Chapter 6

Queen Mary, quite contrary, sat at her desk contemplating the garden of information she had grown over the last eight months. She listed to herself the number of foreign spymasters that would love to have it. And they would all get copies, for a price.

Her pet spaniel, named Dudley, after one of Queen Elizabeth Tudor's favorites, sat next to her on the divan, avidly watching as she wrote letters and spun her web of treachery.

"Such a sweet boy," she said and scratched his head.

Mary didn't consider the disloyalty of the act. This was just business, like the buying and selling of any other commodity. If she had access to such things, the lady would have made information on those same foreign powers available to Britain. Actually, she had when an overzealous courier had made the mistake of insulting her.

That had warned them all to stay in line. I will not to be taken lightly.

Years before, she had taken on the persona of Queen Mary of Scots as a code name to use with the many governments she worked with. It was a historical bit of whimsy. The tragic queen had been a conspirator against the crown in her day. The present spy master wasn't a Scot, but considered it an appropriate parallel, all the same.

For the past five years, the little lady from Scotland's visits had been her rallying call to foreign agents, so they had to wait. Some of the cannier ones had deduced the connection and kept watch on Lady Katharine's comings and goings. They were like dogs under a banquet table, desperate for the feast. Mary had her watched, too, just in case the crown ever put it together and arrested the girl. Surprisingly, they never did.

What made this trick work was that her decoy was totally unconnected with her enterprise. She was a handy tool to help space her deliveries. So successful was her scheme that Mary stopped dealing with the agents directly. She hired a small group of cohorts to make deliveries, and they were kept blind to the identity of their employer.

Her Scottish decoy had returned to London yesterday. Mary had known of the visit for several weeks and had everything ready. Her informant, a close friend to the girl's family, told her of the girl's comings and goings. She had told Mary yesterday what had transpired during Lady Eleanor's tea. They laughed heartily at Fogg's expense.

"It is just so delicious!" Mary had said. "Oh, how I would have loved to be there."

"Yes, it was a delight," the woman said. "Despite his rancor, it would be an excellent match. Eleanor is sure she will make it work this year. No girl anymore, Katharine is a full-grown beauty."

Mary didn't have high hopes for their matrimonial aspirations. If Phileas Fogg had stayed a bachelor this long, he could avoid being netted easily. Indeed, she counted on it.

Yet, it had been entertaining watching him pursue her that first time.

"Perhaps I could make this more interesting," Mary said to Dudley.

Her spaniel looked up at her quizzically as she looked over her itinerary. "What say we give the girl a little adventure again? Not something that would render her useless, but just enough to make the chase interesting."

Dudley gave a yap.

Mary looked over her list of upcoming events and made a choice. "This will be so much fun!"

At ten the next morning, Rebecca met Lady Katharine at Eleanor's home to take her to the first of the best shops she knew. Rebecca rarely bought dresses. She preferred to design and make her own. Her clothes were made with room for her fighting suit, something she would not entrust to a town seamstress.

Her agent's work clothing started with a set of black tights for freedom of movement and a full-length leather corset quilted double thick for body protection. Hung off of that was a utility belt with pouches and places for knives, guns, explosives, and dozens of other handy things. Over that was added her heavy rope-ladder dress hoop, formed by synching the ladder together with light stitches that could be snapped easily when needed. Her dresses came in two pieces to come off easily when freedom of movement was required.

For this day's purpose, Rebecca would buy one dress for show. She didn't really need anything. She had only asked the woman out for this shopping trip to get to know her better. Rebecca knew about Katharine only vaguely through odd comments made by Eleanor. She was several years Rebecca's junior and had visited London only on rare occasions. She, of course, knew of Lady Eleanor's schemes to marry the girl off to her cousin, but didn't think about it much. Phileas was very good at avoiding traps.

Until now, that is.

The two women started their expedition in a shop Rebecca normally bought her gloves and hats at. She explained the change in fashion for the season that had been alluded to at the tea the day before. "Eveningwear shoulders are going bare this year and the skirts are held out wider, like an overturned teacup with a new hoop design."

Katharine did not seem happy about that last design change. "True, hoops are fussy things to deal with," Rebecca conceded, "but it is better than being loaded down with petticoats. I have seen the new hoop design worn at a few events. It is quite becoming."

The women bought a few pairs of gloves at the first shop and then headed on to a dress shop. The designer there was good and was known for making the most of the new wider skirt design. Both women found the visit fruitful, ordering a gown each.

Besides a readymade gown of deep blue silk to be tailored, a corset and the new hoops, Katharine looked through material to have two more gowns made.

Rebecca looked on, nodding at the best designs. Armand is going to kiss my slippers for bring him so much business.

In a short time, Katharine found a deep pink silk she liked and picked material for it. She also wanted something more formal for the French embassy ball the next a month. After seeing nothing that fit her thoughts, she asked Rebecca about looking elsewhere.

"Ladies, could you wait just one moment?" Armand begged. "I have something that is not cataloged yet. It just arrived from France."

The ladies sat down and sipped tea a shop girl offered. Rebecca smiled and dabbed Katharine's sleeve. "My Lady, you know you're going to have the man in your pocket every time you come to London from now on. You really should spread your purchases out among several shops."

"I know," Katharine said. "I have the same trouble in Edinburgh, but my cousins all go to the same men's shop for their things, and they detest shopping with me, so I limit my purchases to one shop a block away, so we can shop at the same time without their having to come in with me. The place makes and carries everything, so they have only one place to take me."

That sounded like a fair solution, but a little odd to Rebecca. "Do you not have a lady relative to do your shopping with?"

Katharine shook her head. "No, no one close. My uncle insisted I be escorted anytime I left home, and that duty usually fell to my cousins rather than a servant." She gave a little laugh. "My cousins call my off-island trips duchess duty. I think they draw straws."

Rebecca smiled on the outside and cringed inwardly. The very idea of never being able to go anywhere by herself and having to make accommodations for shopping sounded like torture.

The shop owner reappeared from the back of his shop with a wrapped bolt of cloth. "You seek something very formal for a special ball? Might I be so bold as to suggest this combination?" He called to a shop girl holding a bolt of lightweight black silk. He draped it over a cushioned stool in front of Katharine. Then he opened the paper on the bolt. It was a beautiful openwork lace, like spider silk in gold. He laid the lace over the silk and ran a nettle through both affecting a gather such as at a waistline. Then he held it up for her inspection. The shimmer of the two materials together was so rich and luxurious looking it took their breath away.

"I have never bought a black evening dress other than as mourning attire," Katharine said. "But with the lace over it…" She looked at Rebecca. Her expression told Rebecca what she wanted; confirmation from a Londoner that this would be acceptable.

Is she old enough for such a thing? Rebecca considered. Were lace dresses in fashion? She took the material up in her own hands and held them up, considering. Rebecca was not one to wear a lot of lace, but it was done.

"I think," Rebecca said, "if you have this made you will set a fashion. This is going to be beautiful!"

Katharine accepted the advice and ran with it. "Could you show me a design for this?" Armand planned to meet her with ideas at her aunt's home later in the week. Katharine gave him her address and arranged for her purchases to be delivered to her home. With the shopping finished, the two women left.

Both women were hungry. Rebecca was queasy from drinking the strong shop tea on an empty stomach. She suggested lunch and led the way to a café she knew two blocks away.

Over lunch, they spoke of their mutual enjoyment of theater and music. They both fenced and could throw knives and shoot weapons. Katharine also enjoyed riding, fishing, archery, and country hikes through the crags and shoreline cliffs of her home. "Raised on an island with fourteen boy cousins, you learn to do a lot of things ladies don't normally do," she said.

"Being raised with two male cousins did the same for me," Rebecca said.

There was more they had in common. Katharine had been orphaned at nearly the same age as she had. Her family owned half of an island north of Scotland and her cousin owned the other part.

She also held stewardship of a fleet of merchant ships. She knew every ship and port of call involved in it. Her father had been a senior fleet captain. Katharine did not travel much, but could tell Rebecca about locations around Europe, America and the Caribbean as if she had been there.

"I read a great deal," Lady Katharine said. "Father's old logbooks were very detailed."

Rebecca's independent spirit felt assaulted by the way this woman had been kept sheltered. Rebecca had joined the service as its first official women agent at twenty-three and had traveled extensively. She shook herself while listening; reminding herself that other women didn't have such freedom of movement. But how could a woman in charge of a fleet be forced to read about rather than go to such places?

"Perhaps, my lady, you can start traveling now that you are older and not under a guardian anymore," Rebecca suggested.

It would hurt nothing to give her a few ideas.

"Perhaps," Katharine said. "There are so many places I would love to see firsthand, and please, call me Katharine. My lady is much too formal if we are to be friends. Does your cousin Phileas escort you on trips?"

Rebecca had to step back. The sudden offer of familiarity took her by surprise. She thinks I have to have an escort too?

"Yes, often actually."

"That must be so much fun for you."

Rebecca smiled. She thought back to several months before when their last fun trip abroad landed had her in a Prussian dungeon, making a name for herself with the Prussians.

"Maybe if your aunt has her way, we will go on trips together," Rebecca said, cutting to the real question. She was not sure what her feelings were about Phileas getting wrangled into marriage, but what about Katharine? Did she want this match?

Katharine looked to be chewing her tea after that last remark. She stared down into the cup, frowning. After a long moment, she looked up.

"I know your cousin does not want me. If he had any interest in me at all, it would not have taken five years to get an introduction set up. I do not want a man that does not want me. It would, however, help matters for both of us if Phileas would consent to spend enough time with me to satisfy Eleanor. I mean, just for the time I am in London this year. He can forget all about it after I leave."

Now it was Rebecca's turn to be uncomfortable. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean…" Katharine started, and then stopped. Oh, out with it, you might as well own up to the inevitable.

"I mean," she started again. "I will be married when I come back next year."

There, I said it. Accept and prepare.

"Why Katharine, congratulations. But does your aunt not know about it? Is it not declared yet? Do tell me about him." Rebecca's sudden bright smile was genuine as a wave of relief hit her for Phileas's sake.

"It is a little complicated," Katharine said. "I've known him all my life. Andrew is technically my guardian. He started making courtship overtures a month ago. Nothing overt, mind you."

Andrew's court had started some months before that. Small compliments came her way on things she had not known Andrew even noticed. The way she kept up his mother's garden, the flower arrangements she set out around the house. The way she set his table…

"His father tried to set up a betrothal years ago, but… We were more siblings back then and Andrew would not hear of it. He tossed the contract on the fire. I had never seen him challenge his father's will before that."

Rebecca sat back in her chair. Complicated indeed. A family arrangement set up for the good of estates, most likely. She knew enough of such things. They happened all the time.

"You are all right with this?" Rebecca whispered. The conversation had become very personal, and Rebecca had been drawn into the confidence as if they were sisters rather than strangers. Rebecca sat back. That question crossed too many lines to be acceptable.

"No, sorry, that is none of my business," Rebecca said.

"It is all right," Katharine said. "I am getting used to the idea. I have loved Andrew all my life. It will require a bit of adjusting." She did not finish that sentence and Rebecca did not intend to press it.

Time to change the subject.

Rebecca sipped her tea and said, "If I can, I will try to get Phileas to cooperate. It would help if you and he had something in common," Rebecca prompted.

Katharine smiled to herself. "Actually, we do," she said. "I have never met you before, but Phileas, I have met twice before," she said, deliberately leaving out the Embassy ball.

"Really?" Rebecca said. "Phileas has never mentioned that."

"Oh, I would not expect him to remember," Katharine said. "Both times were long ago. The first had been a momentary thing at Whitehall during a party honoring his father. The second…" Katharine hesitated. "Is Phileas a curious sort?"

"Quite," Rebecca said with a grin.

"Tell Phileas if he wants the story of our second meeting, he has to escort me to Lady Bucknum's dinner party on Friday. What do you think, will he?"

"I do not know. He might," Rebecca said, thinking on it. "Will this story be worth it to him?"

"Oh, I think so," Katharine said. "The cost of sitting down to one dinner with me would be far less than what our last meeting cost him; a small fortune changed hands."

"Oh, now you have to tell me about it," Rebecca said. "I cannot let you get away with giving me bait like that without revealing the story."

"No, no, I cannot tell you and chance his getting it out of you beforehand. You will both just have to wait."

"Oh, all right," Rebecca said. "But you have to make sure I am there when you tell him."

"I promise."

With a conspiracy between them, their budding friendship was set.