Traitor

by David Hingley

  She frowned. ‘I know that face. You have done something.’

  ‘Have I?’ He held up his hands. ‘Mellie – the girl in Bellecour’s room – said something like she couldn’t understand what she was reading, asking if it was French. Bellecour laughed and said she’d have a job to read it even if she could, it being no common language at all. Well, at that I burst right in.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘To get the papers she was struggling to read. I covered my head with my hood, snatched the papers, and dashed right out before they knew what I was up to. Only trouble was, Bellecour came after me. I couldn’t fight him, as I didn’t want to risk showing my face, so I barked out the doors were being watched, but then he panicked. He ran back into the room, opened the window and jumped through.’

  ‘He landed near where I was hiding.’ She blew out her cheeks. ‘Damn it, Nicholas, why did you have to say he was being watched? If he is Virgo’s conduit, he will think he has been caught, and he will hide himself away. Clear his lodgings, maybe even seek to leave the country.’

  ‘I doubt that. But he won’t get far if he does try, will he? He’d have to get word to the French somehow, or if he decided to slip away alone, he’d have to make for the ports, where they’d just need to know to watch for him. Unless he used more dubious means, of course.’

  ‘Like a smuggler ready to take him for a fee.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘Why are you smiling? We may have scared away our only link to Virgo.’

  ‘Because I still have these.’ He reached into his pockets and withdrew two sheets of paper. ‘The notes Bellecour gave Mellie. I haven’t told Malvern about them yet.’

  ‘You sly … well done, Nicholas!’ More enthused, she took the papers and scanned the first sheet. ‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘In code, as I thought.’ Then she glanced towards the end of the page. ‘My God!’

  For a moment she could feel her heart quicken, and she stared up at Nicholas, her eyes as bright as his.

  ‘I was right! There is one word here not in code. This is proof of Bellecour’s involvement, at last!’

  He leant over her shoulder. ‘What word?’

  She allowed herself her moment of triumph.

  ‘Virgo.’

  ‘God’s truth! But Mercia, why put everything in code and yet keep her name free for all to read?’

  ‘I should think to avoid it being used to decipher the rest.’ She lowered the papers to her side. ‘Think about it. If we know the name of our enemy – Virgo – and we assume she will be mentioned in the message, then we can look for where her name might be written in the code. And if we deduce that, it becomes easier to decipher the whole.’ She continued to scan, moving onto the second sheet. ‘But ’tis already code, in its way. A substitute for the person’s real name.’

  ‘Clever.’ Then he frowned. ‘What is it? You’ve stopped breathing.’

  ‘Nicholas, there is another spy.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Here, halfway down the second sheet.’ She jabbed at the papers with an urgent finger. ‘Another word not in code. Gemini.’

  ‘Gemini?’ he repeated. ‘The sign of the Zodiac?’

  ‘As Virgo is a different sign.’ She paled. ‘Nicholas, if there are two words not in code … two words much like each other … and one of those words is the name of a spy … then surely the other must be too.’

  ‘Could it be Bellecour’s code name?’

  ‘It might well be. Then again’ – she glanced to one side – ‘but hush for now.’

  Giles Malvern chose that moment to return to the waterfront. She faced the river and hid the papers in her pockets before turning to meet him. Nicholas looked at her askance but said nothing.

  ‘Did you find him?’ she asked, remarking his perturbed expression.

  ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘He … he got away.’

  ‘You seem troubled.’

  ‘Can you much blame me?’

  ‘I am sorry if we interfered with your work, Mr Malvern. But perhaps if you had described it more fully when we ate, matters would not have become so confused tonight. You knew my task; I did not know yours.’

  ‘I did not want to burden you with unnecessary concerns.’ He sighed, looking out on the dark river. ‘It seems what they say of you is well earned, Mrs Blakewood. I shall have to think of a means of explaining this occurrence that does not reflect badly on yourself.’

  ‘I can explain my own mishaps, Mr Malvern.’

  ‘I am sure of it. But I think on this occasion it would be better to defer.’

  ‘Indeed? We are on the same side, I hope.’

  Slowly, he rubbed at his temples. ‘Very well. I was watching Bellecour, as no doubt you suspected. The truth is he has troubled us for some weeks.’

  ‘Us?’

  ‘The men I work for. Do not expect me to say more.’

  ‘Then will you at least tell me why you have been watching Bellecour?’

  ‘We enquire into everyone who appears at Court. But Bellecour is not the usual sort to join a foreign embassy. Not disciplined enough. We are convinced he is helping the Dutch in some way, but why, we cannot say, other than for the usual reasons.’

  ‘Money,’ said Nicholas. ‘Profit.’

  ‘Quite so. Mrs Blakewood, I take it you have grounds to suspect Bellecour is involved with Virgo?’

  ‘As we are being candid, I think she is using him. A go-between, to pass her secrets to the Dutch.’

  ‘That might make sense, were it the other way around. I should rather believe Bellecour sought someone susceptible at Court and commissioned her services.’

  ‘Why?’ She folded her arms. ‘Because to your mind, a woman could not be so devious as to outwit a man?’

  ‘No, but—’

  ‘It may be they are working together.’

  ‘It may be,’ he conceded. ‘But I say it because we know that is how he operates.’ He sucked in his top lip. ‘I wonder. Is there any woman in particular you suspect could be Virgo?’

  ‘I know she is one of five, and yet one of them is dead.’

  ‘That one being Lady Allcot?’

  ‘Indeed, but I doubt more and more she could be Virgo. I have been told how searches have been made of her belongings, and nothing suggestive found.’

  ‘That is so. Because of her friendship with Bellecour, I was present at those searches myself. Her husband was not best pleased, but he had little choice.’

  She stared at him aghast. ‘And yet you said nothing of this when we ate?’

  ‘Mrs Blakewood, I am supposed to say nothing at all. I cannot tell you much even now. But you are right. We are on the same side, and so let me help you with this. If Bellecour is involved with Virgo, that started long before he seduced Lady Allcot. The intelligence that revealed Virgo’s existence at Court came to light before the first time they even met.’

  ‘You are sure of this?’

  ‘Completely. I may not know much of Virgo, but I do know him.’ He smiled. ‘No, Virgo is much cleverer than Lady Allcot. She hides herself well.’

  She nodded. ‘Then thank you, Mr Malvern. You have set my mind at rest on one point, at least.’

  ‘It still leaves four women for you to consider,’ he said, looking intently on. ‘You will forgive my curiosity, I hope, but are you at all closer to finding any of them out?’

  At last she reached for the papers in her pocket. ‘Perhaps, Mr Malvern. Perhaps.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  She was not arrogant. By snatching Bellecour’s coded message, Nicholas had turned a failure into a success, but she did not presume she could make headway with unravelling its secrets herself; nor, following her painful experiences in New England, was she in any way minded to try. Wanting swift answers, she knew the surest, most loyal response was to entrust the note to Malvern, but she made equally sure Sir William knew of her part, determined she not be abandoned at this crucial step. And at least she knew now that what she had suspected was correct: that Lady Allcot was not the
spy she sought.

  The great man was delighted, despite the contrary news of Bellecour’s escape, and promised to make clear it was her man’s courageous actions that had delivered the prize into the spymasters’ embrace. Within a day, she had received another summons, but not from any secretive figure in the dark: Lady Castlemaine was demanding her immediate presence.

  ‘The red dress again, my lady?’ asked Phibae.

  Thirty minutes later, clad in deep scarlet, Mercia was whisked inside her enigmatic patron’s apartment. In contrast, the King’s mistress was dressed all in white, staring once more from a window onto whatever scene was playing out below, but as soon as her lady-in-waiting withdrew, she turned slowly around, deliberate and sure. The look on her face was as unyielding as on so many gargoyles carved into any London church.

  ‘Why did you not come to me?’ she said. ‘I had thought I made it clear you were working for me in this matter?’

  ‘Forgive me, my lady.’ Mercia swallowed, the abruptness of Lady Castlemaine’s words disconcerting. ‘I did not realise how much you wished to know. When I was before the King, last time, you seemed more concerned with quickness.’

  ‘I keep my peace before the King,’ she snapped, although Mercia did not much believe it. ‘But now I hear from Arlington that you have made progress in finding out our spy. You gave certain papers to one of his men and talked with Sir William instead of reporting to me, and now Clarendon has found out. I wanted this all resolved before he—’ She swept across the room, the fine drapes that covered the wooden pillars of her bed fluttering in her wake. ‘You realise your uncle is working for him, do you not? Clarendon?’

  ‘Indeed, my lady, I did.’

  ‘Then ’tis well you remember it.’ She stuck her tongue into her cheek. ‘When he returned to England last winter, your uncle sought any means he could to encourage the King to your downfall. You have irked his preciousness mightily, Mrs Blakewood. That cane of his – he thinks it impinges on his supposed maleness. But in choosing Clarendon he has made a mistake. That man’s days are numbered at this Court.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘As for now, if Clarendon knows about the papers you found, so most likely does your uncle. Which means if Arlington’s men decipher them, as I hear they will, he will know what they say as much as you do, and perhaps sooner. What do you propose in response?’

  The onslaught over, Mercia bowed her head. ‘That I have you as my sponsor, my lady, is preferable to serving the Earl of Clarendon in any consideration. I am certain there are matters in which you can offer your assistance in the pursuit of this task.’

  The corners of Lady Castlemaine’s lips turned up in pleasure. ‘I see you understand well, Mrs Blakewood. You know where the power lies in this Court, even if you do not much care for it, or at least your father did not. You speak as nicely to me as to the King.’ She wiggled her shoulders in a peculiar gesture. ‘But it is for you to come to me, not the other way around.’

  ‘In truth, my lady, I had hoped that I need not involve your person, but it would speed matters, perhaps, if you were to become engaged at this point. Nor did I want to accuse any of the women I suspect without just proof.’

  ‘Most noble of you. But yes, now is the time to ask.’

  ‘Thank you, my lady.’ She made sure to bow once more. ‘Then I have determined how Virgo must be one of four women.’

  ‘And they are?’

  Mercia paused. Did she really not know, or was this a test?

  ‘Lady Herrick, Lady Cartwright, Lavinia Whent and Cornelia Howe, my lady.’

  Lady Castlemaine grunted. ‘I do not know Cornelia Howe.’

  ‘And the others?’

  ‘Somewhat.’ She shrugged. ‘Lavinia Whent is still new to the Court, arrived from the Indies with a loathing for slavers and a large dose of stupidity in her lustful mind. Lady Cartwright is her antithesis, other than in the bedchamber. Lady Herrick is a pompous old mare, devoid of looks as much as personality, but she is sharp as they come, and most loyal to her husband.’

  ‘My Lady, Lavinia Whent may be given to her passions, but I do not think she is as foolish as you perhaps suggest. She speaks of her youth in the Barbados with great erudition.’

  ‘And yet still she is a strumpet of the first degree.’ She sniffed. ‘Lady Herrick is like her husband, the two of them parading their heritage as a badge of esteem. But they visited the King in his exile more than once.’

  ‘And Lady Cartwright?’

  ‘She keeps close with Sir Geoffrey Allcot. She, too, knows the rules of the game. She is not so beguiled by handsome looks and physiques as she is interested in wealth and power.’

  ‘My Lady, what of the Frenchman Bellecour? I do not suppose you know if any of the women have been seen with him?’

  She frowned. ‘Who is that? I have not heard of such a man.’

  ‘Oh.’ This was a surprise. ‘I had simply thought, given your interest in this affair, that you would have learnt of his connection with it.’

  She blinked, a little too much. Trying to hide your ignorance, my lady?

  ‘Perhaps you should tell me,’ she said, her tone more subdued.

  Quickly, Mercia summarised her findings. ‘The coded message from the whorehouse is proof, it seems, that Bellecour is involved. I believe he was seeking to recruit Lady Allcot into providing him with information in the same manner he obtains it from Virgo. Indeed, I wonder if Virgo may well have suggested such a course. Lady Allcot would have been ideal, at odds as she was with her husband.’

  ‘Then where is this man now? This Bellecour?’

  ‘I do not know. But I doubt he will return to Court after what happened last night.’

  ‘If you think he was using that house of whores as a place to leave his intelligence, then someone else must have been meant to retrieve them. Did you stay to see who?’

  Her eyes darted aside. ‘We did not have chance in the commotion. We stayed a while by the waterfront but nothing more happened. When Nicholas – my manservant – did return to the … establishment, the women there chased him off.’

  ‘And whoever it is will be aware by now of Bellecour’s unmasking.’ She sighed. ‘Still, you have done well, Mrs Blakewood. And you are right. I may be able to help you now.’ She moved towards the door. ‘Wait here.’

  Left behind, Mercia’s curiosity immediately won through as she realised she was alone in the private chamber of the most vaunted mistress in the land. With a glance at the door to confirm it was shut, she walked about the room, touching nothing, striving to gain an insight into the woman many claimed to be the power behind the throne. But all seemed too well ordered, as if deliberately concealing the real woman’s nature. And then the door creaked behind her too soon; she jumped, walking to the window so as to feign looking out.

  ‘I shall know if you moved anything,’ said Lady Castlemaine as she came back in. ‘Come here. You will be interested in this.’

  ‘My Lady?’

  ‘One of my ladies-in-waiting keeps notice of the women of the Court, shall we say. Who is with which man, what they have been saying, where it pleases them to go.’ She inclined her head. ‘Do you understand?’

  ‘You like to be kept informed, that is all.’

  ‘I did not rise to this position by virtue of my face alone. And men say we do not have the minds for it.’ At this she smiled, and for once her mask slipped. ‘But it is fortunate for you that I am so inclined.’

  ‘You have uncovered something, my lady?’

  ‘It seems I have been kept in the dark as far as Bellecour was concerned.’ Her face set once more, and the momentary compact of sisterhood passed. ‘But thanks to my own fastidiousness, I know something none of the men who would keep these matters from me do. It was not only Lady Allcot sharing a bed with Monsieur Bellecour. One of your other suspects is as well.’

  Mercia blinked. ‘You are certain?’

  ‘She has not been especially discreet. Lavinia Whent has been seeing him for weeks.’

 
‘Miss Whent? She seemed upset when I mentioned Bellecour to her before, but … I had no idea.’

  ‘Nor did I, until now.’ Clearly irked, Lady Castlemaine shook her head. ‘This is why we women must work together. If I had been told of Bellecour’s involvement earlier, the connection could already have been made.’

  Mercia nodded in knowing sympathy. ‘Do not be troubled, my lady. It was only last night I secured the proof. But let us be clear. Is your lady-in-waiting making an accusation, or relating a truth?’

  ‘Of course it is truth. She has instructions to mark the movements of these … younger women of the Court. In case it proves necessary to persuade them, shall we say, to keep out of affairs that do not concern them. There is no doubt, Mrs Blakewood. Lavinia Whent has been sharing a bed with your Frenchman, and has been sharing it at length.’

  ‘Lavinia Whent,’ mused Mercia. ‘Conducting a liaison with a man we now know to be handling coded messages that mention Virgo herself.’ For a moment, the gulf between the two women counted for naught as she shared a complicit glance with her patron. ‘She did tell me, my lady, how she likes to discuss Court matters with Sir Peter Shaw.’

  ‘Sir Peter who sits on the war council.’ Lady Castlemaine clapped her hands. ‘My, Mrs Blakewood. Do we have our spy?’

  ‘Let us not be hasty, my lady. Miss Whent does not much seem like a traitor to me.’

  ‘Did your father?’

  She felt her eyes narrow. ‘No, my lady, he did not.’

  ‘Then let us speak with her at once.’

  ‘I merely advise that—’

  ‘Mrs Blakewood. You tell me Bellecour is implicit in this matter. I tell you Lavinia Whent is implicitly connected with him. Do you doubt my judgement?’

  ‘No, my lady, but – if you think to summon the guards, perhaps it would be prudent to insist they be discreet.’

  ‘Oh, no.’ Lady Castlemaine laughed. ‘It is time to prove your reputed talents, Mrs Blakewood. You will come with me now, and you will question Miss Whent yourself.’

  Lavinia was in her chambers, ostensibly perusing a red-backed book as her maidservant coiffured her hair. When Lady Castlemaine burst in, the servant’s hand jumped, pulling on the long strand she was attempting to straighten with an ivory brush. Lavinia grimaced in shock; Lady Castlemaine barked at the servant to drop her accoutrements and leave.