I jumped at the sound of a key rattling in the lock. Would Gabby have returned to the room? Surely Mr. Berry was not back this early in the evening. Even if he had tried to leave the Londonderrys', Cécile would have found a way to detain him. Desperate, I looked around for somewhere to hide. Using the wardrobe for such a purpose would be too obvious, and if, for some reason, Berry had returned, he would almost certainly open it to change his clothes. Panic filled me, and seeing that I had few options, I clutched the book and ducked behind the heavy velvet curtains. The door opened, and I heard footsteps too heavy to belong to the maid. They circled the sitting room slowly. Drawers opened and shut. Papers shuffled. Eventually, the steps moved to the bedroom. I stood as still as possible, hardly breathing, hoping that I would not be discovered. Whoever it was stopped in front of the wardrobe. More rummaging.
As the footsteps moved back to the sitting room, I could not resist peeking out from behind the curtain. I moved it slowly, just enough to look through the door into the other room, careful not to draw attention to myself. Colin Hargreaves stood not thirty feet away from me, carefully examining a piece of paper before putting it into his pocket.
8
My heart pounded against my chest so loudly that I worried he might hear it. This was foolish, of course, but I couldn't help it. I pressed against the window in an attempt to make myself as flat as possible. He was still in the sitting room but wasn't making any noise. An eternity seemed to pass before I heard his footsteps again. He came back to the bedroom, and it sounded as if he was looking under the bed and the mattress. He wants the book, I thought, wishing I'd had the sense to return it to the wardrobe before hiding. What should I do? Reveal myself?
I never had the opportunity to decide. All at once, the curtain was snapped away from me. With effort, I forced myself to meet Colin's eyes. "I've not before seen you so flustered," I said, hoping to deflect his anger with a smile. He grabbed me roughly by the arms.
"This is no time to joke. What are you doing here?"
"Apparently the same thing you are, although I suppose that had you arrived first you wouldn't have felt it necessary to hide when I entered the room."
"Emily, this is outrageous." His eyes flashed. "Wait for me in the lobby."
"I've already found that which you seek," I said, and handed him the book. "There's a list inside."
"Go downstairs."
"Not without you."
"We don't have time for this."
"Have you found anything useful? What was the paper you put in your pocket?"
"Nothing of consequence." He scrutinized the list of Marie Antoinette objects, then pulled out a small notebook and began scribbling furiously on it. When he finished, he replaced the list in the book and handed it back to me.
"What should I do with it?" I asked.
"Put it back where you found it."
I did as he directed, not liking at all the feeling of his being so displeased with me. The moment I closed the wardrobe door, he steered me firmly into the hallway, locking Mr. Berry's room behind us.
"How did you get a key?"
"Say nothing further, Emily. You've already done more than enough." I wanted to tell Gabby that we'd locked the door, but Colin's tight grip on my arm indicated that he was in no mood to sanction a trip down the back stairs. As we approached the guests' stairway, he released me. "It will not do for us to be seen leaving a hotel together. Return to your house at once and wait for me there."
Nearly an hour passed before he turned up at Berkeley Square, an hour that I spent wondering if I had gone too far in my investigations. Perhaps I was not so capable as I believed. I was filled with melancholy thoughts of self-doubt when Colin closed the door to my library behind him, and though he looked better composed than he had at the Savoy, his calm demeanor did little to hide his aggravation once he began to speak.
"I cannot believe that you would be so foolish as to — "
"Did you go back to Mr. Berry's room?" I interrupted, my confidence returning in the face of his rebuke.
"That is none of your concern."
"It most certainly is!"
"Never in my life would I have thought to find you sequestered in another man's hotel room."
I could not help but smile at this. "Not in another man's room? Should I take that to mean you have entertained the notion of finding me in yours?"
"Don't flirt with me, Emily." His tone was cold, but I detected the slightest beginning of a thaw in his dark eyes.
"But surely you and I wouldn't require hotels for clandestine meetings. After all, we're each in possession of two perfectly good houses — I've got three if you count the villa, though I suppose — "
"Have you any idea of the danger in which you placed yourself tonight?"
"I would never have gone had I not known that Mr. Berry was out for the evening. There was almost no chance that I would be caught."
"What if someone other than me had found you?"
"What gave me away?" I asked.
"No curtain could hide that dress entirely. Your skirts are too full."
I sighed. "And I thought the demise of the bustle had given me such freedom. I suppose I shall have to order a new wardrobe designed specifically to allow me to skulk about hotel rooms in search of clues."
"I'd rather that you leave your wardrobe out of it and abandon the enterprise altogether."
"Spoken like a husband," I said. He ignored this.
"Furthermore, you dropped this." He passed me a handkerchief that bore my monogram.
"It must have been tucked in my sleeve," I said, mortified by my carelessness. "I didn't even know I had it with me."
"What were you doing in Mr. Berry's room?" he asked. I showed him the letter I had found at Mr. Francis's and recounted my conversation with Mr. Berry.
"I am convinced there is a connection between the two men," I said.
"You may be right. I promise that I shall do everything in my power to find out."
"I've made the same promise to Mrs. Francis." I continued without letting him reply. "Why are you so interested in Mr. Berry? Is this something to do with your work for Buckingham Palace?"
"Yes, it is. I'm not at liberty to divulge details, so you will have to content yourself with the knowledge that Berry's political position may be more important to Britain than anyone would suspect."
"Because there's a plan in place to restore the French monarchy?" I asked.
"You are a very smart girl," he said, all the warmth back in his voice. An unexpected feeling of relief rushed over me, and I realized that his approval meant more to me than I thought it did. He picked up my hand and kissed my palm.
"Have you lifted the embargo on kissing?"
"This doesn't really count. It's just your hand." So pleasant was the feeling of his lips on my skin that I completely forgot Mr. Berry. "I don't suppose you'd let this investigation to me?"
"Ah, is this display of affection designed to trick me into agreeing to that?"
"Not entirely." He turned his attention to my other hand. "I don't imagine you'd be so easily manipulated."
"I wouldn't." I slipped a hand into his pocket and removed the paper he had taken from the Savoy. "You're as readily distracted as I am," I said, holding it up before him.
"Probably more so. Were you ever to use all your feminine wiles on me, I wouldn't stand a chance."
"What do you take this to mean?" I asked, then read the letter aloud. "'Sir: As you did not respond to my first letter, I am forced to write again to beg you to reconsider your public actions. I should like to speak with you. Would you come to me Tuesday in Richmond?' It's signed D. Francis."