Title: Ladies in Distress, Part 2/4

Author: Sherry Thornburg

Author's Email: Thornburgs77 a gmail

Feedback: Yes, please

Permission to Archive: Privately only, with notice to me and where it is.

Category: Suspense

Rating/Warning: T

Main Characters: Sir Jonathan Chatsworth and Phileas and Rebecca Fogg

Disclaimer: SAJV and original characters copywrite Tailsman/Promark/etc., no infringement is intended.

Summary: Sir Jonathan Chatsworth discovers an old friend's wife taken advantage of by a con man. When he discovers the man's repeated villainy against women includes domestic and international espionage, he takes up the cause, enlisting Phileas and Rebecca. Their cat-and-mouse chase delves into the plight of women in Victorian society and explores Rebecca's relationships with Phileas and Chatsworth.

Chapter 12

In a quiet country manor house in central England, Rebecca Fogg dived into the self-imposed job of updating, cleaning, and cataloging the library at Shillingworth Magna with abandon. Here, she could not do the entire job herself, of course; ladies did not do such menial tasks, and she had to be careful to keep up appearances more closely in the country. But there would be no raised eyebrows at her closely supervising the work or lending a hand to such a colossal undertaking, so long as she did not step on any servant's sensibilities.

It had indeed been a dusty job. She and Phileas did not spend as much time here as they used to, and the manor had never had a full-time librarian. The books had been sitting in their places of honor to be dusted occasionally, but given no special care.

Rebecca had started on the west side of the great shelf-lined room. Every so often, a book had been familiar to her or had brought back some memories. She had either read it or had heard Phileas and Erasmus discussing it or had to apologize to it anew for the damage she or they had inflicted on it in some childish moment.

The library had been one of their favorite play areas as children. They were supposed to have been reading and studying here as it had been their main schoolroom, but sometimes the books had taken over their youthful imaginations and things had happened that had not always been good for the bindings.

Phileas had once climbed to the summit of Mount Olympus (up two stories of bookshelves) to meet the gods. Erasmus had once taken a sword point to several volumes of poetry imitating a musketeer. Both fits of imagination had led to painful results when Sir Boniface found out

And I caused the greatest calamity here when one of the east bookshelf segments had toppled to the floor. I was just trying to get away from Erasmus and that awful snake he had smuggled into the room. How could I have known the shelf wasn't anchored to the wall? I could have been killed if it had not been for Phileas holding one end up so I could scurry out. The books had already hit the floor with the rumble of an earthquake, so the minor weight of the empty shelf had not been beyond him.

Sir Boniface's wrath had not fallen on them that time. Running to the library, he had been in time to see Phileas holding the shelf off her. His fraternal heroism rather than the now dead snake under the fallen books was all he saw. Erasmus had squeaked out of a serious birching. It took four weeks to complete that housekeeping task; and none too soon. The day she finished, Rebecca received a message from Phileas announcing his return and intent to join her.

Rebecca quickly set the household to getting things ready for him. That had taken more work than it normally would because she had made the staff bring every book out of the various rooms to the library to make sure she didn't miss any.

When the Aurora drifted into the valley on schedule, everything was back to rights, Rebecca met him on the grounds.

"How was your jaunt to Paris?" she said. "You were certainly gone a long time."

"Quite enjoyable, thank you," Phileas said, not missing the rebuke in her voice at not taking her with him.

Phileas spent the rest of the day doing his usual inspection of the property after a long absence. The stables looked good after the renovation he had ordered. The house was, as usual, ship-shape, and the library was immaculate. He wondered how long it had taken Rebecca to manage that feat.

Later at dinner, Rebecca asked about Jules's research. Phileas told her it was coming along fine and looked to be quite promising. He also commended Passepartout in helping with some experiments.

Sitting at her place as de facto lady of the house, Rebecca considered asking him to elaborate. Perhaps if he did, Phileas would tell her about their investment in Jules's work. Then she thought better of delving into a subject. Phileas treated finances as a private province. She had already deduced the reasons he would want to set it up as a silent partnership. She would never have known to be curious had Mr. Jordan not spoken out of turn.

Phileas, on his side of the dinner table, spent the entire meal wondering if Rebecca had any idea what had nearly happened to her. He, Chatsworth, and Evans had deduced that Jordan had brought Rebecca papers on the day Phileas had left for Paris. And in the process of dealing with them, the man had added in those other things.

Mr. Evans said, "That is very easy to do when many papers are handled at once. Unscrupulous accountants and clerks do that all the time."

Mr. Jordan had asked me to create a recommendation for Verne. That may have been what Rebecca had been asked to do as well, although a recommendation from Rebecca would not have been of great use. She has no standing or reputation in business. That the papers had my name on them might have disarmed her to any danger they represented.

His blood still boiled over that. The man had used Rebecca's trust in me against her. I would dearly love to know if Rebecca knows she is Jules's sole backer. And if so, does she really think I would set her up in such a risky endeavor?

No, she couldn't have known what was being done. Rebecca would surely question me if she knew.

On the same evening over his own dinner, Chatsworth was finding his appetite lacking. The meeting with Fogg led him to handing the papers over to his own accountant. What had nearly been done was confirmed.

In response to Mr. Evans's revelations, emergency damage control was put into place. He had to take the family solicitor into confidence about the operation and enlist him to work with the service in the endeavor. The old gentleman had been completely agreeable and had left with orders to set up a transfer of funds supposedly representing Rebecca's assets from a special government account for the purpose. The property titles would be faked and sent later. The scheme would go on, but without doing Rebecca Fogg any damage.

Reading over the papers in Fogg's study, Sir Jonathan had been reminded of his earlier concerns about Rebecca's intelligence impeding the mission. Instead, it had been in their favor. Most women he knew would not have known how to answer such financial question. His sister-in-law, he was certain, would not have had the slightest idea. As such, the man had learned just what sort of plump plum he had for the picking, which must have contributed to his choosing to take her on.

And the fiction she had used about her income being a generous allowance–that had been ridiculous, but also brilliant. He knew what his other agents claimed, but had not known what she would say. Women of her class, of course, did not earn livings, so the allowance supposition had worked. His already higher estimation of her skills had climbed higher in appreciation.

Yet… The fact that she had answered any of those questions rather than keeping such things confidential proved Rebecca Fogg was as much a novice to the business world as any other lady, and as such exploitable. That, while a matter of concern, worked to the mission's advantage, too.

On a different level, it had been unnerving to see how close Mr. Jordan had come to succeeding at his fraud. It had been a fraud, a convictable offence with Fogg's testimony to his forged signatures. They, however, were not after him for just that.

I want him completely. No half measures will suffice.

Now I wait to see how my actions play out. I can allow more surprises of this sort. I must keep a more vigilant eye.