AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fourteen
Florent knew himself for a fool. He had no reason to harbour any sort of suspicions toward Lady Constance. Just because Mr. Wagner claimed previous knowledge of her did not mean either of them were involved in this smuggling scheme that Foster and Gilbert were bringing to the attention of the landowners in the area.
Smugglers in the county was certainly a worry, though, just as his sister had pointed out. They were trying to cultivate cotton at Alcott. Smugglers bringing in the same product in order to avoid the import taxes could greatly impact his profits and those of the others who had decided to try the exotic crop like he had. Some of his neighbours had imitated him and started small, to see if they could make a success of it. He had taken the greatest risk as this was his second year of trying it and had decided to plant extra fields with the finicky crop. So far it was thriving, and he had reason to be confident.
The English thirst for velvet was going to keep him in the cotton business if he could keep the fragile plants alive. But not if smugglers undermined him with bounty from another land where it grew more easily and cheaper. Even if they caught these criminals, there would be more following in their wake. It was always the way of the underworld.
This wasn’t like bringing in French brandy. Many in England were now trying to grow cotton, whereas no one was really able to successfully replicate the French liquor. Besides, the brandy was the sort of thing many had brought in for their own use. From what Daisy told him of what she had witnessed on the beach, it sounded to Florent as though there were many bales of cotton, perhaps enough to impact his own trade since it was unlikely what his sister had found was the first or only shipment. He was never that lucky.
He couldn’t wait to discuss the matter more thoroughly with the earl, as well as his own father. They would be sure to have a level-headed view of the matter.
It didn’t really matter if Lady Constance was involved with any plots or not, Florent assured himself. Such an exotic flower was not for him anyway, so it was merely a matter of interest, not a matter of the heart. With a slight smile and a shake of his head, Florent realized his thoughts had become missish. Perhaps he had already spent too much time with debutants, and he had only been at Everleigh a couple of days.
The day after the big revelation as to what Foster and Gilbert, two of Lord Adelaide’s brothers, were investigating, most of the guests went off to explore some old Roman ruins on one of Everleigh’s properties while Florent, Gilbert, and Adelaide accompanied the Customs Agents to the caves where Foster and Daisy had seen the smuggled cotton bundles.
“I still can’t believe your brother allowed my sister to involve herself in this,” Florent complained to Gilbert as they rode.
“You don’t know much about your sister if you’re saying something like that,” Gilbert countered with a chuckle.
Florent laughed, too. “I suppose he couldn’t have stopped her. But one of you ought to have warned me what was going on.”
“There wasn’t time or opportunity. By the time you were around, Foster had already handed the matter back to me, and it was no longer truly a concern for your sister, nor something you needed to worry about.”
“And yet here we all are traipsing about the moors heading to explore some caves,” Florent pointed out. “Clearly it is something that affects me, my family, and my lands.”
Gilbert laughed again. “My apologies, old chap, I was referring to your sister, not the cotton. Daisy is Foster’s to worry about now.”
Florent’s stomach seemed to drop out from the bottom of him. He didn’t much care for even an old friend claiming ownership of his sister.
“Better don’t let her hear that,” Florent warned but Gilbert only chuckled again.
“It seems to me both your sister and my brother are quite happy with their new ownerships. Just as Daisy now belongs to Frost, he belongs to her. That is the way it ought to be, and you should be happy for it.”
Inexplicably, Florent wanted to plant his old friend a facer and he couldn’t decide if it was caused by an urge to protect his sister or if it was jealousy motivated. In either case, he moved away from Gilbert and hurried to catch up to Adelaide and the Customs Agent who seemed to be in charge of the whole matter.
“I cannot guarantee that we’ll catch anyone or everyone, my lord,” Florent heard the agent saying. “With all of us traipsing around, it is sure to have become known to the criminals.”
“But my brothers have identified some of the locals involved. Surely you can question them.” Adelaide would brook no argument nor any failure to clear out his lands, it would seem. Florent wanted to applaud such an attitude.
“Of course, we will, I just cannot guarantee the success rate.”
“You are not filling me with confidence in our Majesty’s ability to hire capable men for the tasks assigned,” Adelaide commented drily, making the agent cringe.
“Leave off, Adelaide,” Gilbert called out to his brother. “Everyone will do the best they can, and we’ll get the matter sorted one way or the other. It may not be immediate. But it will be taken care of, you have my word.”
Florent’s sharp gaze fastened on his childhood friend. “You seem more invested in this than I would have expected.”
Gilbert just grinned and didn’t explain himself further.
Florent caught back up to his noble neighbour, Adelaide. “If I understand their strategy correctly, they plan to try to catch the criminals in the act of clearing out their bounty from here. But if that doesn’t work or if they don’t catch everyone, which is the most likely scenario to my mind, then they will leave some of their agents in the area to continue the investigation. It is likely that they will move off from Everleigh lands and probably leave Alcott alone too after they’re caught here. But whatever is left over of the gang will regroup and move somewhere nearby, most likely. Criminals aren’t usually terribly hard working nor remarkably intelligent, from what little I know of the underbelly of mankind. They will stick with what they know and understand which, unfortunately in this case, means they know these parts, so that tells us some of our neighbours are involved.”
Florent understood Adelaide’s reasoning and his heart sank at the thought of his neighbours being criminals. Or even perhaps some of his tenants. That would be the worst. It would feel like a personal betrayal.
“You’re being quieter than usual,” Lord Adelaide commented from atop the horse at his side.
“I’m just pondering what we think we’re going to accomplish when we get to this cove the agents have been guarding. I have to admit to you, Adelaide, I think we might have been foolish for coming on this errand. Your brother and his associates seem to have the matter well in hand. We should have accompanied the others.”
“Are you really that eager to explore a bunch of mouldering old stones, Florent?” Adelaide demanded, laughter lurking in his tone.
