GREEN

Elizabeth jumped up from the table excitedly, walked over to face the man. "Mr. Baker! Welcome back! I do hope you have good news," then she turned to the butler and asked, "Jennings, please send for Mr. Longman. Tell him Mr. Baker is here."

Baker walked into the room as Jennings departed and bowed. "Good evening, Mrs. Darcy. I fear my news is neither especially good nor the end of the world, but decisions must be made."

Elizabeth's excitement faded. "Have you eaten? We just finished, but I would be happy to get a tray for you."

"I ate on the ship just before we docked, so I am content for the moment, although some coffee would likely not kill me."

Elizabeth wondered if she really had his full attention, since his glance kept going towards Caroline. She did not have the vaguest idea if it was a man glancing at a beautiful woman (which had been known to happen from time to time), or if it might be a cautious look, since he did not know what he could say around her. It occurred to her that he might be trying to politely hint that Mrs. Darcy should meet him privately.

Elizabeth smiled at his confusion. "Oh, where are my manners? Mr. Noah Baker, may I introduce Miss Caroline Bingley. Caroline, Mr. Noah Baker."

Caroline had come around the table and curtsied politely. "Mr. Baker, a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Bingley."

Baker looked to Elizabeth and quirked an eyebrow, and Elizabeth found herself in her very first test of their very new friendship. In the normal course of events, they might have months before anything substantial come up, but here they were, less than five hours into it and her new friend did not look like she knew whether to stay or go.

Deciding that if she was in for a penny, she may as well be in for a pound. "You may speak freely, Mr. Baker. Miss Bingley has my trust," but then immediately started to wonder if that was a wise move.

Baker looked quite carefully at Miss Bingley, and Elizabeth watched to see if Caroline would squirm or stand up to the scrutiny.

It turned out that she seemed, at least for the moment, to be fearless because she simply smiled at the man. "Mrs. Darcy is being too kind, Mr. Baker. We have only recently become friends and allies, after a rather difficult beginning. You may count on my discretion if I am asked to stay; or I will not be offended if I am asked to leave."

Elizabeth said, "I believe you may stay if you like, Caroline."

Baker seemed to think on it a moment, and finally he looked to Elizabeth. "I concur."

Elizabeth noticed Caroline startle a bit, and she frankly found the statement confusing herself. "I am curious, Mr. Baker, about how you came to that conclusion, if you do not mind."

Baker smiled a bit, looked more at Caroline than Elizabeth. "Please do not be offended, ma'am, but I had cause to investigate Miss Bingley at one time, though I never met the lady in person. I found no cause for alarm or mistrust."

Elizabeth found that very curious, but since Baker seemed disinclined to tell anyone exactly why he had done the investigation, or for whom, perhaps there were some things best left unknown. She looked at Caroline to see her reaction and was surprised to see her staring at Mr. Baker with an expression she could not quite read.

According to Elizabeth's previous theory of the world, she would have assumed that Miss Bingley would disdain any connection to a thief-catcher, although there was no way for Caroline to know Baker's profession, aside from the fact that he was obviously not a gentleman. That was not saying anything terrible about the lady, as Elizabeth herself would have been loath to make the connection before her marriage.

Based on her newer understanding, she was completely unwilling to hazard a guess as to how Caroline would react. Using the evidence of her own, supposedly fine eyes, she thought she saw some sort of spark in the lady, but there were many different sorts of sparks, so it was pointless to speculate on which particular flavor she was witnessing. It could be the spark of recognition from a previous encounter. It could be the spark of fear about what Mr. Baker might say or do. It could be a spark of unease about which of her secrets the man possessed. It could even, as unlikely as it sounded, be the spark of initial attraction, but Elizabeth dismissed that thought immediately, suspecting too much of her mother's influence.

Deciding it was time to get on with it, she said, "Shall we go somewhere more comfortable for your coffee then?"

"It would be my pleasure, Mrs. Darcy, Miss Bingley."

Elizabeth led her companions out of the dining room, and to the library, which seemed like a good place to have their conference, asking for the coffee on the way, as well as more tea for herself and Caroline.

Mr. Baker offered Miss Bingley his arm, and she took it, apparently without qualms. It was obviously unnecessary, but Elizabeth enjoyed that little bit of graciousness nonetheless; although she was unwilling to guess what Caroline thought about it. She was obviously not horrified, but beyond that, Elizabeth had no idea.

Once they were safely ensconced in the Library and refreshments were served, Baker asked, "Miss Bingley, are you aware of our mission on the continent?"

Caroline looked evasive, and Elizabeth said, "Do not be embarrassed if you know things you perhaps should not, Caroline. My husband's business is supposedly secret, but if you have ferreted it out, I will not be overly alarmed."

Caroline blushed slightly. "I would never dare to eavesdrop, but your husband and my brother sometimes have difficulty modulating their voices, and …"

Elizabeth laughed. "… and you may have 'accidentally' found yourself in a position to overhear. Do not fear. I have found myself in such positions before as well, and very well could in the future. How much do you know?"

"Not very much. Your husband was planning to go to France to rescue his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, but was prevented by his illness. He …" and then she hesitated.

Elizabeth said, "Continue, Caroline. We are all trusted here."

"… He apparently succumbed to your mother's scheme to protect his family reputation – partly because he feared creditors might make it difficult or impossible for him to finance the rescue of his cousin if it got to be very expensive. That is all I know."

Elizabeth had guessed that, but in all her discussions with Darcy, he had not stated it so bluntly.

She took her friend's hand. "I believe you are correct. You see. My trust was not misplaced!"

There had been little objective justification for her faith in the lady, but her husband had also told her she should trust her instincts, and it felt right for some reason she could not quite put her finger on.

Longman came in the door right as she finished, so introductions were made all around. It turned out that Longman knew Miss Bingley from her longer association with Mr. Darcy, but he had not crossed paths with the thief-catcher, since Baker left for the continent before Longman appeared from Pemberley.

Elizabeth spent a couple of minutes telling everything about the plans for the rescue of the Colonel, including their ideas for a two prong attack where Baker looked for a way to spirit the colonel away by bribing the appropriate military officials or simply buying off guards; while a smuggler, Mr. Seymore, under the direction of Mr. Gardiner, tried to see about negotiations. By the time the refreshments arrived, everyone agreed about what the plan had been, so Baker could continue.

Baker and Longman both took coffee, while the women took tea. All four found that some fresh fruit and sweets were not likely to explode their girths in the near term. The men were offered brandy and declined. Finally, all the preliminaries complete, Baker began his assessment.

"I fear that our plan is not coming to fruition as we had hoped, Mrs. Darcy. I located the colonel, and he is being held in good quarters, luxurious in fact for a prisoner; but he is under very heavy guard. It would be impossible to bribe or fight his way out. I was surprised to see the care exhibited for the prisoners. He is with several other high-value officers, although the news of his brother's 'illness' is known, so he is considered the highest of the high. We will not get him out by force or bribery. It is beyond even my abilities."

Elizabeth hated the news for obvious reasons, but she did enjoy the nonchalant way Baker implied that anything beyond his abilities was essentially impossible. She idly watched her new friend to see her reaction, and saw her watching Baker like a hawk, although once again, her motive was impossible to guess.

Longman said, "It was worth the effort, I believe. From my fighting days, I think I would have assumed the odds to be about half and half that he would be well-defended, or they would make a mess of it. Good try, though."

Baker said, "Yes, good try but not good enough. That, however, is not the end of the bad news."

"Go on, Mr. Baker," Elizabeth said.

"Mr. Darcy was to negotiate with Major Boucher, but it turns out that he is what we call a bad faith negotiator."

Longman snorted. "Hardly surprising," while Caroline asked, "Can you be more specific, Mr. Baker?"

Elizabeth just watched the interaction while Baker continued.

"He does not actually want to accomplish the exchange. Should your husband have entered negotiations with him, assuming the major to be a gentleman of his word, he would have found out after a few weeks that it mattered little what he offered. Bouchard has his own agenda and releasing your cousin would not advance it. Any ransom you put forward would go to the army and be swallowed up whole in a matter of seconds, while the credit for making the trade would be forgotten just as fast. At the same time, keeping the future Earl as prisoner conferred certain status on him that he is loath to give up. Boucher would have kept your husband running in circles for months. During that time, he would have been scratching around for a way to hurt you even more, perhaps by taking Mr. Darcy as hostage as well, if he thought he could get away with it."

Elizabeth wanted to gasp in shock but thought the mistress of a great estate probably should not do that. She also thought, based on her mother's extreme example, that histrionics were usually counterproductive. Instead, she just said, "That is distressing, but I suppose hardly surprising. He is not the only so-called gentleman who is not really a gentleman, I suppose."

Longman said, "Hardly surprising at all."

Elizabeth thought a moment. "Did our smuggler learn anything about who has the real power? Did he find any other way to gain leverage?"

Baker took a deep breath. "Between us, we came up with an idea. It is difficult and somewhat dangerous, although nowhere near as dangerous as trying to shoot our way in and back out – a possibility we considered."

Elizabeth did not like the sound of that, but decided it was not worth discussing, since the idea was discarded. She simply said, "What did you have in mind, Mr. Baker?"

Baker looked around the room. " Major Boucher is our biggest obstacle. We must defang him."

Caroline asked, "How do you plan to do that, Mr. Baker?"

Baker changed his mind on the brandy that had been offered a few minutes earlier, so he took a moment to pour out two fingers and offer the same to Longman, who accepted. He understood he was breaking several rules of propriety but reckoned that Mrs. Darcy could set him straight or ignore it as she chose.

"One alternative I considered is working out a way to make it to his advantage to have the colonel released. For most men, a suitable bribe or blackmail would do the job, but we could not work out a method that would work. He has plenty of family fortune, so the chance of being caught taking a bribe would not be worth the subsequent conversation with Madam Guillotine."

Elizabeth did not really know if she would have approved the plan, even if it was workable, so was saved having to make the decision.

Baker continued, "He has no real family. He never married to anything but the army, while his parents and siblings are dead. There is nobody we can threaten or blackmail without considerable and unacceptable risk to ourselves and the colonel."

Elizabeth really did not like that line of reasoning, so she said, "I applaud the – comprehensiveness – of your thinking, Mr. Baker, but I must confess I would have a difficult time authorizing such an approach anyway."

Baker leaned towards her, fixed her with a stare. "Be that as it may, Mrs. Darcy – if I did tell you that was the only alternative, would you have gritted your teeth and done it?"

Elizabeth thought about it for some time, and finally said, "I cannot predict what I would decide, Mr. Baker. That is one of those situations where you must experience it to know how you would react. I apologize if that seems weak willed, but there it is."

Baker said, "As I would have predicted. I am somewhat skilled in the prediction business, Mrs. Darcy, but I would never have predicted your relative domestic felicity after our first two encounters. I am in no way infallible, but I am not often wrong."

Elizabeth was embarrassed by the oblique reference to Darcy, but not willing to back down or contradict the man.

"I suppose you considered the efficacy of simply assassinating the major. If you were seriously considering killing a few low-level guards, reducing the body count from several to one should have seemed the better option, both morally and practically."

Baker looked at her carefully. "Is that an option you might sanction, Mrs. Darcy?"

With a deep sigh, Elizabeth said, "I cannot say, Mr. Baker. There is a tremendous difference between having something happen while you are trying to do something else, and actually being responsible for doing it intentionally. For example, my father backed me into a corner. After you returned me the second time, he threatened that if I did not marry Mr. Darcy, he would make one of my sisters marry Mr. Collins. He basically made me responsible for ruining someone else's life to save my own, and I found I could not do it. If my sisters' lives were harmed as a side-effect of my running away, that was not my responsibility. However, to explicitly cause that outcome was more than I was willing to countenance at the time."

Baker nodded in understanding, surprised she did not hold more animosity towards him personally. "Not a good feeling, I imagine. If you do not mind telling us, what was your relationship with your sisters at the time."

Elizabeth sighed, looked around at the group that she seemed to trust far more than was wise, and decided that they were either confidants or they were not. There was no point in half-measures.

"Every one of them had betrayed me. My mother forced the proposal, and all four pushed me mercilessly to quit moaning and accept my fate. My entire family and my formerly best friend helped Mr. Baker find me when I did not want to be found. I was so angry, I have not spoken to a single one of them since the wedding, although I have obviously forgiven Mr. Baker, since it was just business for him."

She paused and eyed the glass of brandy Baker had poured for Longman. It remained untouched, so she absconded with it and took a few sips. "It was the responsibility that got to me. Retrospectively, I believe that moment was the first time I had any real sympathy for my husband, although I did not understand it at the time."

She thought about it for a moment, and finally said, "I suppose I will not have to work out whether I could be responsible for murder today, I would hope, Mr. Baker?"

"No, ma'am. I could not work out a scene where the major's unexplained death would help our cause. And to be honest, I am not certain I would have arranged it anyway."

Elizabeth asked curiously, "What would stay your hand, Mr. Baker. Would that overly trouble your conscience?"

Baker laughed. "Not on your life, ma'am. He is a grown man, a soldier, a dishonest man, a fully aware participant in a dangerous game. He deserves what he gets."

"What then?"

"Pride, madam. If that was the best plan I could come up with, I would consider myself a failure in my profession."

Elizabeth laughed heartily and raised her glass to Baker.

They clinked their glasses together and took another cautious sip.