Page 6 of Lyon’s Obsession (The Lyon’s Den Connected World #91)
L ady Emma lightly knocked on Theodora’s door before entering. “Marjory said your Winston mentioned you had had a rough night. I thought you might require a friend.”
Theodora had thought herself prepared to face the day, but Emma’s sympathy had Dora tearing up again. “I feel like such a fool,” she murmured as she rushed into Emma’s waiting arms.
“You are assuredly not a fool,” Emma declared as she cupped Dora’s face with both hands. “You love Lord Marksman, and Richard swears his brother is equally fond of you.”
“‘Fond’ is not love,” Theodora argued.
“Men have difficulty saying the words,” Emma proclaimed. “Sometimes they require a nudge. We must simply remind Lord Marksman that he is not the only one who finds you attractive.”
“I have never been seen in public on the arm of someone not connected with the family,” Theodora admitted.
“Not even Mr. Hartley?” Emma asked.
“I do not believe Alexander would consider Justin Hartley as a true suitor,” Dora objected.
“I do not see why,” Emma challenged. “Your father treats the man as an ‘unadopted’ son. According to Richard, Lord Duncan has groomed Mr. Hartley, very much as he did with each of those his lordship brought under his roof. The only difference is Hartley was not abandoned, as were Richard and the others. Even if Mr. Hartley does not serve as a potential gentleman caller, he might put a flicker of doubt in Marksman’s mind while we find another to make him realize how very valuable and precious you are to him,” Emma insisted.
“I shall also ask Richard of eligible young lords in Parliament.”
“And what if such proves fruitless?” Dora asked while feeling a bit better just knowing Lady Emma was determined to assist her.
“Then we shall call upon the Black Widow of Whitehall,” Emma declared boldly.
Dora pulled her friend down beside her on the edge of Dora’s bed. “What do you know of the Lyon’s Den?”
Emma confided, “Richard says the reason for your father’s most recent call upon the Lyon’s Den, with Richard and Alexander in tow, is that some woman wished a match with Lord Duncan.”
“With my father?” Theodora questioned. “Who was she? Surely, Papa refused.”
“He refused. Moreover, Richard said the woman could no longer be found at her boarding house.”
“Boarding house?” Theodora inquired.
“I shall again ask Richard the woman’s name, if you like.
It sounded like a name my father might mention when discussing those with whom he holds negotiations on a regular basis,” Lady Emma explained.
“The things to remember from my story are your father refused the woman’s offer and the Widow of Whitehall arranges marriages at a woman’s request, not a gentleman’s.
So, you and I are going to create a list of possible young suitors who might interest you, and, if any prove more than interesting, we shall call upon the Widow, together. ”
“I adore that Richard carried a sister into this house and changed both our worlds.”
“Where be we goin’?” Lionel Carter asked Alexander.
“I want to examine Lord Amgen’s house before the Marquis of Honfleur takes possession of it at the beginning of next week. I want to know where the various rooms are located. Easiest access. That type of information.”
“Just as in the old days, huh?” Lionel remarked as he was quick on Alexander’s heels.
“We are not stealing something we could sell to purchase a few potatoes,” Alexander said as an image of Lionel Carter and him together, shoulder-to-shoulder and back-to-back in a test of survival in London’s slews and rookeries flashed before his eyes.
“ I not be leavin’ without me friend ,” he had told Lord Macdonald Duncan when the earl had come for Robert Dutton and Alexander.
Surprisingly, the man had said, “ I have heard of your loyalty to the boy. My men have found him, but, like you, he will not leave without you. I admire a young man who can inspire such loyalty in others. Now, follow your father, and we will also claim young Mr. Carter. We can teach him a useful trade .”
“ What’s to become of me ?” Alexander had demanded. “ Whilst I learn a trade also ?”
“ You will learn a noble trade ,” Lord Duncan had promised. “ Now, come along, boy. Follow your father into the carriage .”
Alexander had held out his hand to shake Duncan’s, and, surprisingly, the man had taken Alexander’s grubby hand in his and led him into a new life.
Keeping his promise to assist Lionel won Alexander’s loyalty to the stranger, while the financial means and the hope of finding his mother and sister had become Alexander’s life’s work.
Lionel said, “We should also learn who lives in each of the houses along the street and if’n there are other empty homes we might use to watch this marquis’s comings and goings.”
“You have become not only an expert on horseflesh, you are very adept as an agent of the Crown.”
“No praise, Xander. We have work to do. Afterwards, you might purchase me a drink or two.”
By Friday, at Bellingham’s trial, the man was declared sane and was sentenced to death. A pardon had never been a consideration, for the government meant to quash any hopes of an overthrow. Instead, those in charge had sent for Brunskill, the executioner.
Lady Emma’s father and Theodora’s were the only among their party who had attended the execution, though Duncan thought perhaps he had spotted Aaran Graham among the protestors, but no acknowledgements were exchanged, for doing so would put Graham in danger.
Duncan said, “Bellingham was a hero to the crowd gathered to view his execution. Quite frightening. I fear we are in for greater stratagems. The crowd called out ‘God bless you!’ They have made a hero out of a man too simpleminded to know how to make a living for himself.”
Emma’s father reported, “Supposedly, Bellingham told Brunskill, ‘I thank God for having enabled me to meet my fate with so much fortitude and resignation.’” Lord Donoghue sighed heavily. “I pray London and all of England will not know the same fate as 1798 Paris.”
Theodora glanced to Lady Emma, who reached for Orson’s hand, and Dora wished she held a means of support, but Alexander had, again, not joined them for supper.
She knew her father had taken note of how Lord Donoghue’s comments had affected all in attendance.
Such was the way with Macdonald Duncan. “Hopefully,” he said, “the world learned its lesson, and if Wellesley and our allies have a say, humanity, and especially those of us in England, will know peace.”
Finally, after all the waiting and maneuvering, news arrived at Duncan Place of the arrival of the Marquis of Honfleur, his daughter, and his niece at Amgen House.
A small staff had been hired to cook and to tend the house, but his lordship’s coachman, another man, and one maid, was the extent of the marquis’s personal staff, which spoke loudly to any who knew of the complexities of traveling abroad, but not loud enough for many in London to know caution.
Every event of the Season was abuzz with word of the French marquis and his family.
No one considered the fact Great Britain was at war with France.
“Society” was “society” in the heads of the haut ton as many of Great Britain’s noble families traced their ancestry to the Norman Conquest of William the Conqueror in 1066, while the 16th and 17th centuries found Protestant Huguenots fleeing religious persecution and settling predominately in East London.
Therefore, the French could be readily counted in many family entries in Debrett’s.
“What did you two decide to wear as costumes for the masque?” Duncan asked Theodora and Emma over breakfast on Tuesday before the masque where they all would have their first look at Lord Jacobi Moreau, the Marquis of Honfleur.
Lady Emma said, “We, meaning Richard and I, agreed Lord Beaufort’s suggestion held merit, but neither Theodora nor I were comfortable in nearly-sheer white draped cloth, and I would not wish Orson to be ‘demanding satisfaction’ if another gentleman proved himself rude.
So, with Marjory’s and Winston’s assistance and suggestions from Madame Emmeline, we are Greek goddesses, not Grecian citizens, with the white gowns, but draped discreetly with sashes, and we will each wear a gold laurel leaf band in our hair. ”
“Which goddesses?” Duncan asked.
“Those that rule the world,” Theodora explained with a sigh of relief.
She had half expected her father to suggest she arrive at the masque dressed as a shepherdess—covered from neck to toes.
“But Emma and I must first learn a bit more about some of the goddesses. I would not wish to rule flood waters, but, rather, a peaceful stream that feeds the community through which it flows. Such would fit me well.”
Alexander had tarried outside of the Godfrey house long enough to be only two people behind the unknown Marquis of Honfleur and the most beautiful woman Alexander had ever seen.
Yet, it was perhaps the costume she wore that had drawn his attention, not the woman herself, for there was, most assuredly, not enough cloth covering her body for her not to be considered scandalous.
When Lord and Lady Hartis sniffed their aristocratic noses in disapproval of both the girl’s ensemble and the French marquis being placed before them and suddenly left the line, Alexander was able to move one place closer to the pair, where he might listen in on their conversation.
“Relax your shoulders and lift your chin,” the marquis warned under his breath as the pair assumed their place before others awaiting admittance.
Alexander noted the man used perfect English in his instructions, not French.
Alexander’s French was very good, but not good enough to pass himself off as a Frenchman for more than a few minutes.
Evidently, the French marquis had forgotten that particular lesson.