An Experiment in Treason by Bruce Alexander Read Free Book Online Page B

received them, nor what they concerned — simply a packet of letters.”
    Proceeding, he lowered his voice. As it happened, we were just entering the Strand from Charing Cross Road and were now part of a great crowd. Sir John must have felt that great gang of people milling about, and hoped to keep the matter quite between us.
    “Yet consider,” said he, “what we have just learned from that man, Carruthers. It could mean that the burglary was accomplished with the help of a confederate inside the house — that this ally had prepared the door in the manner described by the.butler, in effect, leaving it unlocked for the burglars to enter whenever they might choose.”
    “But you do not think that, do you, Sir John?” “I think it may be so, and it may well be worth explaining, but if it is not true, there remains the likelihood that the burglars themselves did this, either for a reason we do not yet understand, or as a sort of signature. I shall try to find if that signature has been left elsewhere on other occasions. And if we know that, we may know who they are. Now, let us make haste to Bow Street, for when we arrive, I have an onerous task to assign you. I dislike putting it upon you, but it is far too much for me.”
    He would say no more than that then, no matter how I plagued him to tell.
    There were lesser tasks to perform before I came round to Sir John.
    And when I did, he was in the company of his clerk, Mr. Mars-den, going over the docket in preparation for the noon session of his Bo-w Street Court. I waited till he was done.
    “You said you had a task for me, sir.”
    “Indeed I do. Take me to a quiet corner.”
    I did as he bade me, guiding him to a place secluded from the noise and unruly behavior of the prisoners in the strong room.
    “Yes, this is much better, thank-you, Jeremy,” said he. “I should like you to go cross the town to St. James’s Street and deliver the news we received from the Lord Chief Justice this morn. You recall it, of course.”
    “Oh yes, certainly. Marie-Helene is to be tried upon Friday in Old Bailey, which means she must appear before you on Thursday.”
    “That is correct,” said he. “But do not, I caution you, deliver this news in a manner so — well … so offhand.”
    “Oh no, indeed no, sir.”
    “And while you are about it, offer my apologies and my regrets that I was unable to deliver the information myself. Tell him … oh, tell him that I received the word from Lord Mansfield only this morning, that I had to attend at my court session, and so I sent you that he might have the news without delay. Do you have that, Jeremy?”
    I assured him that I did.
    “Well then, on your way — Oh, but there is this, too. Deliver the message only to Mr. Bilbo — not to your friend Bunkins, and certainly not to Marie-Helene.”
    “But only to Black Jack,” said I.
    “Only to him.”
    I bade him good-bye and slipped out of the door as a great many from the street poured past me and through the opposite door into Sir John’s courtroom.
    Reader, if I have left you somewhat in the dark with this discussion of smuggling, Marie-Helene, Black Jack Bilbo, and Sir John, then let me take a moment to explain.
    It all dates back to a time a couple of months earlier that same year of 1773. Sir John had been dispatched by the Lord Chief Justice to the coastal town of Deal to look into sensitive matters of the magistracy, but he had soon become involved there in action against the local smugglers. Digging a bit, he had discovered that our host in Deal, Sir Simon Grenville, was himself deeply involved in the trade in contraband. Sir Simon had made an alliance with a family on the French side with a long tradition of what was known in Deal as the “owling trade.” The alliance with Sir Simon was sealed by them with the marriage of Marie-Helene to Sir Simon.
    Now, there can be no doubt that Marie-Helene, the Lady Grenville, participated most willingly in her husband’s smuggling