Lord John and the Private Matter

by Diana Gabaldon

  Grey seized the shoes, which were large and very worn, the leather across the toes scuffed and cracked. Sure enough, the initials "JB" had been burnt into the soles. One of the heels was loose, hanging from its parent shoe by a single nail. Leather, and round at the back, as Tom had said.

  "Who is Jack?" von Namtzen inquired, looking from Tom Byrd to the shoes, with obvious puzzlement.

  "Mr. Byrd's brother," Grey explained, still turning the shoes over in his hands. "We have been in search of him for some time. Could you please inquire of the servants as to the whereabouts of the man who owns these shoes?"

  Von Namtzen was in many ways an admirable associate, Grey thought; he asked no further questions of his own, but merely nodded and returned to the fray, pointing at the shoes and firing questions in a sharp but businesslike manner, as though he fully expected prompt answers.

  Such was his air of command, he got them. The household, originally alarmed and then demoralized, had now fallen under von Namtzen's sway, and appeared to have quite accepted him as temporary master of both the house and the situation.

  "The shoes belong to a young man, an Englishman," he reported to Grey, following a brief colloquy with butler and cook. "He was brought into the house more than a week ago, by a friend of Frau Mayrhofer; the Frau told Herr Burkhardt"--he inclined his head toward the butler, who bowed in acknowledgment--"that the young man was to be treated as a servant of the house, fed and accommodated. She did not explain why he was here, saying only that the situation would be temporary."

  The butler at this point interjected something; von Namtzen nodded, waving a hand to quell further remarks.

  "Herr Burkhardt says that the young man was not given specific duties, but that he was helpful to the maids. He would not leave the house, nor would he go far away from Frau Mayrhofer's rooms, insisting upon sleeping in the closet at the end of the hall near her suite. Herr Burkhardt had the feeling that the young man was guarding Frau Mayrhofer--but from what, he does not know."

  Tom Byrd had been listening to all of this with visible impatience, and could contain himself no longer.

  "The devil with what he was doing here--where's Jack gone?" he demanded.

  Grey had his own pressing question, as well.

  "This friend of Frau Mayrhofer--do they know his name? Can they describe him?"

  With strict attention to social precedence, von Namtzen obtained the answer to Grey's question first.

  "The gentleman gave his name as Mr. Josephs. However, the butler says that he does not think this is his true name--the gentleman hesitated when asked for his name. He was very . . ." Von Namtzen hesitated himself, groping for translation. "Fein herausgeputzt. Very . . . polished."

  "Well dressed," Grey amended. The room seemed very warm, and sweat was trickling down the seam of his back.

  Von Namtzen nodded. "A bottle-green silk coat, with gilt buttons. A good wig."

  "Trevelyan," Grey said, with a sense of inevitability that was composed in equal parts of relief and dismay. He took a deep breath; his heart was racing again. "And Jack Byrd?"

  Von Namtzen shrugged.

  "Gone. They suppose that he went with Frau Mayrhofer, for no one has seen him since last night."

  "Why'd he leave his shoes behind? Ask 'em that!" Tom Byrd was so upset that he neglected to add a "sir," but von Namtzen, seeing the boy's distress, graciously overlooked it.

  "He exchanged these shoes for the working pair belonging to this footman." The Hanoverian nodded at a tall young man who was following the conversation intently, brows knitted in the effort of comprehension. "He did not say why he wished it--perhaps because of the damaged heel; the other pair were also very worn, but serviceable."

  "Why did this young man agree to the exchange?" Grey asked, nodding at the footman. The nod was a mistake; the dizziness rolled suddenly out of its hiding place and revolved slowly round the inside of his skull like a tilting quintain.

  A question, an answer. "Because these are leather, with metal buckles," von Namtzen reported. "The shoes he exchanged were simple clogs, with wooden soles and heels."

  At this point, Grey's knees gave up the struggle, and he lowered himself into a chair, covering his eyes with the heels of his hands. He breathed shallowly, his thoughts spinning round in slow circles like the orbs of his father's orrery, light flashing from memory to memory, hearing Harry Quarry say, Sailors all wear wooden heels; leather's slippery on deck, and then, Trevelyan? Father a baronet, brother in Parliament, a fortune in Cornish tin, up to his eyeballs in the East India Company?

  "Oh, Christ," he said, and dropped his hands. "They're sailing."

  Chapter 16

  Lust Is Perjur'd

  It took no little effort to persuade both von Namtzen and Tom Byrd that he was capable of independent movement and would not fall facedown in the street--the more so as he was not entirely sure of it himself. In the end, though, Tom Byrd went reluctantly to Jermyn Street to pack a bag, and von Namtzen--even more reluctantly--was convinced that his own path of duty lay in perusing the contents of Mayrhofer's desk.

  "No one else is capable of reading whatever papers may be there," Grey pointed out. "The man is dead, and was very likely a spy. I will send someone from the regiment at once to take charge of the premises--but if there is anything urgent in those papers . . ."

  Von Namtzen compressed his lips, but nodded.

  "You will take care?" he asked earnestly, putting a large, warm hand on the nape of Grey's neck, and bending down to look searchingly into his face. The Hanoverian's eyes were a troubled gray, with small lines of worry round them.

  "I will," Grey said, and did his best to smile in reassurance. He handed Tom a scribbled note, desiring Harry Quarry to send a German speaker at once to Mecklenberg Square, and took his leave.

  Three choices, he thought, breathing deeply to control the dizziness as he stepped into a commercial coach. The offices of the East India Company, in Lamb's Conduit Street. Trevelyan's chief man of business, a fellow named Royce, who kept offices in the Temple. Or Neil the Cunt.

  The sun was nearly down, an evening fog dulling its glow like the steam off a fresh-fired cannonball. That made the choice simple; he could not hope to reach Westminster or the Temple before everyone had gone home for the night. But he knew where Stapleton lived; he had made it his business to find out, after the unsettling interview with Bowles.

  "You want what?" Stapleton had been asleep when Grey pounded on his door; he was in his shirt and barefoot. He knuckled one bleary eye, regarding Grey incredulously with the other.

  "The names and sailing dates for any ships licensed to the East India Company leaving England this month. Now."

  Stapleton had both eyes open now. He blinked slowly, scratching his ribs.

  "How would I know such a thing?"

  "I don't suppose you would. Someone in Bowles's employ does, though, and I expect you can find out where the information is, without undue loss of time. The matter is urgent."

  "Oh, is it?" Neil's mouth twisted, and the lower lip protruded a little. His weight shifted subtly, so that he stood suddenly nearer. "How . . . urgent?"

  "Much too urgent for games, Mr. Stapleton. Put on your clothes, please; I have a coach waiting."

  Neil did not reply, but smiled and lifted a hand. He touched Grey's face, cupping his cheek, a thumb drawing languidly beneath the edge of his mouth. He was very warm, and smelt of bed.

  "Not all that much of a rush, surely, Mary?"

  Grey gripped the hand and pulled it away from his face, squeezing hard, so that the knucklebones cracked in his grasp.

  "You will come with me at once," he said, very clearly, "or I will inform Mr. Bowles officially of the circumstances under which we first met. Do you understand me, sir?"

  He stared at Stapleton, eye to eye. The man was awake now, blue eyes snapping-bright and furious. He freed himself from Grey's grasp with a wrench and took a half-step backward, trembling with rage.

  "You wouldn't."r />
  "Try me."

  Stapleton's tongue flicked across his upper lip--not in attempted flirtation, but in desperation. The light was dying, but not yet so far gone that Grey could not see Stapleton's face clearly, and discern the bone-deep fright that underlay the fury.

  Stapleton glanced round, to be sure they were not overheard, and gripping Grey's sleeve, drew him into the shelter of the doorway. Standing so near, it was plain that the man wore nothing beneath his shirt; Grey could see the smoothness of his chest in the open neck, golden skin falling away to alluring shadows farther down.

  "Do you know what could happen to me if you were to do such a thing?" he hissed.

  Grey did. Loss of position and social ruination were the least of it; imprisonment, public whipping, and the pillory were likely. And if it was discovered that Stapleton's irregular attachments had contributed to a breach of confidence in his duties--which was precisely what Grey was inciting him to do--he would be fortunate to escape hanging for treason.

  "I know what will happen to you if you don't do as I tell you," Grey said coldly. He pulled his sleeve away and stepped back. "Be quick about it; I have no time to waste."

  It took no more than an hour before they reached a dingy lane and a shabby building that housed a printing shop, closed and shuttered for the night. Without a glance at Grey, Stapleton jumped out of the coach and banged at the door. Within moments, a light showed between the cracks of the shutters, and the door opened. Stapleton murmured something to the old woman who stood there, and slipped inside.

  Grey sat well back in the shadows, a slouch hat drawn down to hide his face. The coach was a livery affair, ramshackle enough--but still an oddity in the neighborhood. He could only hope that Stapleton was quick enough in his errand to allow them to remove before some inquisitive footpad thought to try his luck.

  The rumble and stink of a night-soil wagon floated through the air, and he tugged the window shut against them.

  He was relieved that Stapleton had given in without more struggle; the man was certainly clever enough to have realized that the sword Grey held over his head was a two-edged one. True, Grey claimed to have been in Lavender House only as a matter of inquiry--and the only person who could prove otherwise was the young man with dark hair--but Stapleton didn't know that.

  Still, if it came to a conflict of allegations between himself and Stapleton, there was no doubt who would be believed, and Stapleton obviously realized that, as well.

  What he didn't realize, just as obviously, was that Richard Caswell was one of the flies in Mr. Bowles's web. Grey would wager half a year's income that that fat little spider with the vague blue eyes knew the name of every man who had ever walked through the doors of Lavender House--and what they had done there. The thought gave him a cold feeling at the base of the neck, and he shivered, drawing his coat closer in spite of the mildness of the night.

  A sudden slap at the window beside him jerked him upright, pistol drawn and pointed. No one was there, though; only the smeared print of a hand, excrement-smeared fingers leaving long dark streaks on the glass as they dragged away. A clump of noxious waste slid slowly down the window, and the guffaws of the night-soil men mingled with the bellows of the coach's driver.

  The coach heaved on its springs as the driver stood up, and then there was the crack of a whip and a sharp yelp of surprise from someone on the ground. Nothing like avoiding notice! Grey thought grimly, crouching back in his seat as a barrage of night soil thumped and splattered against the side of the coach, the night-soil men hooting and gibbering like Barbary apes as the coachman cursed, clinging to his reins to stop the team from bolting.

  A rattling at the coach's door brought his hand to his pistol again, but it was only Stapleton, flushed and breathless. The young man hurled himself onto the bench across from Grey, and tossed a scribbled sheet of paper into his lap.

  "Only two," he said brusquely. "The Antioch, sailing from the Pool of London in three weeks time, or the Nampara, from Southampton, day after tomorrow. That what you wanted?"

  The coachman, hearing Stapleton's return, drew up the reins and shouted to his horses. All too willing to escape the brouhaha, the team threw themselves forward and the coach leapt away, flinging Grey and Stapleton into a heap on the floor.

  Grey hastily disentangled himself, still grasping the slip of paper tightly, and clambered back to his seat. Neil's eyes gleamed up at him from the floor of the coach, where he swayed on hands and knees.

  "I said--that's what you wanted?" His voice was barely loud enough to carry over the rumble of the coach's wheels, but Grey heard him well enough.

  "It is," he said. "I thank you." He might have put out a hand to help Stapleton up, but didn't. The young man rose by himself, long body swaying in the dark, and flung himself back into his seat.

  They did not speak on the way back into London. Stapleton sat back, arms folded across his chest, head turned to stare out of the window. The moon was full, and dim light touched the aquiline nose and the sensual, spoilt mouth beneath it. He was a beautiful young man, to be sure, Grey thought--and knew it.

  Ought he try to warn Stapleton, he wondered? He felt in some fashion guilty over his use of the man--and yet, warning him that Bowles was undoubtedly aware of his true nature would accomplish nothing. The spider would keep that knowledge to himself, hoarding it, until and unless he chose to make use of it. And once he did--no matter what that use might be--no power on earth would free Stapleton from the web.

  The coach came to a stop outside Stapleton's lodging, and the young man got out without speaking, though he cast a single, angry glance at Grey just before the coach door closed between them.

  Grey rapped on the ceiling, and the driver's panel slid back.

  "To Jermyn Street," he ordered, and sat silent on the drive back, scarcely noticing the stink of shit surrounding him.

  Chapter 17

  Nemesis

  In frank revolt, Grey declined to consume further egg whites. In intractable opposition, Tom Byrd refused to allow him to drink wine. An uneasy compromise was achieved by the time they reached the first posthouse, and Grey dined nursery-fashion upon bread and milk for supper, to the outspoken amusement of his fellow coach passengers.

  He ignored both the jibes and the continuous feeling of unease in head and stomach, scratching ferociously with a borrowed, battered quill and wretched ink, holding a lump of milk-sodden bread with his free hand as he wrote.

  A note to Quarry first; then to Magruder, in case the first should go astray. There was no time for code or careful wording--just the blunt facts, and a plea for reinforcements to be sent as quickly as possible.

  He signed the notes, folded them, and sealed them with daubs of sooty candle wax, stamped with the smiling half-moon of his ring. It made him think of Trevelyan, and his emerald ring, incised with the Cornish chough. Would they be in time?

  For the thousandth time, he racked his brain, trying to think if there was some quicker way--and for the thousandth time, reluctantly concluded that there wasn't. He was a decent horseman, but the chances of his managing a hell-bent ride from London to Southampton in his present condition were virtually nil, even had he had a good mount instantly available.

  It must be Southampton, he thought, reassuring himself for the hundredth time. Trevelyan had agreed to three days; not enough time to prevent pursuit--unless he had planned on Grey being dead? But in that case, why bargain for time? Why not simply dismiss him, knowing that he would soon be incapable of giving chase?

  No, he must be right in his surmise. Now he could only urge the post coach on by force of will, and hope that he would recover sufficiently by the time they arrived to allow him to do what must be done.

  "Ready, me lord?" Tom Byrd popped up by his elbow, holding his greatcoat, ready to wrap round him. "It's time to go."

  Grey dropped the bread into his bowl with a splash, and rose.

  "See that these are sent back to London, please," he ordered, handing the
notes to the postboy with a coin.

  "Aren't you a-going to finish that?" Byrd asked, sternly eyeing the half-full bowl of bread and milk. "You'll be needing your strength, me lord, and you mean to--"

  "All right!" Grey seized a final piece of bread, dunked it hastily in the bowl, and made his way to the waiting coach, cramming it into his mouth as he went.

  The Nampara was an East Indiaman, tall in silhouette against a sky of fleeting clouds, her masts dwarfing the other ship traffic. Much too large to approach the quay, she was anchored well out; the doryman rowing Grey and Byrd toward the ship called out to a skiff heading back to shore, receiving an incomprehensible bellow in return across the water.

  "Dunno, sir," the doryman reported, shaking his head. "She means to leave on the tide, and it's ebbin' now." He lifted one dripping oar, briefly indicating the gray water racing past, though Grey could not have told which way it was going, under oath.

  Still queasy from rocking and bumping for a night and half a day in the post coach to Southampton, Grey was disinclined to look at it; everything in sight seemed to be moving, all in contrary and unsettling directions--water, clouds, wind, the heaving boat beneath them. He thought he might vomit if he opened his mouth, so he settled for a scowl in the doryman's direction and a significant clutching of his purse, which answered well enough.

  "She'll be away, mebbe, before we reach her--but we'll try, sir, aye, we'll give it a go!" The man redoubled his efforts, digging hard, and Grey closed his eyes, clinging tight to the scale-crusted slat on which he sat and trying to ignore the stink of dead fish seeping into his breeches.

  "Ahoy! Ahoy!" The doryman's shriek roused him from dogged misery, to see the side of the great merchantman rising like a cliff before them. They were still rods away, and yet the massive thing blotted out the sun, casting a cold, dark shadow over them.

  Even a lubber such as himself could see that the Nampara was on the point of departure. Shoals of smaller boats that he supposed had been supplying the great Indiaman were rowing past them toward shore, scattering like tiny fish fleeing from the vicinity of some huge sea monster on the point of awaking.