“Did yer say somethin’, m’lady?” he asked as he popped through the door.
“Why, Crouch, how opportune that you should be just there as I was speaking aloud to myself. As you have asked, yes, I did say something. This letter you brought me — it’s quite baffling.”
Crouch adopted a pose that indicated unadulterated interest. “Bafflin’, m’lady? ’Twas sent to ye at Nethercote, but since yer ’ere, the steward ’ad it sent up by ’and.”
“Yes, I understand how it came to be forwarded to me, but what I’m baffled about is the letter’s contents. It tells me that if I should ride to London and call at a specific address in Kensington, I shall learn something of interest regarding my husband.”
Crouch frowned. “Someone wanted ye to ride from Nethercote to town? Why would someone be wantin’ that?”
Gillian tapped the edge of the note to her lips as she thought. “This letter must have been sent to me in order to draw me into finding Noble shackled to his mistress’s bed.”
Crouch frowned. “Well if that ain’t dicked in the nob.”
“Um…yes, possibly, depending, of course, on whose nob it is that has been dicked. The question is, who sent this? The person who waylaid his lordship, or someone else?”
Crouch blew out his cheeks and scratched his belly with his hook as he considered the question. “Don’t see ’ow anyone else could be knowin’ what ’appened to ’is lordship unless they was the cull what smushed ’im.”
Gillian blinked. “Ah, yes. I see your point. Only the smushing cull would have known where Noble could be found. But how would this cull know I was at Nethercote and not in town? Our removal to Nethercote wasn’t in the papers.”
Crouch sucked his lip. “That be a right good question, m’lady. A right good ’un.”
Gilliam beamed at him for a moment. “Well, we shall put our minds to the problem. In the mean time, I have a task for you, but you mustn’t tell Lord Weston about it.”
“Crikey, m’lady, ’is lordship’ll be ’avin’ my ’ead if I was to do somethin’ against ’is wishes.”
Gillian smiled. “It’s not against his wishes. That is, it would be if he knew about it, but he doesn’t, so that makes it all right. Do you see?”
Crouch groaned and rubbed his eyes with his good hand. “I’m afraid I do, m’lady. What is it yer wantin’ me to do, then?”
Gillian removed a slip of paper from beneath a letter she had been writing and handed it to him. “I want you to go to Bow Street and hire some of those Runner persons. A half dozen should do, I’d think. They should be armed, and if they aren’t, you should see that they are equipped with pistols. Or muskets — whichever you think best. Then you are to take the men to be fitted for livery, and bring them home. We’ll disguise them as footmen.”
“What are you wantin’ with a ’alf dozen armed Runner footmen?”
She gave the pirate butler a disgruntled look. “They’re not for me, Crouch, they are for his lordship. For protection. Noble is in danger, and since I have been forbidden to leave the house, you must be my legs and see to all the arrangements.”
Crouch thought briefly of telling her about the three Runners already in place in the house but decided against it. Lord Weston was angry enough with her at the moment — if he were to find out she had subverted his Runners into protecting him, there was no telling what he would do.
“Aye, m’lady, I’ll do my best, but I can make no promises that I’ll be able to ’ire any Runners.”
Gillian smiled a smile of pure sunshine that sent warmth clear down to Crouch’s toes. “All I ask is that you do your best, Crouch,” she said, turning back to her letter.
Charlotte sat in her bedchamber, staring into the mirror of her dressing table, her eyes unfocused and thoughtful.
“Very mysterious,” she murmured to herself in a thrilled voice.
“Lady Charlotte?” Her maid’s voice jolted her out of a reverie. “Lady Collins is asking for you. Shall I tell her you’re indisposed?”
“No, tell her I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
She glanced at the letter in her hand. “Oh, Penny, one moment — tell Will or one of the other footman I will have a letter for him to take to my cousin.”
She rose and went to a small writing desk, pulling out ink and quill, and while searching for a clean sheet of paper, she mused over the wording of her letter.
Dearest Cousin,
The enclosed was sent to me because the writer feared it would not make it to your hand. I do hope you meet him at the appointed time and place — I believe it would be to your benefit to hear what he has to say, Gillian. Do let me know if you need my assistance. Your loving cousin, Charlotte.
Her smooth brow furrowed for a moment as she called the maid back. “This is simply too good to miss. I wonder who I could cozen into going for a stroll with me…ah, Caroline! Just the person. Penny, I’ll have another note for the footman to deliver.”
“Charles, I have a letter I’d like you to deliver for me.”
“Certainly, Lady Weston.”
“The direction is on the front. You need not wait for a reply.”
Charles looked at the front of the paper and blanched.
“Charles? You aren’t going to faint again, are you? Are you well?”
“Oh, my lady, please don’t make me deliver this letter.”
“Whyever should you not?”
“Lord Weston’ll string me up by my nether bits, my lady. He surely will!”
“Nonsense. Your nether bits are perfectly safe in my hands. Lord Weston need not know anything about this unless you tell him. And you aren’t about to tell him, are you, Charles?”
Charles felt a cold, painful grip on his nether bits as he shook his head that no, he would not be telling Lord Weston anything. He was powerless against her ladyship’s smile and he knew it, but he hoped for the sake of his unborn children that the Black Earl would not discover what role he had played in the countess’s plan.
“Nick, you are not attending me. What is it you are finding so fascinating outside the window? Come, my boy, another hour and we shall take a stroll in the park and look at the flora and fauna.”
Nick sighed and, patting Piddle’s head, turned back to look at the book in front of him.
“Now as you can see, an equilateral triangle is one in which the length of all sides are equal. I shall draw one here for you, and assign a numerical value to one side. If we know the length of this side, what does it tell us about the lengths of the other two sides?”
Nick frowned at the triangle and muttered an expletive he’d heard his father use. Rogerson dropped the slate and stared.
“Where are you off to then, Crouch?”
“ ’Er ladyship’s off on one of ’er wild ’ares. She wants me to employ a couple of Runners for ’is nibs’s protection.”
“Does she really, now?” Deveraux rubbed his chin. “That’s most interesting. Does she know about his lordship’s newest footmen?” He nodded toward one of the Runners, currently engaged in chatting up one of the under parlor maids.
“No, I didn’t tell ’er. I figure if ’is lordship wants ’er to know about them, ’e’ll tell ’er.”
“You’re not actually going to go along with this wild scheme of hers, are you?”
“Aye,” Crouch said, slapping a powered wig onto his head, adjusting it so it sat at a rakish, dashing angle. “I’m thinkin’ it might not be a bad idea for ’is lordship to ’ave a bit of comp’ny when ’e’s out and about.”
“But, but—” the round little man sputtered. Crouch gave him a cheeky grin, saluted him with his hook, and sauntered down the back steps toward the mews.
“My lord, if you would allow me to call for my physician…”