Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
“What do you mean you’re going to London? What for?” Amelia demanded truculently as Silas carried his and Helena’s bags to the carriage.
He should have anticipated this reaction, but he had been… distracted.
“And why can’t I come?” she yelled.
“I’m sorry, dear sister, but this trip is just for my wife and me.”
“And what am I to do while you’re off gallivanting in the city?” Amelia wailed. “Helena!” she cried and began to run.
Silas turned to see his wife emerging from the house, dressed in a riding habit, her hair neatly tucked beneath a hat. She stopped short as Amelia screamed her name, her eyes widening in alarm.
“What is it?” she asked his sister.
Silas sighed, shaking his head and storing the bags as Amelia launched into a long explanation as to why it was a gross injustice to leave her behind.
“I’m sorry, Amelia. I do hate to leave you alone, but it’s for the best,” Helena said soothingly, much to Silas’s relief.
He didn’t know what he would have done if Helena wanted to bring Amelia along.
“Oh!” Amelia said suddenly in a new tone. “Is this your honeymoon?”
Helena spluttered, her face reddening, looking to Silas for rescue. He just smiled, amused by her discomfiture.
“Yes,” he declared to Amelia, “it’s our honeymoon.”
She immediately subsided with apologies. “I didn’t realize.” She turned and hugged Helena. “Have a good time,” she said before tripping down the stairs to embrace Silas as well, much to his shock.
He put his arms around her and squeezed, then kissed her forehead. “I shall be sure to bring you a present,” he promised.
She waved a hand airily. “Absolutely not. You focus on each other and have a lovely time!”
Silas smiled. “Thank you, Amelia.”
She smiled back and waved as he handed Helena into the carriage and then got in after her.
“Well… that was…” He shook his head, still smiling.
“Your sister is very sweet, and she just wants the very best for you.”
He gave her a look. “I think she wants the best for you as well. She wants me to be the best for you.”
Helena said nothing, just reached out and squeezed his hand. He looked outside as they drove out of the gates. “Benedict will be joining us on this trip,” he said.
“Oh? Where is he?”
“He should be waiting down the road. He has a cottage just down the road from where the main road branches. We thought it would be easier than him coming to meet us at home. Fewer questions.”
Helena grinned. “You mean you didn’t want Amelia fawning over him.”
“That too.”
She gave a loud sigh. “Do you know where my uncle is right now? Will he be in London too?”
“At the moment, he is at the Downfield House.”
“My brother too?”
“And your mother.”
She shook her head. “You know, I would have thought that they would have done something by now about us being wed. I don’t like that it’s so quiet.”
“Mm, quiet is never good. But we shall just have to wait and see.”
They came to a stop and Silas leaned his head out of the window. He caught sight of Benedict, waiting on his horse. “Ahoy there,” he called and grinned.
Benedict ignored him, simply turning his horse as the carriage came alongside.
He leaned down to greet Helena. “Your Grace. Silas said you would be joining us. I thought it was a joke.”
She smiled, shaking her head. “I want to help.”
“This is dangerous work,” he said solemnly.
“I know,” she replied earnestly, “and I promise to follow your and Silas’s instructions. But this is also my fight.”
Benedict sighed. “What a delight! Finally, something with a sense of humor. Though you must promise to behave, Your Grace. These are dangerous times.”
“I promise.”
Silas and Benedict exchanged glances. There was reproach in Benedict’s eyes, and Silas could not blame him for that.
This was not a game, and they did not ever bring their women into their work.
But Silas also understood Helena’s need to do something.
He saw no harm in bringing her with him to London.
It was a magnificent cover for their real purpose.
I might even take her to a ball. Who knows?
Silas had never voluntarily attended a ball in his life, but there was always a first time for everything.
They stopped at an inn for the night even though they had made good time and if they pushed on, they could have arrived in London by midnight.
But Silas did not know what was waiting for them and didn’t want to risk running into brigands or even an ambush arranged by James Porter.
Benedict was inclined to agree.
“In the morning, I shall ride ahead and see what’s what.”
“On your own?” Silas asked in disbelief.
Benedict huffed. “I am perfectly capable of carrying out reconnaissance without help.”
Silas put up his hands in surrender. “Very well. Go on your way. We shall await your report.”
Benedict gave a mock salute and took off on his horse. Helena watched him go, a frown on her face. “Will he be all right?”
Silas nodded. “He might like to make light of things, but he is always careful.”
“Good,” she said before turning to go back into the inn.
He watched her go with bemusement.
Helena could not recall the last time she had been in London. Everything was much louder and dirtier than she was used to. She could feel herself becoming tenser the further into London they rode.
She tried to put on a brave face because she could feel Silas watching her, but she suspected that she wasn’t fooling him.
“You know, you can just stay at my townhouse and wait for us. You do not have to do anything or go anywhere,” he said gently.
She shook her head. “No, I want to help. I came to help. Just because the city is very loud doesn’t mean I should come over all precious about it. I’m not a shrinking violet.”
“I know you’re not,” he said, watching her closely. “But this is dangerous work, and I wouldn’t blame you if—”
“I said I’m fine,” she replied more sharply than she meant to. With a sigh, she sent him an apologetic glance. “I can do this. At the moment I’m just…tired. It’s been a long journey and the bed at the inn may have reminded me a little of the convent. But I shall be fine.”
He nodded, accepting her word as he looked forward again. Benedict had ridden ahead to alert the household of their pending arrival since he was much faster on his horse.
They had already decided to meet at Silas’s for dinner in order to make plans for the next day. Silas had sent for one of his men, who would be reporting his findings on the apothecary tonight.
It was exciting for Helena to be included in all the planning but knowing that these men were willing to kill, threaten and hurt people she loved put a damper on her enjoyment.
She just hoped that this apothecary would be the key that would open the door for her uncle to be arrested so that her brother was finally safe.
They arrived at Silas’s town house. It was a long narrow building with three floors. The walls were painted white, with wood paneling. It was clear from the dark leather chairs, the plain walls, and the lack of décor, that this was a bachelor’s home.
“I take it Amelia doesn’t visit London much,” Helena said drily.
Silas shook his head, “I much prefer that she doesn’t. There’s nothing for her here. Not until she comes out, anyway.”
Helena aimed a smile at him, “Maybe not even then. She seems to have set her eyes on Lord Richmont.”
Silas shuddered theatrically. “Heaven forbid.”
Helena laughed as she set down her reticule on the bed. “Do you not like your friend for her? He seems perfectly—”
“No.” Silas interrupted, shaking his head emphatically. “No.”
Helena grinned. “Amelia will be so heartbroken.”
“She’ll get over it. She just hasn’t met any other men.”
Helena sat down on the bench by the window with a sigh, staring out into the street.
She watched the street vendors walk past, shouting their wares, while ton ladies sauntered down the street, brandishing umbrellas and gossiping about each other.
An occasional carriage drove past, bearing some family’s crest.
She looked at the other houses on the street, all built in a similar style to Silas’s though some were noticeably larger.
“I’ve never been to Mayfair before,” she commented. “It’s just as I thought it might be, though your house is smaller than the average, I see.”
He smiled. “That is because it used to consist of mine and the house next door before Benedict and I bought it and divided it in two. We both expected to be bachelors for a long time, and found it a more prudent solution than each having a full house we rarely used.”
“Oh, so that’s where Benedict is staying?”
Silas nodded.
Helena craned her neck, trying to see the house next door, but she could not. There was a knock on the door and a servant came in.
She bowed low before addressing Silas. “Water for your baths are ready, Your Graces, shall I bring them up?”
“Yes, thank you, Jane.” Silas gave a nod and the servant disappeared.
Helena looked at him, “Will you not introduce me to the staff?”
“Not this trip. We shall arrange something more formal soon but for now, I do not wish them to be gossiping about you to anyone.”
“Well, she called me Your Grace, so she must know that I am your Duchess.”
“Indeed. And that is all she knows. Until we finish this mission, we have to be careful about who knows your whereabouts.”
Helena nodded slowly before turning back to look out of the window.
Tomorrow, maybe, she would get some answers.
For tonight, she just wanted to shed the dust of the road, eat a good meal, and fall asleep in Silas’s arms.
“Good morning.” Silas said to Benedict, who was sitting at his dining table, enjoying a fried egg and some steaming tea as he read the newspapers.
He looked up and smiled at Silas. “Good morning.”
Silas slowly walked in and sat at the head of the table. “Forgive me for the early intrusion,” Benedict said, “But your cook is better than mine so I thought I would take advantage.”
Silas huffed in amusement. “You’re not still bitter about that? I won that bet fair and square.”
“Yes, well, I saw him first.” He took a large bite of his egg.
Silas just shook his head, taking a serving of everything on the table from fried eggs to fried tomatoes, baked apples, and fresh baked bread.
Chef Chabert was a Frenchman who had been down and out, working in a brothel as a cook when Benedict and Silas met him. They were in search of a fugitive, and the chef had pointed him out while serving them the best ragout they’d ever eaten.
Having just purchased their house, the two men began to bicker over who would offer the chef a position in their household. The chef himself had proposed that whoever was able to outshoot the brothel’s madam would be the one to take him.
Silas had won by a hair’s breadth, it had been that close.
“Where is your wife? Did she change her mind?”
Silas shook his head. “No, we were to meet at eight. She is getting ready. She said she was too nervous to eat.”
Benedict gave him a look. “And you still insist on letting her come with us?”
“I do not insist.” Silas protested, “I just understand why she needs to do this, and I am not stopping her.”
“She could get hurt.”
“No.” Silas snapped, “We’re not putting her in any danger.”
Benedict shrugged. “As you wish.”
They told her to stay in the carriage, curtains drawn, while they went to reconnoiter, and so that was what she did. But she could not help peering out of a gap in the curtains, staring at the door to the apothecary and noting everyone who went in and out.
Suddenly, she straightened up, recognizing the woman who was now entering the establishment.
It was a friend of her mother’s. Helena remembered her from a dinner they’d had just before she was sent away.
She remembered thinking it strange that her mother could be friends with such a loud and raffish person.
Helena would have thought that her mother would consider the lady beneath her touch.
The Dowager Countess certainly had not seemed comfortable at the dinner table with the woman dominating the conversation with crude talk.
Helena remembered that her mother had even sent Charlie away.
On a sudden impulse, she alighted from the carriage and followed the woman into the shop. There was a small bell that tinkled as she went inside, and Helena froze for a moment before remembering that the apothecary was a public place and she had every right to enter it.
The woman seemed to have disappeared into the depths of the shop and there was nobody behind the counter to help Helena.
She walked as quietly as she could to the counter, listening intently for approaching footsteps.
There were none, but the woman’s grating voice could be heard from somewhere out of sight.
To Helena, it sounded as though she was in quite high dudgeon. She could not hear the voice of whomever she was speaking too, much as she strained her ears.
She spotted the little gate in the counter that would lead to the back of the shop and decided that she would go nearer.
If she encountered anyone, all she had to do was pretend to be lost. She was expensively dressed, as a lady, so she didn’t think anyone would suspect her of anything.
Hopefully the woman would not remember her.
It had been five years since they met, after all, and Helena had changed quite a bit from the green girl she used to be.
“She keeps pestering me for the diadem, Moses. Have you not got it yet?”
“Without the girl? It will be almost impossible.”
“Well, she says they cannot get her now. She went and got herself a duke as a husband. Honestly, I don’t know how these people do it.”
“Well, the father was very explicit in his instructions, and the bankers will release it to no one else. You must press them harder. Even if we managed to get the money for arms and other supplies, without the diadem we have no belief!”
“How do you suggest I do that?” the woman sounded peeved.
“Tell the dowager that they shall all be killed if they don’t find a way around this. I bet that’d light a fire beneath her.”
Helena suppressed a gasp and began backing away.
Moving as quietly as possible, she backed away from the darkened corridor she’d been lurking in and back into the shop.
Taking one helpless look at the bell atop the door, she reached for the door and opened it.
Right on cue, the bell went off.
She turned, closing the door behind her, and acted as if she’d just entered the shop. It didn’t take long for a very short balding man, what little hair he had left tied in a long ponytail, to appear.
He smiled smarmily at her. “Can I help you, madam?”