A Nefarious Engagement by Messina Lynn

Author:Messina, Lynn
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Potatoworks Press
Published: 2019-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

By the time Bea joined her family at the breakfast table the next morning, she was so consumed by the challenge of finding Misters Berks and Thorpe that the curious way she had gotten their names had quite slipped her mind.

Her first thought, naturally, had been to return to the Addison to scour the newspapers for references to the men. She still imagined the search would be long and tedious, but having two names gave her something specific to look for and she was convinced that would make the task somewhat easier.

But having their names and professions did not mean she could easily find their directions. Any newspaper reference she managed to locate would probably cite the guild’s headquarters rather than their particular shops. And if the article was so obliging as to provide specifics, it was unlikely the men still resided at those addresses. Mr. Jeffries had been a lucky stroke, and she could not depend on it happening again.

She had little cause to be optimistic.

Furthermore, slipping out of the house unnoticed this morning would not be as easy as it had been two days ago, for her aunt would not blithely allow her to go shopping with Lady Abercrombie again. The countess’s modiste was in the wrong part of town, situated in the heart of Mayfair, in Bond Street next to Mrs. Duval, which was far too fashionable for the Hyde-Clares, who preferred Miss Scribe’s modest shop. The Amwell Street establishment was filled with moderately appealing dresses that kept one’s desire for pretty things easily in check.

No, there had to be a better, more reliable method for finding the men. They were tradesmen, were they not, and as such were members of a specific guild. Mr. Berks, for example, should belong to the clockmakers guild. Did the guild advertise its wares? Did it publish a list and distribute it to the public?

“Tell us, my dear, how is the state of the country?” Aunt Vera asked as her niece sat down. “Are we on the verge of a peasant uprising or are the reports of unrest in Middlewich greatly exaggerated?”

Bea looked at her relative in confusion.

“Middleham,” Uncle Horace said from behind the newspaper he was reading, correcting his wife’s under-standing of current events. “Middlewich is in Cheshire.”

“Then where is Middleham?” his wife asked.

“Yorkshire,” he said.

“Is that a distinction really worth making?” Flora wondered. “They’re both frightfully north.”

“Middleham is where Henry the Third was raised,” Russell explained patiently.

“Richard the Third,” Uncle Horace said, his voice rippling with irritation as his eyes remained focused on newsprint. “Cheshire is south of the Lake District.”

“Then where was Henry the Third raised?” Russell asked.

“Up north,” said Flora.

“Hampshire,” her father said.

“Yes, that is what I said,” Flora explained.

Unable to bear his children’s ignorance of historical and geographic matters, Uncle Horace struck the table with his newspaper and left it lying next to his plate as he bounded out of the room.

“Now see what you did,” Vera said heatedly to her niece.

Bea, whose bewilderment had

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