Chapter Twenty-five
ALTHOUGH WILLIAM RESIDED in lodgings, he was a regular dinner guest of his sisters in Harley Street over the next few days.
Jane was miserable, her siblings told him.
As everything else in her world was more successful, with less worry attached, than she had experienced in the last decade, they surmised that the broken engagement and loss of Jonathan from her life was the cause.
William told them to leave well enough alone. The sisters disagreed, saying something had to be done and Lady Elizabeth might be willing to help.
The next day, William heard Charlotte and Anna in the foyer of Dalton House. Their voices faded away as they went upstairs, and he returned to transcribing bills into a cash book for Stevens. He was soon engrossed in his work again.
“That is an enormously long list of bills, Mr. Brody,” Lady Elizabeth whispered in his ear.
William jumped. He hadn’t heard her quiet approach. She was leaning over his shoulder and looked like she had been there for a few moments, perhaps meaning to surprise him, but also able to read the cash book he was working on.
William slammed the book closed. “Lady Elizabeth! I beg your pardon, I did not hear your approach.” What had she read in the ledger?
She laughed the incident away and explained Jonathan had given permission for William to have tea with his sisters, as they were visiting.
“No Jane today?” his employer asked as they exited the library.
“She has gone to work at the Welfare League this afternoon. Charlotte and Anna took the opportunity to visit me,” Elizabeth answered.
Lady Elizabeth and William climbed the grand staircase to the first-floor drawing room, talking about the forthcoming Season, which was only a few months away.
Greetings over, Anna said, “Now that we have captured you, William, I can tell you that we are here to discuss how to get Dalton and Jane back together.”
“Oh, so that is the reason for my being invited to a ladies’ tea party, is it?” A surge of annoyance at his sisters’ interference burned through him. “Jane will be furious if she finds out we are plotting against her.”
Anna was indignant. “Not against her. For her. For her happiness. She is certainly not happy now! You must agree that is so?”
“You know I do.”
“Then help us devise a plan,” Anna insisted.
William vetoed their wilder schemes.
“I know,” said Lady Elizabeth. “Your sister’s talk this evening.” The siblings looked at her blankly. “Jane can’t cry off from attending, as she is the speaker, and I will somehow persuade my brother to accompany me.”
“Surely if he knows that it is a meeting at our home, or of the women’s rights group, then he will just refuse to attend?” Charlotte asked.
Elizabeth considered this viewpoint. “He may, but I don’t think so. I suspect that he would like an excuse to see Jane again.”
“It’s worth a try, and if it doesn’t work, we will devise another plan for getting them together,” Anna said.
His sisters sat back in their seats, smug looks on their faces.
“Now that is settled,” Elizabeth began, “tell me, William, what on earth has my brother been getting printed recently that has cost such large sums?”
All three ladies focused on him, curiosity clear on their faces.
“I’m sure I cannot say, Lady Elizabeth.”
“But perhaps you can guess?” she pursued.
William answered through stiff lips. “It is not my place to speculate, ma’am.”
“I know! He’s the anonymous pamphleteer, isn’t he, William?” Anna asked.
“I have no idea.” He tried to answer in a bland tone. Would they believe him?
“Oh, he must be!” Charlotte exclaimed. “William, you have no ability to dissemble. Never take up politics,” she advised dryly.
He stood and answered bitterly. “Well, that’s another career I can’t take up.
I’m rapidly losing options. If any of you mention this notion of yours and the source of your suspicions, I’ll lose my position here.
Dalton requires absolute confidentiality, and if what you are saying is repeated, I will surely have the finger of blame pointed at me as the culprit.
Say nothing!” He glared at his sisters. “Do I make myself clear?”
They nodded.
“Thank you.” He bowed to Lady Elizabeth and stalked from the room.
“Poor Mr. Brody,” said Lady Elizabeth. “He does have a predicament, but we must at least inform your sister that Dalton has finally begun to work for our cause as we requested so long ago.”
“But what about William, Lady Elizabeth? He must not lose his position with your brother,” Anna said.
“He shall not. I will take entire responsibility for making the information known to Jane. After all, I was the one who saw the amount of the bill listed in my brother’s account book. I was suspicious at once.”