Page 22 of The Spy and the Nightingale
“What we want and what we wish for are only sometimes aligned. This, you know.”
He took a large swallow of his coffee rather than answer.
Amélie sighed. “Tu es déterminé à être exaspérant.You are a man of good conduct, finer than you credit yourself after these assignments your masters in London have asked of you these past years. But let me tell you, purely as a friend: Step very carefully if it is complications you are wishing to avoid. Are you confident in this plan? That it is most wise for Isobel to attend with you these places in the guise of your lover?”
“Frascati’s was already planned, and if I am to get cozier with Dubois, another visit to Le Repaire must happen soon.”
“All this I understand,” Amélie said mildly. “This is not at all what I have asked.”
“Isobel entering into one or both places under my protection to seek information is far superior to how I found her.” His response sidestepped Amélie’s question; they both knew it. “Which was lurking about outside Les Moineaux and putting herself directly in danger.”
“These dangers you mention, have also they included abduction by intimidating men to the rooms of an attic?” Amélie quizzed. There was gentle reproach in the question despite her teasing tone.
What had Isobel told Amélie of that first night? “It might equally have been one of Compton’s or Dubois’s henchmen rather than me,” he said quietly. “Or even an opportunistic stranger, had she not more care. She was in no condition physically to put up any resistance. I simply noticed her first.”
Amélie acknowledged that with a wave of her hand. For a fewminutes, neither of them spoke, and then Amélie asked, “Do you believe Isobel can do it,mon ami? Step into this role you ask of her?”
“Aye. She is intelligent. She is courageous. She is determined to succeed for her own reasons. She knows the stakes, inasmuch as I can share my purposes with her, and certainly she is clear on what she hopes to gain by association with me. She is no green girl, and she is not without defense.” He remembered her knives and felt his mouth curl in the approximation of a smile.
Amélie’s eyebrow lifted delicately, and he elaborated, “On rue Montmartre I took two knives off her, one of which she reached for before she knew I’d already found it. She also had a pistol in her valise that she brought with her from England, with ammunition besides.”
Amélie smiled. “Perhaps it is you for whom I should worry and not Isobel.”
“To your question: She has fortitude enough,” he said. “I wouldn’t bring her into this scenario did I not think she could do it. And should she not be equal to it, tonight is low stakes. Even Frascati’s will contain little danger. Do you doubt her?”
“Non.I too believe she can do it. Sometimes when one has suffered the loss of that which brings to life its sweetness, one is willing to risk much.” Amélie took a breath, her eyes briefly far away, reminding him again of what he knew of her history. She had lost everything before reinventing herself into who and what she was now: a survivor and someone entirely in command of her own destiny, including overseeing a cadre of spies in Paris.
“Isobel is such a one, to risk herself so,” Amélie said. “So I know too that you will be watchful that she does not risk too much.” She lifted her cup to her lips, and her eyes met his above the rim. “Perhaps in this you will also find more reason to care for yourself? I have worried for you these past weeks,mon cher. You are cautious as ever in your work,oui, but I do not think you haveconsideration enough for yourself. You are changed these past months since I last saw you, since you are back and forth to France once again. You might ask yourself, why is this?”
He was saved from responding when Isobel returned carrying a sheaf of papers.
She started towards him. “The translations...” Her steps faltered; residual tension from his conversation with Amélie lingered.
Amélie smoothed the moment over, rising quickly. “It will be quite unexceptional even with this cold for you, Nathaniel, to make a lover’s stroll upon the riverside near the Palais des Tuileries. You will not have yet been there,ma chère?” She looked inquiringly at Isobel, who shook her head. “And so. You two will talk of matters together, and perhaps in the process be noticed together, but mostly, you will talk this through. There is much yet that you must know, and Nathaniel, you will be forthcoming with her.” She shot him a piercing look, and he nodded.
As forthcoming as I can be.Which might necessitate uncomfortable honesty.
“And then you two will return, that we might put together our heads,oui? Then it is settled.” Amélie turned back to Isobel. “You will visit the gardens of the Tuileries, as anyone new to our lovely city might do with great innocence. And you will listen to what Nathaniel has to say, but you will do what is in your own interests best,oui?”
“Amélie—”
“Non!” Amélie swiftly cut off his words. “I will have it from Isobel’s own lips, that she will follow her own mind on this venture. You, Nathaniel, will not persuade or dissuade her. You will present to her facts.”
“You need not fear for me,” Isobel said to Amélie with a hint of mischief. “He did give it a shot that first night, but I have not yet allowed him to succeed at browbeating me.”
“Non, only to drag you insensible from the wet pavement.” But Amélie was smiling now. She took Isobel’s hands in her own. “He will have care of you in public,ma chère, and you and I will discuss when he returns you such questions as arise. I will ring now for Louise, and she will bring for you a cloak to keep off the chill that better matches your dress than that masculine coat.”
Chapter 7
Nate paid the driver to set them down in place Louis XV. Isobel laid her hand on his arm when he offered it, and slowly they started in the direction of the Seine. Despite Amélie’s suggestion of the palace and gardens, he preferred the greater anonymity of quai des Tuileries. With the day grey and cool and a breeze coming off the Seine, there were few people out purely for pleasure. It suited him for the conversation at hand.
Isobel withdrew her arm when they reached the wall separating road from docks below. They stood side by side, facing the water. No other pedestrians were nearby.
“You learned of the existence of Les Moineaux on your own,” he said by way of opening the subject. “I mentioned Guillaume Dubois yesterday, the owner. He also owns an establishment called Le Repaire des Satyres.”
“The Satyrs’ Club,” Isobel translated. “The other business you mentioned this morning? It’s not familiar to me. I am certain I’d have noticed such a memorable name.”
“It is often shortened to Le Repaire when people speak of it.”
