She shook the uncomfortable thought from her head. It was too late to turn around and leave; he had already seen her, as if he had been waiting for her, and was smiling that particularly false, bright smile at her, the one that made her feel as if she should check her hemline for an immodest display of ankle. She sighed, and continued to walk in his direction.
He stood up, and met her halfway. 'I beg your pardon if I am intruding. I was not aware that you ever came here to read, Miss Hawkins,' he said, before she could greet him. 'And since I really should be getting back to my work, I shall leave you to the solitude you would obviously prefer and not inflict my company upon you.'
Oh, drat. Did I make myself that obvious? Annoyed by her twinge of guilt, further annoyed by the fact that she had been patently impolite, she now felt moved to protest, even though she would rather have thanked him for being observant. 'Oh, don't go on my account,' she replied, doing her level best to cover her irritation. 'Please. It is not as if you were practicing a trumpet, or something of the like. Surely two people can read quietly without annoying each other.'
But he only laughed. 'No, indeed, the only reason one could wish to come here would be to enjoy the illusion of summer and the quiet, and I will not spoil these things for you with my presence. I could wish you felt more comfortable with my company, but you do not, and I am not the kind of man to force myself upon you in any way.'
The deuce you aren't! she thought rebelliously, feeling certain she had caught him in an outright lie, but he was continuing.
'I don't know what has put you off about me, and I do apologize. It may be that-that I am aware of many uncomfortable truths about our employer, and you are insensibly aware of this,' he said earnestly, as if he actually meant every word of it. 'Even hardened skeptics will admit that a woman's instincts are surer than a mere male's, and that a woman is far more sensitive to nuances. It could be that it is the burden that I carry that makes you uncomfortable in my presence, and not my presence itself.'
She knew he was waiting for her to ask about the 'uncomfortable secrets,' and she was not about to oblige him. Instead, she bowed her head as if hiding a blush. 'Most men of power have uncomfortable things about them,' she murmured. 'It is not my place to inquire about my employer, and still less to go hunting what may be nothing more than gossip.'
But he took that slender rebuff as the invitation to confide! 'I have recently learned some things that would make many people more than merely uncomfortable,' he said, in a low, persuasive voice. 'It is not gossip, I do assure you, but fact, and in his own handwriting.'
Now I know you lie! Now that I have seen him I can understand why he cannot write anything for himself- those poor paws of his could never hold a pen!
But du Mond was hardly privy to all that Jason had revealed to her. He probably still thought that she believed she was translating obscure works for an eccentric invalid. Everything he told her was based on that assumption, and as a result, she was in a position to catch him in quite a few lies, if she cared to.
He continued. 'They are-business arrangements with Chinese and men with connections to the East that are not only dubious, but may conceal truly illegal acts.' He contrived to look very earnest, a trifle worried, and completely honest and open. 'Miss Hawkins, I must admit that I have no evidence of the sort that one would take to an authority, but if I were you, I would think very seriously about my situation. These are the things that alarm me. Cameron has dealings with Chinese merchants of doubtful reputation. He has in his employ in his townhouse in the city a man of hardened mien who still has contacts in India and beyond. His townhouse itself stands dangerously near that terrible district known as the 'Barbary Coast.' And it is his habit to hire young women with few or no living relations; women who would not be missed if they suddenly were to vanish. And in addition I fear he is, in his illness, becoming extremely dependent upon opium and similar drugs. At the least, this impairs his judgment, and at the worst, it puts him in the power of those who supply such things. Remember what infamous activities this city is noted for, and please, be wary. Recall my promise to help you, if need be. I still have many worthy friends in the city, honest and honorable men you could trust without a second thought.'
It was all she could do to keep from laughing out loud. Did he really, truly believe her to be so very gullible? Did he believe she would so easily forget how he had acted toward her when she first arrived? To hide her twitching lips, she looked away, as if profoundly embarrassed. 'I shall,' she said. It seemed to satisfy him, and he went on his way after an earnest glance of deep concern.
She sat down on her favorite bench with her book clasped in both hands, thinking the encounter through. Should I tell Jason about this conversation? In the light of day, all of her fears of last night seemed foolish, the childish nonsense of a woman terrified by imaginary burglars under the bed and the scratching of twigs upon the window. She had decided not to say anything at all to Cameron of the plots and machinations her imagination had ascribed to du Mond. Why bother? There was not the slightest scrap of evidence, and she wanted to impress Cameron with her sense. Such nonsense would only annoy him.
But it seemed that du Mond had an imagination that was just as active.
She sat so still that one of the little birds landed on the back of the bench beside her, preened itself carefully, and then flew off.
She could hardly imagine the staff of the townhouse being involved in white slavery-but she also recalled that they did not at all care for du Mond, and the antipathy may have been mutual. It was always easy to ascribe a sinister purpose to someone you did not like-well, look at all the plots she had laid up on du Mond's doorstep last night!
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to measure just how many of du Mond's accusations were true. There was no doubt that Jason did have dealings with less-than-savory merchants in town, Chinese and otherwise.
