Alerted to his mood, Richard leaned forward in his chair. “Good God, man, what is it?”
Darcy stared at his brandy. “Do you recall my confession the night of the Fairchild ball?”
“Of course. We were in our cups, but I was not too foxed.” Richard shook his head. “I still cannot believe Miss Bennet refused your offer, although it did explain your foul temper.”
Darcy took another sip, holding his glass in trembling hands.
“Did you visit Hertfordshire with the purpose of calling upon Miss Bennet?” Richard arched a brow at him.
“I hoped to apologize and win a chance to court her properly.”
“Your countenance tells me your effort was not successful. Did she refuse to see you?”
Darcy opened his mouth, but no sound emerged. He swallowed and tried again. “She is gone… Elizabeth is dead.” The words emerged as a harsh whisper.
Starting, Richard nearly dropped his glass. “Good God, Darcy! Hell and damnation!” After taking a moment to collect himself, his hand reached out to touch Darcy’s forearm. “I am so sorry.” He gave a slight shake of the head. “I do not have the words…”
Darcy inclined his head. There were no words for such an occasion.
Richard sighed. “She was such a…lovely lady. Beautiful, lively…clever…”
Both of Darcy’s hands squeezed the bra
ndy glass. “Yes.”
“How did it come to pass? Was it an illness?”
“She was a passenger on the cutter that exploded near Jersey.”
Richard’s mouth dropped open. “Elizabeth Bennet was aboard that ship?”
“She was visiting a friend who lives on the island.”
Richard’s abstracted look and the way he rubbed his chin suggested his cousin was considering what to say. Employed by the War Office for nearly a year, Richard had dropped enough hints that Darcy had no doubt his cousin was involved in espionage of some kind.
“What can you tell me?” Darcy fixed his cousin with a stare. “The War Office must have investigated the disaster. They could not ignore it.”
“I should not tell you anything,” Richard said slowly.
Should not was not the same as would not. “So they are investigating it.”
Richard sighed. “Of course. But with the ship itself at the bottom of the Channel, they can discover very little. Nonetheless, the incident is very suspicious. Captain Briggs was not a careless man and would not have stored his gunpowder recklessly.”
“The War Office suspects sabotage?”
Richard tossed back some more port. “We believe someone aboard the ship ignited the gunpowder.”
“Do you know who?”
“There is a French spy who has sabotaged other ships and ruined cargo, but he has never killed before.” Richard was holding his glass so tightly Darcy was surprised it did not shatter. “Major Bellows fears Napoleon is considering an invasion of the Channel Islands.”
Darcy nodded. It made sense to deplete the islands’ supplies of gunpowder and kill replacement troops before an invasion. “Do they know the spy’s name?”
“He goes by the code name Black Cobra.”
“What is a cobra?”
Richard waved one hand. “A kind of snake found in India—very poisonous. I do not know how the man acquired the name. One suspects he bestowed it upon himself.”