The Family Way (Molly Murphy, #12)

“Sounds delightful,” I said dryly.

“Oh, and he came from the best of families, as Gus’s cousin kept reminding us,” Sid said. “And when Gus told her cousin that she was quite happy in her current situation and saw no reason to change, the cousin was frightfully huffy.”

“She said that friendships such as ours were quite acceptable among young girls, before they knew the way of the world and were ready for a husband, but quite unacceptable thereafter,” Gus added with a grin at Sid.

“So we packed up and escaped,” Gus said, giving Sid a conspiratorial glance. “I don’t really know what made us accept the invitation in the first place. We knew how unbearably snobbish and conniving my cousin would be and how she’d keep trying to make a suitable match for me.”

“Hurray for your cousin. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re home again,” I said.

“You’ve been dying of boredom, I knew it,” Sid said. “What did I tell you, Gus. I said we should have spirited Molly with us to Newport.”

I put a plate of cookies on the table and took down the best china from the cupboard. “Until two days ago that was true,” I said. “But things have been happening thick and fast.” And all details of the letter and Sarah and the kidnapped baby came spilling out and I finished by telling them about bumping into Liam and Mr. Wilkie’s visit. I should probably have kept quiet about the latter, but I had come to rely on my friends and their good sense, and I needed to tell someone. Also I’ve never been good at holding my tongue.

“Goodness me,” Gus said. “You’ve been having far too much excitement without us.”

“I feel rather shaken up by all of it, if you want to know,” I said. “Seeing that poor woman so distraught when her child was kidnapped really upset me.”

“Well it would, given your current condition,” Gus said.

“And then running into my brother like that, only to find that the Secret Service is on the lookout for him. I really want to warn him, but I don’t see how I can risk going anywhere near him without putting him in even greater danger.” I got up as the kettle began to sing on the stove.

“Molly,” Gus said carefully, “you say your brother is in great danger and you want to warn him, but if he’s really part of some kind of anarchist plot, should you really stand in the way of the authorities and tip off these people that the Secret Service is onto them? I mean, what if they plan to assassinate the king of England or our president? I know blood is thicker than water, but…”

“I don’t want you to think that I condone anything like that. If I try and warn Liam it will be to go back to France and have nothing to do with this plot. I can’t believe he’d want to be part of something that involved innocent lives.”

I saw my friends exchange a hurried glance.

“I thought maybe I could write him a letter, telling him that he should leave the country right away. Maybe Sarah could keep an eye out for him to deliver the letter for me. I saw him on the corner of Elizabeth Street, not too far from her settlement house. But Daniel doesn’t want me going to that area. Do you think you’d be able to deliver the letter to her?”

“Of course,” Gus said.

“Better than that,” Sid said. “You can enlist us, Molly. We can scour the Lower East Side looking for your brother, can’t we, Gus.”

“I can’t ask you to do that for me,” I said quickly.

“Nonsense, we’d love to do it. You know we always jump at the chance to help you with your sleuthing.”

“Yes, I know,” I said with slight hesitation. Sid and Gus had always been keen volunteers, but the trouble was that to them life was a great and glorious game.

“Oh, come on, Molly, do say yes,” Gus said. “We’re itching to do something useful after all those days of mindless chatter and tea parties.”

“I don’t think you understand how serious this is,” I said. “The police are looking for him. If you approach him and say anything that anyone could overhear, you’re sealing his death warrant.”

Sid looked rather haughty as she said, “Molly, I think we can be trusted to show a little common sense. We are women of the world, after all. And our work with the suffrage movement has required guts and diplomacy.”

I realized this was true. They took terrible risks for the cause and had been to jail on at least one occasion. “Of course. Forgive me,” I said. “I’d be most grateful if you undertook this task for me. I’ll write the letter today.”

“What does your brother look like—do you have a photograph?”

“No, but he looks like me,” I said. “His hair is even brighter red and he’s thinner and rather gaunt looking now, but the resemblance is very strong. You’d recognize him if you saw him.”