Imogen Robertson - Circle of Shadows

It took some time. Crowther could not remember when he had spoken at such length to anyone other than Mrs Westerman. At some point during his narrative, the door had opened and Harriet herself had entered the room and taken a seat quietly between them, only motioning for him to go on. He concluded with a mention of the ring, necklace and fob in the shape of owls. Then he turned towards Harriet. ‘Did you discover anything, Mrs Westerman?’

‘Only this.’ She held out a sheet of paper towards them. It was folded twice and contained a series of groups of five letters. Crowther examined the broken seal. An owl.

‘Do you think Swann learned something of this group and meant to tell us?’ Harriet asked as he looked at the seal.

Crowther handed the paper to Manzerotti and sat back. ‘Then he was poisoned to prevent sharing his knowledge? Possible.’

Manzerotti sighed. ‘Codes are such a frustration. Without the key we do not know if this is an instruction, a warning, or a request of some sort. Nor do we know if it was addressed to Swann, or found by him.’ Having given Harriet a brief account of the reasons for his presence in Maulberg as he had described to Crowther, Manzerotti continued, ‘A little club. These owls — interesting. I doubt that they are merely enthusiasts for the theatre or somesuch. Who are the members, I wonder? Shame we cannot turn out the pockets of every person at court in search of owls.’

‘A cabal,’ Harriet said.

‘So it would seem, my dear,’ Manzerotti replied.

Suddenly Harriet got to her feet and crossed to where Swann’s hip-flask sat on the mantelpiece. She nodded to herself then handed it to Crowther.

‘Another owl. So Swann is certainly part of this group,’ Crowther said, passing the flask to Manzerotti. The latter studied the engraving a moment, then set it down on the table in front of him.

Harriet remembered Swann’s muttered words in the garden. ‘And now they are being hunted.’

Manzerotti smiled very faintly. ‘It seems so. Gabriel tells me you have thought of revenge when you have seen the pantomime of these crimes. Their viciousness. I wonder if you are right. I know of many little plots and shufflings here, but that does not mean I know them all.’ He looked at his watch. ‘The moment for the triumphal return from Castle Grenzhow approaches. I think I had better remove myself from the reunion. Though I am delighted to see the handsome Mr Clode released, perhaps it would be best if he didn’t discover us here, so intimate.’ He stood. ‘My dear Gabriel, Mrs Westerman.’ He bowed. ‘Such a joy to spend a little time with you both. You must come and hear me sing this evening. Not only because it will give you pleasure, but I think you had better start asking who else Swann’s little clique has damaged, don’t you agree?’

Pegel examined his stack of purloined messages and rolled his shoulders. It was a simple insight, that people could not resist writing themselves into what they created, and it had been the case with many codes and ciphers he had come across in the past. He had written out the square before Frenzel had interrupted him. Now he wrote out that phrase above it. Per me caeci vident . Then knocked out the repeated letters. Permcaivdnt .

‘Well, let’s see if that’s true,’ he said, and began.

He pulled out the first of the letters and moved up and down the square guided by his keyword. The first two groups of letters were nonsense, but then the words began to unfurl. His excitement was touched with regret; the search over, his weariness was gaining the upper hand. The pompous idiots! If they’d chosen something at random, he might never have found it. The first paper contained instructions on how to indoctrinate new members to the order. Slowly. Guiding them into habits of obedience and secrecy through their readings and discussions. Offering them help, approval, admiration, friendship, punishing any who left their order with scandal and hatred. The second contained in a series of numbered paragraphs some of the philosophy that Florian had shared with him. That, to return the world of men to a happy state of equality and peace, property must be abandoned, borders between nations removed, and a group of enlightened individuals would then guide the people like Olympians. The document didn’t actually mention Olympians, but that’s what it seemed like to Pegel.

He sighed deeply and put down his pen. Surely there was no sensible man alive who would believe this nonsense. And yet … If it were revealed little by little, dressed up with the proper ritual, and when people encoded their letters, they seldom allowed themselves any great, persuasive flights of rhetoric. Perhaps these rather bald statements could be made to sound glorious in the words of a skilful orator. But could there really be, as Pegel’s master suspected, members of the Minervals in positions of real power in Europe? He started on the third sheet, and the neat little groups of letters unfurled into a name, then the name of a town and a title, then there was another … He had his answer. His master had been right.

Pegel got up from his chair and checked that the lock was turned in his door. He was returning to his chair when he changed his mind again and dragged a stool in front of it as well. As he sat down he noted that his fingers were shaking. There were Minervals in power all across the Empire — and he had the list of their names.

Harriet left Crowther to guard Swann while she went to greet Daniel and tell her friends of Swann’s illness. Their discussions were interrupted on numerous occasions by court officials knocking lightly on the door to offer their congratulations to Clode on his return and express their pleasure in seeing him. When she asked if Clode, Rachel and Graves might watch over Swann, they responded with such enthusiasm Harriet suspected that the continual exchange of polite platitudes was having as severe an effect on their tempers as it had on hers.

‘You were right to say that Clode would not want to leave until this business was cleared up, Mrs Westerman,’ Graves said. ‘We suggested to him that we could leave at once and he was most emphatic in his refusal.’

Harriet and her brother-in-law exchanged glances. Daniel was looking better than he had two days before. There was some colour in his face and he had lost a little of his hunted look.

‘Harriet,’ he said. ‘What you have told us … I — this madman did not collect my blood also?’

She put her hand on his sleeve. ‘No, I think not, Clode. He seems to be after the blood of these individuals alone.’

Daniel smiled briefly. ‘I find that oddly comforting.’

Harriet had on her lap the product of her friends’ work in Castle Grenzhow. There were a number of sheets in Rachel’s neat handwriting, each one carefully dated with a series of visits and meetings. ‘Lord, Daniel, you kept yourself well-occupied here. I assume if anything had appeared to you that was particularly strange, you would have mentioned it by now.’

‘We have written down everything, and I see nothing suspicious,’ Daniel said.

Harriet began to read more carefully. ‘You saw something, Clode. Something that made you seem a danger to this creature and his plans. I wish we knew what we were looking for.’

‘Murder will out, Mrs Westerman,’ Graves said, and stretched his arms. ‘I am going to rest for a while if Mr and Mrs Clode will take the first part of the evening at Swann’s side. Fine way for you to celebrate your reunion.’

When Rachel and Daniel entered the chamber of Chancellor Swann to relieve Crowther, they found he was not alone with the patient. Herr Kupfel had arrived at last. Clode and Crowther were still shaking hands, with great warmth on both sides, when Kupfel patted him on the sleeve.