has room for company on such short notice? Or should I merely ship them off this very evening to arrive unannounced on her doorstep?”
Theo blushed slightly but her tone never wavered. “Of course you should ask her, my lord, but she’ll say yes. I know it. And there is no need to worry over the time it will take to send a telegram. Lady Arbuthnot will be waiting for you at Castle Dover when you return. My senses tell me that she’s not at all happy about missing the early train from London, which caused her in turn to miss Madam Scargill’s funeral. I believe she’ll be most anxious to make up for it by graciously accepting Eva and Madam Dimbleby into her home.”
Theo, as usual, was spot on target. Eva was taken by the earl back to Castle Dover so that the wounded soldiers would not be a constant source of strain for her, and Ian, Carl, and Theo went along for company. When they all arrived, the good Lady Arbuthnot was waiting for them in the front hall. “Hastings!” she said in her radiantly rich voice as she swept over to her nephew and wrapped him in her arms. That day the lady was wearing an abundance ofemerald-green taffeta and a matching hat with a giant ostrich feather. “Oh, I’m so terribly sorry for your loss!” she exclaimed. She then backed away from her rather embarrassed nephew but still held tightly to his arms. “I missed the morning train,” she said gravely, as if confessing her sins. “I woke up at the proper time and knew I had to make haste, but I ignored my own intuition and was caught on the street by dear Lady Ballentine. Do you know her son, Bartholomew?”
“I do, Auntie, but—”
“He’s just returned from the front,” Lady Arbuthnot continued, ignoring the earl’s efforts to speak. “And it’s even more dreadful than we suspected! I’ve had the most awful visions lately, Hastings!” she exclaimed. “I’ve seen that dreadful man, Adolf Hitler, marching under the Eiffel Tower!”
Ian felt his stomach contract. Like Theo, Lady Arbuthnot was an extremely gifted seer, and if she saw the German Führer marching through the streets of Paris, then Ian had little doubt that it would happen.
“How soon?” he said, then remembered his manners. “I mean, how soon do you see that, my lady?”
Lady Arbuthnot turned her attention to him, only then noticing that he and the others were also there. “Ian!” she said, leaving her nephew and rushing over to give him a hug. “Oh, my lad! How big you are!”
Ian felt the air squeezed out of him and was relieved when she left him for Carl and then for Theo, who was quite close to the earl’s aunt.
“My heavens, Theo!” Lady Arbuthnot said after she’d let Theo go and stood back to have a look at her. “But you are becoming quite the young lady!”
“Thank you,” Theo said with a curtsy. “But I’m wondering if you could answer Ian’s question for us, as you’re far better with dates than I am. When do you see the Führer marching on Paris?”
Lady Arbuthnot placed a hand to her head and closed her eyes. “Late June,” she said. “The twenty-second or twenty-third, I believe.”
Ian breathed a small sigh of relief. That was almost a full month away. That would give them plenty of time to find Madame Lafitte and Océanne.
“But France will fall to the Germans much sooner than that,” the lady continued. “I give it a week, in fact.”
Ian felt his heart plummet, and barely caught the narrow-eyed squint Lady Arbuthnot was now focusing on her nephew. “Hastings,” she said. “Why do I see your yacht making its way to the French shores?”
Ian, Carl, and Theo returned to the keep shortly after tea. The earl hadn’t needed to explain things to his aunt nearly as much as Ian had expected, and Lady Arbuthnot wholly agreed that if Laodamia had written their rescue attempt in the prophecy, then that was exactly what they must do. “I do not relish the idea of you and the children putting yourselves in harm’s
Theo blushed slightly but her tone never wavered. “Of course you should ask her, my lord, but she’ll say yes. I know it. And there is no need to worry over the time it will take to send a telegram. Lady Arbuthnot will be waiting for you at Castle Dover when you return. My senses tell me that she’s not at all happy about missing the early train from London, which caused her in turn to miss Madam Scargill’s funeral. I believe she’ll be most anxious to make up for it by graciously accepting Eva and Madam Dimbleby into her home.”
Theo, as usual, was spot on target. Eva was taken by the earl back to Castle Dover so that the wounded soldiers would not be a constant source of strain for her, and Ian, Carl, and Theo went along for company. When they all arrived, the good Lady Arbuthnot was waiting for them in the front hall. “Hastings!” she said in her radiantly rich voice as she swept over to her nephew and wrapped him in her arms. That day the lady was wearing an abundance ofemerald-green taffeta and a matching hat with a giant ostrich feather. “Oh, I’m so terribly sorry for your loss!” she exclaimed. She then backed away from her rather embarrassed nephew but still held tightly to his arms. “I missed the morning train,” she said gravely, as if confessing her sins. “I woke up at the proper time and knew I had to make haste, but I ignored my own intuition and was caught on the street by dear Lady Ballentine. Do you know her son, Bartholomew?”
“I do, Auntie, but—”
“He’s just returned from the front,” Lady Arbuthnot continued, ignoring the earl’s efforts to speak. “And it’s even more dreadful than we suspected! I’ve had the most awful visions lately, Hastings!” she exclaimed. “I’ve seen that dreadful man, Adolf Hitler, marching under the Eiffel Tower!”
Ian felt his stomach contract. Like Theo, Lady Arbuthnot was an extremely gifted seer, and if she saw the German Führer marching through the streets of Paris, then Ian had little doubt that it would happen.
“How soon?” he said, then remembered his manners. “I mean, how soon do you see that, my lady?”
Lady Arbuthnot turned her attention to him, only then noticing that he and the others were also there. “Ian!” she said, leaving her nephew and rushing over to give him a hug. “Oh, my lad! How big you are!”
Ian felt the air squeezed out of him and was relieved when she left him for Carl and then for Theo, who was quite close to the earl’s aunt.
“My heavens, Theo!” Lady Arbuthnot said after she’d let Theo go and stood back to have a look at her. “But you are becoming quite the young lady!”
“Thank you,” Theo said with a curtsy. “But I’m wondering if you could answer Ian’s question for us, as you’re far better with dates than I am. When do you see the Führer marching on Paris?”
Lady Arbuthnot placed a hand to her head and closed her eyes. “Late June,” she said. “The twenty-second or twenty-third, I believe.”
Ian breathed a small sigh of relief. That was almost a full month away. That would give them plenty of time to find Madame Lafitte and Océanne.
“But France will fall to the Germans much sooner than that,” the lady continued. “I give it a week, in fact.”
Ian felt his heart plummet, and barely caught the narrow-eyed squint Lady Arbuthnot was now focusing on her nephew. “Hastings,” she said. “Why do I see your yacht making its way to the French shores?”
Ian, Carl, and Theo returned to the keep shortly after tea. The earl hadn’t needed to explain things to his aunt nearly as much as Ian had expected, and Lady Arbuthnot wholly agreed that if Laodamia had written their rescue attempt in the prophecy, then that was exactly what they must do. “I do not relish the idea of you and the children putting yourselves in harm’s
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