(There’s a new part of this story dropping Saturday in the Broadsheet, so it’s time to give last month’s part it’s own post so it can be found more easily.)
Find previous chapters (to previous Harriet and the Colonel stories) here.
Chapter 1 (Part 2)
“How so?” Edmund asked with no little amount of interest. Indeed, at the moment, her brother looked to be as interested as Harriet felt. It was quite the change from his normal feigned look of nonchalance in the face of something of interest. Perhaps the country was beginning to bore him just as it was her.
“As you know, we have not caught the traitor we seek, and Wickham believes he can succeed where we have failed. He has told me in confidence that he has information that could be helpful, but he is unwilling to reveal what he knows without some guarantee of protection.” Samuels leaned back in his chair. “For how many months have we circled around and around with what we know? We have visited places and spoken to people but with little progress.” He blew out a breath and shook his head. “I have begun to think we may be doing more harm than good.”
“Are you concerned that your activity may drive the person we seek into deeper hiding,” Harriet said.
Samuels nodded. “We have been careful, but it is anyone’s guess whether the care we have taken is enough or not.”
“It should be,” Edmund said.
“But there is a chance that it is not – especially recently,” Samuels said. “Wickham has been with us on several occasions, and he is not unknown in many of the places we have visited.”
One of Harriet’s eyebrows arched of its own accord at that. Samuels had every reason to be concerned if that were the case, for it begged the question of if they were truly searching for some unknown agent, or if they were leading the villain around and around on some merry chase that would never end. Simply because he was the one helping create the chase.
“How do we know that Wickham is not the traitor?” she asked.
Both her brother and Samuels turned to her in surprise.
“He did help procure some of the maids who ended up carrying information across the channel, did he not?” she added.
“He did,” her brother agreed. “And I suppose we do not know that he is not the traitor.” He shook his head. “That being said, it is unlikely since he was not disposed of when he was first captured.”
Harriet pressed her lips together. She was not as convinced by that fact as her brother sounded to be.
“That is a good sign,” Samuels said while holding Harriet’s gaze as if he knew she was questioning exactly what she was questioning. “But not conclusive.”
Perhaps he did know what she had been thinking.
“Wickham is not a stupid fellow,” he continued, “but I do not think he has the skill or the blunt to be the person for whom we are looking.”
“Then, why is he just now offering information?” There was something not right with this situation. Harriet could not put her finger on what it was, but there was a small battalion of butterflies dancing in her stomach. And that was a sure sign that something was off.
A smile curled Samuels lips, and his eyes danced as if where chuckling to himself. “He claims that he pieced the information together after our last card game at a particular tavern. It was something he had suspected for a while, but he did not want to say anything until he could have more than a feeling on which to base his conclusions.” Samuels shrugged. “I know he is a questionable informant, but he is the one we have been saddled with.”
“What does the colonel say –?”
“I came to you first.” Samuels answered before Edmund could finish his question. “He will be back in London in three days. You will not be unless your plans change.”
Edmund’s eyebrows rose. “Will you be back in London soon?”
“If we follow the lead Wickham has, it appears we will be. But then, we knew that, eventually, we might end up there or further south. The paths we have traversed up here all seem to point to town – just as we expected them to do.”
“Then, you do not think that whomever we are looking for is in the country for the summer?” Harriet asked.
Samuels shook his head. “Not any longer.”
“He is not at his estate?” Edmund asked.
“Who is not at his estate?” Harriet asked.
Her brother laughed. “Do you mean to tell me that there is something about this case that you have not yet deduced?”
Harriet’s head tipped as a thought struck her. “You were canvassing Derbyshire because Wickham is from there. There was no other reason for it. That is the piece of information that directed you north this summer.”
Samuels inclined his head indicating that her reasoning was correct. “Very few know that. In fact, Wickham has no idea that we are attempting to follow all his connections.”
“Which is why he is known everywhere you go! And that makes it more difficult to keep secrets.”
“And it is why the colonel could not be included in our activities,” Samuels added. “We could not have him and Wickham seen together.”
Harriet chuckled. “That would be like lighting a beacon on a hill.”
“Indeed,” Edmund muttered before standing and pacing to the window and back. “If he is not in the country, then, there has to be a reason for him to be in town.”
“Who?” Harriet asked again.
Edmund only shook his head. “It is best if you do not know just yet.”
Harriet pressed her lips together once again. This time to keep an indignant retort to herself.
“We cannot ruin a man’s reputation without sufficient proof,” her brother added. “Therefore, the fewer who know his name…” He let the rest of the thought explain itself in Harriet’s mind.
Tarnishing the name of an innocent man had to be considered carefully. Harriet could not fault her brother for taking care with that. A reputation that was damaged – whether with cause or not – was a very hard thing to restore.
“I will meet the colonel on the road, so that he will know he is needed at Lillesley house,” Edmund said. “I know the inns he stops at along the way from Matlock to town.”
“How soon are we leaving?” Harriet asked as she rose from her chair.
“We are not leaving,” her brother said with some force. “I am leaving. You will not leave any earlier than planned. It is not unusual for a gentleman to go to town while the ladies stay in the country, but if we all up sticks and leave before expected, it would be noticed.”
Harriet sighed. He was right. And she hated that he was. It was enough to make her scowl and shake her head.
“If things can be arranged with our sister’s husband,” Edmund added in a gentler tone, “then, you may return to town a week early to see to some wedding preparations – at least, that will be the story we will put forward when anyone asks about your early departure.”
