‘Yes. . I’m here. What. . what is going on?’
‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘But I have a great fear that he has been placed there precisely because he cannot possibly cope with whatever atrocity is being planned. He has no experience in this kind of leadership. He has not the deviousness, nor the subtlety of judgement to make the necessary unpleasant decisions. And there is no one there whom he can trust, which at least he knows. I am afraid he is quite appallingly alone, exactly as someone has designed he should be. His remarkable record of success as a policeman, and as a solver of crimes within Special Branch jurisdiction, will justify his being placed in your position. No one will be held to blame for choosing him. .’
‘You mean he’s there to take the blame when this storm breaks,’ Narraway said bitterly.
‘Precisely.’ Vespasia’s voice cracked a little. ‘Victor, we must beat this, and I have very little idea how. I don’t even know what it is they plan, but it is something very, very wrong indeed.’
She was brave; no one he knew had ever had more courage. She was clever and still beautiful; but she was also growing old and at times very much alone. Suddenly he was aware of her vulnerability: of the friends, and even the lovers she had cared for passionately, and lost. She was perhaps fifteen years older than he. Suddenly he thought of her not as a force of society, or of nature, but as a woman, as capable of loneliness as he was himself.
‘Do you remember the hostelry where we met Somerset Carlisle about eight years ago? We had the most excellent lobster for luncheon?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she said unhesitatingly.
‘We should meet there as soon as possible,’ he told her. ‘Bring Pitt. . please.’
‘I shall be there by midnight,’ she replied.
He was startled. ‘Midnight?’
‘For heaven’s sake, Victor!’ she said tartly. ‘What do you want to do, wait until breakfast? Don’t be absurd. You had better reserve us three rooms, in case there is any of the night left for sleeping.’ Then she hesitated.
He wondered why. ‘Lady Vespasia?’
She gave a little sigh. ‘I dislike being offensive, but since I assume you escaped from. . where you were, that you have little money, and I dare say are in less that your usually elegant state, you had better give my name, as if you were booking it for me, and tell them that I shall settle when I arrive. Better if you do not give anyone else’s name, your own, or Thomas’s.’
‘Actually Charlotte had the foresight to pack my case for me, so I have all the respectable attire I shall need,’ he replied with the first flash of amusement he had felt for some time.
‘She did what?’ Vespasia said coolly.
‘She was obliged to leave the lodgings,’ he exclaimed, still with a smile. ‘She did not wish to abandon my luggage so she took it with her. If you don’t know me better than that, you should at least know her!’
‘Quite so,’ she said more gently. ‘I apologise. Indeed, I also know you. I shall see you as close to midnight as I am able to make it. I am very glad you are safe, Victor.’
That meant more to him than he had expected, so much more that he found himself suddenly unable to answer. He replaced the receiver on its hook in silence.
Pitt was at home, sitting at the kitchen table beginning his supper when Minnie Maude came into the room. Her face was pink, her eyes frightened, her usually untamed hair pulled even looser and badly pinned up at one side.
‘What’s the matter?’ Pitt said, instantly worried as well.
Minnie Maude took a deep breath and let it out shakily. ‘There’s a lady ’ere ter see yer, sir. I mean a real lady, like a duchess, or summink. Wot shall I do wif’ ’er, sir?’
‘Oh.’ Pitt felt a wave of relief wash over him, like warmth from a fire on cold flesh. ‘Show her in here, and then put the kettle on again.’
Minnie Maude held her guard. ‘No, sir, I mean a real lady, not jus’ some nice person, like.’
‘Tall and slender, and very beautiful, in spite of the fact that she isn’t young any more,’ Pitt agreed. ‘And eyes that could freeze you at twenty paces, if you step out of line. Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould. Please ask her to come into the kitchen. She has been in here before. Then make her a cup of tea. We have some Earl Grey. We keep it for her.’
Minnie Maude stared at him as if he had lost his wits.
‘Please,’ he added.
‘Yer’ll pardon me, sir,’ Minnie Maude said shakily. ‘But yer look like yer bin dragged through an ’edge backwards.’
Pitt pushed his hand through his hair. ‘She wouldn’t recognise me if I didn’t. Don’t leave her standing in the hall. Bring her here.’
‘She in’t in the ’all, sir. She’s in the parlour,’ Minnie Maude told him with disgust at his imagining she would do anything less.
‘I apologise. Of course she is. Bring her here anyway.’
Defeated, she went to obey.
Pitt ate the last mouthful of his supper and cleared the table as Vespasia arrived in the doorway.
‘I always liked this room,’ she observed. ‘Thank you, Minnie Maude. Good evening, Thomas. I am sorry to have interrupted your dinner, but it is unavoidable.’
Behind him Minnie Maude skirted around her and put the kettle onto the hob. Then she began to wash out the teapot in which Pitt’s tea had been made, and prepare it to make a different brew for Vespasia. Her back was very straight and her hands shook just a little.
Pitt did not interrupt Vespasia. He held one of the hard-backed kitchen chairs for her to be seated. She declined to take off her cape.
‘I have just heard from Victor,’ she told him. ‘On the telephone, from a railway station not far from the city. Charlotte was with him, and perfectly well. You have no need to concern yourself about her health, or anything else. However, there are other matters of very great concern indeed. Matters that require your immediate and total attention.’
‘Narraway?’ His mind raced. She was being discreet, no doubt aware that Minnie Maude could hear all they said. It would be cruel, pointless and possibly even dangerous to frighten her unnecessarily. Certainly she did not deserve it, apart from the very practical matter that he needed her common sense to care for his household and, most importantly, his children — at least until Charlotte returned. And, he admitted, he rather liked her. She was good-natured and not without spirit. There was something about her not totally unlike Gracie.
‘Indeed.’ Vespasia turned to Minnie Maude. ‘When you have made the tea, will you please go and pack a small case for your master, with what he will need for one night away from home. Clean personal linen and a clean shirt, and his customary toiletries. When you have it, bring it downstairs and leave it in the hall by the bottom step.’
Minnie Maude’s eyes widened. She blinked, as if wondering whether she dare confirm the orders with Pitt, or if she should simply obey them. Who was in charge?
They were giving the poor girl a great deal to become accustomed to in a very short while. Pitt smiled at her. ‘Please do that, Minnie Maude. It appears I shall have to leave you. But also, I shall return before too long.’
‘You may be extremely busy for some time,’ Vespasia corrected him. ‘It is a very good thing that Minnie Maude is a responsible girl. You will need her. Now let us have tea and prepare to leave.’
As soon as the tea was poured and Minnie Maude was out of the room Pitt turned to Vespasia. The look on his face demanded she explain.
‘It is a conclusion no longer avoidable that both you and Victor were drawn away from London for a very specific purpose,’ she said, sipping delicately at her tea. ‘Victor was put out of office, with an attempt to have him at least imprisoned in Ireland, possibly hanged. You were lured away from London before that, so you, as the only person at Lisson Grove with an unquestionable personal loyalty to him, and the courage to fight for him, would not be there. He would be friendless, as indeed he was.’
Pitt would have interrupted Narraway to ask why, but he did not dare interrupt Vespasia.