cloaked in shadows. However, that did not mean one could not shed light on it.
“We must light the lamps along the strands, to better see where we are going,” Jasper said. “As for Miss Wilcox, she must be sent away. However, I cannot divulge to my mother the real reason. I was hoping I might say you had changed your mind about the lady and wished her to leave Town. A sudden turn of opinion, I grant, but my mother would not disobey. Nor would she tell anybody of it. She would be too ashamed and would invent a likely excuse.”
