The Pimpernel Plot (TimeWars 3)

“No, you don’t,” she said. “Marguerite has a houseful of servants to look after her. Nor do I believe that Mongoose plans anything involving her. You’re just protecting me.”

“Look, I thought we went all through this,” Finn said. “Your being a woman has nothing to do with it. It’s-”

“I know.”

“You know? Then what is-”

“You’re going to tell me that it’s because this is my first mission, right? Forrester said that this would be an easy one, but it hasn’t turned out that way and you’re only being protective because I’m inexperienced and you’re afraid I’ll make mistakes.”

“All right, that’s true. If you know-”

“If you really think that’s true, Finn, then you’re lying to yourself. I may be inexperienced insofar as temporal adjustments are concerned, but you wouldn’t have accomplished the one in the seventeenth century without me. I’m an experienced soldier and if I was prone to making mistakes, I would have died back in medieval England. If you want to talk about mistakes, let’s talk about yours.”

Simon Hawke

The Pimpernel Plot

“Mine!”

“That’s right,” she said. “Let’s talk about the mistake you made in letting Mongoose get away that night in the maze. Let’s talk about the mistake you made in allowing him to get to Leforte before you did. I could not have done any worse. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about the mistake you made in falling in love with Marguerite Blakeney.”

Finn stared at her, then looked down at the floor. “How did you know?”

“I know because I’ve been watching you. Also because up until this moment, my sole responsibility on this mission has been to stay with her, to keep her occupied and away from you as much as possible. Not only is that unfair, it’s stupid. She’s an intelligent woman, Finn, though it wouldn’t take very much intelligence for her to see right through that ploy, as she did almost from the very start. I may be a woman, Finn, but I’m a soldier. My sex does not automatically qualify me to be an older sister or to heal a broken heart. I’m not very good at it. I haven’t complained about it up till now because I am a soldier and you are my superior in rank, but it’s reached the point where my company is doing her more harm than good.”

“What do you mean?” said Finn.

“I told you, Finn, Marguerite’s no fool. She knows I’m there to be a buffer between the two of you. She might not have liked it very much, but it might have been easier for her to live with that if she knew that you didn’t care for her. The only problem is, she knows that you love her.”

“How could she know that?”

“She’d have to be blind not to see it. Lucas knows that you’re attracted to her, but I don’t think he’s realized yet that there’s a great deal more to it than that. She knows you love her and she thinks you can’t forgive her because of the St. Cyr affair. She’s been on the verge of talking to me about it several times, but she can’t bring herself to discuss it. It’s obviously extremely painful for her. Also, she’s very proud. She’s determined to win you back without having to humiliate herself by begging your forgiveness.”

“Before we go any further,” Finn said, “let’s just keep our roles straight. It isn’t me she wants, it’s Blakeney. And-”

“No, it isn’t Blakeney, Finn,” said Andre. “It’s you. Marguerite loves you.”

“You’re talking nonsense.”

“Am I? Let me tell you about Marguerite and Percy Blakeney, Finn, I’ve become an expert on the subject. She talks to me because she has no one else to talk to. Marguerite was never in love with Percy Blakeney. She was in love with the idea of being loved by a man like Blakeney, a simple man as she puts it. She had convinced herself that there was something touchingly pure and romantic in being loved by a simple man. When I said that she wasn’t a fool, I didn’t mean to imply that she was not naive.

“Blakeney was evidently pathetically clumsy in his courtship of her. In her own words, he followed her around like a little puppy. She found that rather sweet. Compared to the people she had associated with, he was a dullard. They were all much smarter than he was, far wittier and much more skilled in intellectual debate. To say that he floundered in their presence would be an understatement, but he kept trying because he wanted to impress her. I’m far more experienced in warfare than in love, but spending so much time with Marguerite has been an education. I believe that Blakeney aroused her maternal instincts and she confused them with affection. All that changed, of course, when Blakeney became cold to her as a result of her part in St. Cyr’s execution.

“Do you recall that bet you and Lucas lost just before we clocked out on this mission?”

Finn blinked. “What the hell has that got to do with anything?”

“Not a great deal, except that it enabled me to understand a few things better,” Andre said. “I imagine that you and Lucas thought that I had spent the whole night rutting with that male whore and it amused me to allow you to believe that. In fact, I was far too drunk to have much interest in sex, though I did ask him to illustrate some things in a purely clinical fashion.

We talked for most of the night. Thanks to the implant programming, I’m a great deal better educated than I ever dreamed I would be, but as I’ve already told you, my education was incomplete in some respects. He was an excellent teacher, though not in the way that you must think. He was very good at explaining the various physical and emotional aspects of love, something I knew next to nothing about. What I found most fascinating was something he called ‘chemistry.’ I understand that it’s a very old expression used to describe- ”

“I know what chemistry is,” Finn said, irritably.

“Well, I didn’t,” Andre said. “When he explained it to me, I found it a bit difficult to accept. Maybe it was because I had too much to drink or because nothing like that had ever happened to me, but the idea of two people having such a strong emotional response to one another with no real knowledge of each other seemed somehow improbable to me. Yet, I strongly suspect that that was what must have happened between you and Marguerite.”

She paused, watching him.

“Your silence tells me that I’ve guessed correctly. In any other circumstance, I’m sure it would be wonderful for both of you. However, in this case, the problem is that you know and understand what happened, while Marguerite is hopelessly confused. She thought that her husband had grown bored with her at first, then she believed that Blakeney came to hate her because of St. Cyr. Now, she knows that her husband loves her, lusts for her. What’s more, she suddenly finds herself loving and lusting for her husband, a man who had never affected her that way before. She’s also noticed that, in many ways, he’s changed. His taste in food is different. Suddenly he can hold his liquor better than ever before. Someone at the first party that we had here reported your verbal fencing match with Pitt to her almost word for word and she was both delighted and astonished at your newfound ability. Finn, do you know what she asked one of the servants yesterday? She was afraid to ask me because she thought it might get back to you, so she went to the gamekeeper, who’s served the family for years. I know about it because I’ve been following orders and keeping an eye on her. I eavesdropped. She asked the old man about your relatives.”