A Pawn for a Queen: An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's (Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court) Read Online Free Page A

and as a matter of family courtesy, the news was passed to us by your steward, Malton. Edward was upset. He didn’t know what to do. He had no idea who had replaced Matthew de la Roche, if indeed anyone had! But soon after that, another messenger, a stranger from London, came to tell us that the tooth-drawer and the peddler had both been seized on their way south and were in prison in London. And then . . . then . . .”
    “Edward became so anxious about his new list,” said Aunt Tabitha. “De la Roche had intended the information eventually for Mary Stuart in Scotland—in Edinburgh—but De la Roche was dead . . .”
    “And Edward decided not to worry about the extra items of information that Matthew had collected and to take his own list to Scotland himself,” I said helpfully. “Am I right?”
    “The man from London refused to carry it,” said my uncle. “He said it was too dangerous, that the arrest of the other two couriers showed that too much was known. But Edward left yesterday, despite all the pleading of his womenfolk.”
    “Father-in-law, you yourself begged him not to go!” said Helene.
    I glanced toward the tall windows that looked outto the front of the house. The sky beyond was iron gray, and the ride from Withysham had been bitter. “Why so much haste? If it’s as cold as this in Sussex, the snow in the north is probably six feet deep.”
    “It wasn’t haste, precisely. He didn’t mean to travel ventre à terre, ” said Helene. “He said that if the weather slowed him down, it couldn’t be helped, but go he would, just the same, simply to be done with it. He promised to take care, and to call on his friends in the north, as before, as though he were just making social visits . . .”
    “Such a likely thing to do, in January!” snorted Aunt Tabitha.
    “. . . and just make a brief visit across the border, deliver the list, and come back,” Helene finished. “But . . .”
    “The valet,” said Aunt Tabitha, “and the two couriers who were arrested, all this has made us sure that Edward is most likely being watched, has perhaps been followed. We did indeed argue against it, but he wouldn’t listen and set off yesterday, as your uncle says. We were up most of last night, fretting and worrying, and in the end, we decided. Someone must go after him, catch him before he crosses the Scottish border if possible—and make him see that it’s too perilous; he must come back and . . .”
    “Tear the list up,” I said. “That is my price. On that, I insist. If necessary, I’ll steal the list and tear it up myself. I’ll probably have to. If he won’t listen to you, why should he listen to me?”
    “He knows what you did to me in the past, for Queen Elizabeth’s sake. You can threaten him,” said myuncle candidly. “None of us can because he knows we would never carry the threat out. You, on the other hand, might. You might also be better than any of us at such things as stealing lists. You’re our only chance, anyway. I can’t go. My gout won’t let me. My elder son, Francis, as Edward once did, is gaining experience of the world in an ambassador’s entourage and is in Austria. I can’t even inform him, let alone call on him for help. Your aunt isn’t strong enough and Helene has her children to care for.”
    “One barely a year and a half old and little Catherine not yet three months!” said Helene. “If anything happens to Edward now, they won’t even be able to remember their father! Madame, he is not, as I told you, traveling in great haste, and he means to linger a day or two with more than one household in Northumberland. If you tried, we think you might be able to catch him up. Will you try? Will you?”
    “It’s your kind of task, isn’t it, Ursula?” my uncle said. “I never thought I’d see the day when I had to ask you to use your curious and frankly, in my opinion, your dubious skills for us . . .”
    “Herbert!” wailed Aunt Tabitha.
    I looked out of the