“Lady Amanda, what are you doing?” A smile, unbidden, gracing his lips, Nathaniel muttered to himself and shook his head.
He ran his fingers over the images on the flier he had picked up in town. On it, a boy’s haunting stare peered at him through the bars of the debtor’s cart. The mother and nursing child, the filthy men—she hadn’t missed a single person. She was remarkably talented. Their likenesses so captured, he felt himself return to the scene, and he saw Lady Amanda again, wrenching open the door to that despicable conveyance, her shoulders and hands, the very manner in which she stood, so full of hope. Nathaniel shook his head. Although he was likely the only person in the ton to know who drew these fliers, he couldn’t help but feel a small ball of worry begin as he thought of the risk she had taken. Dangerous players toyed with the concept of liberty, and Bender had already targeted her.
“I hope someone is aware and watching out for you,” he murmured. Smiling, he reached for his father’s latest letter. Somehow word had reached the estate that Nathaniel had an interest in Lady Amanda, and his father expressed his full support. He shook his head. He knew too well the difficulty of guarding secrets from the ton.
Brooks stood in the open doorway, the letter tray in his hand. “My lord, Martin has just delivered the post.”
Nathaniel looked up from his father’s desk in the library and raised his eyebrows. “Very well, Brooks. Let’s take care of that now.”
“Yes, my lord.” Brooks looked up and down the hallway and then entered the room, locking the door behind him.
Nathaniel stood up from his desk and led the way to the back of the room. He walked toward the window alcove that overlooked the east gardens and reached behind the curtains. Nathaniel felt the small, nearly invisible latch, which he depressed with his forefinger. They both waited while the adjacent wall slid silently to the left, revealing a passageway.
He glanced around the hidden office, verifying that all was in order and that they were alone. They moved to sit at the desk, Brooks setting down the tray between them and Nathaniel pulling out his signet, used only for Liberty Seekers correspondence. “I am almost afraid to read the latest news.”
Brooks nodded. “The Spa Fields riots really set us back. Were it not for Bender and his men, Hunt could have finished his speech at Islington and we would be much further along.”
“Exactly,” Nathaniel said. “The man is a menace.”
Brooks gestured to the air. “And insane. Hopes to overthrow us all. I fear the man hungers for Madame la Guillotine’s reign in London.”
Thinking of the boy in the cart, a desire to save him and all those like him renewed Nathaniel’s energy. He reached out and gripped Brooks’s shoulder. “We must plan an effective rally, a peaceful demonstration, try again without Bender’s interference. Perhaps somewhere closer.”
Brooks said, “God willing, my lord.”
Nathaniel stood and began pacing off his excited energy while they talked. “Why not Manchester? They are the largest group of unrepresented people.”
Brooks smiled. “Just so, my lord. St. Peter’s Fields is a lovely large space. It could fit half the town.”
Nathaniel pulled fresh paper across the desk and dipped his pen in ink. “I’ll call in the men for a meeting. We can’t lose momentum. We had better get the rally planned as soon as possible.” After sealing his correspondence with hot wax, the image of an eagle’s head betokening the letter’s author, Nathaniel ran his thumb across the top of his signet ring. “I have always loved the eagle. The first time I saw one, soaring at heights no human could ever reach, I was fascinated by the bird. My first signet—do you remember?—it was an eagle in flight.”
“I remember.”
“But we are not in flight, Brooks, and we are not in battle either. Peaceful, lawful ways will excite the greatest change. The eagle in flight seemed the best image for Red at the time, until I met an eagle at rest.”
Brooks raised his eyebrows in question.
Nathaniel explained, “I was traversing some old ruins near my estate in Wales and I came across an eagle’s nest, overlooking the cliffs by the sea. From my place at the top of a crag on a hill, I stood mesmerized as I watched an eagle on the edge of her nest facing the wind. The majesty and calm of the creature struck me. In that moment I thought, ‘This bird may fly high and far, but she is truly free only in the peace of this moment.’” Nathaniel shrugged with a smile. “That is when I commissioned this ring. Freedom became more to me that day.”
“And the eagle in flight is a most appropriate signet now for our spy. I was much pleased when you asked Martin to deliver it to him.”
Nathaniel said, “Brave man, he is—it is time I met him, I believe.”
“There is a letter from him here, my lord.” Brooks indicated the small stack of correspondence on the tray.
Finding the letter, Nathaniel broke the seal and read the first few lines. Dread settled in his gut and his fist clenched, crumpling the paper.
Brooks’s eyes flew to Nathaniel’s face. “What is it?”
“He says Bender plans murder—of government officials.”
“Where? When?”
“July 23. He will have more information in a few days.” Oh, that he would hurry.
“That’s only a few weeks away,” Brooks said gravely.
“We will have to work quickly.”