Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Despite what her aunt said, Phoebe expected a cascade of questions from Keriah’s sister when they went to implore her to leave town in the middle of the Season. At the very least, incredulity and resistance to the very thought of not attending the events to which they had sent in their acceptances.
Phoebe sat stiffly on Lady Stoude’s sofa for approximately five minutes while Keriah gave a rambling and vague explanation about being in some small danger—but not too much danger, so that her sister need not be concerned—and perhaps that she might have gotten into a minor altercation with some men from the Home Office—but it really was not so very serious, lest her sister think that she was in danger of being arrested.
But because of her concerns, she thought perhaps it might be best for Lord and Lady Stoude to travel to their country estate a few weeks early this year.
Phoebe fought hard not to groan in dismay.
Lissa sat in a chair across from Keriah, her green-gray eyes wide and a charming smile still on her face.
And Phoebe’s enhanced sense of hearing could tell that it was not an act—strangely, during Keriah’s “explanation,” Lissa’s heartbeat had not increased in any appreciable way.
Keriah’s sister had always had a rather …
unrestrained personality, but surely a normal person would fall into confusion, incredulity, dismay, perhaps even launch into a litany of objections.
“My dear Keriah,” Lissa said, “you have made quite a hash of your explanation, but I think I understand the most important bits. You and Phoebe have got into some sort of scrape, but Lady Wynwood is somehow helping you to resolve it, is that correct?”
“Um … I suppose?” Keriah looked torn between explaining herself more fully and keeping her tongue so she wouldn’t start prattling about secret treasonous groups and clandestine government agencies and poisonous potions and Napoleon’s physically-enhanced soldiers who might come storming onto English soil.
“I admit that I would normally be quite alarmed at the trouble into which you have become mired, for it seems beyond your normal mischief,” Lissa said.
“But I have spoken with Jeremy about it often these past few weeks, and apparently, these are the kinds of larks expected of your friend Mr. Coulton-Jones. Lady Wynwood mentioned you have spent more time in his company lately,” she added in a bored tone, almost as an afterthought.
She did? Phoebe exchanged a helpless look with Keriah, unsure how to respond.
“All this is beyond my understanding,” Lissa said with a languid sigh, but Phoebe could tell, from the barest tightening of the skin around her eyes, that it was all an affectation, and her words were a complete lie.
“So you wish for us to leave town early because you fear some of the consequences of your actions might splash upon us? Gossip is not mud—it does not truly stain.”
She was being remarkably calm about this, and Phoebe supposed she ought to be thankful for it, but she still felt as though she were in a particularly vivid dream that made very little sense. “It may not be merely gossip. Apparently, some government officials were involved …”
“Jeremy never likes to boast, but he has some acquaintances within the Home Office. He has nothing to fear from government officials, or clerks, or agents.”
She said this with a vapid smile, but Phoebe’s entire body felt as though it had been showered with ice-cold water. It took another second for Keriah to realize what her sister had said, and she visibly stiffened.
“But I can understand why you might be concerned,” Lissa said thoughtfully. “And I would do anything to ease the fears of my younger sister. Very well.”
Phoebe blinked. “Do you mean to say that you intend to leave town?”
“Yes, didn’t I say so? And to be honest, it has become tiresome ever since I received the invitation to the Regent’s fete.”
“That was last night, was it not?” Phoebe asked.
She had forgotten all about it. Her aunt had also received an invitation, but since it had been sent to her townhouse, which she had vacated four weeks ago, she had not seen it.
She would have refused the invitation, in any case, since she was in hiding from the Citadel.
“It was an affair of excessive grandeur,” said Lady Stoude with some disgust, ignoring the fact that her husband was quite as wealthy as the Prince Regent and some of his expenditures might be considered nearly as opulent.
“Everyone of my acquaintance has been calling to ask about it, and I have had to instruct the butler to turn them away at the door.”
“Will Lord Stoude also wish to leave town?” Phoebe asked.
“Oh, certainly. Jeremy may wish the country air even more than I.” Lady Stoude looked at Aunt Laura’s letter lying open on her lap.
“Lady Wynwood’s suggestion is certainly intriguing.
It is not at all fashionable, but there is something romantic about a small cottage.
I do not believe Jeremy has lived in any abode smaller than a hunting lodge. ”
Phoebe had not seen the cottage which her aunt’s solicitor had found, but a year or two before she left the schoolroom, she had been forced encouraged to help her aunt’s servants clean a country home her aunt had recently purchased, and she felt obligated to warn Lissa.
“I am sure the cottage will be quite comfortable after the servants have prepared it for you.”
Lissa glanced at the letter again. “Ah, yes, her ladyship did mention she would send servants bearing letters of recommendation.”
The morning after escaping from the Ramparts, Phoebe and the team had slept two or three hours while her aunt had written to the Senhora.
The two women had made arrangements for the safety of Keriah’s sister and Mr. Coulton-Jones’s mother.
The Senhora would send servants to be hired by Lady Stoude and Mrs. Coulton-Jones, who would not only serve them but also protect them, to an extent.
“I do hope the home and servants will be to your liking.” Phoebe did not think Lissa would be so fastidious, but this was quite an unusual situation.
Lissa smiled vaguely at her. “I doubt your aunt would suggest a home in any state of disrepair. However, if the rooms are too uncomfortable, we are long overdue for a visit to Jeremy’s aunt, who lives only seventy miles distant.
” Her smile hardened, and she could not quite hold back her grimace.
“His aunt is terribly tedious, but we have not yet seen his cousin’s new babe, and I would very much like to play with it before it is old enough to retort back to me. ”
Keriah looked relieved. Whether her sister traveled to the cottage they were suddenly recommended to purchase or to Lord Stoude’s cousin, it would be far better than if they traveled back to Stoude Manor, where the Citadel could surely find them just as easily as if they had remained in London.
And with the servants sent by the Senhora, they would have protection wherever they settled for the next few months.
And if it took longer for the team to stop the Citadel … Phoebe shuddered to think what would happen if they failed and the Root was sold to Napoleon.
Phoebe had expected to enter into a round of arguments with Lord Stoude, but perhaps he was more weak to his wife’s whims than the stoic exterior he presented to the world.
She did not know what Lissa said to her husband, but within twenty minutes, the servants in the household had begun the process of preparing the house to be shut up.
Lissa’s lady’s maid and Lord Stoude’s valet must have also been prodigiously swift, because by the time one of the servants had fetched a hackney for Phoebe and Keriah, the traveling coach was already pulling up in front of the house.
Just before Lissa entered the vehicle, she turned to Keriah with a sweet smile that contrasted with her ice-cold gaze.
“And when next I see you, Keriah dear, you shall tell me who dared to injure your lovely face. I would be most interested in having a lengthy conversation with them.”
Her tone somehow sent a shiver down Phoebe’s spine.
But the next moment, she had disappeared inside the coach. Within a few minutes, the vehicle lumbered down the street on its way out of town, and they weakly waved goodbye.