“You said you would contrive.”
“That’s right,” Badger said. “Mr. Spears wil
l see it done, Duchess. Don’t worry. With his lordship at less than his full strength, it should make things easier. Also, Lord Chilton is at Fontainebleau and thus won’t be in our way.”
She remarked to the heavy brocade draperies, so typically golden, and so typically French in their heaviness and opulence, “His lordship is incapable of making anything easier. It isn’t in his nature. If you both believe otherwise, you don’t know him well.”
9
IT WAS DARK. There was no moon, no stars to lighten the sky. Rain clouds bulged thick and heavy. Even as they spoke, it began to drizzle sullenly. There were no people on the Rue de Grenelle. A few candles were lit in the huge mansions, but not many.
Literary salons, she thought.
Men enjoying their wives or mistresses, Spears thought.
Mincing French chefs preparing menus, Badger thought.
The Duchess pulled her cloak more tightly about her neck. “No, don’t say it,” she said sharply to Badger. “I will not hang back and wait for you to whistle to me. I’m staying with you and I’ll hear no more about it. No more arguments.”
They walked the last few steps to the earl’s lodgings.
“He’s asleep,” Spears said, pointing to a third-floor window that was completely dark. “I didn’t give him all that much laudanum, but enough to send him into a stupor.”
“What if he can’t speak?”
“Don’t worry, Duchess,” Badger said. “We will sprinkle his lordship’s face with some of his mistress’s rosewater until he’s conscious enough to do what he’s told.”
She shot Badger a look, but held her tongue. Damn Marcus for making all this intrigue necessary. She realized, even as she damned him for it, that she was enjoying herself. Hugely.
“It is nearly three o’clock,” she said. “I have timed this two times now. Everything is on schedule. The official you bribed will be here in ten minutes. What is his name, Badger?”
“Monsieur Junot. A hungry little man with a wife and four children. He was pleased enough to accept your proposal. Strange as it sounds, since he’s a bloody Frog, I trust him.”
“He will see that everything is duly recorded in the public registry?”
“Indeed he will. You will have the papers, all signed right and tight.”
She nodded, stepping back for Spears to unlock the door. It made a prodigiously loud grinding noise. But Spears didn’t seem to be concerned. He stepped inside the dark entrance hall, paused, and listened. Then he walked toward the staircase to the left, the Duchess and Badger behind him. She stumbled once, her foot hitting a table leg. Another horrendous noise, but Spears, again, seemed not to be at all concerned.
They were midway up the narrow staircase, walking as quietly as vicars in a brothel, when suddenly a candle was shone in their faces from above them, and a man’s mocking voice said, each word in a loathsome drawl, “Well, well, do I have a quiver of thieves here? No, I daresay you, Spears, would not choose to rob me in the middle of the night.”
“My lord,” Spears said very gently, “do put down the gun. Perhaps your fingers aren’t all that steady at the moment.”
“Certainly they are. The two of you made enough noise to awaken the dead. Besides I wasn’t asleep. Is that you, Badger? Whyever—no, wait, there are three of you. Good God!”
Marcus simply went silent with surprise. “You,” he said at last. “May I inquire as to why you are here, in my lodgings, at three o’clock in the morning?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes, what, damn you?”
“You may inquire, if you wish.”
“You and Badger and Spears. Do I scent a conspiracy here? Surely not. What kind of conspiracy would bring together the three of you? Why Spears, are you that concerned that I won’t be able to afford your wages on my allowance? I showed you the draft from Mr. Wicks.”
“No, my lord, I’m not concerned, nor does our presence here have anything to do with robbing you, my lord. Now, may I suggest that I assist you back to bed? Surely your ribs are protesting. Are not your knuckles very sore tucked about that gun?”
Marcus said very slowly, enunciating each word, “I want to know what is going on and I want to know this instant. Not in the next instant, in this instant. Well, no, I want to know in the instant I designate. Now, let us go downstairs to the drawing room. Spears, you may lead the way and light some candles. Duchess, you’ve scarce opened your mouth—not that I expected you to in any case. As is your wont, you’ve merely sprinkled me with a mere smidgen of words. Badger, take her arm. I don’t wish her to go break her neck falling down my stairs. If there is any neck breaking to do, I will be the one to do it. Go, now, all of you.”