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“She was fighting back, certainly,” Edward added, recalling how the young woman had been clawing and scratching at the man in order to get away from him. “I believe that the murderer was, in his own way, enjoying the fact that she was struggling so.” He shook his head in disgust, feeling it rise up within him. “I attempted to pull him from her and, in doing so, knocked him to the ground. However, when he rose, he had the knife still within his hand and used it to defend himself.”
“I see,” the lieutenant murmured. “And then he ran from you?”
“Yes,” Edward said, nodding. “The cowardice within him could not be hidden. He ran from me. I was forced to ensure that the lady was quite well before I could go after him. I feared that she was close to fainting, and, in fact, she gave herself up to unconsciousness before the end of our conversation.”
The lieutenant allowed a faint trace of alarm to cross his features. “Then she may speak of what she has seen.”
“No, I do not think that she will,” Edward said hastily. “I had her promise that she would not breathe a word of what she saw to anyone, and before she fainted, she did agree.”
A snort of derision met this. “But you cannot be sure, Carroway! A young lady of quality may very well speak of such an incident!”
Edward hesitated. He was, he reflected, being quite foolish to believe that the lady would remain silent and that she would keep her promise, but for whatever reason, he found himself trusting her. “My instincts say, Lieutenant, that she can be trusted.”
The gentleman eyed him suspiciously. “Even though she fainted soon after speaking to you?” he said carefully, as though to point out to Edward just how ridiculous he was being. “At the very least, please tell me that you know her name?”
“No,” Edward murmured, a slight flush going up his cheeks. “I did not discover it for, as I said, she fainted.”
“And you left her in the street?”
Edward closed his eyes and held back his initial sharp retort. “No, I did not,” he replied evenly, opening his eyes again. “I carried her to the door of the house from whence she had come. I gently placed her down upon the threshold, rapped sharply—and rather loudly, I might add—before scurrying from the place and keeping watch some distance away. She was found almost at once and seemed to recover herself slightly by the time her family appeared.” He winced, recalling the commotion. “There was something of an uproar, I confess, but they managed to have her in the house within a few moments. From what I could hear, they had been due to attend a ball but….” He trailed off and shrugged. It was obvious that the family would not have chosen to attend the ball any longer after finding the young lady in such a state of disarray. What she would say to them by way of excusing how they had found her on the doorstep in a heap, he was not at all sure, but again came that same certainty that she would not be indiscreet. It was imperative that no one knew of the death, for then questions might be asked about who the fellow was, and then they might discover the organization that Lieutenant James and he had set up.
“It is all rather unfortunate,” Lieutenant James murmured, shaking his head. “Although….” He trailed off and studied Edward a little more closely, looking at him as though he had seen him in a new light. “Perhaps that title of yours might become useful at this juncture.”
Edward frowned. “I do not like to use my title, as well you know,” he grated.
“But it may be useful,” Lieutenant James replied mildly. “It could help you ensure that this particular young lady does, in fact, remain silent about what she saw.”
Edward gritted his teeth and thought hard, trying to find a way to reject the idea entirely. His title meant nothing to him, for it had been bestowed upon him without his knowledge, well before he had been old enough to understand. There were a good many rumors about Edward floating around London, which was why he was particularly keen to avoid the company of society. He did not want to be “Lord Carroway”—especially when he had no family to speak of. He had been tugged from the arms of the orphanage one day, at the tender age of seven years old, and had been sent to Eton. Much to his surprise, someone had informed him that he was now the Viscount of Carroway, and not simply Edward Yardley, as he had always believed. A small estate was his, as well as a small fortune. It had been quite unbelievable for a young lad of seven, and it had taken him a good many years to believe he was truly as he was called. It had not been until much later, when he had left Eton and had been able to do as he pleased, that he had been afforded the opportunity to search for the truth of his birth.
The documents purporting to give him his title had been sent to various solicitors, but none had found any particular fault with them. The small manor house and grounds he had been given, along with his new title, were in dire need of repair, and whilst he had been able to set the place to rights, Edward had found no joy in the opportunities then afforded him. To look after one’s estate, to grow one’s fortune, to find a wife and produce an heir was not something that he considered to be of any interest whatsoever. In fact, he had shunned it completely, choosing instead to go into the army and to leave a steward behind at his estate, who now looked after the house, the grounds, and the few tenants that lived and worked there.
It had been due to his interest in the army that he had first caught the eye of Lieutenant James. Of course, he had not been promoted to Lieutenant at the time, although he had still been Edward’s superior. A friendship of sorts had been struck up, and it was this that had brought about the new endeavour into protecting England from the spies and the criminals that infiltrated these parts. What worried Edward most were those who came from France, with the deliberate intention of finding out all they could of England’s weaknesses before returning home with the information. This was why he did not wish to use his title nor his connections with the ton in order to ensure that one young lady, as lovely as she was, remained silent. There was too much to do otherwise.
“You need not take a good deal of time over it,” Lieutenant James continued, when silence had crept between them for some moments. “You shall simply have to attend a few balls and the like and ensure that the lady is quite well and does not have the tendency for gossip.” He hesitated and looked a little more keenly into Edward’s face. “She did not make out your face, did she?”
“I do not think so,” Edward muttered, passing a hand over his eyes and realizing that he had very little choice but to do what the lieutenant suggested. It was, he supposed, a wise decision and certainly would ensure that the lady was both well and would remain silent about what she had witnessed. If, in mixing with the ton, he heard rumors and whispers about the man that had been murdered on a quiet London street, then he would know that she had not managed to remain quiet as she had promised.
“I am aware that you seek Ravel,” Lieutenant James said quietly. “He is still on your mind, is he not?”
Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, Edward gave him a jerky nod. One particular spy, going by the name of Ravel, had eluded Edward for many months, to the point that Edward almost believed him to be gone from England’s shores, if he were not dead. The man had come to their attention when he had been discovered stealing documents of vital importance from a peer of the realm who was involved in the war effort. Had he not eluded them, then Edward would have been able to capture him and discover what he knew, but the man was like a mouse, hiding and scurrying away without even the slightest sound. Whilst he had seen glimpses of him in London and whilst there had been reports of his movements in town, no one had ever managed to capture him. It was a very painful point, for Edward continued to feel that he had failed in his duties since he could not find Ravel and, therefore, was not ensuring that England’s shores were safe.
“I do not know where he could be,” Edward muttered, raking one hand through his thick, dark hair. “Surely such a man could not still be walking the London streets when not only I, but also many others, are searching for him?”
The lieutenant lifted one shoulder. “He is an excellent spy, Carroway. We must believe him to still be within England if we are to protect our King and our country. I know you wish to seek him out, but you must first ensure that this young lady is not telling her story to all and sundry! It is for her own protection as well as for our own.”
Edward nodded glumly, his gaze now fixed to the floor. “I understand,” he admitted, a trifle frustrated. “I shall do as you suggest.”
“We will find him, Carroway, never you fear,” the lieutenant said firmly, placing one hand on Edward’s shoulder. “But leave Ravel for the time being. Let us ensure that the murderer of Stirling is found and caught, before we think of him again. Even if Stirling had begun to turn against us, we have a responsibility to discover what was done to him and why.”
“Indeed,” Edward murmured, not liking to think of his friend turning his back on England and instead looking towards France. “I shall do so.”
“And I do not think that seeing this young lady again will be an unpleasant task,” the lieutenant finished with a grin. “After all, from your description of her, she seems quite tolerable.”
Edward swallowed hard, not wanting the lieutenant to see just how much he had been affected by the lady. Even now, when he recalled looking down into her face and seeing her eyes look back at him, hazy and unclear, his whole body jolted quietly. Her hair had been pinned carefully away from her face, with a few tendrils around her temples, and he had found himself wanting to brush his fingers through it so that h
e might feel its softness. It had been a very strange moment, for while he had been urgent in his need to seek assurances from her that she would not say to anyone what she had seen, he had also felt himself overwhelmed by the beauty of her. Given that he had not felt a single flicker of emotion for any other creature such as she before, it had been quite a remarkable moment.
“I shall take if from your silence that you agree it will be a pleasant task,” the lieutenant chuckled, lightening the atmosphere somewhat. “Very good, Carroway, very good. Then I wish you well with your foray back into society.”
