Page 89 of A Conspiracy in Belgravia
“Of course you wouldn’t want her to wait by herself,” she said kindly.
“No indeed. But if you’ll come back tomorrow, miss, at—ah—ten o’clock in the morning, I’m sure I’ll be able to help you then.”
She smiled at him again. “I will. Thank you.”
The moment Charlotte had solid evidence that she was correct in her conjecture of how those in Moriarty’s organization encoded and decoded their messages, she had sent word to Lord Bancroft requesting a meeting. And now they were seated once again in the unrestrained drawing room of the house near Portman Square.
She gave an abbreviated account of her work in theTimes’s archive room. “I believe I am correct about how Moriarty’s system works. But so far, I have only one point of corroboration, a ten-year-old Vigenère cipher. If you, sir, have in your possession more recent examples of ciphers you believe to have originated from Moriarty, I would like to use them to verify that I am indeed onto something.”
Lord Bancroft sighed. “Miss Holmes, I must count myself disappointed. When I received your note, I’d hoped that you’d be at last giving me the long hoped-for answer to my proposal.”
“Ah,” said Charlotte.
“Indeed. It has been two weeks. And we have known each other for more than ten years. I’m persuaded that you can’t have any qualms about my character, my finances, or my sincerity in the matter.”
“No, I do not.”
In fact, on paper they were a nearly perfect match: He had proved himself to be as unconventional and as cool of temperament as she.
“Now that you understand my initial reaction to the point of your visit, let me address your request.” He leaned back in his chair. “I’m afraid you have it backward, Miss Holmes. If you have discovered Moriarty’s modus operandi, then it’s incumbent upon you to disclose said method to me. And I will have my subordinates check to see whether your discovery is valid.”
This was not the response she had hoped for. Lord Bancroft was letting her know, not at all subtly, that a woman who wasn’t aboutto marry him could not count on continued access to his work. “Will you inform me of the results? And how soon?”
“Only agents of the crown will be informed of the results. However, I can see my way to an exception.”
She knew exactly what that exception would be. She tilted her head. “Do please elucidate.”
“I will furnish what you seek, if I have a firm promise that you will shortly become Lady Bancroft.”
If he knew of the theories that were beginning to coalesce in her head, he would not be so quick to play games with vital information. But the problem was, she was not ready for him to know these theories.
In fact, it was imperative that he not have any idea of them.
But could she truly agree to his capricious demand? Was it really so important that she must enter reluctantly into marriage—marriage—in order to obtain what she needed?
This was where their ideal-on-paper match unraveled. Charlotte was not without a streak of ruthlessness. But if she had cold water flowing through her veins, then Lord Bancroft had glaciers in his. And the thing was, she had no doubt he would hold her to her promise, even though she would consider any agreement to have been extracted under duress.
So on the one hand, decades with a man she would not have chosen on her own, the thought of which made her lungs feel as if they had been caught in a hydraulic press. And on the other hand... something far, far worse?
“Agreed,” she said, looking him in the eye.
Sometimes one must pay one’s debts—and hers were both deep and extensive.
Lord Bancroft allowed himself a small smile. He was surprised, no doubt, but also very, very pleased.
“But,” she added, “I stipulate that our accord will only prove valid should what you give me turn out to be useful.”
“And how would I know that?”
“Oh, you will know, my lord.” She returned his smile, because sometimes she had an iceberg or two drifting through her veins, too. “And since you are demanding so much of me, I will also need to borrow a man who has your complete trust.”
The intercepted telegram Lord Bancroft gave Charlotte—or rather, the copied text, which she checked against the original three times to make sure there had been no mistranscribing—was dated two days before she had discovered the secret of the house in Hounslow.
Which meant that she didn’t need to consult the archive room at theTimesagain—or even work to decipher any additional small notices in the back of the paper: Because of Lady Ingram’s inquiry, Charlotte already had all the small notices from around that time recorded and decoded in her notebook.
And the fact that the telegram had a date written in plaintext gave credence to her idea that those who received encoded messages needed to know when it was composed, so they would know which keyword to use to solve the cipher.
The newspaper notices that usedEncyclopedia Britannicaor the First Folio as a point of departure all arrived unambiguously at a single word in those pages. But with the biblical verses, she wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed. Since the verses themselves weren’t encrypted, it made sense, given the secretive nature of Moriarty’s organization, that the keywords wouldn’t be words visible in the advertised verses themselves.
