Page 77

“Read the first column.”

He took the paper. Judith watched his eyes move rapidly over the print. He reached the passage she had marked with her thumbnail and stopped. Then he read it again. His gaze lifted. “Do you know who said this?”

“Sir George did.”

“When?”

“This morning.”

Baines looked back at the paper. “That is impossible.”

“I assure you, Sir George is capable of speaking before breakfast. Lady Dunsmore considers it a constant affliction.”

“No, I mean the paper.” Baines tapped the date with a forefinger. “This edition was printed yesterday.”

“I know.”

“And Sir George used these words this morning?”

“He said the authorities would secure the principal routes and break communication between Glasgow and Paisley.”

Baines stared at her.

“Sir George said substantially the same thing yesterday, in the billiard room.”

Her skin prickled. “How substantially?”

“Substantially enough that I now wish I had strangled him with his own cravat.”

“Baines,” she said with exasperation.

“He described securing roads and bridges before using infantry to control the towns. Pembroke even suggested they ought not to discuss dispositions.”

“Sir George ignored him, I take it?”

“Magnificently.”

Judith took the paper back and found the sentence once more.

“Then this was printed less than twenty-four hours after he spoke.”

“Yes.”

“They are not merely repeating rumours, but entire conversations.”

“That is becoming difficult to dispute.”

Judith looked at him. “We need to root out the traitor.”

His brows rose slightly. “We?”

“You objected to that pronoun before.”

“I celebrated it. There is a difference.”

“This is hardly the moment to be pleased with yourself.”

“My dear Miss Finch, every moment is improved by being pleased with oneself. It prevents dependence upon others for the service.”