Jane Austen Made Me Do It by Laurel Ann Nattress Page A

and becomes more aristocratic with every successful battle. After quitting her convent, Desirée was raised in the home of Admiral Villeneuve, who was once a friend of her father’s. Hence her stage name—
de la Neuve
. She has taken it in gratitude to her foster parents.”
    â€œâ€”And offered to spy for Villeneuve as well?”
    â€œCertainly. That bit of amorous nonsense you observed on the balcony was but a deft manner of passing information.” Lord Harold handed me a cup of champagne.
    â€œThe paper Harcourt thrust into her bodice? It was no love-note?”
    â€œI should dearly love to have secured it—but I dare swear it was the latest disposition of Nelson’s fleet. Harcourt is secretary to the Duke of Clarence, Jane, who is privy to Naval secrets; and they have been spilling rather frequently to the Enemy of late. Admiral Villeneuve broke the Blockade and slipped out of Toulon as recently as the thirtieth of March; and no one may say in which direction he sails, or what he intends. The great sea is a vast and utter blank. Nelson fears some assault is planned—the invasion, perhaps, of England in the offing.”
    He spoke with bleak simplicity; but his words could not fail of a listener. I knew that Lord Harold had recently been consultingwith Nelson at Gibraltar; my brother Frank, in command of the
Canopus
, sailed with Nelson on the Blockade. Our nation’s peril was, more intimately, my family’s peril.
    â€œShe must be stopped!” I cried.
    â€œHush,” he soothed. “What else were we about this evening?”
    â€œA lover’s quarrel,” I retorted. “Your jealous rages.”
    â€œShe is a clever minx, is she not?” He tasted the wine and sighed. “But not so clever as Harcourt. That was a piece of brilliance, challenging me to a duel. If he kills me, my suspicions of treason die with me—and he will have no recourse but to flee to France, to avoid being taken up for murder. As France is undoubtedly his object in any case, he cannot have devised a better plan.”
    â€œYou will not
meet
him, of course,” I said in horror. “You will turn him over to the Admiralty!”
    â€œâ€”And reveal that a certain fatuous Royal duke has been robbed of Nelson’s secrets, by his trusted aide?” Lord Harold’s lip curled. “Clarence will not thank me, if I air his dirty linen in pub-lick. Harcourt counted upon
that
, too, when he challenged me tonight.”
    I cordially hated the man. “What can be Lord Harcourt’s motive for such infamy?”
    â€œHe is a gamester,” the Rogue replied indifferently. “Run off his legs with debt, Jane. His is a tragic folly—a once honourable son of an honourable house, who sold his soul at the faro-table. You may be sure Villeneuve pays him well.”
    â€œHave you considered, my lord,” I said slowly, “that killing
himself
, and not
you
, may be Harcourt’s object in seeking this duel? The Great World reckons you a deadly shot. A single ball at Lord Harold’s hand may be infinitely preferable to a traitor’s death on Tower Hill.”
    Lord Harold’s brows lifted coolly. “I should never do the blackguard the honour of killing him, Jane. I should have to quit England, else. Naturally, I shall aim wide.”
    I do not think I closed my eyes the whole of that night; and as I appeared at the breakfast-table looking hagged to death, I won a lecture from my mother—who perceived at an instant that I had
not
partaken solely of lemonade in Laura Place. I ate a little dry toast and tea, and begged leave to throw off my fit of the sullens in an arduous walk up Beechen Cliff—where my mother was certain never to follow me.
    In point of fact, I made immediately for Laura Place, despite the appalling earliness of the hour. Lord Harold had expressed the intention of waiting upon Harcourt at breakfast—and if luck