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The man hesitated, then offered another nod. It seemed as if giving out any information at all pained him.
Daniel blinked. He realized that he hadn’t fully believed in this fantastic story until now, despite all the evidence.
“You will hand them over to us, along with every scrap of notes, at once.” The man held out an imperious hand. His eyes were hard, his mouth set.
Anger surged through Daniel. He felt himself squaring up, as if he’d stepped into a boxing ring for a bout.
The second gentleman from the Foreign Office stepped between them. “Your mother’s reports were a marvel,” he said. “Detailed, meticulous, and invariably proved accurate whenever we had an opportunity to test them with other sources. We didn’t know how she remembered it all. I can’t tell you how much she was admired.”
A thread of something like pride, or perhaps amazement, tempered Daniel’s rage. Here again was a glimpse of a very different parent than the one he remembered. Here was a reason for her many absences, if not an excuse. He found he didn’t want to relinquish all evidence of her exploits before he’d had a chance to adjust to these revelations. “If you have the reports, I don’t see why you need her notebooks.”
The first man snorted as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “Because they contain information that must remain secret,” he said.
“Not only facts, but when and how they were discovered,” added his companion solemnly. “That could have serious diplomatic consequences.”
“Nothing that can be understood without the key.” Daniel started to say that he would give them that, but he found that he remained reluctant. These strangers were asking for the sole link he had into his parents’ hidden life. He wanted some time to explore it. “I’ll consider your request.”
His unpleasant visitor took a step toward him. “It isn’t a request. It’s a demand from your sovereign’s government. You have no right to withhold these documents.”
Daniel felt a strong desire to punch the fellow. “If this is the Foreign Office’s idea of diplomacy, no wonder we’ve had years of war.”
“What would a pampered aristocrat like you know of war?” the man replied.
His companion pulled him aside, even as Macklin laid a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. Daniel struggled with his temper as the second Foreign Office representative remonstrated quietly with the first.
His efforts were shaken off. “This matter has been bungled from start to finish,” said the first man. “Dawson ought to have found these things after the woman’s death as he was sent here to do.”
It took Daniel a moment to absorb the implications of this remark. “You searched my home?” He hadn’t really heeded Miss Pendleton when she suggested that the trunks had been rifled. But she’d seen the truth.
The second man made a placating gesture. “When a…person in your mother’s position dies unexpectedly, it’s customary to make certain nothing sensitive is left behind,” he said.
“And rather thanaskingme—”
“We try to keep such information from wagging tongues,” interrupted the first man. “As should be blindingly obvious.”
Here was the attitude that had caused his parents to hide any hint of their activities from him, Daniel thought. “Get out,” he said. “Get out of my house.”
“Not without what we came for.”
The second man spoke before Daniel could consign him to perdition. “Please think about what we’ve said. This is a matter of great importance. We’ll come back tomorrow.” He gripped the other visitor’s arm and pulled him from the room.
“Insufferable,” said Daniel. “Intolerable.”
“He was.” Macklin looked thoughtful rather than annoyed. “And I’m curious about why the Foreign Office sent that particular agent. And gave him free rein to act with so little tact.”
“Tact! That fellow doesn’t know the meaning of the word.”
“Castlereagh has made mistakes,” Macklin replied. “But, really, he doesn’t employ graceless oafs. I suspect there was some calculation involved. Perhaps they thought they’d get more information by making you angry.”
“What?” Daniel turned to look at the older man.
“Thinking that in the heat of anger you would let things slip.”
“There is nothing tolet slip. We told them what we found.”
Macklin nodded. “Yes. But as I’ve said before, when you live in a world of suspicion, everything begins to look suspicious.”
“What could they possibly suspect meof?”
