Page 50 of Lady Louisa and the Carriage Clock
“Why, Little Mary, my lord.” The female voice was reedy. The woman coughed several times.
Cecil opened the door a crack and handed out a shilling. “What do you know of the burglary on Curzon Street today?”
“I heard tell a dockworker and someone high up in Bow Street were involved. They both had a debt to pay from all accounts. I might know where the runner is.”
He handed out another shilling.
“Thank ye, my lord. The RA has used Hedgerow Stables on Swallow Street before to hide followers before they’re sent out of London. Most of the other buildings have been torn down to make way for the Regent’s new street, but the bricks used for the stable are to be reused from all accounts. Or it could be the RA doesn’t want to lose a good hiding place.”
Cecil wondered if the stable still stood. The construction of the road intended to link Marylebone Park and Carlton House had begun in 1815. “Do you have other information to share?”
“There are rumors about some clocks. Someone in the RA wants those clocks dearly.”
He tossed the woman one last shilling. “Be off with you, Mary.”
Cecil knocked on the ceiling of the coach. “Grosvenor Square!”
“My wife and Lady Louisa are in danger because of those blasted clocks,” Nathaniel said with a grimace.
His quest for justice had put the two women in harm’s way. “I have a proposal to eliminate the threat. I’ll tell you on the way to your home.”
“What about Swallow Street?” Nathaniel asked him.
“I can’t ask you to go with me,” he replied, shaking his head. “You have Edith to think about.”
Nathaniel let out a bark of laughter. “She won’t forgive me if anything happened to you. I’m coming along, my friend.”
* * * * *
Louisa was surprised to see Leopold in the drawing room when she went downstairs after the conversation with her mother. She’d wanted to study Cecil’s clock again.
“Leopold!”
He nodded. “Sister.”
She stood awkwardly near the door of the room.
“Are you coming in?”
Louisa walked forward and took a seat across from her brother. The Thomas Hope book was still on the table. Picking it up, she leafed through the pages until she came to the page describing the Gaston Jolly clocks.
“It seems Lord Cecil’s finances are quite restored.”
She looked up. “Really?” She looked back down.
“Do you have an understanding with the viscount?”
Louisa kept her eyes on the book in her lap. “I do not.”
“You could do worse.”
Looking up, she sighed. “Why, thank you. And are you attached to anyone? Or have plans to be?” She smiled sweetly.
“I do not.” Leopold rose to his feet. “Lord Wycliffe is a viable option for a husband, Louisa. Whomever you choose, I hope he will make you happy.”
When he was gone, she let out a breath. Had she been too harsh with her brother? They argued so often that whenever he spoke to her, she didn’t know whether he was being kind or condescending.
Her father had been asleep when she’d checked on him. Louisa could use his counsel. She would go up and sit with him.
