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“More public events, a lot more private events, especially dances, on a smaller scale than in Town, but still a wide variety. One could be out at least four nights a week without issue.”

“Any final things to add?”

“No my lady.”

“Excellent. Thank you Thompson.”

With a bow he retired from the room. Elizabeth turned to Harriet.

“Let us swap indoor slippers for our boots and stroll around the manor.”

Harriet knew what she meant, this had not been the only intelligence gathering that day. Ten minutes later they were in the stable yard. While as the Lady of the Manor, it might have been more appropriate for her staff to come to her, from a practical point of view this made much more sense. There had been ten men in and around Bath that day, and that was far too much pfaff in terms of cleaning the footwear and clothes of each of them. Much simpler for her to don a pair of boots and walk out to the stable yard.

“Mr. Jones.”

Her greeting was returned and all the staff removed their caps and nodded in her direction.

“There is no format to this Mr. Jones. Let each man speak, Mrs. Underwood will take any relevant notes and then I will summarise. Agreed?”

“Of course my Lady. Matthews?”

“I am well known in the town and on the surrounding estates. Cider and I remained here when you went up to London. When people speak to us, they know for who we work, anything said to us is expected to get back to your Ladyship. The only comment that was out of the ordinary was from one of the footmen guarding a carriage in town. He merely mentioned that there were a lot of strangers in town.”

She saw Harriet note the mention of lots of strangers.

“Thank you.”

Four guards had gone into town and the other three reported the same message. The last one was the most switched on.

“I recognised many of the people from our time in Town, your Ladyship. Bath is busier, there are more strangers walking the streets, but there are also more of those who are known to you.”

“Well spotted, thank you. Your thoughts Mr. Jones?”

“Huddleston here makes a good point. More people appear to have left London, and earlier than normal.”

“Thompson told me that London is suffering from an extended period of hot weather. It has driven many out of the city.”

They all knew why.

“I see. You will not be at risk when shopping in Bath, you will always be well guarded. And there is minimal risk here on the estate. As with during the season, you are at your most vulnerable when attending events with people of which we know little.”

Elizabeth nodded, another reminder that she needed a social protector. The lack of an intimidating male family member was an ever increasing issue.

“The four of you may return to your duties. Thank you.”

They had spent two hours wandering the town and then enjoyed a meal, washed down with ale, before returning to Napier Hall. It had not been the most arduous of tasks.

“Right then. Matthews made the point that my uniformed guards are well known, both for their livery and their wounds. What about those of you less well known?”

“Jake, Charlie, were you able to discover anything further?”

Before they answered Mr. Jones turned to his mistress.

“They have been in town for the last week just keeping an ear to the ground. They spotted a couple of men that did not fit in. Nothing more than a feeling but exactly what I wanted to hear. They watched them leave on the main road west out of town. They have been trying to narrow down their lair.”

He turned back to the two groomsmen.

“We know that they are staying out of town. But the road is fairly straight, and there is not much cover. This morning we took the cart out to Corston and stopped it at the side of the road, able to see three ways. The road to Bath ran east from where we were, the short road into Corston was behind us, and the road up to Saltford was north west of us, following the banks of the Avon.