“What?” asked George, now truly confused. Annabel looked thoughtful for a moment, not the clueless puzzled look that he normally associated with her, but the look of an intelligent person trying to come to a decision on the spot. She came to one fairly quickly because her face cleared and she looked up at him, new determination in her eyes.
“I really didn't want you to come when Alexander invited you and this is why. You aren't stupid like he is, you ask questions and find things out. If I just say that a woman is allowed her secrets like I was about to you would find out just what those secrets are, I am almost sure of it.”
“I would allow you your privacy,” George protested, even though he wasn't sure if he actually would. She was practically accusing him of not being a gentleman and he couldn't allow that to stand.
“Maybe I am wrong about you in that respect but you are smart and that remains and I could use someone smart at the moment. Though you would probably never admit it, my brother is useless and knows nothing of my activities anyway, which leaves you. You already suspect me so I can put you to use and make you into something handy rather then a hindrance. To put it bluntly I am a spy for the King of England.”
Had Annabel grown wings all of a sudden a declared herself an servant of God George probably couldn't have been more surprised. He doubted it at first of course, but only for a few moments because then his mind was forced to piece things together. She didn't seem crazy, which was his first thought, she seemed too rational for that. She didn't seem to be joking and that would have been no reason for her to act like a ditz for the several years of their acquaintance. He was forced to admit that the only reason that he could think of for her elaborate charade would be for her to have an important secret to keep and she had just made him privy to just such a secret if it was true. He was about to profess his non disbelief when Alexander joined them, making conversation impossible.
“My dear sister, your conversation with George looked so intense I just had to come and see what you were talking about,” Alexander said.
“We were just arguing about what type of rose this is, do you know I think George knows nothing about roses. His teachers must have been sleeping when they were supposed to be teaching him if he doesn't realize that this rose is not of a variety we have in England yet. I was thinking that maybe our host would let me take a cutting with us back so I could have one in our garden. Can you imagine the envy of my friends our next garden party? It would be just too marvelous.”
For the rest of the conversation George paid careful attention to what Annabel was saying, looking for any hint of the woman who he had just been talking to, but there was nothing except the foolishness that had always come out of her mouth. If anything that only cemented him in his belief that she had been telling the truth to him about what she did though. For the rest of the day he was on the lookout for her going somewhere where they could talk again, and he kept expecting her to give him a look or something that would tell him where to go but he waited in vain. For the rest of the day Annabel didn't make eye contact with George except when she spoke to him, and she hardly talked to him at all, being too immersed in conversation with the banker's wife about what new hats were going to be sent across the channel now that trade bans were lifted.
George was laying in bed that night, not asleep because he had too much on his mind, when Annabel entered the room. She was fully clothed, and carrying a candle that she only lite when she got into the room and had closed the door. At first George couldn't believe his eyes, well to do women entering the bedroom of an man alone in the middle of the night was so unbelievable that he couldn't bring his mind to accept it until she spoke.
To be continued...
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