Why Kings Confess

Chapter 55

The last of the light was leaching from the sky when Charles, Lord Jarvis, crossed the forecourt of Carlton House toward his waiting carriage.

He was feeling mildly pleased with the recent progression of events. There would be no peace negotiations with the impudent upstart, Napoleon; that avaricious little opportunist, Vaundreuil, was at that very moment scurrying toward home with his tail between his legs. The war in Europe would continue to its proper end, with a triumphant host of British troops marching down the Champs-Elysees and the forces of radicalism utterly crushed. Not for a century or more would any nation rise up to threaten Britain’s global dominance, nor would any populace again dare to overthrow their betters and proclaim the rights of the vulgar masses.

He paused while a footman hastened to open his carriage door and let down the steps. Settling comfortably on the plush seat, Jarvis was spreading the carriage robe across his lap when the door opened again and Viscount Devlin leapt up to take the seat opposite.

“Mind if I ride along?”

“Actually, yes.”

The Viscount smiled. “I won’t stay long. I take it you’ve heard that Monsieur Harmond Vaundreuil is leaving London?”

“I have.”

“Was that your doing?”

“Not entirely.”

“But you did send someone to follow his daughter.”

Jarvis leaned back in his seat and simply raised his eyebrows.

Devlin said, “Vaundreuil thinks you killed Pelletan and Foucher.”

“Harmond Vaundreuil is a venal, foolish man. Why would I bother to indulge in such ghoulish theatrics when I already had the head of the delegation on my payroll?”

“Perhaps Pelletan and Foucher threatened to expose Vaundreuil to Paris.”

“Ah. In that case they most definitely would have needed to be eliminated. However, to my knowledge, Foucher at least remained blithely ignorant of Vaundreuil’s treasonous activities. And as you know, my knowledge is quite extensive.”

Devlin stared out the carriage window at a ragged young crossing sweep leaping out of their way. “You told me once that you had a man watching the Gifford Arms the night Pelletan was killed.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me again what he saw.”

Jarvis sighed. “Really, Devlin; this obsession of yours is becoming rather tiresome.”

“Humor me.”

“Very well. Let’s see. . An unidentified man and a veiled woman arrived by carriage; for reasons doubtless understood better by you than by my informer, Pelletan elected to speak with them outside the inn rather than inside. The exchange was heated, but since my agent unfortunately lacks your acute hearing, the subject of that conversation remains unknown.”

“And then what happened?”

“The man and woman returned to their carriage, leaving Pelletan on the pavement in something of a passion. He was still standing there when Alexandrie Sauvage arrived. They also quarreled. Pelletan then returned to the inn and came out again wearing a greatcoat and gloves, after which he and Sauvage went off in a hackney.”

Jarvis was aware of Devlin sitting forward, his lips parted.

“What?” asked Jarvis, looking at him with disfavor.

“And the man and first woman? You said they returned to their carriage. When did they drive away?”

“Immediately after Pelletan and his sister left in a hackney.”

“You’re certain?”

Jarvis was known for his flawless memory. It was one of his greatest assets, for he could recall conversations and reports, verbatim, long after their occurrence had faded from other men’s minds. At the Viscount’s question, he simply curled his lip in contempt.

Devlin said, “Tell your coachman to pull up.”

“Gladly.”

The Viscount started to jump down, then paused with his hands braced against the doorframe to look back and ask, “Are you by chance familiar with a young French emigre named the Chevalier d’Armitz?”

“Vaguely. Why?”

“Can you describe him for me?”

“Above medium height. Stocky. Dark hair.”

“What do you know of him?”

“Very little. He forms one of that horde of emigres attached to the Bourbons. He killed a man once-and I don’t mean in a duel. Some captain in the Home Guard accused Armitz of cheating, and later that night was found stabbed in the back.”

“Interesting. He’s tried to kill me twice.”

“What a pity that he didn’t succeed,” said Jarvis.

But Devlin only laughed.

• • •

Hero stood at the nursery window, one hand resting on the crest of her belly, her gaze on the dark storm clouds gathering over the city. She had come here often over the past six months, to supervise the workmen preparing the rooms, to indulge in some uncharacteristically maudlin reveries, and, lately, in search of quiet solace.

But tonight she was smiling.

She had spent fifteen to twenty minutes every two hours for the better part of two days on her knees, telling herself she was a gullible fool and yet doing it anyway. And then, when she’d been about to give it up in disgust, she felt a sensation akin to a giant fish doing a somersault in a tight barrel. Over the past several months she’d become familiar with the movements of her child. And so she knew even without being told that Alexi Sauvage’s bizarre suggestion had worked; the babe had finally turned, and her chances of surviving the coming birth with a living child had just soared.

Hero knew no one would ever describe her as a humble woman; she was proud, impatient, and opinionated. But she was also not above owning up to an error. And as she watched the last of the daylight fade from the sky, she knew she owed Sauvage both an apology and a heartfelt expression of gratitude.

Intent on ordering her carriage and setting out for Tower Hill, Hero was about to turn from the window when a movement caught her eye. A man stood in the shadow of a cart drawn up across the street. He was a big man, tall and broad shouldered, dressed in the clothes of a tradesman, with a battered hat pulled low over dark curly hair worn too long. In the gathering gloom, his features were indistinct. Yet she could not shake the impression he was staring at the house with a level of malevolence that was almost palpable.

“Claire,” she said to the Frenchwoman who was folding clothes into a chest in the small room off the nursery. “Do you see that man-there, near the cart? Do you know who he is?”

Claire Bisette came to stand beside her, a chemise held in her hands. “No. I’ve never seen him before. Why?”

But Hero simply shook her head, unwilling to admit to a sense of foreboding for which she had no real basis.

Leaving the nursery, she sent word to the stables to have her barouche brought around, then changed into a carriage dress of green gros de Naples with a vandyked shoulder cape trimmed in black. By the time she left the house, an icy wind had kicked up, the lamplighter and his boy hurrying to touch flame to the last of the oil lamps that stretched in a line toward Grosvenor Square.

They caught her eye as the footman was handing her up into her carriage. And for a moment, she saw the man again, tall and dark, with long black hair and a scar across one cheek, standing near the corner of Davies Street.

Then he drew back, the wind fluttering a torn page of newspaper in the gutter and bringing her the scent of the coming rain.