Page 44 of A Silence in Belgrave Square
“Perhaps her tempers conceal her true character?” I asked, not very optimistically.
“Not her. I can spot a villain ten yards off, like I told you. Mostly because I am one.” Hannah grinned. “She’s desperate and angry—Lady Fontaine ought to be a great hostess, not a poor relation. But she can’t curb herself. Do you know what I mean? She keeps herself out of the shops, but she can’t stop herself nicking things from her own brother. Mrs.Proctor and I are forever finding trinkets that belong elsewhere in the house in her night table. We return them and say nothing. Lady Fontaine knows. She’s ashamed and becomes wickedly rude to cover it.”
“You go through her cupboards and drawers, then?”
“Mrs.Proctor and I do. Mrs.Proctor wouldn’t let me at first, but she’s come to trust me. If Lady Fontaine was secretly writing blackmail letters, I’d have found them by now. Besides, she has no money. Nothing tucked away, not a bob that don’t come from her brother.”
“Lord Peyton might be doing the blackmailing,” I said. “Or one of his pals. Mrs.Lofthouse, perhaps. She’d know which ladies of thehaut tonhad secrets.”
Hannah shook her head. “Not her. She’s a bluestocking and loathes society. She’s not invited to the outings even Lady Fontaine is. Pretends she don’t care, but she seethes. Shemightblackmail to take out her hurt feelings, but she’d have to know who was doing what, and not many speak to her, from what I can tell.”
“Hmm.” I had an idea how the scheme was being worked,but I’d need more details. “Since you were very surprised about the blackmailing, I will surmise that you haven’t seen any letters of the sort while you’ve been prying.”
“Not a sausage.” Hannah wrinkled her nose. “Speaking of sausage, his lordship’s cook’s not good at those. Charred on the outside, almost raw in the middle. Nothing I’ll be eating. I have to say, when I worked in the same house as you, I dined well. Until you interfered in my business, that is.” Her eyes sparkled, our quarrel about that long since resolved.
“I too know a villain when I see one,” I said, then I sobered. “Have a care, my friend. These people will kill to protect their secrets. I have to wonder if the first secretary—Mr.Howard—discovered what they were up to? Saw something he shouldn’t?”
“I can try to find out. Discreetly—don’t you worry none. If anyone offed someone, I’d say it was Fagan.” Hannah shivered. “He don’t say much, but he’s a ruffian, good and proper. Mrs.Proctor says he almost went down once, a long time ago, for beating a man. But just before he went to trial, all the witnesses suddenly refused to swear what they’d seen. Mrs.Proctor and the master both claim he’s reformed, but I make sure I’m never caught alone with him.”
“Please continue to do so.” I poured myself more tea. “Now, you shouldn’t linger. Unless there’s something else I need to know?”
“I wish I could tell ya.” Hannah took a last sip of ale, made a face, and quietly dribbled the liquid into the corner next to the bench. From the stains there, others had rid themselves of the insalubrious drink in the same fashion. “Your man’s growing impatient with them too, I can tell. He wants to nick the lot and be gone.”
“I’d like him to be gone as well, but please don’t let him walk into danger.”
“I’ll do me best.” Hannah sighed. “You know, apart from me wondering if I’ll be found out and killed any moment, it’s not a bad place. Good wages, easy house to care for, and no one is demanding except for Lady Fontaine. Enough to almost make me want to turn my hand to honest toil.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I said.
Hannah chuckled. “No, it don’t.”
“Daniel knows I know you,” I said, recalling what Mr.Grimes had revealed to me. “I suppose it doesn’t matter if you speak openly to him. As long as you’re not caught, mind.”
Hannah looked dismayed, then annoyed. “I didn’t peach. Honest. Oh, I knew he were a clever lad as soon as I set eyes on him.”
“I know you didn’t say anything.” I laid a hand on hers. “But if Daniel can discover you’re there to spy, others can as well. Please take care, my old mate. If things become precarious, you go. Say nothing—just vanish.”
“Aye, I’m good at that. For now, it’s quiet. The blokes and lady who gather with his lordship, they don’t even argue with each other much.”
“Which makes me even more uneasy. Argumentative conspirators might never arrive at any course of action.” I released her. “Well, nothing we can do about that at the moment. Send word when you can. The boy who brings your notes—you can trust him?”
Hannah’s dimples pressed deeper into her cheeks. “Course I can. He’s me son, inn’t he?”
I blinked. “Is he?” I cast my mind back to my few encounters with the boy and realized that he did resemble Hannah. Same dark red hair—her natural color—same blue eyes. “You never said. How lovely for you.”
Hannah appeared both proud and exasperated at the sametime. “He’s a handful, he is. And least said about his dad, the better. I shook his dust from me boots, like you did with your bloke.”
“I am so very happy for you,” I said warmly.
Hannah flushed. “As I say, a handful.” She climbed to her feet, grimacing as an older lady might, as though unbending her knees was painful. “But I loves ’im, I truly do. The wretch.”
* * *
Hannah departed while I remained seated, so that we would not leave together. We needed to be two strangers who’d shared a drink and then went our separate ways, having nothing more to do with each other.
I waited in the snug for another twenty or so minutes after Hannah had gone, sipping bad tea and reflecting what she had told me.
From her report, I was assured that Daniel had not yet been found out, but realized he was becoming impatient to find evidence to give Monaghan. That meant Daniel might do something rash, and I prayed he’d refrain.
