“The week she died? Or before that?”
“The week before. It’s the reason Jane went out to see Charlotte’s mother—to ask if she was behind the letters’ theft.”
“And?”
“She said no.”
“Jane believed her?”
“She told me Caroline was so upset when she heard about it that she spilled her glass of wine. So yes, Jane believed her. The Princess of Wales might be desperate to prevent Charlotte from marrying Orange, but not at the cost of destroying her daughter.”
Sebastian wasn’t so sure about that. But all he said was “Just because Caroline didn’t do it doesn’t mean some of the men around her weren’t responsible.”
Maxwell blew out a long, troubled breath. “That’s what Jane was afraid of.”
Sebastian stared off across the frozen river. “I still don’t see how the death of either Jane or Edward Ambrose could be linked to the Hesse letters.”
“I don’t either. But I know there were things she wasn’t telling me.”
Sebastian studied the other man’s strained, exhausted profile. “Because she was afraid you’d publish something about the letters?”
“Good God, no! I would never do that! Just because I don’t believe in monarchy doesn’t mean I’d deliberately destroy an innocent young girl—no matter who her parents are.”
“So what are you suggesting?”
Maxwell swiped a shaky hand down over his lower face. “I don’t know what I’m suggesting. But you can be sure both Princesses know a damned sight more about it than I do.”
“The problem is,” said Sebastian, meeting the other man’s troubled gaze, “how to get them to admit it?”
Chapter 46
Friday, 4 February
“It’s true, then?” said Hero as she and Miss Ella Kinsworth walked side by side around the high-walled, snowy gardens of Warwick House.
The older woman nodded, her hands gripped tightly together in her fur muff. “Please tell me you understand why I couldn’t say anything about the Hesse letters.”
When Hero remained silent, Miss Kinsworth looked away, her eyes blinking rapidly. “Dear God, is that why poor Valentino Vescovi was killed? Because of the letters?”
“I think it very likely, yes.”
“But . . . why?”
“How much did Vescovi know about Hesse?”
Miss Kinsworth sucked in a deep breath. “After Lady de Clifford realized—belatedly—what was happening between the two cousins, she put a stop to Charlotte’s daily drives around Windsor Park and convinced the Regent to allow the Princess’s household to move back to London.”
“Did the Prince know about Charlotte’s growing feelings for her cousin?”
“Not then, no.”
Hero kept her gaze on her friend’s half-averted face. “What I don’t understand is how this correspondence even came about. I was under the impression the Prince had someone read all of Charlotte’s letters. So how was she able to write to Hesse?”
“Through her mother.”
“Good heavens,” said Hero softly.
Miss Kinsworth nodded. “That’s how Vescovi was involved. He carried the letters between Charlotte and her mother.”
Hero stared up at the bare, snow-shrouded trees. “Why on earth would Caroline do such a thing?”
“Who knows? The Princess of Wales is nothing if not eccentric. Perhaps she did it because she felt sorry for the unnatural way Charlotte has been kept so horribly isolated. But the truth is, I wouldn’t put it past her to have done it to spite the Prince—or in a spirit of pure mischief.”
“Her own daughter? I can’t believe that.”
Miss Kinsworth pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Hero watched her for a moment, then said, “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
The older woman drew a deep, troubled breath. “At the time of the flirtation, the Princess of Wales was staying in apartments in Kensington Palace. After Charlotte’s return to London, Hesse used to come to the palace’s garden gate when Charlotte was visiting her mother, and Caroline would let him in so that the cousins could meet.”
“What utter folly.”
“There’s worse. One evening Caroline actually locked the young couple alone together in her bedroom and told them to ‘have fun.’”
“For how long?”
“Hours.”
“Dear Lord. Why?”
“Who knows why Caroline does the things she does? Perhaps she’d had too much wine with dinner. But for whatever reason, it was beyond inexcusable.”
“And Charlotte referenced this incident in her letters to Hesse?”
Miss Kinsworth nodded miserably. “Charlotte swears nothing happened and that Hesse behaved most gentlemanly. But if it becomes known . . .”
“She’ll be ruined,” said Hero. “Utterly, irreparably ruined. Princes can get away with such behavior—and far, far worse. But not princesses.”
The older woman’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Prinny hasn’t helped matters, either. He’s spent the last ten years and more endlessly accusing his child’s mother of adultery, all in a sordid attempt to divorce her. He even paid that horrid Douglas woman to swear the Princess gave birth to one of the little boys she fosters! If word of Charlotte’s relationship with Hesse gets out, people will say, ‘Like mother, like daughter,’ and everyone will believe the worst.”
Hero stared out over the snow-filled garden. “When did you learn the Hesse letters had been taken from Portsmouth?”
“It’s been several weeks. Word came on a Sunday evening. I remember because poor Charlotte was so distraught she cried all night, so that by the time Jane arrived for their lesson the next morning, the girl was hysterical.”
“Jane already knew of the letters’ existence?”
“Oh, yes. Charlotte told her about them months ago, when she first started trying to get the letters back from Captain Hesse. You have to remember that Jane taught Charlotte from the time the girl was six or seven, so they were unusually close. It was Jane who offered to go out to Connaught House and ask Caroline if she had the letters.”
“But Caroline didn’t have them?”
“So she claimed.”
“You don’t believe her?”
“I don’t know what to believe. It’s been weeks now since the letters disappeared, yet no one has come forward with them. Obviously I’m grateful that they haven’t been published. Yet at the same time, I can’t help but worry.” The older woman was silent for a moment. “What I don’t understand is how the Hesse letters can be implicated in Jane’s death . . . unless of course she somehow discovered who has them. Is that possible?”
“Who do
