The Emperor's Conspiracy (31 page)

“Your sister sends her regards.” Dervish spoke suddenly, with a suppressed nervousness.

“She well?” Edward watched Dervish through half-closed eyes. The man was utterly smitten with Emma. There was no doubt about it.

“She’s well. Finding it hard to cope with the neighbors, I think. But she’ll be back down in a few days. She wanted to arrange for some repairs to some of the workers’ homes before autumn and winter arrive, now that you’ve put some money into the place.”

Edward gave a nod and left it at that. Emma knew her own mind. She would encourage Dervish or not, as she decided, but he rather thought, if anyone could understand Dervish’s past, it would be Em. Her sons had nearly suffered the same fate. She would not hold it against him.

“How many smugglers did you arrest?”

Dervish pursed his lips with frustration. “Only four. Even with those, we never caught them actually loading boats. They were simply checking on the merchandise. Claimed they’d heard there was treasure in the caves, and came to see for themselves. They may get off.”

“Forget them. We need the planners.” He suddenly realized Dervish didn’t know about Gravelines. He could hardly believe, himself, how much had been revealed in the last day. “There is a small port called Gravelines on the French coast. That’s where the smugglers go with the guineas. They have an area fenced off there, and buildings with accommodation for three hundred English smugglers at a time. The boats come in and
French government clerks meet them, count the guineas, and then give the smugglers the silk, gin, and brandy for the trade. That’s why they aren’t afraid of the French government stealing the guineas before they can exchange them. They are delivering the guineas straight to the French government itself. In a place set up to make the smuggling as efficient as possible.”

“How did you discover this?” Dervish gripped his knees, his knuckles turning white.

“I managed to find a smuggler involved in this business. He decided to get out of it, because he didn’t want to betray England. He said the emperor has decreed that only guineas are to be accepted for their trade items, with the intention of denuding England of all her gold.”

“Napoleon is trying to bring down the economy?” Dervish gave a slow nod of his head. “Because we went off the gold standard, he may be hoping if there’s no gold in England, the economy will collapse.”

“Could that happen?” Edward leaned forward.

Dervish shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you really want to find out? I can’t believe this, it’s …”

Edward nodded. “I know. When I first heard it, I was struck by the scale. The daring of it. It’s diabolical, and yet, I cannot help admire Napoleon for it. And if he succeeds, if our economy is in tatters, we won’t have the money to support our troops on the Continent. We won’t be able to support our allies.”

“We’ll be at Napoleon’s mercy.” Dervish rocked a little on his seat. “Did this smuggler also tell you about your stepfather?”

Edward hesitated. There was no need to bring Luke into this. To do that would bring Charlotte in, too, and he could not guarantee that her secrets would be safe with everyone who worked for the Crown. He gave a slow nod. “He gave me my stepfather’s name.”

“My God.” Dervish stood, his movements jerky, as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. “If Hawthorne is involved, who else? This could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Forget having no gold, and a tumbling economy. The riots are bad enough as it is; what will they be like if the man in the street learns they’re being betrayed to the enemy by the House of Lords? For profit! Napoleon won’t have to bring us down. We’ll collapse from within.”

“We don’t know how many are involved. Tavenam, Hawthorne, Tavenam’s nephew, Blackley.” Edward stood himself. “Those are the only names I have, other than Frethers and Geoffrey, who are dead.”

“If only that was it. That would be containable. A few bad eggs. We wouldn’t even need to say anything. Just the concept of this is dangerous. It could cause a run on the banks, and total panic.”

Edward thought of Luke, of what he was trying to engineer, and realized his idea had not been so far-fetched at all. With proof of a few more noblemen involved in the plot, he could have stirred up a great deal of trouble. Trouble that would be justified, even as it tore England apart. “Perhaps we’ll be lucky—”

The hammering on his door cut him off. There was a panic
imbued in the staccato rapping that made him run to the hall. This time he beat Jasper to it.

It was Clavers. “My lord.” Clavers was wild-eyed, and there was the pungent odor of smoke about him.

“A man. A man broke into the library through the window. Calm as you please. And he …” Clavers raised a shaking hand to his eyes, and then straightened. “He and Lord Hawthorne argued, and then he killed Lord Hawthorne with a knife. Quick, with no fuss, like he was having his Sunday dinner. Cool as that.”

Luke.

Edward stepped back to let Clavers in.

“No. No!” Clavers stepped back, strain and urgency in every line of him. “The house is on fire, sir. Hawthorne threw his lamp at the man. Just laughed, the killer did. Just laughed as the fire caught the sofa, then the tablecloth. Said it was fitting his lordship bled out slowly in a living hell.”

“What happened then?” Edward was already out on the street with him.

“Didn’t see. I ran here fast as I could.”

Edward started running himself. And he was not sure, other than to rescue his house, what he was running for.

37

C
harlotte ran.

There had to be another way. A way they could all win. She turned over what that way could be as she sprinted full tilt, her skirts held up and to the side with one hand.

She didn’t notice the man until she ran into him. He took the hit with an oomph, grabbing her with one arm and swinging her around to prevent them both going down.

“In a hurry?”

She reached out to steady herself on his forearms, and jerked back with shock when she realized he only had one arm.

“Yes. My apologies.” She pulled away to run on, and he tightened the grip he had around her.

“Not so fast.”

He was thin. Too thin. But he had height on her, and a strength she couldn’t match.

She looked up at him. “What do you want?”

“To know if you’re the servant girl you’re dressed as, or the lady of the house, trying to pretend to be a maid?”

She narrowed her eyes. “What’s it to you?”

“My job.” He shrugged. “It’s my job to know.”

She tried to tug herself free, but before she could say anything more, he gave a yelp and was yanked to the side.

Bill stood behind him. “Been watchin’ you.” He took a firm grip on the man’s shoulders, and Charlotte saw her attacker’s face pale. “You all right, Charlie?”

She nodded. Dodged around both men and kept running. She heard a thump behind her, and then Bill was running with her.

Up ahead, somewhere in the direction of Hawthorne’s house, a plume of smoke blackened the moonlit sky and the smell of burning seeped into the air.

She ran faster but Bill overtook her and she could do nothing but follow him, grateful he knew the way better than she.

She took the last corner and stumbled to a stop, panting.

Bill was gone, as if he’d been a figment of her imagination.

The fire was around the side of the house, she would guess in Hawthorne’s library, and the insurance firemen were busy dousing the flames.

As she stood and stared, the red glow of the fire was extinguished.

“It wasn’t much of a fire, anyway.” Luke’s voice came from the left, from the dark shadows at the corner of an empty
town house. “Not near hot enough for my liking. I’d have preferred that he burn.” There was a wistfulness about his words.

“I didn’t understand, Luke. Until I saw the papers, I didn’t understand.” She tried to see him, but he had chosen his hiding place well. “How can we get the proof you want without throwing you to the wolves as well?”

“Ah, we can’t.” She could almost see him shake his head. “I got the pig to squeal a little before I cut his throat. There are only five of them. Five nobs. The rest of their little army are all merchants.” He gave a bitter laugh. “I should have realized. Who else has access to guineas? Who rakes it in, day in and day out, but the merchants and bankers of the city? So there goes my big plan to bring the nobs down. All that work, all that gold gone out … for nothing.”

He stepped out at last. “Maybe you’ll use those papers I gave you, maybe you won’t. But Lord Nob will no doubt find this interesting.” He held something out to her, and she took hold of it, felt the smooth, cool touch of a brass cylinder beneath her fingertips. He kept his hold on it, too, and it linked them, the brass gleaming in the moonlight.

“What is it?”

“Hawthorne’s list of co-conspirators. The paperwork that came before those papers I gave you. Who they are, how many guineas they gave him, how much he paid them in return. It was hidden underneath that footstool of his. He was fishing it out when I first got there. I was interested enough to wait until he’d taken it out before I let him know I was there.”

“Why? Why are you giving it to me?”

“Because I don’t care no more—whether they cop it or not for what they done. Maybe it’s time I took a holiday. I don’t think I ever took a holiday, Charlie. Ever. Bill and Sammy can look after the patch for me while I’m gone. Do me good.”

“Yes.” She let the tears that suddenly welled in her eyes fall. She saw there was blood on his collar and on his sleeve. Hawthorne’s blood. “It will do you the world of good.”

“Well, ’bye. See you when I get back?” He kept his voice casual, bright.

She nodded, and he kissed her again as he had done in the withdrawing room, gently on the brow. Then he let go of the cylinder and stepped back into the shadows.

She never heard him walk away, but after a moment, she realized he was gone.

There was a shout from an intersecting street a little way down from where she stood and three men ran toward the house.

One of them was Edward. She would never be able to mistake him.

He disappeared into the house, walking now that he could see the fire was out, and after a moment’s indecision, she turned away from him.

Started back home.

It wasn’t the time to give him the cylinder she had in her hand, and she would have to think about whether she would give him the first set of papers that damned Luke.

She thought not.

She would not put a barrier to Luke’s return to London when he wanted. He wouldn’t try to box her in any longer. Not anymore.

A cool breeze had risen, and it tugged and twirled the hair that had fallen loose from her pins during her run. She lifted her face to it and enjoyed the play of air over her cheeks.

And was happy.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The plot by Napoleon to cause an economic collapse in England by smuggling out all of its gold was true. There are several letters by him to his brother and his officials, outlining the plan, and Gravelines did exist—a small port set up by the French for accepting the smuggled guineas.

For those readers interested in learning more about the economics of Napoleon’s plan you can read Eli F. Heckscher’s
The Continental System: An Economic Interpretation,
which was published in 1918. For more details on the actual smuggling, and information on Gravelines, I found a lot of useful information in
The Historical Journal
50, 2 (2007) article “Napoleon and the ‘City of Smugglers,’ 1810–1814” by Gavin Daly. To learn more about the darker side of Regency London, I highly recommend
The Regency Underworld
by Donald A. Low.

Regards,

Michelle Diener

    A GALLERY READERS GROUP GUIDE   

The Emperor’s
Conspiracy

MICHELLE DIENER

INTRODUCTION

Charlotte Raven hasn’t always been a proper lady. Beneath her prim and proper gloves lie the scars of her former life: Charlotte used to be “Charlie,” a girl of the streets who dressed as a boy to work as a chimney sweep. After Lady Catherine Howe took her in, Charlotte gained access to the cream of the crop of London society. But Charlotte keeps a foot in her old world—she still visits the “rookeries,” London’s seamy side, to see her childhood friend Luke, who has worked his way to the top of London’s organized crime system.