Betrayal at Lisson Grove - Anne Perry [138]
‘If you had been here you might have prevented Victor from having been removed from office,’ she concluded. ‘On the other hand, you might have been implicated in the same thing, and removed also . . .’ She stopped.
He shrugged. ‘Or killed.’ He said what he knew she was thinking. ‘Sending me to France was better, much less obvious. Also, it seems they want me here now, to take the blame for this failure that is about to descend on us. I’ve been trying to think what cases we were most concerned with, what we may have learned had we had time.’
‘We will consider it in my carriage on the way to our appointment,’ Vespasia said, finishing her tea. ‘Minnie Maude will have your case packed any moment, and we should be on our way.’
He rose and went to say good night, and – for the very immediate future – goodbye to his children. He gave Minnie Maude last instructions, and a little more money to ascertain that she had sufficient. Then he collected his case and went outside to Vespasia’s carriage where it was waiting in the street. Within seconds they were moving briskly.
‘I’ve already looked over everything that happened shortly before I left, and in Austwick’s notes since,’ he began. ‘And in the reports from other people. I did it with Stoker. We saw something that I don’t yet understand, but it is very alarming.’
‘What is it?’ she asked quickly.
He told her about the violent men who had been seen in several different parts of England, and watched her face grow pale and very grave as he told her how old enemies had been seen together, as if they had a common cause.
‘This is very serious,’ she agreed. ‘There is something I also have heard whispers of while you were away. I dismissed it at first as being the usual idealistic talk that has always been around among dreamers, always totally impractical. For example, certain social reformers seem to be creating plans as if they could get them through the House of Commons without difficulty. Some of the reforms were radical, and yet I admit there is a certain justice to them. I assumed they were simply naïve, but perhaps there is some major element that I have missed.’
They rode in silence for the length of Woburn Place towards Euston Road, then turned right with the stream of traffic and continued north until it became the Pentonville Road.
‘I fear I know what element you have missed,’ Pitt said at last.
‘Violence?’ she asked. ‘I cannot think of any one man, or even group of men, who would pass some of the legislation they are proposing. It would be pointless anyway. It would be sent back by the House of Lords, and then they would have to begin again. By that time the opposition would have collected its wits, and its arguments. They must know that.’
‘Of course they do,’ he agreed. ‘But if there were no House of Lords . . .’
The streetlamps outside seemed harsh, the rattle of the carriage wheels unnaturally loud. ‘Another Gunpowder Plot?’ she asked. ‘The country would be outraged. We hanged, drew and quartered Guy Fawkes and his conspirators. We might not be quite so barbaric this time, but I wouldn’t risk all I valued on it.’ Her face was momentarily in the shadows as a higher, longer carriage passed between them and the nearest streetlamps.
They arrived at the hostelry Narraway had chosen nearly an hour later, tired, chilly and uncomfortable. They greeted each other briefly, with intense emotion, then allowed the landlord to show them to the rooms they would occupy for the night. Then they were offered a private lounge where they might have whatever refreshments they wished, and be otherwise uninterrupted.
Pitt was filled with emotion to see Charlotte; joy just at the sight of her face, anxiety that she looked so tired. He was relieved that she was safe when she so easily might not have been, frustrated that he had no opportunity to be