As for Asturt, himself, could he have meant something significant by unsettled times? Most likely not. It was bound to be something he said just to say something, very like his blathering about horses and dogs. If the man really thought he lived in unsettled times, he would hardly go announcing it in the park. Especially not to a lady.
“Did Miss Wilcox ever dismount, or pause at a tree, or perhaps slip something into a pocket?” he asked.
Thomas seemed more than a little perplexed over the question. He shook his head no.
“And I do not suppose Lord Asturt handed her anything?”
Thomas smirked and said, “He handed her a lot a nonsense, I thought.”
Jasper nodded and sent Thomas on his way, the fellow still smirking over his joke. There was no doubt he would repeat the entirety of the interview to his fellow grooms, as a boy like that would never fail to repeat a joke he’d made to good effect. He could only hope that Thomas had believed that requesting a report on a single young lady in their charge was indeed usual and commonplace among theton.
As it seemed he would not gain anything useful from the interview, he called for his horse. He might as well go to his club to think.
There did not seem to be anything unusual in Miss Wilcox’s visit to the park, strangely early though it might have been. She’d encountered Asturt and his valet, but she had been closely accompanied by a groom the entire time.
What to do next?
He very much wished he might simply ask the lady what she was up to and who employed her, but he did not think he’d accomplish anything more than putting the whole operation, whatever it consisted of, on alert. It was one thing for Miss Wilcox to hear some garbled story from Jenny that he’d interviewed a groom about her excursion. It would be another to confront her directly. She might panic and write her father, thereby raising the alarm.
He wished the Stuart to become careless, not more careful. In any case, if the villain thought Miss Wilcox was compromised, he might order her out of the way in some violent manner. After all, he wished to be king, and therefore felt he deserved to be king. No, in fact he saw himself as already king, with only a kingdom to claw back from a pretender. A man willing to risk as much as he did would not allow an insignificant lady to stand in his way. If Miss Wilcox proved to be too much trouble, he might well decide to get rid of her via that oft used method called the Thames.
No, speaking directly to Miss Wilcox was far too risky.
What then?
His aunt, Lady Tredwell, was hosting a masque ball and his mother would be frantic if he claimed he would not attend. In fact, she’d already said she had a costume ready for him.
What if he could somehow work that to his advantage? What if he arranged his own costume so that absolutely nobody, including Miss Wilcox, could divine who he was. He might get close to her and listen in on her conversations. He might spy her leaving a note on a balcony, or picking one up. He might spot whoever it was she was contacting.
Using such a venue as a large ball to communicate was ideal and there might very well be a plan to exchange information there. As for himself, he might go as a servant and who would notice one more servant among the many? His aunt held the masque every year and the servants would be dressed in dominos, only their telltale stockings and footwear giving them away. He might easily copy a costume and move about freely. It was the perfect opportunity for him to slip around in the shadows unrecognized.
The sooner he could unravel the Stuart’s plot, the sooner Miss Wilcox would be out of whatever danger she was now in. Sooner was far better than later. The lady had not crossed the queen so far as to get herself condemned, but the longer this went on, the higher the chances that she would. Even if nothing else occurred, the queen might change her view of Miss Wilcox. Queen Charlotte had sworn she would not tell Lady Mendleton that she had changed her mind regarding Miss Wilcox as she would never present herself as so capricious. But, the fact was, Her Majesty could be exceedingly capricious, whether or not she recognized it in herself.
Then, Miss Wilcox and her father were dealing with dangerous people. Far more dangerous than they likely knew. Something downright lethal might happen to her.
That, he could not bear to think of. Whatever Miss Wilcox had done, he could not condemn her. Not in his heart, anyway. He could only try to save her from herself.
Meanwhile, the queen had asked him to compose a list of gentlemen who ought to be investigated. She had become convinced that the Stuart was either on his way to London or already here and that he must have at least one well-placed sympathizer, perhaps more than one. There might even be some kind of organized faction.
Jasper did not know what she planned on doing with the list, though he suspected it would be turned over to Lord Ryland to investigate for some invented reason. She wished to have it no later than Monday next and he was just waiting to receive some answers to inquiries he’d made before delivering it.
Jasper sighed. He supposed he’d better add Asturt to the list—his background was relatively cloudy, having only recently arrived from Ireland. There was always the remote chance that he’d suddenly come to London in support of the Stuart. And, considering how much he’d taken to hanging about Miss Wilcox, Jasper would not mind knowing more about him.
Poor Ryland would be running himself in circles to no purpose. The gentlemen included on his list so far were all unusual in their own way, but he doubted any of them had dealings with the Stuart. It had been his experience that when one unraveled a deep plot, those involved were not the ones who drew attention to themselves. They were not odd, they were not obvious.
The question was, whodidhave dealings with the Stuart?
Chapter Fifteen
Georgiana had comein from the garden, finally becoming tired of staring at Lady Mendleton’s China roses. It was the lady’s at-home day and so a stream of people would, in the next hours, make their way in and out of the drawing room.
The room’s door stood open, as it always did when people would be traipsing in and out, and Georgiana paused to straighten her skirts and ensure she had not brought in any leaves or bits of grass from the shrubbery.
As it was early yet, she thought Lady Mendleton would be in the room alone. Then she heard her say,” I must tell you that you were mistaken, Penelope. You may put to rest your fears.”
“Louisa,” Lady Heathway said in the condescending tone she was so practiced at, “I saw what I saw, there were looks between them and then there was a weeping Lady Annabelle. You cannot tell me I did not observe it!”
“Well, yes, part of it, you did!” Lady Mendleton said. “It is only that you did not know the cause. You see, Jasperspoketo Lady Annabelle. She became flustered, and why should she not, the poor innocent girl. She was quite overcome, but as it happens she looks favorably upon what was said.Thatwas what was discussed in the retiring room. You see? It is to be a match!”
