Preston Richards read the note and put it on his "sort of peculiar" stack. Which was a large one.
Jacques-Pierre Dumais, after trying several other options, set Boucher and Turpin to lettering signs. Even this had required quite a bit of explanation-especially the need for waterproof paint on placards that men would be carrying outdoors in a town where it often snowed, sleeted, or rained. Particularly in late February and early March.
He reminded them that the demonstration would take place on March fouth.
"Why not just wait for a sunny day, if the weather's bad?" Boucher asked.
"We have a set schedule to follow."
"It would be cheaper to wait for a sunny day. The paint mixed with lac costs more than twice as much as the plain tempera."
It occurred to Boucher that if they just brushed a little raw egg white over letters painted with tempera, it would look shiny, like lac paint. Dumais would never know the difference. What's more, they could scramble the yolks and eat them. And buy a couple of bottles of the local wine from Winzerla, up by Jena, to drink with the eggs, with the money they saved at the paint store.
Their living conditions improved.
"I don't know," Jacques-Pierre Dumais said to Friedrich Klick. "Holloway has sent me a number of people, just as he promised, but your group from Halle is the single largest. Even if everyone we've given a retainer so far shows up, there won't be many more than fifty men taking part in the demonstration."
"They are reliable, though," Klick said. "We have practiced with the placards and the shouts. They will do as you tell them."
Dumais nodded. "I just wish that we had a few more, though."
Totally forgetting the maxim that a man should be careful what he wishes for.
Scotland
"This is damnable-this latest report from Guillaume."
"It goes into considerable detail in regard to the desired assassinations of which we reminded him last time."
Delerue spat on the floor. "What has he done, really? The whole tenor of this report is that we should not be overly disappointed if the effort to destroy Richelieu by assassinating those major figures and attributing the actions to France should fail. He devotes five times as many lines to describing the strong security in place as he does to explaining how he intends to circumvent it."
"A thorough understanding of the obstacles in one's path is a virtue in itself."
Delerue snorted. "He's losing his edge, Michel."
"Let's not be hasty. I will read the report again."
"What do you think?"
"Antoine is just being irritable. The security analysis that Guillaume sent is realistic. Therefore, it is useful."
"One thing caught my eye." Mademann picked up the report.
"Yes?"
"Here, Michel, on the seventh page. The mention of how insignificantly Gustavus Adolphus' queen features in all these security arrangements. She is living in Stockholm; going about her daily routine. No significant variations to throw off observers. No significant effort to avoid surveillance. Only the ordinary palace guards."
Ducos nodded. "Gustavus even allows her, it is believed, an uncensored correspondence with her brother Georg Wilhelm, the elector of Brandenburg. With whom he will soon be at war. That, in itself, shows how far she has been relegated to the margins of important political developments."
"It shows it to those of us who care. But, how many ordinary people really care? In Sweden or in the USE? They read the newspapers. The queen went here; the queen wore this; the queen held a reception. Or speculation. Will the queen visit Denmark? Will the queen soon join her daughter Kristina in Magdeburg? For public consumption, certainly, Gustavus Adolphus treats her with the greatest respect. How is this unlearned 'popular opinion' to conclude that she is supernumerary?"
"So you are suggesting? A trip to Stockholm, perhaps?"
"I would not be averse to the idea. Scotland is beginning to pall on me."
Ducos considered the matter for a moment. "At the very worst, if Locquifier should fail in the matter of Gustavus Adolphus and he survives, there is another possibility. It is irrational for a monarch who has only one heir, and female at that, to refuse to divorce a wife who can never bear another child. There may be some level of sentiment involved in his attitude toward Maria Eleonora. If Guillaume fails with him, but succeeds with one or more of the other targets, the death of his queen in Sweden would at a minimum demand his attention. Perhaps cause him actual grief."
"From a marksman's perspective, 'fuzz up' his focus on pursuing the culprits in the USE."
"There is always the possibility that you might be caught. What cover do you intend to use?"
Mademann smiled. "Why, none. In the case of such a misfortune, the capture of an Alsatian Lutheran subject of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar should provide the Swedes with a nice red herring directing their intelligence forces away from the activities of French Calvinists." He raised an eyebrow. " Non?"
"True," said Ducos. "But be careful. Take no unnecessary risks, even if that means postponing any action. There is no need for this to be co-ordinated with anything else."
Chapter 41
Grantville
Pam Hardesty's apartment was a handy place to meet. Much more convenient than going out to Lothlorien, especially now that Bill Hudson was around so much of the time. Cory Joe had asked her to set something up the next time he came from Magdeburg. She was sitting on the end of the sofa now, frowning.
Missy was looking at Ron. She hadn't expected anything for Valentine's Day. She seriously doubted that Ron had even noticed that it was Valentine's Day. What she had just gotten had nothing to do with Valentine's day. He had made her an offer that was an honor in a way. He trusted her. But it was an honor that she would much rather refuse.
"You seriously want me to do that?"
"There's enough local rumbling about these anti-Semitic groups in a dozen towns around. We really need to know if they can be expected to try something in Grantville. Missy, honest, I hate to ask this. I tried to tell them that I didn't like the idea at all. I knew that it would not really be your thing. Your uncle Wes doesn't like it, either. It's Don Francisco Nasi's idea. He thinks that if you could pick up an acquaintance with this Dumais guy? Something superficial. Play 'ditzy sympathizer' for a while? Everyone knows that early on, your dad supported Simpson instead of Stearns."
"Yow," he protested against a ferocious attack with a sofa pillow. "I'm not saying that Chad's a bad guy. Just that he did, back when, even if he's changed over, since then. Cory Joe says that it would give you 'plausibility.' " He looked at Cory Joe, hoping for assistance. "Or his boss says it, and Cory Joe is just passing on the message?"
"I am not," Missy said flatly, "all that much of a risk taker."
The sentence sat between them. It had come up in other contexts.
"I particularly do not want to take the risks that would come up if I had to deal with some of those guys who hang out around the 250 Club. I'm not a wilting lily, but some of them are really rough."
"I could go with you," Pam said. "Two would be better. And that way, we wouldn't even have to go to the 250 Club."
Cory Joe raised his eyebrows at his sister. "How?"
"Veda Mae Haggerty. The Willard. Dumais is there with her, sometimes."
Missy looked up with obvious relief. So did Ron.
"I could hack that, I think," Missy said. "Willard Carson is a stinkeroo, but the hotel is a perfectly respectable place. I could play a 'ditzy sympathizer' in the hotel dining room, I think. I don't even want to be in the 250 Club."
"I'll start with Veda Mae," Pam said. "You'll be with me sometimes. Is that better?"
"It's a lot better," Missy said.
"Don Francisco has sent some stuff for you to study. Basic guidance, more or less."