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She sat down at a table in the library upon which she'd piled all the biographies She had planned to spend the evening alphabetizing the with a bit or than was probably necessary

Plato before Socrates, Cromwell before Fawkes…Ravenscroft and Sidwell before Trent

Caroline slaht They shouldn't have gone without her She had diagra could substitute for firsthand knowledge Without her they were in danger of stepping into the wrong roo the her newfound friends was like ice around her heart She'd spent a lifeties of families, and now that she'd finally found two people who needed her--even if it was purely on a level of national security--she didn't want to sit on her hands and watch theer

The marquis hiation And as for Blake--Well, Blake didn't much like to admit that she was in any way involved in their work for the War Office, but even he had said she'd done a good job briefing them about the Prewitt household and their habits

She knew they would fare better with her on-scene assistance Why, they didn't even know about--

Caroline clapped her hand to her otten to tell the tea? It was a ritual for the butler Every night, like clockwork, he took tea at ten It was an odd custo hot, with ar, butter shortbread and strawberry jahtly snack, and woe to anyone who interrupted Caroline had once borrowed the teapot and found herself without blankets for a week In Decerandfather clock It was quarter past nine Blake and Ja at Prewitt Hall at…

Oh dear Lord, they would be arriving right when Farnsworth was preparing his snack The butleron in years, but he was certainly not frail, and he was rather handy with firear room on the way from his chambers to the kitchen

Caroline stood, her eyes wide and her expression resolute They needed her Blake needed her She could never live with herself if she didn't go to warn them

Without a care to her ankle, she dashed fro directly toward the stables

Caroline rode like the proverbial wind She wasn't the finest rider; in all truth, iven her much opportunity to practice, but she was competent and could hold her seat

And she'd certainly never had such a good reason to carry on in full gallop

By the tie of Oliver's property, the pocket watch she'd snatched froave the time as exactly ten o'clock She tied the mare--which she'd also "borrowed" fro herself hidden behind the tall hedges that ran alongside the drive When she reached Prewitt Hall, she dropped to her hands and knees She doubted that anyone was still awake, save for Farnsworth in the kitchen, but it see by any s