Page 6 of Unmasking the Silver Heiress
"Naturally."
"Tell me what happened after that. It will be helpful to me to know what information you already possess before I attempt to inundate you with more."
Again he flashed his teeth at her, as though this answer pleased him in some way. "All right, I will play this game. The letter you gave me instructed me to dress like a laborer, carry nothing of significant value, and appear at the Swan's Tooth Public House in Seven Dials at a given time and date. As the rumors had suggested, Lady Silver arrived wearing a veil and seemed well enough known to the patrons of this pub that they did not give her a second glance."
"A veil," Nell repeated. "She does have a fondness for dramatics. So you are saying that you were aware of the Silver Leaf Society prior to recruitment?"
"Oh yes." He nodded. "I had been seeking out an introduction for some time. I am familiar with a great deal of shadow dealings in Britain as a matter of professional necessity, of course, but yours is the only one I have ever sought to join."
Why?she wanted to demand.What are you after?
Instead, she asked, "Lady Silver gave you an assignation that night?"
"Indeed she did. I was given the first stage of what she called a trial mission. A courier in London had let slip the hint of an affair between General Hansen's wife and another high-ranking member of the Royal Arms. She wanted to know if it was true, and if possible, to procure proof to be leveraged accordingly. This was no difficult matter. I secured an invitation to the Hansen residence once they arrived in London for the Season and fabricated some trouble with home renovations, prompting the general to invite me to stay for a few days. During that time, it was easy enough to search through Lady Hansen's things and find a cache of rather salacious love letters."
"So you gave them to my ..." She cleared her throat, coloring. "To Lady Silver, I mean."
"I did not," he said curiously, tilting his head. "I left her a message at the Swan's Tooth, as instructed, and she contacted me a few days later, instructing me to parcel the letters and an amount of coin together and to deposit it under a couch at a private concert some days later. I was to sit on this couch until approached by another agent, in this case a married lady, who made a bit of conversation before spiriting the parcel away to wherever its next location happened to be. I was assured that my coin would be returned to me upon completion of the transfer of information."
"The married lady," Nell guessed, "was Elizabeth Corden."
He nodded, still wearing that mask of light amusement that she suspected was at her expense. "Just so. She was to hold on to the parcel until such a time as to allow the full spectrum of Lady Hansen's panic to play out and then, once the dear lady had given up on retrieving her property, she would pass it along to your brother, who would then transport it from Oxford to London to Lady Silver. That is all I know.
“She assured me that she had a very secure hiding place in her Oxford home where neither her husband nor any servants would stumble upon the parcel before it could be transported to its final destination. When that hiding place turned out to be less than secure, she panicked and found me in London to beg my aid, mentioning that my reputation was at stake as well."
Nell chewed on her bottom lip, taking in this series of events. Bess had contacted Mr. Atlas rather than the Society itself to report the loss of the parcel, then. Presumably, she had been hoping to reacquire it before anyone found out she'd let it get lost in the first place. By the time Peter arrived to collect the parcel, there was no option but to tell him that it was gone, most likely taken by Alex Somers, whose presence in her home she declined to explain in detail.
"Surely, you already had all of this information, my dear wife," Nathaniel continued, those unreadable eyes flashing in the afternoon sun.
"Some of it," Nell replied, "not all. Am I to gather that you have not uncovered Lady Silver's identity through your substantial connections?"
"Not for lack of trying," he chuckled. "Come then, it is my turn to ask questions. I still wish to know how you became involved with Lady Silver and her scheming."
"She is my aunt," Nell replied, the words tumbling out of her mouth so quickly that they overlapped each other. She winced at the way Nathaniel's easy smile fell from his face, at the way his posture suddenly became rigid and alert.
"Your aunt," he echoed, seemingly horrified.
"Yours too, now, I suppose," Nell replied with a weak attempt at a smile. "She is my mother's elder sister. Her true name is Zelda Smith. My parents are not wealthy people, Mr. Atlas, and they could not have afforded me the education nor the debut I have enjoyed. However, there has never been much attempt to disguise the workings of my aunt's machinations in my household, and so I have always known who and what she is. When I was fourteen, I proposed that she send me away to Mrs. Arlington's School for Young Ladies in exchange for intelligence about my classmates, most of whom have very influential families. She was impressed by the idea and amenable to the exchange, to my everlasting gratitude."
She looked down at her hands, not wishing to see how he took this news, lest it be eye-popping horror. The sight of her blunt, peeling fingernails did little to soothe her anxiety.
She had hoped perhaps he would speak his rebuke, likely his horror at marrying a woman who had spied upon her peers and friends from childhood. It would be easier to only have to hear such words, and not see his beautiful face twisted in disgust.
No words came forth, however. Only a long silence, until she could stand it no longer, and raised her head to face him.
His face was neutral, unreadable, though he was scratching at his jaw in a thoughtful way. "Zelda Smith," he said carefully, once she met his gaze. "The print shop mistress? On Bond Street?"
"The very same," Nell agreed with a little sigh. "So you see, she will not dismiss you if you wish to continue to aid her. She is my host in London during the Season, as my parents have no finances for such things nor time between my many, many siblings. We will go directly to the flat she keeps above the shop and explain what has happened."
"She paid for your brother's education as well?" he asked curiously.
Nell shook her head. "No. Peter was admitted to Oxford on merit of his academic prowess, sponsored by the administration in the hopes that he will remain on at the completion of his studies as an educator. He does not involve himself much in Aunt Zelda's affairs, but in this instance, he agreed to act as courier. It was not expected to be a complex matter."
Atlas nodded, his expression unchanged. "This is unexpected," he confessed, lacing his fingers together. "I have many questions, as you can imagine, but none are pertinent to the matter of the lost parcel. You are a very curious creature, Miss Applegate."
"Nell," she corrected, her voice little more than a whisper.
"Nell," he amended in a voice that could have meant a great many different things.
