“Oh, darling, you can’t go on with this dangerous deception any longer. You don’t know when that insane creature will strike again. I think we should inform the law; have him arrested.”
“I’m the one they’d arrest. I broke the law by challenging him to a duel, and he’s so damned devious, he’d likely swear he fired in the air and I deliberately shot him and tried to kill him.”
Mr. Burke made a suggestion. “I’m sure that Adam Savage could put the fear of the devil into Bernard Lamb. He has a very powerful physique and looks totally dangerous and intimidating.”
“Adam Savage doesn’t believe me when I tell him Bernard Lamb sabotaged our boat and killed Anthony and that he’s still determined to become the next Lord Lamb. He was outraged over the duel and tells me he hasn’t the time or the inclination to get me out of any more scrapes.”
“From now on I think I’d better accompany you when you go wandering about London,” Mr. Burke said decisively.
“God Almighty, you’ll have me in leading strings,” she protested.
Roz put her head on one side. “Antonia, I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but you’ve changed since you’ve been on this voyage. They do say that travel broadens the mind, but it’s more than that. You’re more assertive, more sure of yourself. It’s as if you’ve suddenly become self-possessed and aware of your own power.”
Antonia’s lips went up at the corners. “I’ll never be the same again, thank God. I learned more about life and about myself in the last month than I learned in seventeen years.”
“Good Heavens, a girl usually doesn’t change that drastically until she marries and becomes a woman,” Roz mused.
Antonia clicked her heels together, gave them both a formal little bow from the waist, and said enigmatically, “Say no more.”
Chapter 30
Adam Savage did a very strange thing for a man who had purged a woman from his thoughts. His first act upon returning to London was to pay a visit to Watson and Goldman and ask them to find a young lady by the name of Ann Lambeth. He told them what little he knew of her and advised them to hire a man to trace her. He would pay whatever fees they asked and promised a generous bonus if they were successful in locating the lady.
Tony went about London cautiously. She stopped to gaze in the window of London’s most fashionable shoe shop at the St. James’s end of Pall Mall. She sighed over the green lace slippers with blue heels, then strolled on. As she passed White’s Club, she saw Colonel Dan Mackinnon and Sherry sitting in the bow window. They both hailed her as if she were their savior. Tony wasn’t a member of White’s, so her two friends came out to join her.
“Has the gossip over the duel blown over?” Tony asked bluntly.
“Silly old thing! As if we’d be hailing you from White’s window if you were still beyond the pale,” Sherry said, shoving a stack of papers beneath his arm. “I’m writing a new play. Perhaps you can help me out with names for my characters; that’s always the tricky part.”
“Let’s go and eat. I hear the Norris Street Coffee House in the Haymarket serves a curry fit for the gods,” Mackinnon suggested.
“Curry becoming popular, is it?” Tony asked, mentally adding it to the list of cargo she’d import.
“By the by, heard that Indian Savage fellow speak in the House yesterday. Usually the members lounge about sucking oranges and cracking nuts during the debates, but there was perfect silence when he spoke.”
Though Tony knew Savage had bought himself a seat in parliament, she was surprised he was making speeches. “What did he speak about?”
“Don’t recall. Actually I was a trifle foxed yesterday. It’s this infernal play that’s driving me to drink. Say, you wouldn’t mind if I called my main character Anthony, would you?” Sherry asked.
“Absolutely not,” Tony assured him.
“Anthony Absolute!” Sherry cried, as if he’d had an inspiration from his muse.
“By Satan,” Mackinnon said, dropping his fork and taking a large draft of ale, “I know curry is either mild or hot, but this stuff is Cauldron of Death!”
“Is Prince George still enamored of Maria Fitz?”
“Oh, God yes. They’re inseparable, joined at the hip,” Sherry mocked.
“Careful or you’ll end up in the pillories.” Mackinnon tittered.
“No bloody room. A chap was put in the stocks for referring to her as the Vice-Queen when rumors of their marriage circulated.”
Tony thought Vice-Queen was rather witty. Sherry shuffled about among his papers and handed a couple to Tony. “Read the latest lampoons.”
The first read:
Most gracious Queen we do implore