‘Gracious me,’ she said. ‘That was bold.’
‘Bold, my lady, and as it turns out, not as helpful as I should have hoped. In some ways, at least. In other ways, very informative indeed.’
‘How so?’
‘The two men said nothing to my boys. They were brought down to the station where they continued to say nothing. I’d left them in the cells for a while, let them cool off, see if they might be a bit more talkative if they thought they might be staying a while, when I get summoned into my governor’s office. He didn’t look best pleased. A little rattled, in fact. And he says I’m to release the two men immediately. Obviously I asked why, and he just said, “Because I said so, Inspector.”’
‘Well, well, well,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘Most instructive. Is all well with you, Inspector? Are there any repercussions?’
‘None for me, my lady. I shut my mouth and did as I was told. But please be careful. I don’t know what you’re involved in – though there’s some talk, and I can draw my own conclusions pretty well – but this blond chap isn’t working alone and he seems to have friends who have powerful friends.’
‘Thank you, Inspector. I’ll not forget your help. Keep yourself safe and I shall tell all when we return. Or as much as I can, at any rate. Goodbye for now.’
‘Cheerio, my lady.’
More clicks and pops and the line went dead.
‘Bother,’ she said. ‘Harry! We have problems.’
We went back into Harry’s small drawing room and Lady Hardcastle recounted the conversation with succinct precision.
‘The problem with you cloak-and-dagger types,’ he said when she had finished, ‘is that you always find yourselves mixed up with other cloak and dagger types. We don’t get chased around the country by dead foreigners in the FO. It’s all very grown up and civilized.’
‘The foreigners I can deal with for the most part,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘But those two that Sunderland picked up weren’t foreign. And they weren’t released on the say-so of a weary desk sergeant who can’t be bothered with all the paperwork. Someone ordered their release. Someone high up.’
‘I know, Sis, I know. That’s the trouble with you cloak-and-dagger types, you’re always dragging your nearest and dearest into your murky world with you.’ He paused, realizing what he had just said. ‘Oh, Emily, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…’
She put her hand on his arm. ‘Don’t worry, darling, I know.’
I had accepted Lady Hardcastle’s offer of a life of espionage without a moment’s hesitation. My training had begun almost as quickly, and she spent many hours patiently passing on her knowledge of the mysterious arts. She had already supplemented her own meagre training with several years of field experience and I was given the full benefit of her hard-won skills long before her methods found their way into the official training guides (which they assuredly did).
The next few years in China provided many tales to tell, and one day I promise I shall make an effort to share those that are not still classified as Top Secret. But for now, the story that concerns us takes place some four years later in 1899.
The Hardcastles had become something of a fixture in the social life of the British Settlement in Shanghai. They were still young and beautiful, and with Sir Roderick’s stellar career in the diplomatic service and his wife’s charm and grace as both hostess and guest, their company was sought by senior officials from Britain, France, America, China and even Germany. No one suspected their true motives for such far-reaching social connections and simply accepted them as delightful young people who were fun to be with. In the stuffy world of international business and diplomacy they were a breath of the freshest possible air.
The previous year had been a pivotal one in the history of China, with formal treaties establishing a Western presence along the coast, including the Germans in Tsingtao and the British in Hong Kong. Elsewhere in the world, Imperial Germany was beginning to flex its industrial and military muscles and the other Great Powers were more eager than ever for information about their activities.
With that aim in mind, Sir Roderick and Lady Hardcastle had been dispatched northwards to Tsingtao, ostensibly as representatives of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government to wish the new German port continuing good fortune, but also, of course, to gather whatever information they could while they were there. There was a rumour that the German Navy was testing a new vessel out there on the western edge of the Pacific, far from the prying eyes of their European neighbours, and their European neighbours were devilishly keen to find out what it was.
The trip was an uncomplicated one for the Hardcastles and they fell into a practised routine. Together they attended parties and balls, meeting the great, the good and the eager to impress. A few days into the visit, Sir Roderick would manoeuvre himself into being invited to a card game, a billiards evening or some other men-only activity and his wife, pleading a headache or some other non-specific malady, would regretfully decline the corresponding ladies-only event and take to her bed.
Once the evening was well under way, she and I would slip out and engage in some thoroughly improper snooping. It was ordinarily quite difficult for us to go unnoticed in China, but at night time, with a little makeup and our Chinese garb, we could pass casual scrutiny. From a distance. In the shadows. As long as nobody looked too closely.
And so on this trip, while Sir Roderick was gambling with the gentlemen, Lady Hardcastle and I were tasked with exploring the docks in order to try to find out just exactly what the Kaiser’s navy was up to.
Fortunately the docks and the naval yard were full of activity even at night and we managed to get close enough to the secret pens over the course of the long night to see exactly what we had been sent to see.
I had heard about submarines, of course, and now they are all too familiar, but to see an early prototype then, dark, sinister, and clearly designed for no other purpose than to kill, was rather unnerving.
Hiding in the shadows, further concealed between wooden crates and metal drums, Lady Hardcastle made sketches of the sinister vessel while I made notes about the personnel and equipment we had seen. A few hours before dawn we had left as quietly as we had come, and made our way back to the Residence.
Nothing had happened, nothing had gone wrong. It had all been a thoroughly ordinary and successful reconnaissance and we were back in our rooms before the servants stirred.
No, whatever it was that went horribly wrong happened later.