The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet by Katherine Cowley (the reading list book txt) 📗

trip. I can also assign you a list of books to read that I am certain you will find very helpful for your future.” Lady Trafford pointed at a desk in the corner. “Now fetch me a piece of paper and that quill.”

Lady Trafford wrote out a list of five books and then dismissed Mary. As she retrieved the books from the library, Mary noted that each of them had very direct, practical things that could help a prospective governess, much more relevant skills than the instruction she had received from Lady Trafford and Mr. Withrow. One of them, Moral Tales for Young People by Maria Edgeworth, contained a story titled “The Good French Governess” which appeared to be a didactic about how to deal with difficult children.

Mary brought the books back to her room but did not attempt to read. Instead, she blocked the door with a chair and removed her letter-writing materials. She was glad that she had not told Lady Trafford what she had discovered, but that was not enough. She needed to act on it, and quickly.

She addressed the letter to Sir Richard Pickering. Writing a letter was better than if she had spoken to him in person, for with a letter, she could remain anonymous. When her concerns were addressed, she did not need her name noised about and made public as involved in the matter; it was enough that her name was had in the community with a connection to a dead body, but a connection to treasonous people, even if she was not one of them, could bring shame to her entire family. She used her left hand to write, which made it agonizingly slow, but also meant no one would be able to match it to her handwriting.

Dear Sir Richard Pickering,

I am writing this letter to you anonymously in order to protect myself and my family. Yet the matter is urgent.

I found myself in a position where I overheard a private conversation between two residents of Worthing: Colonel Radcliffe and Monsieur Corneau. Both of the men sympathize with Napoleon Bonaparte. Corneau seems to be gathering support for an invasion by Bonaparte. Colonel Radcliffe has not been attending the meetings but has been funding Corneau, and has a secret boat that he plans to use to contact Bonaparte when the opportune moment arises. He has also found a place for the troops to land undiscovered, but I do not know the location of it.

Mary twisted her quill in her fingers. What she was about to write felt like a betrayal of her hosts, but it must be done.

In their conversation, Monsieur Corneau mentioned that Mr. Henry Withrow, of Castle Durrington, wanted to join their group. As of the conversation, they had not invited him into their confidence or allowed him to join. However, on a different occasion I saw Withrow with a French officer from Napoleon’s army. I did not hear what they said, but they were looking at a map. Perhaps Withrow was gathering information that would help him join Radcliffe and Corneau.

She decided not to mention the things she had learned about Mr. Holloway and the Tagores, Lady Trafford and Mr. Withrow; she did not quite see how everything fit together. But when she discovered the connections, she would report it and see that justice would be done.

Thank you for your time in reading this letter. It is my sincere hope that you act promptly on this matter.

Sincerely,

An Anonymous Friend

Mary decided to secure the letter well, but not in the method Lady Trafford had taught her. Instead she used a different method that she had seen on one of the letters Lady Trafford had received. She did not know exactly how it had been executed, but she could approximate it. She folded the letter, sewed the edges together with a needle and thread, and then dripped the wax onto the thread. Instead of using her seal, which someone at the post office might recognize, she pressed a plain square of paper on top of the wax and used a sharp metal point to press three holes in it, which let some of the wax seep through.

She placed the letter in her pocket and visited the stables. Mr. Tubbs once again prepared Dusty for her and helped her mount. When she arrived in town, instead of depositing the letter in one of the post boxes, she checked with the stable boy to see if the Pickerings were still at the inn. They were, so she paid him a few coins to slide the letter underneath their door. She rode back to Castle Durrington, hoping that Sir Pickering would act quickly on the information.

Chapter Twenty

“For a long time back the French government have been endeavoring to cripple our army, by offering inducements to the men to desert; they sent in the following paper among our men, published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish, and Dutch. This is the English copy verbatim:—

“‘ADVICE.—The soldiers of all nations, French, Italian, German, Polanders, English, Spanish, and Portuguese, who are in the English service, are advised that the deserters coming to the French Imperial Army, are perfectly well received: they are paid for the arms and the horses they bring with them: none of them is obliged to serve: passports are delivered to them to return to their native country if they choose, or to go to inner parts of France, where they may freely exercise their professions: they are moreover treated with all sort of regard.”

–The Suffolk Chronicle, Suffolk, England, December 4, 1813

When Mary returned from the inn, Castle Durrington was silent and empty, a husk stripped of the sights and sounds and society of the previous days. Mrs. Boughton informed Mary that Lady Trafford, Mr. Withrow, and the Tagores had gone to Worthing to visit the Trafford family graves at the cemetery. The handful of ball guests who had spent the night were still fast asleep in the guest rooms.

Mary considered heading back