"Yes, of course." She looked at him, her eyes grave with the acknowledgment of her responsibility. "I will guard her with my life, Harry."
Harry touched her cheek gently. "And you will take excellent care of yourself, too, hmmm?"
"Certainly."
"You and Meredith shall have a little help," Harry said. "I am sending you down to Dorset with an armed escort. The men will stay with you at Graystone until I get down there myself."
"An armed escort. Whatever does that mean, Harry?" Augusta was clearly startled.
"Less exciting than it sounds. I shall send a couple of grooms with you who have been in my service a long while. They both will be armed and they will know what to do if there is any trouble."
"She'll be safe enough at Graystone," Peter said. "In the country everyone knows everyone else and a stranger in the district will be noticed immediately. And then there are the dogs. No stranger will be able to get into the house without the dogs sounding an alarm."
"Exactly." Harry looked at Augusta. "And you will have Claudia for company."
Augusta smiled slightly. "I would not count on that. I seriously doubt that my cousin can be ready to travel by seven o'clock this morning."
"She will be ready," Peter vowed softly. "I want her out of Town as badly as Harry wants you out."
Augusta eyed him thoughtfully. "I see. I am certain Claudia will find the experience of being sent off at a moment's notice extremely interesting."
Peter shrugged, apparently unconcerned by the notion of a recalcitrant Claudia.
By seven o'clock the next morning, all was in readiness. Harry stood on the steps of the town house and said good-bye first to his daughter. Meredith was disappointed at having to leave the city and all its entertainments, but her father had explained there were matters at the estate which required Augusta's attention. She accepted that explanation, but nevertheless reminded him that she had not yet seen Vauxhall Gardens.
"You shall return shortly and I will take you there myself," he promised her.
Meredith nodded, satisfied. She hugged him fiercely. "That will be nice, Papa. Good-bye."
"Good-bye, Meredith."
Harry put his daughter into the big black traveling coach and then turned to meet Augusta, who was just coming down the steps. He smiled at her elegant dark green carriage dress and frivolous high-crowned bonnet. Trust Augusta to look stylish even when she was being hurriedly packed off to the country at seven in the morning.
"Is all well, then?" she asked as she came to a halt in front of him. She fixed him with a steady look, her eyes serious in the shadow of the bonnet.
"Yes. Your cousin will be waiting for you at her house. You shall all be on your way shortly. You will spend the night at an inn and be at Graystone tomorrow afternoon." Harry paused. "I shall miss you, Augusta."
She smiled tremulously. "And I shall miss you, my lord. We shall be awaiting your arrival down in Dorset. Please be very, very careful, Harry."
"I will."
She nodded and then, without any warning, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him full on the mouth right there in front of Meredith and the cluster of servants milling about the carriage. Harry started to fold her close, but it was too late. She was already pulling away.
"I love you, Harry," Augusta said.
"Augusta." Harry instinctively reached out for her, but she had already turned and stepped into the waiting coach.
Harry stood watching as the black and silver coach rumbled out into the street. For a long while he simply stood there, repeating Augusta's parting words over and over again in his mind. I love you, Harry.
It was, he realized, the first time she had ever actually said the words aloud. He knew now that a part of him had been waiting to hear them for a very long while.
I love you, Harry. The locked door hidden deep inside him opened wide and what lay behind it no longer appeared so bleak.
Dear God, but I love you, too, Augusta. I had not realized until this moment how much a part of me you have become.
Harry waited until the black coach was out of sight and then he went on up the steps and into his library. He sat down behind his desk and unfolded the list of names Sally had found. It did not take him long to decode them.
When he was done, he studied the eleven names. Some of the men on the list he knew had died in the war. Some he knew simply did not have the intelligence or temperament to have been the Spider. A few of the names he did not know at all. Peter no doubt would recognize them.
But it was the last name on the list that caught and held his attention.
He was still sitting there, staring at the last name, when Peter was shown into the library.
"Well, they're off, safe and sound," Peter announced as he sprawled in a chair. "I just came from putting Claudia into your coach. Meredith said to say good-bye to you again and to remember that in addition to Vauxhall, she would very much like to go back to Astley's."
"And Augusta?" Harry tried to keep his tone cool and restrained. "Did she have any further words for me?"
"Said to tell you again that she would take care of your daughter for you."
"She is very loyal," Harry said softly. "She is a woman a man can trust with his life or his honor or his child."
"Yes, she certainly is," Peter said with a knowing look. He leaned forward. "What have you found? Anyone interesting on that list?"
Without a word, Harry turned the decoded list of names around so that Peter could read them. He saw Peter's mouth thin as he reached the last one.
"Lovejoy." Peter looked up quickly. "Good God. It fits, doesn't it? No family, no past, no close friends. He has realized we are making inquiries. He tried to deflect us by making it appear Richard Ballinger was the Spider."
"Yes. He must have discovered that the list of members of the Saber Club had fallen into Sally's hands."
"He went to search for it. She was awake, waiting for us, and no doubt surprised him. So he killed her." Peter's hand closed into a fist. "The bastard." Peter sat back. "Well, sir? What is our first step?"
"It is past time I paid that second late-night visit to Lovejoy's library."
Peter cocked a brow. "I shall go with you. Tonight?"
"If possible."
But it was not possible. Lovejoy spent the evening entertaining male friends at home. Harry and Peter kept watch from a darkened carriage as the lights in Lovejoy's library stayed on until nearly dawn.
The next night, however, Lovejoy went out to his club. Harry and Peter entered the library through the window shortly before midnight.
"Ah, there is the globe safe you mentioned," Peter murmured, starting toward it.
"I think we can forget the globe." Harry peeled back the edge of the carpet. "Lovejoy made no secret of it when I came here to speak to him the morning after Augusta and I discovered her vowels in it. He probably uses it chiefly as a convenient storage place for minor valuables and perhaps as a decoy. The Spider will doubtless have a second, better-hidden treasure chest."
"I see what you mean. Nothing much in here." Peter had gotten the globe open and was peering inside. He closed it again and began systematically going over the paneling at the far end of the room.
Twenty minutes later, Harry found what he was searching for when he tripped the hidden lock mechanism in a floorboard.
"I think this is what we want, Sheldrake." Harry lifted a small metal box out of the flooring. He went still, as a footstep in the hall announced a servant who was probably sneaking in late after a visit to a tavern. "We had best examine this elsewhere."