Page 17 of Lyon’s Obsession (The Lyon’s Den Connected World #91)

“We should begin by identifying someone within your establishment you could trust with the information I will share. If you think she is reliable, the abacus woman should attend us,” Duncan instructed.

“Titan!” Mrs. Dove-Lyon called out, and the door opened immediately.

“Yes, Mrs. Dove-Lyon?” Titan asked. “You had a need of me, ma’am?”

“Fetch Li-Na. I require both of you to join us,” she instructed.

“Yes, ma’am.” Titan offered the room a bow and made a quick exit.

Mrs. Dove-Lyon said as she rose, “I require a whisky. Might I interest any of you in a drink? I also have brandy and wine left… Well, never mind,” she did not finish her thought.

Duncan refused, as did Alexander and Beaufort.

As she turned back to them, the woman said, “I half expected you had returned to claim Mrs. Sorenson after all, my lord.”

Duncan frowned deeply. “I had assumed the woman had left London, as you claimed she was no longer at the boarding house directions she provided you.”

“I saw her on the street less than a week back,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon corrected. “I was returning from the bank, and there she was striding along the street at a good clip. She carried a basket on her arm as if she was returning from the market,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon explained.

“Where was this?” Beaufort asked.

“Not Mayfair,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon shared, evidently enjoying having knowledge Duncan did not, “but not in the area with the majority of the shops. A street with large houses for the gentry and minor aristocracy.”

“You do not recall the street,” Duncan accused.

“In honesty, it took me a bit to realize who the figure on the street was, having only encountered the woman once. When she spoke to me of you, she was dressed as a proper, but mature, lady of society. When I spotted her recently, she wore a dark, high-neck day dress, like one might view on an upper servant.”

No more could be said as Titan and a woman known as the “abacus lady” stood in the open doorway. Frustratingly, especially for Alexander, the abacus woman also wore a veil, though it was not a large black one, as in the manner of the woman’s employer.

They had all stood upon the entrance of Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s employees.

They were trained to rise for a woman’s entrance, but, more importantly, if they were the ones seated, it would permit those standing a place of prominence over them.

All important negotiations were completed under those unspoken terms.

“Have I executed something to displease you, ma’m?” the woman asked, with her head down in respect.

“No, Li-Na. In contrast, Lord Duncan has asked for our cooperation in discovering someone who means to use our home to defraud the British government, is such not correct, my lord?” Mrs. Dove-Lyon said in false sweetness.

Duncan instructed, “Please come in, Titan. You, too, ma’am, and close the door. What we are to discuss must remain between us six. Titan, are you aware of a man who styles himself as a French marquis known as Lord Honfleur?”

“Aye, my lord. Lord Honfleur comes in late, after the majority of the evening entertainments have ended. Twice, sometimes three times, weekly since his arrival in London. Occasionally, the marquis brings his daughter who plays a variety of games in the women’s parlor, though neither are very skillful. They often lose more than they win.”

“I imagine they do,” Duncan said. “Marksman, will you explain what we have discovered?”

Alexander cleared his throat to report, “Lord Honfleur has ties to those who practice forgeries and money making. What we assume is occurring is Honfleur and his daughter are purposely losing the forgeries to move the bank notes out in general use. When they win, they occasionally receive one of the bank notes back, but the majority of what they win are smaller legitimate notes. So, for example, they lose an uttered ten-pound bank note and win back three legitimate one-pound notes. People believe the Moreaus have lost again, when in reality they have earned money.”

Beaufort added, “And if Lord So-and-So finally recognizes the ten-pound note in his purse is a forgery, who will he blame? Depending on his rank, he could have everyone in the Lyon’s Den arrested and transported for uttering fake bank notes.

Such is the reason we have called upon the Den this evening. ”

Titan asked, “How can the Lyon’s Den put an end to this practice? Surely, this man and his daughter are using these fake notes elsewhere.”

“They are, but we are confiscating as many as we may by purchasing something where we might receive the fake notes in return as part of our transaction. We are asking something similar from your staff, Mrs. Dove-Lyon, where the false notes are placed to the side and held for the government to retrieve,” Duncan instructed.

“We cannot sustain such losses,” the woman protested.

“The notes you prevent from entering circulation will be replaced by the British government and the Bank of England,” Duncan assured her.

Titan asked, “How do we identify them?”

“Lord Beaufort will stay and train you three, and you may train your staff,” Duncan explained.

Mrs. Dove-Lyon demanded, “If you know what the two are doing, why are they not arrested?”

“Because we do not know who else may be involved,” Alexander told her.

“You are thinking people will do what they did in ’95?” Titan asked. “And there will again be another run on provincial banks?”

“Such is our concern,” Duncan admitted. “Yet, there are additional issues beyond the forgeries which we must address with Lord Honfleur. However, if you assist the British government, I would imagine the Lyon’s Den could claim a certain level of protection for a few years.”