Page 41 of A Silence in Belgrave Square (Below Stairs #8)

“Kat.” Daniel’s whisper caressed my ear. He held me close, a pillar of warmth in the cool May night. ““Kat, my love.”

I did not have to explain to him what had happened. He knew. Mr.Grimes or one of his men would have told him.

I didn’t realize I was crying until Daniel cupped my face and brushed away my tears with his gloved thumbs.

“I am so sorry.” His words were hoarse. “I sent you off because I knew Grimes’s and Errol’s lads were following you. I never thought they’d grab you like that, in the middle of a crowd.”

“They didn’t care. These people have no interest in what happens to those who get in their way. I suppose that’s why they call them anarchists.” I tried to laugh at my little quip and ended up sobbing instead.

Daniel closed the door against the breeze and held me for a while, hands strong on my back.

“I told Monaghan tonight that I was finished with him.”

Daniel’s abrupt statement made my head pop up, my weeping fade. “What? You can’t, love. Not until this case is over. If you try to quit now, he’ll stop you and accuse you of all sorts.”

“He endangered you.” A grim light I’d never seen before entered Daniel’s eyes. “I don’t mind the assignments he sends me into, but he put you in danger, and I can’t permit that. Not you, not James, not anyone you or I love.”

“Is James all right?” I asked in concern.

“He’s in Kensington, sleeping hard.” Daniel moved his touch to my shoulders, resting his hands lightly there.

“Thank heavens for that,” I said in relief. “I thought he’d try to be in the thick of things.”

“Why do you suppose I sent him to do all my deliveries?” A note of amusement entered Daniel’s voice. “I told him I couldn’t afford to give them up, because I’ll need that work afterward. I’m not sure he quite believed me, but at least he’s keeping safe.”

“Mr.Monaghan didn’t actually endanger me, you know,” I pointed out. “I did.”

Daniel bolted the door before he led me to the kitchen and my table. He fetched the kettle from the stove before I could protest and refilled the teapot I’d prepared, then unhooked a cup from the dresser for himself. I could only sit like a lump and watch him.

Daniel seated himself in his usual place across the corner of the table from me. I was so glad to see him there.

“You would not have inserted yourself into that house if Monaghan hadn’t sent me to it,” Daniel said.

“He could have assigned me to the wilds of Scotland or the far reaches of Prussia, instead of a quarter hour’s stroll from where you live.

Of course you would go in—and you were very clever to find that map.

Inspector McGregor is most impressed with you. ”

“Kind of him,” I said distractedly. “But listen to me, Daniel. You can’t walk away from Monaghan. He will not let you.”

“I’ll continue helping my colleagues prevent the bombings and catch the culprits behind them. I’ve made it clear I’m not doing it for Monaghan. He has shattered his last tie to me.”

“He’ll arrest you.” My own distress was ebbing to be replaced by worry for Daniel. “Did you not hear me?”

“He won’t.” Daniel’s mouth was a hard line. “McGregor is on my side, as are the few superintendents Monaghan will heed.”

While I prayed this was the case, I wasn’t as confident as Daniel appeared to be. “All will soon be resolved though, won’t it? You have a map of the bombings, past and future, and Scotland Yard has arrested Lord Peyton’s colleagues.”

“Yes,” Daniel said hesitantly.

“They were arrested, were they not?” I asked in surprise. “Inspector McGregor was most adamant they should be.”

“They were, indeed. Fagan came in more quietly than anyone imagined. The Lofthouses, especially Mrs.Lofthouse, were far more unruly. McGregor’s constables also found the doctor and the Earl of Pelsham, who were both part of the group.

The trouble is, none of them seem to be the villains we are looking for.

I suspected that already, but it was made clear today. ”

I sat back in confusion. “None are the villains? Then why did Monaghan have you sitting in Lord Peyton’s house all these weeks?”

“Because his information was wrong. Even he admits that, though grudgingly.”

“Then what on earth were they doing?” I demanded. “What about the map with the incendiary devices marked on it?”

Daniel lifted the teapot and calmly poured out tea for both of us.

“According to the Lofthouses, Lord Peyton was adamantly working to prevent the Fenians and other anarchists from wreaking more havoc. He was gathering as much information as he could to rally his friends around London and in the government to act. He had no faith in the police, the Home Office, or the new Special Irish Branch, which he opposed being created.”

“What did he suppose his friends could do that the police could not?” I asked in bewilderment.

“Peyton had connections in the highest of places, including Gladstone and ministers close to the queen. I’m not sure what he’d have them do, but I suppose they could even summon the army if they had to.”

“Well, he died for trying to take matters into his own hands, didn’t he?” I said in both pity and disapprobation. “As did his secretary, Mr.Howard. Did Lord Peyton know you were with the police? Is that why he kept you out of the meetings?”

“Kat.” Daniel caught my hands to still my flow of questions. “Let us enjoy our tea, and I will tell you everything.” He sent me a smile. “A bite of something wouldn’t go amiss.”

I huffed in feigned exasperation as I threw off his touch.

“I ought to have known you came here tonight to satisfy your stomach.” I rose as I spoke and hurried down the hall to the larder to fetch what I’d put aside for him.

“Tess made an apricot tart,” I announced when I returned. “Her baking is coming along well.”

I laid the piece of tart, with apricot preserves in a buttery crust and a dollop of cream, in front of Daniel and resumed my seat.

Daniel dug in with pleasure. “Tell her it’s the finest apricot tart I’ve ever eaten,” he said after the first bite.

“I will. Now tell me.”

Daniel took another bite and sip of tea—to plague me, I suppose—before he spoke.

“Fagan gave us the most information, in the end, though he was the least willing to speak at first. He was devoted to Lord Peyton, grateful to the man for giving him a chance to earn an honest crust when so many wouldn’t.

Fagan was arrested in the past for brawling, given hard labor for a few years for mangling another fellow, and he had difficulty finding work after that.

Lord Peyton needed him, and Fagan appreciated that.

Fagan was a go-between among the group, and also a guard, making certain they were undisturbed. ”

“I don’t quite understand all this,” I said when Daniel paused to enjoy finishing off the tart. “I thought Lord Peyton was for Irish Home Rule.”

Daniel nodded as he scraped the plate. “He was. This is quite well done, you know,” he said as he set the plate aside.

“You are right that Tess is becoming accomplished. Viscount Peyton supporting Irish Home Rule made him unpopular, but rather than being a radical, he was a man of moderation. He did not believe in having Home Rule at any price. He thought there ought to be a separate parliament in Ireland, but one still subject to the British Crown. He was fervently opposed to Fenians, as were all in their group.”

“Mrs.Lofthouse is a staunch supporter of the Irish, according to Lady Fontaine,” I broke in.

“Mrs.Lofthouse is indeed an agitator. She told us as much. She marches about for the causes dear to her heart, including Irish Home Rule and women’s suffrage.

But she is quite opposed to the use of violence against innocents to achieve an end.

She agreed wholeheartedly with Lord Peyton about that and gave him what support she could.

Lord Peyton used her as a source of information on the reformist groups that Fenians try to infiltrate, because she is a member of them all. ”

“And the others? The doctor and Lord Pelsham?”

“The doctor claimed he was there to make certain Peyton didn’t overexcite himself and become ill.

Lord Pelsham, of like mind to Viscount Peyton, used his various contacts, including ones in Boston, to gather information on Fenian activities.

He provided the intelligence about the bombs scheduled for the thirtieth, and Mrs.Lofthouse confirmed it.

” Daniel huffed a laugh. “They were all more interested in chastising Inspector McGregor for not preventing the previous bombings than in talking about their meetings. None of them have any trust in the police.”

“If Monaghan is an example of who they’d need to trust, I don’t blame them,” I said. I’d downed my slice of Tess’s tart while Daniel spoke and now studied my empty plate, sorry I’d not paid sufficient attention to what I was eating.

“Lord Peyton never allowed me into the meetings, because he couldn’t be certain I wasn’t a Fenian myself,” Daniel said with a wry smile. “I turned up very conveniently after Mr.Howard departed, didn’t I? My references were good but from gentlemen out of the country for one reason or another.”

“The men who attacked me more or less admitted they killed Mr.Howard.” I shuddered, pitying the poor man and knowing that they’d have dispatched me as heartlessly. “Was Mr.Howard in on the group’s plots?”

Daniel shook his head. “Fagan was unshakable in his opinion that Mr.Howard knew nothing. They shut him out, as they did me. But no one has tried to grab and interrogate me . Perhaps Howard was working for the Fenians himself, and they turned on him.”

“One of the fellows who caught me said Orders, weren’t it? ” I warmed my hands on my teacup, trying to still the shaking that threatened to overtake me again. “There is someone pulling the strings for reasons they didn’t know or care about. These men weren’t Irish though, I don’t think.”

“Not all the anarchists are,” Daniel said. “Ruffians can be hired by anyone, and many don’t care who they work for as long as they are paid.”

I swallowed a sip of tea. “I hadn’t realized such hard men existed.”

Daniel shrugged. “I’ve known they have for years, which is why I wanted to join the police. To stop them.”

Daniel’s attempt to enter the police hadn’t gone well and had led to him being obligated to and working for Mr.Monaghan.

I set down my teacup and reached for Daniel’s hand, which rested as a fist on the table. “You were trying to do good.”

Daniel met my gaze with a bleak one. “I was also trying to escape my past and at the same time learn more about it. I thought that eventually becoming a detective constable would give me access to knowledge about villains that I could use. I still want the man who ordered the murder of Carter, even after all these years.”

Daniel, and Mr.Fielding too, had been taken in by Mr.Carter, a South London villain who’d been kind to them. Both had been very young, and they’d been devastated by Mr.Carter’s death.

“You have done a lot of good, Daniel,” I told him. “In spite of Monaghan’s ruthlessness.”

“Or because of it.” Daniel let out a breath. “Life never follows the paths one expects. But as I said, I’m finished with all that, at least, once we’ve thwarted the bombers and learn why Lord Peyton died.”

“He saw something out the window,” I said. “I’m certain of it.”

“So you said. I did ask Fagan about it, and he had no idea. He was emphatic that he was nowhere near the man, and neither was anyone else in that household.”

I gave Daniel’s hand a pat. “You will find out. And when you do, I will arrange a picnic for us, and Grace and James. To celebrate. As a family.”

Daniel’s eyes flickered when I said the word family , but he studied me with amused skepticism. “You sound as though you are going to leave the rest to me.”

“I am.” I carried the empty plates to the scullery and returned to pour more tea. “I learned my lesson today. I will remain here, cooking and baking, and visit Grace on my days out under the watchful eye of Mr.Grimes and his toughs. I want no more excitement.”

Daniel’s brows rose. “You mean it.”

“I do.” I sat down again, lifting my cup. “I came very close to death today. I nearly left Grace alone and unprotected—Sam and Joanna can only do so much. I will not do that to my child. So here I stay.”

“Good.” The word was soft. Daniel reached across the table and smoothed my hair from my forehead.

“When I heard what happened to you, it nearly killed me. I’d been closeted with Peyton’s friends and Fagan all day, and only learned of your ordeal when Monaghan finally released me this evening.

Grimes found me and told me. That’s when I decided I was done. ”

I turned my head and kissed his wrist. “I am sorry I caused you such worry.” I sent him a smile. “I imagine it is rather like the worry you cause me.”

Daniel laughed. “Oh, Mrs.Holloway, you always know how to strike a blow. Let us both give up excitement and live as plain working people, laboring during the day, nodding at each other over apricot tarts at night.”

I rested my forehead against his. “I’d like nothing more, Mr.McAdam.”

* * *

I meant to keep to my word and not stray a step from the house until Monday, when I’d return to Grace.

I sent footmen the next day to shop for produce, and though they bought exactly what I told them, they did not know a good specimen of asparagus from a poor one.

But I did not scold them, only accepted the vegetables without fuss.

Tess made another apricot tart, showing me how she’d brushed the crust with preserves before layering in the fruit, with another coating of preserves over that. I began another star bread with garlic and fresh herbs, ready for the evening meal.

Friday morning passed quietly. I’d bade Cynthia to stay home and to tell her friends to do likewise, as there would be danger about.

I heard no word from Daniel, so I did not know whether the bombs had been found or prevented.

I had to tell Cynthia all, which took some time, the two of us shut in the housekeeper’s parlor for a long while after breakfast.

She was alarmed enough to send notes to Miss Townsend and other friends, and to stress that I should remain indoors as well.

Which I planned to do. Mrs.Bywater would host a large gathering of her charity group on Sunday, and I decided to do a fine tray for it, giving the guests a choice of plain, lemon-scented, and currant scones. Tess and I would make mini apricot tarts and add those to the selection of petits fours.

I had every intention of adhering to my vow to remain home and out of harm’s way, until Adam turned up Friday afternoon, fear in his eyes.

“Something’s amiss with me mum,” he said when I answered the door. “Will you come, missus? I’m that worried.”