Page 17 of Lady Louisa and the Carriage Clock (The Rogue’s Alliance #3)

L ouisa was sitting with Edith listlessly embroidering a cushion when a footman entered Edith’s drawing room with a letter on a silver salver.

“It’s from Cecil,” Edith said as she opened the folded missive. “With no seal. How odd.”

She sat quietly as her friend scanned the note.

Edith then handed the paper to Louisa. “What a tangle!”

Lady Edith,

I humbly beg you to find a place for my butler and maid, Acker and Eliza. My rooms were tossed today, and I fear for their well-being if they remain in my employ. I will obtain a permanent situation for them as soon as possible.

Please advise Lady Louisa we shall visit on the morrow to discuss a matter of the utmost importance.

Your servant,

Lord Wycliffe

A knock came at the open door, and an older woman Louisa didn’t recognize entered the room.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, my lady, but I wanted to inform you that I’ve found rooms for the new arrivals in the servant quarters if that will suit.”

Edith nodded. “Excellent. I appreciate your swift move to do so. We will discuss their status at another time.”

“Very good, my lady.”

When the woman departed, Edith took a sip of her tea before saying, “That was my housekeeper, Mrs. Biggs. Louisa, if the RA ransacked Cecil’s home, you should be careful.”

“Lord Wycliffe has Mr. Bones keeping watch over me,” she replied.

“Really?” Edith raised a brow. “So our handsome viscount is concerned for your safety.”

“More likely he wants to protect the clocks,” she responded lightly.

“Louisa, you know that having both clocks at Carstairs could be a dangerous proposition,” Edith said hesitantly.

“You want me to give them both to Lord Wycliffe?” she asked. Truth be told, she had already begun to think the same thing herself. It wasn’t as if her clock would be gone forever.

Edith put down her teacup on a nearby table. “When Nathaniel hears about the burglary, he might want me to stay far away from Cecil.”

That gave her pause. Leopold and her father would feel the same way. If Lord Wycliffe wanted to meet with her tomorrow, it would be best if all of London didn’t know about the burglary on Curzon Street.

“We both might have to keep our distance,” she replied softly, biting her lip.

“And that would be awful, Louisa?”

She nodded. “I always thought I disliked Lord Wycliffe. His arrogance and overwhelming charisma.”

“He is a fascinating man.”

“Who would never think of actually courting me, let alone marrying me,” she said dejectedly.

“Why ever not?” Edith asked with a frown.

“He doesn’t have room for anything in his life except the Rogue’s Alliance. His brother has produced an heir, after all.”

Edith patted her hand. “I would not give up, my friend. All this business with the RA must be dealt with before Cecil will think of the future.”

She sighed. “I know. And I admire the viscount’s determination to get justice for his brother.”

“I will have to speak with Nathaniel. Tomorrow, I must tell Cecil my involvement with the clocks has come to an end.” Edith paused. “Although I had hoped we would solve the riddle.”

“If Lord Wycliffe wants the clocks, he can trade them for my sketches. Then we can still work on the riddle. My parents and your father are close to Lord Daventry's age. Perhaps we should ask our parents about the earl.”

“That is a splendid idea,” Edith replied. “My father will join Nathaniel and I for dinner this evening. I will ask him about Lord Daventry tonight.”

“My mother knows everything about everyone.” She jumped to her feet. “I’m going to go home and ask her about the earl right now.”

“Until tomorrow,” Edith rejoined.

She nodded. “Tomorrow!”

* * * * *

A fter handing the missive for Edith to Bones, Cecil mounted the staircase to the floor with his bedchamber.

He entered the room to find the bedclothes on the hardwood floor, his dresser drawers pulled out, and the armoire open with his clothes scattered about, now wrinkled and soiled. The open connecting door led to the storage room next door.

The tiny chamber was meant to be a dressing room, but without a valet, he hadn’t utilized it as such. The room held another dresser, a card table, and a desk. Nothing had been stored inside the furniture, so the room was neat.

The floor above was the attics, divided into three small rooms for his servants.

Cecil returned to his bedchamber and picked out a few items he could still wear without their being cleaned.

“Lord Wycliffe?”

Bones stood outside the bedchamber.

“Bones?”

“I’m off for Grosvenor Square.”

“Very good.” He looked around him. “I don’t have the patience to restore order right now. How did the rooms upstairs fare?”

“Our rooms were picked over, but we don’t have much to be disturbed. I will return as soon as I can, my lord.”

He shook his head. “Once you are finished at Lord Harbury’s home, I want you to continue watching over Lady Louisa.”

The other man nodded before shuffling off, and Cecil could hear him speaking to Eliza and Acker as they descended the staircase. His thoughts turned to the mews behind the house. He picked his way through the kitchen to the back door of the townhouse. There was a small strip of land behind the structure, more a wilderness than a garden, and he walked through the tall grass to the stable shared by four of the houses.

“Branson,” he called out to his driver. The man was seated on a stool in one corner of the long building.

Only one other residence was affluent enough to keep a carriage, groom, and driver, leaving the stable uncrowded.

The man stood up. “My, lord.”

“You heard about the burglary?”

“Yes, my lord. While we were out, so was Lord Hastings with his groom and driver. There was nobody in the mews to see or hear anything.”

He’d been afraid of that. “Have you seen anything or anyone out of the ordinary in the stables?”

“No, my lord.”

Cecil replied, “I’m going out again, please bring my carriage around.”

A glance at his pocket watch showed the time to be just after three o’clock. Nathaniel would not be at Angelo’s as his subscription entitled him to only use the academy on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from noon until three.

It was Wednesday, and there were no Parliamentary sessions. Cecil recalled that his friend often visited a coffee house near the academy after a fencing session.

Retracing his steps, Cecil donned his greatcoat in the entry hall and took up his cane. He exited the house, and his carriage arrived soon after. As he entered the coach, he told his driver, “Brown’s Coffee House, Old Bond Street.”

The distance was less than a mile, but the cloudy skies had darkened further, and he expected rain at any moment. Just as the coach deposited him in front of the coffee house, the skies opened, and rain pelted him as he entered the shop.

“Cecil!” Nathaniel raised a hand from where he sat at a small table in the corner of the shop. He was seated with Leopold of all people.

There was nothing for it. Cecil strode across the crowded room and took a seat next to his friend.

* * * * *

T here was no time like the present, so upon returning home, Louisa, aided by information from a footman, found her mother in her bedchamber.

“Louisa!” Her mother sat up from where she reclined on a chaise longue. “Come here, my dear! You are so often with Lady Edith that I rarely find a chance to speak with you.”

“How is Father? A footman told me he is unwell and you will not have your special evening this week. Is he contagious, or might I look in on him?” She walked to stand beside her mother, bent down, and kissed her on the cheek.

“He insists he is merely tired and doesn’t want us to fuss over him.” She grasped Louisa’s hand and coaxed her daughter to sit beside her. “Although I’m sure he wouldn’t mind his favorite child looking in on him.”

“I’m not sure I’m his favorite child,” she replied slowly.

She chuckled. “I am. He loves the boys, but you are special to him.”

Louisa didn’t know how to answer. Her mother still held her hand.

“I know I’ve sometimes been hard on you, my dear. My mother was an overbearing woman, but that is no excuse for me to behave likewise. You may not know this, but I had two older sisters who died in infancy. Your grandmother had only one child to make a splash in society. A distant cousin would inherit the title and my father's estates, so it I needed to marry well to provide for her if my father died.”

Louisa wondered what had prompted her mother to speak about her childhood.

“I must remember that you are not in the same position. Although I should like you to make a grand match, your father secretly hopes you will never wed and stay with us forever.”

“Mother, I want a family and home of my own someday. I’ve seen how happy Charlotte and Edith are, and I must marry for love.”

“And I hope you will.” Her mother squeezed her hand and then released it. “That Lord Wycliffe is an attractive gentleman. And as stylish as you are, my dear. You would make a handsome pair.”

She felt warmth on her cheeks. “I do like the viscount, Mother.”

“I thought so. You looked quite happy to see Lord Wycliffe when he called.”

She didn’t know what to say. It was unnerving to speak to her mother about such personal matters.

Louisa searched for a subject to turn the conversation and remembered the riddle. “Mother, were you familiar with the late Lord Daventry?”

“Why do you ask, my dear?”

“He supposedly owned the clock that is the twin of my own.” She paused. “He passed last year, and the clock is missing. I wondered if you knew his family.”

Her mother sighed. “I knew his poor wife, Harriet. She died in childbirth, and her baby was stillborn. It was all so sad.”

“There was a child?” she asked, sitting up straighter.

“The baby isn’t listed in the peerage. Lord Daventry named her Diana and held a small graveside service for the child. Others thought he was being far too sentimental, but I thought it was a lovely gesture. He suffered a lot over losing his wife and child. Said he was cursed for something he’d done in the past.”

“Did he say what he’d done?” she asked casually.

Her mother bit her lip a moment. “I believe there was a hunting accident on his estate, which resulted in the gamekeeper being injured. Lord Daventry felt responsible for some reason.”

Hunting and Diana. The ties that connected the earl to the Diana clock. She couldn’t wait to share the news with Edith and Lord Wycliffe.