Page 65 of Exile's Return
Daniel glanced around the table at his brother and Jonathan and his wife. The younger members of the Thornton family had already eaten, to judge by the scattered platters. ‘You are among friends here, Agnes.’
‘There is something hidden at Charvaley. Something that Tobias Ashby wants.’
‘You mean the King’s gold?’ Jonathan inquired.
She stared at him. ‘How did you know about that?’
Jonathan looked at Daniel, who glared back at him. ‘Oh dear, I appear to have spoken out of turn,’ he said.
Agnes rose to her feet, her eyes only for Daniel. He had known all along about the gold. Everything — their meeting, his concern for her, his willingness to take her to Charvaley — became clear. It had been about the gold, not any concern for her well-being — or the children. For a brief heartbeat, she considered hitting him, or at least taking the book and leaving the room.
‘That was what it was always about, wasn’t it? All that talk about revenge on Tobias Ashby was nothing but a ruse,’ she said at last, forcing the words between tight, angry lips.
Daniel coloured and shook his head. ‘No, you’re wrong. It was always about Ashby. The gold was just a convenience.’
‘And I was just a convenience?’
Daniel cleared his throat and made a pretence of smearing honey on his bread. She forced her anger down. James had trusted her with his secret; now she had to trust this man.
She looked around the table. ‘So you all know?’
Kit leaned forward. ‘I have no idea what you are talking about, Mistress Fletcher, but it sounds most intriguing.’ He glanced at Daniel. ‘You can deal with my brother later. Evidently, his conduct may have been less than gentlemanly. In the meantime, you can confide in us.’
Kate Thornton looked at Daniel. ‘I think you owe Agnes an explanation.’
Daniel toyed with the buttered bread, as honey dripped down the sides onto his hand. ‘I hold a commission from the King to recover a consignment of gold Unites stolen by the Earl in July. Elmhurst went to his grave without disclosing where he had hidden the coin. They told me in Bruges that Agnes may know something about its location.’ He set the bread down and looked at Agnes. ‘Agnes, I confess to seeking you out for that reason, but everything that happened since then…’
Hot, stinging tears of humiliation sprang to her eyes. ‘I don’t think I can ever trust you again.’
Daniel winced as if she had hit him. Agnes held him in her hot angry gaze, glad that she had turned him away last night, whatever it had cost her.
‘Trust is a valuable commodity and easily betrayed.’ Kate Thornton’s tone was icy. She glanced from Agnes to Daniel. ‘But from what I have come to know of the two of you in the past two weeks, whatever perfidious motives Daniel may have had in seeking you out in London, Agnes, I think what lies between you now is a true friendship. Don’t throw it away.’
‘I want to know more about this gold,’ Kit interrupted the awkward silence that followed Kate’s speech.
Agnes hesitated, tapping her fingers on the cover of the book. She had come this far; she may as well throw in her lot with these men.
She held up the leather-bound book. ‘Last night I discovered James’s last letter to me. It’s a coded message.’
Jonathan leaned forward, his elbow on the table. Kit sat back, his arms crossed, a frown creasing his brow. Daniel tilted his head to one side, a mannerism she had noted from their time together. All three of them had lived in the shadows, and what she needed now were men capable of facing Tobias Ashby.
‘Tobias asked me about the gold in London, which means he hadn’t found it before James’s death. I denied all knowledge of it, but I will tell you what I do know. In July some men came late one night with four leather satchels and deposited them in the library. James said I was the only one he trusted, and I held the lantern as they brought the satchels inside.’
Jonathan narrowed his eyes. ‘Did you see what was in the satchels?’
‘No, and neither did I see what James did with them. They were gone from the library the next morning. I could tell theywere heavy from the way the men carried the satchels but I didn’t see the contents.’
Daniel nodded. ‘Four hundred gold Unites, freshly minted in the Tower and sent north to support the quelling of the uprising.’
Kit gave a low whistle, his sharp gaze catching Jonathan Thornton’s eyes.
Agnes set the book down, laying her palm flat on its cover. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to look at this book — until last night, and that’s when I found James’s letter. If I’ve read the code correctly I think he has hidden the gold somewhere in the children’s nursery at Charvaley. I have lain awake half the night trying to think where it could be hidden. I can only think that there must be a secret chamber I don’t know about.’
Jonathan sat back in his chair and for a long moment, the only sounds in the room were the gentle hiss as a log settled on the fire and the patter of the rain on the windows. ‘James Ashby’s gold could be the difference of months if not years to the King’s return,’ he said at last. ‘Why do you think the hiding place is in the children’s nursery?’
Agnes opened the book and demonstrated the code.
‘The children guard that which they seek.’ Jonathan frowned. ‘The children’s nursery? Why there?’
