Imogen Robertson - Circle of Shadows

The manservant had left first, with his hat pulled down hard over his wig, then Dunktal followed, locking the door behind him and tugging at the latch to check it held. Pegel reckoned he had maybe an hour.

There were too many comings and goings on the street to risk picking the lock on the front door, so Pegel slipped into the yard and up the back staircase. It was a risk, certainly, but the veranda had a low bowed roof on it which gave him some shade, and at this time of day most people’s business faced forward, onto the street. There was a stout lock on the back door too, but Pegel was prepared for that. He pulled a long iron bar from under his coat and fitted it into the padlock. The only worry was the wait until he heard the rattle of a coach passing by, then he pressed down hard, and the snap of the lock was lost in the sparking rattle of iron wheels on cobbles.

District Officer von Krall did not keep Crowther waiting long, for which Crowther was grateful. He had underestimated Manzerotti’s ability to shake him. He sat at his desk for some quarter of an hour trying to concentrate on what the castrato had said about the drug on the mask and recall what he knew of datura . Very little, he had to admit to himself. The only story he remembered with any clarity was of a doctor who had served in the American wars. He reported a case of a family, found by their neighbours sick and raving in the road in front of their farm. They claimed to see visions of Christ descending. Luckily their neighbour fetched a doctor as well as a priest. The latter prayed with them, while the former interrogated their maid of all work. The youngest girl in the family had been sent to pick greens for their midday meal, and the doctor found alongside their neat rows of vegetables a thorn-apple bush. Datura Inoxia . The doctor had done his best, but the little girl could not be saved.

The knock at the door came and another of the ubiquitous footmen bowed the District Officer into Crowther’s chamber. They exchanged slightly awkward bows, then Krall sighed and lowered himself onto one of the armchairs.

‘Drowned? Truly? You’re not blowing smoke in my eyes, Mr Crowther?’

Crowther smiled. Krall’s English was redolent of the docks more than the drawing room. He gathered some of the sheets from his writing-table before taking a seat opposite him.

‘I am not. The evidence is in the notes you yourself prepared, Herr von Krall.’ He pointed out the relevant passages and explained their significance. The District Officer shook his head.

‘I thought that Professor was a damn fool.’

Crowther sat back and put his fingertips together. ‘Your English is remarkably fluent.’

Krall scratched his chin. ‘Four years in London.’

‘And your opinion of the English?’

‘What? Oh, that they are like the Germans. All just wanting to be a little better than their neighbours. Why do you ask?’

‘Simply curious.’ Crowther felt Krall’s eyes travel over him, and the corner of the District Officer’s mouth lifted.

‘Wondering if I’m prone to be prejudiced against you and your little group, more like.’ Crowther lifted his shoulders slightly. ‘No, Mr Crowther. I am glad of your help, and too old to want the glory of finding out the truth of this nonsense myself. Shall we talk it through?’

They did, and by the time they had done Crowther was confirmed in his respect for his unpolished companion. The broken carafe on the floor was dismissed by them both. Krall had put his hand to his head and with visible effort tried to recall any scraps from his memory not already faithfully recorded in his reports that could be significant. There had been water in the smaller of the back rooms for the ladies to wash, and in a large basin that could have been sufficient to drown a woman in, if she were held with considerable force. But again, the lack of signs of a struggle gave them doubt.

‘What if she were drugged also?’ Crowther said at last. ‘There are substances that can cause great weakness, lassitude. If a man were capable of making a substance that could cause Clode’s visions, he could also create something that would make a person weak, but that would leave no trace in the body.’

Krall had his shoulders hunched. ‘Sounds more likely than Lady Martesen just holding still while someone drowns her. Indeed. If you are at liberty, Mr Crowther, perhaps we might make a call on a gentleman of my acquaintance who might give us some help in the matter.’

‘I am willing.’ Crowther stood and picked up his cane.

‘It will also give us the opportunity to get out of this damn palace,’ Krall added.

‘In that case,’ Crowther said, ‘I am delighted.’

‘I’m sorry, Clode, what did you say then?’ Harriet said.

‘I mentioned that on the third evening, I was invited to attend a meeting of the local Lodge of Freemasonry, Harriet,’ he said, looking across at her. He already looked a great deal improved. ‘But of course, I can say nothing about it, other than that nothing remarkable occurred.’

‘Why can you say nothing about it?’

Rachel took the opportunity to set about mending her pen. ‘Harry, you know it is a secret society.’

‘Not very secret, Rachel. When Daniel’s Lodge opened the charity school in Pulborough, they had a parade! And the bookseller in town always has at least one pamphlet on display on the rituals and secrets of Freemasonry.’

Daniel smiled. ‘It’s different here, Harriet. The Catholic Church has banned membership, and though I doubt that bothers many Englishmen, it is a consideration here. There are any number of groups calling themselves Freemasons on the continent, and very few of them bear much relationship with the English Lodges. That is my understanding and experience. Some even admit women. But it is a useful way to meet people away from the court. One only encounters nobles there.’

‘Have you been to many meetings while in Germany, Clode? And don’t look at Graves as if you need his permission to speak! I haven’t asked you for any of your secret words of power.’ Harriet folded her arms. ‘I read one of those pamphlets once. I cannot say I was greatly impressed with the poetry of the drinking songs.’

Graves grinned, and Daniel said, ‘Very well. I have been to several meetings of different Lodges here and in Berlin. Various of the gentlemen I have met who have business dealings with the Sussex estate are members of one Lodge or other. When they recognise I am a Freemason as well, they invite me along.’ He lifted his shoulders. ‘It is a sort of international gentlemen’s club.’

Harriet still had her chin in the air. ‘Like-minded men of business?’

‘Never any harm in making friends, Harriet.’

She sighed and sat back in her chair.

‘Clode, have you come across any group calling themselves the Minervals in your travels?’ Graves asked.

‘No — why do you ask?’

‘Just that, during a Lodge meeting I attended in London last year, there was a German fellow visiting, and he was full of dire threats about them.’

‘What manner of terrible threats, Graves?’ Harriet asked, putting her chin in her hand. Then, when he looked a little sheepish: ‘If you do not explain, I will tell Verity you were not helpful.’

Graves cleared his throat. ‘I suppose it will be all right, in the circumstances. This chap had been at a conference in Wilhelmsbad in eighty-two, and he met some of these fellows there. They were recruiting from the ranks of the Freemasons, he said, and he became convinced they were intent on overthrowing the governments of Europe. He claimed they had spies and agents everywhere and saw chucking over the old order as a duty. Seemed a little crazed to me.’

Rachel was arranging the papers disturbed by Graves’s elbow. ‘In such a place as Ulrichsberg, I have some sympathy with them.’