“No!” Minnie Maude dripped water on the floor in her haste, then wiped her hands on her apron. “I’ll go. I’m not sure where I put it.” She went almost at a run, her heels clattering on the floor. Archie and Angus, the two cats curled up together in the wood basket by the stove, opened their eyes. Archie spat with irritation.
Charlotte shook her head, glancing at Pitt. “I don’t know what it is with that girl,” she said with a sigh and a smile. “I’d think she was keeping a lover in that pantry, if I didn’t know better.”
Pitt was startled. He put his empty cup down and stared at her in alarm.
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous!” she said with a laugh. “There’s nobody there, Thomas! It’s just her own little bit of space. I think she goes out there just to sit and think sometimes. Coming here is a big change for her. She’s very aware of trying to fill Gracie’s shoes, you know.” As she passed him, moving to the cupboard over the sink, she touched him gently, just brushing her hand over his hair. “You should understand that.”
So she had seen his apprehension about trying to fill Narraway’s place, perhaps more keenly than he had wanted her to. But why should he have doubted it? She had known him longer and better than anyone else in his life. Hers was not a blind love, nor one that chose to believe only what was comfortable. It was open-eyed, which perhaps was the only type of love that was safe in the end, and therefore infinitely precious.
“She’s good, though, isn’t she?” he asked.
“Yes, she’s excellent,” Charlotte answered. “But she’s not Gracie, and I have to keep remembering that. By the way, Gracie came by the other day. She looks so happy I couldn’t but be happy for her too.”
“You didn’t mention it!” he said quickly.
“You were rather occupied with Jack and Lord Tregarron.”
“Oh. Well, I intend to see the prime minister today, so that will probably make it even worse. I’m sorry.”
She bit her lip. “Don’t be. Emily’ll get over it. She’s desperate for Jack to succeed. I hope he doesn’t know how much. I hope he has no idea how afraid she is that he might not. I can’t imagine living with that.”
“I don’t think she needs to worry-” he began.
“Thomas! I’m not talking about her!” she protested. “I mean him! He would know she doubted him.”
He drew in a deep breath. “Aren’t you afraid for me … at least sometimes?” He instantly wished he had not asked, but it was too late.
“You’ve already succeeded at enough things that I can live with a failure or two,” she said perfectly steadily. “Nobody wins all the time, unless what they’re aiming at is pretty easy.”
For a moment emotion robbed him of any words at all. His chest was so tight that he gulped in a breath. He grasped her hand and pulled her toward him and held her until he heard Minnie Maude’s footsteps in the corridor.
She came in holding a large wedge of cheese and Charlotte took it from her with a wide smile.
Pitt said good-bye, and went into the hall for his coat.
Pitt sent his request through the right channels, but he refused to explain himself to footmen or secretaries.
“I am Commander of Special Branch, and I need to advise the prime minister of an incident that, if we do not prevent it, could be disastrous to Great Britain.” He gave no more detail than that, except that the matter was urgent.
It was a little after midday when he was received at Downing Street, residence of the prime minister, the Marquess of Salisbury.
“Good afternoon, Commander,” Salisbury said grimly. He held out his hand, since it was the first time they had met in this present capacity. “I trust this is as grave as you imply?” There was warning in his tone that, if he had been misled, the consequences for Pitt would be unpleasant.
“If it takes place, yes, sir,” Pitt replied, sitting in the chair Salisbury indicated. “I am hoping we can prevent it.”
“Then you had better tell me what it is, and quickly. I have a meeting with the chancellor of the Exchequer in forty minutes.” Salisbury sat opposite him, but was clearly not at ease.
Pitt had already decided, while walking here through the rising wind, trying to keep his hat on, that he would say nothing about the likelihood of the threat to European stability, unless he was asked. His answer should be clear: no prevaricating or defending himself in advance.
“The assassination of Duke Alois Habsburg, grandnephew of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, sir. He is due to visit one of our own queen’s great-nephews, here in London, in eleven days’ time. It appears as if the murder itself may be committed by causing a major rail crash between Dover and London.” He forced himself to add no more. Salisbury’s expression of dismay told him that the Foreign Secretary had not relayed the earlier warning Pitt had given him.
“A rail crash? Good God!” Salisbury’s long, pale face went a shade paler. “I suppose you are perfectly sure of what you’re saying?” He squinted at Pitt, as if it was his eyesight he disbelieved rather than his hearing.
Pitt chose his words carefully. The prime minister’s reaction today, and his future confidence in Pitt’s judgment, depended on them.
“I am sure that such an attempt is being planned, sir. However, I do not know by whom, nor where it will take place. So far I am certain only that the duke’s route from Vienna all the way to London is being checked by people we know as anarchists, men with backgrounds of violence. We cannot afford to take the threat lightly.”
“Lightly? What sane man would?” Salisbury was irritated; he had been caught on the wrong foot because no one had prepared him.
Pitt tried to think what Narraway would do. Pitt could not treat the Marquess of Salisbury as an equal, as Narraway might have, but he needed to remain in control of the situation.
“Only someone who disbelieved it, sir,” he said quietly. “And on the face of it, there seems to be no reason to harm Duke Alois, so the attempt makes little sense.”
Salisbury nodded.
Pitt continued, “I need to find out if in fact someone else is the intended target, or alternatively, if Duke Alois is far more important than he seems. All I can learn so far is that he is a quiet, rather academically inclined young man who spends his time studying philosophy and science, but at no one else’s expense. He is quite well liked, has plenty of money of his own, is unmarried so far, and has no political affiliations that we can trace. In other words, he is perfectly harmless.”
Salisbury’s face was grim. “Whose wife or daughter is he sleeping with?” he asked.
Pitt grimaced. “That I don’t know. But if that were the case, it seems an extreme way of dealing with it- plotting such a violent assassination, and in a foreign country.”
“You are right,” Salisbury agreed. “Quite likely he has political convictions we don’t know about-and that’s not impossible; Crown Prince Rudolf certainly had. He was a walking disaster waiting to occur, according to my information, after the fact, of course.”
Pitt made no comment. That was a diplomatic issue, not Special Branch’s.
“It could be that either Duke Alois is very much cleverer than he pretends to be,” Salisbury went on, “or the target is someone in his retinue. Alternatively, the whole thing has another purpose, such as to embarrass Britain and put us at a serious disadvantage in some future negotiation. You must prevent it. Whatever help you need, get it. What is it you want from me?” He frowned. “Why aren’t you in the Foreign Secretary’s Office?”
“Lord Tregarron does not believe the threat is real, sir,” Pitt replied. “But Mr. Evan Blantyre does.”
Salisbury sat without moving for several moments. “I see,” he said finally. “Well, we’ll go with your judgment, Pitt. Take whatever steps you need to make absolutely certain that when Duke Alois comes to England, he has a safe and happy visit, and leaves in peace. If he is killed, let it be in France, or Austria, not here. And, please God, not by an Englishman.” He bit his lip and stared at Pitt, his voice suddenly husky. “You don’t suppose that this rail crash is a diversion, and it is actually the queen these lunatics are after, do you?”
That was a thought that had not even crossed Pitt’s mind. “No, sir, I don’t,” he said, hoping to God he was right, but far from sure. “Although it might be advisable for Her Majesty not to visit this young man in Kensington Palace. We have more than enough guards present to take care of her in Buckingham Palace.” He allowed himself the barest smile. “I am sufficiently acquainted with Her Majesty to know that advice for her safety will be received well.”
Salisbury grunted. “True. And I have not forgotten your accomplishments at Osborne. That is principally why you are in the position you are, and why I listen to you.”
