Death at Dawn - Caro Peacock [110]
‘I don’t understand either,’ I said. ‘What was the purpose of dishonouring my father’s memory to shield people who are just trying to replace a queen with a king? I don’t know anything about little Vicky, but I don’t see how she could be much worse than this creature they call Mr Brighton.’
‘That is the entire point,’ Mr Blackstone said. ‘Surely you can see that?’
‘I can’t.’
‘I can’t either,’ Daniel said.
Blackstone sighed like a schoolmaster with two slow pupils.
‘As you have observed, Mr Brighton is – even by Hanoverian standards – more than usually stupid. He is greedy, foppish and entirely at the mercy of the schemers and flatterers who surround him. What’s more, he is by nature highly unlikely to beget heirs.’
‘How can you know that?’ I said.
Blackstone and Daniel looked at each other, then at me, and seemed to consider.
‘I think in that respect Blackstone’s probably right,’ Daniel said.
‘Thank you, Suter. In addition, any claim he might have to the throne would be as the grandchild of George IV, one of the unworthiest monarchs ever to infest the throne of England, and of Caroline of Brunswick, who was no better than a whore, and not even an attractive one at that.’
‘Blackstone!’ Daniel protested, looking at me.
‘If I have offended, I apologise. But I believe my point is made. If so-called Mr Brighton had a legitimate claim to the throne, then he would probably be a monarch so spectacularly bad that even the lazy, over-tolerant people of England would rise up in a body and say “Enough.”’
Daniel was looking at him in amazement.
‘So you’d found out about this plot and you were concealing it, to make sure this country was saddled with a bad king?’ he said.
Mr Blackstone nodded his head.
‘It was a faint hope, I admit. For one thing, I seriously doubt he could ever prove his claim.’
‘And for that faint hope, you were prepared to let the world believe that my father died betraying his own principles,’ I said. ‘It seems to me a poor exchange.’
‘No, because there was a larger hope. Even if the pretender’s claim failed in the end, there were some powerful men like Mandeville and Kilkeel supporting it, so it was quite certain to cause a deal of noise and trouble in the country. The streets of our cities are already teeming with hungry men, our country towns are full of labourers turned from their jobs and out of their cottages. And our politicians expect them to forget their empty bellies and their starving children, throw their hats in the air and cry “God save the queen!” If the people see those same politicians squabbling among themselves whether it’s to be Queen Victoria Alexandrina or King Harold on the throne, might not that be the spark that makes them decide to throw off their chains at last?’
Daniel and I looked at each other.
‘That wasn’t worth my father’s life,’ I said.
Blackstone closed his eyes and didn’t answer. The hectic colour was fading from his cheeks and he gave a shiver.
‘Why in the world did you decide to come here yourself?’ Daniel asked. ‘Why run around playing the waiter when you should have been at home in bed?’
His tone was gentle. I could see that he still respected the man. Blackstone gave another of his thin smiles.
‘I needed to see what their next step would be. Spies have proved to be unreliable and expensive.’
I must have made some sound of protest because he turned to me.
‘I exempt you, Miss Lane. I wish everybody had been as honest in the cause as you have been.’
‘I don’t care about the cause. All I want to know is who killed my father.’
‘I believe Kilkeel was deeply involved,’ Blackstone said. ‘I don’t suppose he pulled the trigger himself, but they were all furious about that woman.’
I looked away from him so that he shouldn’t see anything in my eyes. In spite of his weakness, I still didn’t trust him.
‘Who is she and what happened to her?’ Daniel asked.
‘I still don’t know. I believe they intended her as some