The Duke's Messenger (7 page)

In no time. Nell had penned a note to him and entrusted it to Grigg, a footman she had brought with her to alleviate the strain on her aunt’s household by her own requirements.

“You must deliver this, Grigg, directly to my brother at Oakcliff. It is of the utmost urgency, and if he is not to be found then I don’t know quite how I shall go on.”

She would have sent word to Oakcliff before, when it was desperately to be desired that Tom receive Rowland’s offer for her. But it would take two days at the very least for Tom to reach London from the Cotswolds and Rowland had departed the next day. Urgency had ebbed, therefore, only to return with Mr. Haveney’s parcel.

Grigg, brought up in the Aspinall household, adored Nell. He straightened his shoulders, clearly ready to brave polar regions if that were required of him, or even, if Miss Nell wished, track down Lady Hester Stanhope, last heard from three months before at an outlandish place called Mesh-mushy.

In truth, the footman did not return when Nell expected him. But she had every confidence, if not in the footman, then in Tom’s own curiosity about Mr. Haveney’s request. Once he learned that exciting news waited for him, he would travel to London without even penning up his cattle.

Chapter Seven

While Nell waited the return of her footman, she raised her plans on the foundation stone of Tom’s arrival. She must be ready, for if Tom were to take this mysterious small parcel across Europe, she must make it inevitable for him to include her and Aunt Phrynie as part of the expedition.

Mr. Haveney’s presentation of his need for Tom indicated that the parcel must be carried without fanfare to Vienna. Surely, Nell reasoned, if camouflage were desired, what better than a simple family group traveling for their own pleasure?

If a traveling family party were required, Nell would see that one was provided. Lady Sanford proved less recalcitrant than Nell had expected, and in the end she was surprisingly easy to persuade. Clearly, she too felt the lure of lights and music emanating from far beyond the horizon, and as she said privately to her maid Mullins, “Even Tom is better than nothing.”

Even though Nell heard nothing from the messenger sent after her brother, she had wrought such a change in her aunt that on the morning of their proposed departure Phrynie was out of bed even before her first cup of tea, harrying Mullins over her attire.

“What makes you think I shall wear that puce traveling suit? You know what traveling does to my complexion, and puce is the last thing I should wish to wear. Take it away at once, and lay out the Persian-green one. I declare, Nell,” she added, turning abruptly to her niece when she entered, “I don’t know why we are doing all this. I told you we would not travel to Vienna.”

“That was before you knew that Tom was going with us,” said Nell serenely, even though she had had no word either from Tom or from the office of the mysterious Duke of Whern. She had written to Mr. Haveney to inform him that Tom was returning posthaste to London and would be prepared to receive the parcel and deliver it to Castlereagh. “Now, Aunt, we must be ready to leave the moment Tom gets here.”

“Which will be hours late, if I know anything about him.” Something in Nell’s attitude aroused suspicion in Lady Sanford’s breast. “Nell, are you conniving?”

“I don’t know what you mean, Aunt.”

“You know very well. To be quite plain, are you planning some nefarious scheme? Where is Tom? And what makes you certain he will allow us to accompany him to Vienna? I have not so far seen any sign of his amiability in ordinary matters, let alone an affair of such moment as a veritable expedition.” She eyed Nell with misgivings. “I have the strongest feeling,” she declared, “that
he
will simply tell us we are to stay at home and be gone before we have an opportunity to convince him to take us.”

Phrynie touched an echoing chord in Nell. However, Nell had taken certain precautions of her own. “The carriage is ordered for an hour from now,” she informed Phrynie, “and Stuston is prepared to drive us all the way. Samuel is coming with us and another footman and a groom as well. And Mullins, who will make you comfortable, you know. Should you think these were sufficient servants? I am sure that Tom will have a man or two with him. So you see we shall be well equipped.”

“I confess I have grave misgivings, Nell. I cannot think why, for all seems
convenable
. I wonder whether there is any merit in premonitions?”

“Nonsense, Aunt. I am persuaded we will go on excessively well. Whitcomb has sent ahead to take rooms for us this night at the Ship Inn and has arranged our passage across the Channel. Don’t worry, dear Aunt. All is in train.”

All except Tom, she told herself. But she could do nothing about her brother now, and she must turn her thoughts to the messenger who would bring the parcel. She recalled her exact words to Mr. Haveney — her brother would arrive during the night just past and would be on hand to receive the mysterious parcel at the earliest convenient hour this morning. She had not precisely told an untruth, for she was not informed that he would
not
come
.

It was already past the earliest hour convenient to Nell. She could only conclude that Where’s office kept late hours.

But, a half hour later, when Nell was ready to climb the maroon velvet draperies and scream in an attempt to relieve her taut nerves, the messenger from Mr. Haveney arrived.

She had dreaded the likelihood that Mr. Haveney himself would come. It was in the highest degree probable that he would make difficulties over the preparations, which could not be concealed. The traveling chariot before the door, vast amounts of luggage strapped on the back and even encumbering the roof, Lady Sanford’s coachman ready to swing up to his seat — it must be obvious to the dullest intellect that Lady Sanford was taking to the road.

If Mr. Haveney demanded the actual presence of Tom Aspinall, Nell was undone.

Just as she began to sink below the surface of depression, Grigg reappeared, grubby and breathless, having ridden far into the night before and taken to the road again before dawn. Like a faithful retriever, he handed Nell an equally soiled and ill-written note. Tom’s formal education had slid off the surface of his brain like water over a smooth rock. With some difficulty, she made out the sense of his missive.

Sorry
,
Nell
,
be
a
little
late
.
Tell
Whern
I’ll
get
there
as
soon
as
I
can
walk
.
Fell
off
a
sorry
hack
that
Charlie
Puckett
sold
me
,
nothing
wrong
,
just
a
bruised
knee
.
lsnt
he
a
grate
fellow
.
Whern
,
1
mean
.
Not
Charlie
.

Nell’s spirits, not at their most vigorous just now, were dashed completely. She had not fully realized how much her scheme depended upon Tom’s immediate presence. She was prepared to anticipate his arrival, even to the point of falsely informing Mr. Haveney that Tom was still abed upstairs. But now that she had word from her brother that he was not now even on the road to London, her heart failed her.

If Tom could not come in the next hour, then her entire project was in vain. Her aunt would never again trust her, nor would she consent to postponing their departure for several days. Besides, Nell, always honest at least with herself, recognized that if urgency were required, Tom could much more easily travel swiftly without the cumbersome addition of his family.

In addition, Nell saw clearly that if Tom came to London to do Whern’s bidding, then he was perfectly capable of going directly to whew, obtaining the parcel, and, realizing that time was of the essence, sending word to his sister from Paris that he was on his way. Alone.

Already three days had been lost waiting for him, and who knew how many more would elapse before his knee would serve him?

For want of a nail, she remembered, the battle was lost.

Not Nell Aspinall’s battle.

“What did Tom’s note say?” demanded her aunt.

“He’ll be along soon,” said Nell, distorting the message slightly, but scrupulously adding, “his hand is all but illegible.” Then, rejecting half measures, she continued, “He says we should take the parcel and begin the journey. He will overtake us at the Ship Inn.”

“But,” objected Phrynie, “where is the parcel? I wish to meet this Mr. Haveney. Do you think that the duke himself will come? I have the liveliest curiosity about him. I wonder, do you know, whether he might not be a better catch even than young Foxhall. The old duke was a veritable nabob, and clench-fisted at that. I never met him but once.” She sighed. “Too late, of course.”

Nell said, primly, “We are not apt to meet the present duke either. At least, he sent Mr. Haveney in the first instance. But don’t trouble yourself over Whern, Aunt. I am perfectly satisfied with Rowland. I love him, you remember.”

Drily, Lady Sanford commented, “What does
that
signify?”

Whern’s messenger arrived within the hour. To Nell’s great relief, it was not Mr. Haveney. The note handed to her on his behalf was brief.

Urgent
business
came
up
.
The
bearer
of
this
parcel
is
instructed
to
place
it
only
in
the
hands
of
Thomas
Aspinall
.
Aspinall
.
in
his
turn
is
to
deliver
the
parcel
directly
into
the
hands
of
Lord
Castlereagh
.
Any
violation
of
these
instructions
will
be
gravely
dealt
with
.

Nell bit her lip. “
Gravely
dealt
with
.” It was almost, she thought, as though Mr. Haveney had read her mind and found it necessary to warn her against carrying out her devious plot.

Impossible that Haveney knew what she was planning!

Even though her scheme rested firmly upon Tom’s presence, she was not averse to improvisation. Besides, she had gone too far to be intimidated — at least at present — by the probable nature of the threatened “
grave
consequences
.”

She smiled dazzlingly at the messenger, a red-haired boy of no more than fifteen, and without great effort was soon possessed of the parcel.

In short order the Sanford chariot rolled away out of Grosvenor Square to South Audley Street, heading toward Great George Street, the nearest way to Westminster Bridge. It was barely out of sight before the messenger realized that he had allowed the parcel to leave his hands even though the designated receiver was nowhere in sight.

He had failed in his mission. His mind whirled with visions of the unpleasantness that would be his lot, he believed, when his lapse became known. It did not occur to him to call upon his masters to retrieve the parcel from illegal hands.

He walked aimlessly toward the river. He had no intention of ending it all, but he could not bring himself to face Mr. Haveney, to say nothing of the duke. Instead, he thought only of delaying his punishment as long as was possible.

The luckless messenger was sunk in despair, rising in intervals to contemplate the lovely lady who had led him — or rather his parcel — astray. At odd moments he was visited by the recollection of Mr. Haveney’s definite instructions, along with a veiled suggestion of punishment to follow deviations from duty.

But then he remembered the very ordinary look of the parcel. Big enough so that he must hold it in his hand as he traveled from Duke Street to Lady Sanford’s, it was wrapped in plain paper as though it were merely a bundle of letters. If it had been wrapped in tape and sealed with red wax, it would have been important. By degrees, the boy convinced himself that Mr. Haveney was simply returning personal missives. Why should he be overwrought if his messenger simply told him the truth — that the young lady had taken them with a promise to deliver them to her brother?

Eventually, he believed that wherever the fault lay, it was not with him. Nevertheless, twilight was blanketing the city before he returned to his employer.

*

For want of a nail was a myth. But for want of an early warning, the Sanford carriage was allowed to trundle on toward Dover without hindrance.

As they left London behind and moved steadily out on the Dover road Nell settled back against the blue velvet squabs with a contented sigh. She had succeeded so far. Her aunt was in the carriage, committed to the journey to Vienna. Nell had no fears now that Tom would go on his own, bypassing his family, to Austria.

After all, Nell had the famous parcel tucked safely away in her own jewel case!