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Shaken by the intensity of his tone, Penelope made the mistake of meetinghisgaze. And then she couldn’t look away. Breathing suddenly seemed far more difficult.
“Because they all have black and brown spots on their backs?” asked Kitty. She squinted. “Huh, the shapes are alike.”
“Perhaps that’s it,” said Penelope when she could find her voice.
“There’s a brindled cat over at the farm,” Kitty added. “I wonder if they’d take to her, too?”
Whitfield laughed. The sound—deep and warm and easy—seemed to shiver across Penelope’s skin. It drew a grin from Kitty, who showed no sign of going about her duties.
The sound of hooves heralded a vehicle approaching the barn—Foyle returning, no doubt. Half an hour ago, she’d been noting her lack of staff, Penelope thought. Now there seemed to be all too many of them. She led the way outside and found her conclusion correct. Foyle had returned. Moreover, Mrs. Hart sat beside him in the gig.
Kitty went to crouch over her fallen basket, exclaiming over one broken egg. “But I couldn’t let Sam hit Jip, could I?”
Foyle drew up in front of them. He scowled at Lord Whitfield. “What are you all doing out here?”
“Jip and Jum have a-dopted a goat,” Kitty told the newcomers.
Foyle turned his glare on her. “What sort of nonsense are you spouting now, girl?”
As Kitty related events, Foyle climbed down and turned to help Mrs. Hart. “And so we’re buying the goat,” the girl finished.
Foyle frowned at Penelope. She shrugged and nodded. The man shook his head as if he thought himself surrounded by lunatics.
Mrs. Hart reached into the gig for a bundle set behind the seat. “I’ve brought the chicken,” she said. “Mr. Foyle passed me walking and kindly offered me a lift.” When Penelope said nothing, she added, “You wanted to learn how to pluck fowls, miss.”
“The deuce you did!” exclaimed Lord Whitfield.
Mrs. Hart’s interested gaze shifted to him. “I’ve said over and over that I’m happy to do it myself, my lord.”
“I’m sure you have.”
Foyle turned his scowl back on the visitor. Kitty, too, seemed to be waiting for some intriguing new twist in their ridiculous saga.
“I should be on my way,” Whitfield said.
Under the current circumstances, Penelope had to agree. As she watched him ride away, she was acutely aware that she hadn’t found out what he mustn’t do. But she vowed that she would.
Fifteen
Daniel took a roundabout route back to Frithgerd, enjoying the idea that he would soon be seeing the enchanting Miss Pendleton again. And again. Even now, after just a few minutes, he was craving the company of this indomitable young lady. Who else would buy a goat for her dogs? As he rode up the drive to his home, Daniel smiled at the memory of the scene he’d just witnessed. Leaving his horse at the stable, he wondered if she would come tomorrow. Surely she would.
Inside, he was greeted by the news that two strangers had arrived and were talking with Macklin in the drawing room. Joining them, Daniel discovered that the answer to Macklin’s inquiry at the Foreign Office had come more rapidly than either of them had expected.
The two very serious gentlemen flanking his houseguest looked more like war-hardened military officers than Foreign Office functionaries, but they bore a letter of introduction from Castlereagh himself, along with a request to give them all assistance. The document did not mention their names.
As soon as Daniel had looked the letter over, one of the men said, “We’ve come to take charge of the materials mentioned in Lord Macklin’s message.”
“Take charge?” Daniel didn’t care for his tone. The fellow sounded like a supervisor addressing a bumbling subordinate.
“Take them away, you mean?” asked Macklin.
He received only a brisk nod in reply.
“They were written by my mother,” said Daniel.
“In order to produce reports for the Foreign Office, to which they now belong.”
Once again, the man spoke as if the two noblemen were servants and he an impatient master. His companion put a hand on his arm, but the gesture had no effect that Daniel could see. Still, he had to ask. “She did travel for His Majesty’s government then? To gather information.”
