I did not dare to abstract any of these, lest my judgment be in error. I considered it essential that he remain ignorant of my surreptitious intrusion onto his premises. I used my remaining time-which I could sense was growing short-to make a hasty but complete copy of the original English-language message and the first lines of his French translation. (S., I could not help but observe in passing, may pride himself on his ability to speak French, but his mastery of the written language is negligible.) Even more hastily, I scribbled down the first lines of the enciphered message.
I enclose the copies I made of these three documents. I trust that these fragments will enable Taylor to master the 'Ahab-Jehu' code even more completely than she already has.
Before I had finished copying the Captain's scrawls, Mr. Rabbett, who was standing watch outside the window, alerted me to the unwelcome sound of horsemen coming down the High Street from the direction of Plymouth. It being close on dawning, I concluded that the arrivals were Mr. Spurrier and some of his men, so I placed the papers back as I had found them and decamped.
I was fortunate to have done so, for my suspicion was well founded. S. had arrived betimes.
To conclude: S. makes a poor agent in my opinion, being far too careless about the security of his private papers and overinclined to intermix his personal sins with his official ones. (We are fortunate in that respect, at least.)
Despite its apparent strength, the evidence we now have against S. is only circumstantial, and, besides, I have had to leave it where I found it. He may, in fact, be merely a deluded believer in some religion related to Satanism, paganism, or witchcraft and not an agent at all. A way must be found of catching him in flagrante.
The courier from Plymouth should arrive momentarily, so Rabbett must carry it, in all haste, to his mother's house. The courier must snatch it up en passant.
Your humble and ob't sv't,
T Thoday
Master's Mate
Spurrier's plaintext message, which Thoday had copied, was brief.
Ahab:
Now Asa wisheth the priest his servant to sacrifice at the altar of Baal. This will further make the reins of the Philistines to tremble. I shall send unto thee a bird of the air as harbinger.
The greater and the lesser servants of the Captain of the Philistines drink wine in our vineyard and, pray, and are idle.
Levi
'Levi,' Hoare concluded, was probably Spurrier himself. Hoare had thought so. Spurrier's efforts to write in the style of the King James Bible might make his translation and encryption tasks easier, Hoare thought, but they sounded puerile. Someone unknown, bearing the code name 'Asa,' intended to make some sort of sacrifice. As Hoare had also thought, 'Asa' was certainly a person of importance. 'The altar of Baal' might be the Nine Stones Circle and the Philistines the Royal Navy.
Since 'the greater and the lesser servants' almost certainly referred to Thoday and Rabbett, Spurrier might have promoted Hoare to Captain. In this, of course, Hoare hoped Spurrier was a reliable 'harbinger,' though if so, he was surely premature in his prophecy, since Hoare's swab had yet to dry from its first wetting.
Or the entire cast of characters might be quite different. The whole business was obscure, like so much of the Bible, suggestive, ominous.
One thing was certain: further mischief appeared to be cooking at the Nine Stones Circle, and it behooved Hoare to make ready to foil it.
More seriously still: Spurrier was evidently aware that Hoare and his hounds were on his traces.
Chapter XIII
Mr. Hackins of the Swallowed Anchor had an additional packet of correspondence for Hoare, routine correspondence about Royal Duke's high costs, so the lie he had told his conscience had been unnecessary.
He found Eleanor Graves standing in the inn's sundrenched parlor window, foursquare as always, roundabout and appealing. There was an empty basket on her arm, and she was smiling gently at a jubilant Jenny. Dignified, the kitten Order lay in the child's arms, making the sound of a very small tumbrel. Mrs. Graves's friend, Miss Jane Austen, sat across the room by the fireside, her slightly angular, slightly faded face observant now as always. He acknowledged her presence with a polite bow, which she returned from where she sat.
When Mrs. Graves saw Hoare, her smile disappeared. She merely nodded at him before returning her attention to the little girl.
'Look, look, Mr. Hoare! The nice lady brought me a kitten! Please, sir, may I keep 'er-her?'
'I promised you that when you had learned to write all the letters in the alphabet you should have a kitten, and Susan told me you have done so,' Hoare said. 'But if I remember correctly, it is a boy kitten.'
'Yes, I 'ave-have, sir, and now she's teaching me to 'broider them. Soon as I've comforted my kitten, I'll show you, shall I?'
'Do so, Jenny. But you are Order's Captain now, you know, and must make sure he is fed whenever he goes on watch… And you must teach him to be a sober cat and true, and attentive to his duty.'
'Oh, I will, sir; I will! Susan, Susan! See what the lady's brought me!' Jenny spun on her toes, pale hair flying, and was about to dart off when Hoare brought her up all standing.
'Manners, Jenny. You must remember to thank Mrs. Graves.'
Jenny turned again, made an awkward bob to Eleanor Graves and said, 'Thank you, ma'am,' quite properly, and sped into the kitchen with her Order in her arms.
Eleanor Graves had not yet spoken to Hoare. Now she did.
'I learn, Captain Hoare,' she said, 'that I am to wish you happy in your forthcoming marriage to Miss Anne Gladden of Broadmead. I do so, of course.' Her voice was not that of one who extended the wish in all sincerity. Did it even sound a little forlorn? He gulped. He had not yet had the chance to explain the charade to Eleanor.
'The news will have come from Miss Austen,' he declared.
'Indeed. And confirmed by Sir Thomas Frobisher.'
Sir Thomas must have rushed back to Weymouth in all haste, to announce Hoare's perfidy to all the world- especially, and foolishly, to Eleanor Graves. But Hoare had not yet clawed off this lee shore.
'Not so, Eleanor,' he said. 'What neither of your… eager informants could know, and therefore could not tell you, is that the betrothal is a farrago, a fraud, a piece of make-believe.'
Miss Austen's expression did not change, not by a jot. This woman, Hoare thought, is formidable, indeed. But why had she taken him in such distaste, almost from the beginning? She had spoken then of her and Eleanor having 'dowded it together' in Bath before Eleanor married her crippled physician of a husband and left Jane to dowd it alone. Could she have feelings for her old friend Eleanor Graves that were of a Sapphic nature? He had heard of such things.
'Oh?' Eleanor Graves asked. 'That is hardly what I expected you to say, sir. Are you telling me that you have offered for the poor girl for reasons of your own-reasons that are hardly likely to be gentlemanly, since you openly state your intention to jilt her? A knavish trick indeed, sir. I had thought you more of a gentleman.'
'The case is quite different, Eleanor,' Hoare whispered. 'Will you not be seated while I explain it?'
'Not at present, sir. I prefer to remain standing. But begin, if you wish.'
Hoare began. Soon Eleanor Graves took the seat Hoare had offered her. Shortly thereafter, the welcome crinkles reappeared at the corners of her mouth. At last she burst into a throaty gurgle of laughter. Miss Austen's expression was carefully null.
'My, Bartholomew. You have, indeed, embroiled yourself. But I must say, you have embroiled poor Sir Thomas even more deeply. You have forked him, in fact.'
