The Tavistock Plot
Tracy Grant
This ebook is licensed to you for your personal enjoyment only.
This ebook may not be sold, shared, or given away.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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The Tavistock Plot
Copyright © 2020 by Tracy Grant
Ebook ISBN: 9781641971416
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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NYLA Publishing
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http://www.nyliterary.com
Contents
Acknowledgments
Dramatis Personae
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
A Reading Group Guide
Also by Tracy Grant
About the Author
For Robert Sicular, a wonderful actor and friend, with thanks for inspiration onstage and off
Acknowledgments
This book was finished during the shelter-in-place for the COVID-19 pandemic. As we all cope with this unprecedented situation, I am more grateful than ever for all the people who support my writing and the Rannochs' world in so many ways. As always, huge thanks to my wonderful agent, Nancy Yost, for her support and insights. Thanks to Natanya Wheeler for once again working her magic to create a truly amazing cover that captures Mélanie Rannoch and the world of the Tavistock, and for shepherding the book expertly through the publication process, to Sarah Younger for superlative social media support and for helping the book along through production and publication, and to the entire team at Nancy Yost Literary Agency for their fabulous work. Malcolm, Mélanie, and I are all very fortunate to have their support.
Thanks to Eve Lynch for the meticulous and thoughtful copyediting, and to Jayne Davis for answering extra grammar questions.
Thank you to Kristen Loken for a magical author photo taken in one of my favorite places, San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House, on one of my favorite occasions of the year, the Merola Grand Finale. Your brilliance never fails to amaze me, Kristen!
I am very fortunate to have a wonderful group of writer friends near and far who make being a writer less solitary. Thanks to Veronica Wolff and Lauren Willig, who both understand the challenges of being a writer and a mom. To Penelope Williamson, for sharing adventures, analyzing plots from Shakespeare to Scandal, and being a wonderful honorary aunt to my daughter. To Jami Alden, Tasha Alexander, Bella Andre, Allison Brennan, Josie Brown, Isobel Carr, Catherine Coulter, Deborah Coonts, Deborah Crombie, Carol Culver/Grace, Catherine Duthie, Alexandra Elliott, J.T. Ellison, Barbara Freethy, C.S. Harris, Candice Hern, Anne Mallory, Monica McCarty, Brenda Novak, Poppy Reifiin, Deanna Raybourn, and Jacqueline Yau.
Thank you to the readers who support Malcolm and Mélanie and their friends and provide wonderful insights on my Web site and social media.
Thanks to Gregory Paris and jim saliba for creating and updating a fabulous Web site that chronicles Malcolm and Mélanie Suzanne's adventures. To Suzi Shoemake and Betty Strohecker for managing a wonderful Goodreads Discussion Group for readers of the series. Thanks to my colleagues at the Merola Opera Program who help me keep my life in balance. Thanks to Peet's Coffee & Tea at The Village, Corte Madera, for welcoming me and my daughter Mélanie and giving me some of my best writing time. And thanks to Mélanie herself, for inspiring my writing, being patient with Mummy's "work time", and offering her own insights at the keyboard. This is her contribution to this story – The world is like a big story that's always being written and never ends, the pages keep turning and writing nonstop and the book doesn't overflow. As long as we exist, the story is still writing. The animals are also part of the story, especially any type of cat.
Dramatis Personae
*indicates real historical figures
The Rannoch Family & Household
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Malcolm Rannoch, MP and former British intelligence agent
Mélanie Suzanne Rannoch, his wife, playwright and former French intelligence agent
Colin Rannoch, their son
Jessica Rannoch, their daughter
Berowne, their cat
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Laura O'Roarke, Colin and Jessica's former governess
Raoul O'Roarke, her husband, Mélanie's former spymaster, and Malcolm's father
Lady Emily Fitzwalter, Laura's daughter from her first marriage
Clara O'Roarke, Laura and Raoul's daughter
* * *
Miles Addison, Malcolm's valet
Blanca Mendoza Addison, his wife, Mélanie's companion
Pedro Addison, their son
* * *
Valentin, footman
Mrs. Erskine, cook
* * *
The Davenport Family
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Lady Cordelia Davenport, classicist
Colonel Harry Davenport, her husband, classicist, and former British intelligence agent
Livia Davenport, their daughter
Drusilla Davenport, their daughter
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Archibald (Archie) Davenport, Harry's uncle, MP, and former French intelligence agent
Lady Frances Davenport, his wife, Malcolm's aunt
Chloe Dacre-Hammond, Frances's daughter from her first marriage
Francesca Davenport, Frances and Archie's daughter
Philip Davenport, Frances and Archie's son
* * *
Aline Blackwell, Frances's daughter from her first marriage
Dr. Geoffrey Blackwell, Aline's husband
Claudia Blackwell, their daughter
* * *
At the Tavistock Theatre
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Letty Blanchard, actress
Lewis Thornsby, Letty's beau
Cranley, Lewis's valet
* * *
William (Will) Carmarthen, actor and Leveller
Brandon Ford, actor and Leveller
Bessie, seamstress
Tim Scott stagehand and Leveller
Donald McDevitt, Leveller
* * *
Jennifer Mansfield, actress
Sir Horace Smytheton, her husband, patron of the Tavistock
Their daughters
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Manon Caret Harleton, actress
Crispin, Lord Harleton, her husband
Roderick, their son
Roxane, Manon's daughter
Clarisse, Manon's daughter
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Simon Tanner, playwright, part owner of the Tavistock, and Leveller
David Mallinson, Viscount Worsley, his lover
Teddy Craven, David's nephew
George Craven, David's nephew
Amy Craven, David's niece
Jamie Craven, David's nephew
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Others in London
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Thomas Thornsby, classicist, Lewis's elder brother
Edith Simmons, classicist and governess, Thomas's friend
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Lady Shroppington, Lewis and Thomas's aunt
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Bertrand Laclos, French émigré and former British intelligence agent
Rupert, Viscount Caruthers, his lover, MP and former British intelligence agent
Gabrielle, Viscountess Caruthers, Rupert's wife and Bertrand's cousin
Stephen, Rupert and Gabrielle's son
Nick Gordon, Gabrielle's lover
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Sofia Vincenzo
Kit Montagu, her fiancé, Leveller
Lady Thurston, Kit's mother
Selena, Kit's sister
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Hubert Mallinson, Earl Carfax, Malcolm's former spymaster and David's father
Amelia, Countess Carfax, his wife
Lady Lucinda Mallinson, their youngest daughter
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Billy Hopkins, agent for Carfax
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Lord Beverston
Benedict Smythe, his younger son
Nerezza Russo, Benedict's beloved
Roger Smythe, Beverston's elder son, MP and Leveller
Dorinda Smythe, Roger's wife
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Julien St. Juste, former agent for hire
Katelina (Kitty) Velasquez Ashford, former British and Spanish intelligence agent, his mistress
Leo Ashford, her son
Timothy Ashford, her son
Guenevere (Genny) Ashford, her daughter
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Juliette Dubretton, novelist
Paul St. Gilles, painter, her husband
Marguerite, their daughter
Pierre, their son
Rose, their daughter
Gavin, their manservant
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George Bartlett, barrister
Hetty Bartlett, novelist, his wife
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Mr. Hapgood, bookseller
Toby Wilton, diplomat
Sally Wilton, his daughter
Winston Wilton, his son
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Jeremy Roth, Bow Street runner
*Sir Nathaniel Conant, chief magistrate of Bow Street
*Lord Sidmouth, British home secretary
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*Emily, Countess Cowper, patroness of Almack's
*Harry, Lord Palmerston, Secretary at War, her lover
*William Lamb, her brother
*Lady Caroline Lamb, his wife
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*George, Prince Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players
—Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, scene vii
Prologue
Saint-Maurice-en-Valais
September, 1811
Mélanie Lescaut sat on the riverbank, arms linked about her muslin-covered knees, sketchbook and pencil abandoned beside her. She closed her eyes and pushed the plaited straw brim of her bonnet back from her forehead. The sun beat down warm on her face and the Rhône river rushed by clean and cool below her. Difficult on a day like this to believe that winter was not far off. And that a little boy would spend his first Christmas without either of his parents present.
"Seeking solace in nature? How Wordsworthian. Though there are other ways we could have found solace on this journey. I have quite agreeable memories of two years ago."
She opened her eyes and bit back a curse. She should have heard him long before he spoke. "Two years ago was work."
Julien St. Juste dropped down beside her, arms hooked round one knee, his other leg dangling over the bank. "Meaning you don't indulge outside of business?"
"Meaning I'm rather fastidious about whom I indulge with."
"Fair enough." He pulled a silver flask from his coat. "Thought perhaps you could do with this."
"Am I so obvious?"
"The press of emotions in the inn was a bit thick, even for me."
Mélanie accepted the flask and took a swallow. The brandy was warm and rich and tasted of apples, but it seared her throat. "How was she when you left?"
"Quiet. Flahaut was the one who looked as if he was going to be sick."
"It's his baby too."
"And unlike some men, he seems to be aware of that. Hortense will pull through. She's got more of her mother in her than one would think."
Mélanie was fond of the Empress Josephine, but she had met her at times when Josephine was in trouble and desperate for assistance. For a moment the memory of the day the divorced French empress had pleaded with them to help her daughter Hortense conceal a disastrous pregnancy was so vivid Mélanie could smell the roses at Malmaison. "Is Josephine so strong?"
"When she needs to be."
Mélanie fixed her gaze on the water rushing dark over the stones of the river bed. "I can steal. I can kill. I can do things I never thought I'd be capable of. Things I'm not proud to be capable of. But what Hortense did today—I don't know that I could do that. Put my child into the care of someone else—even someone I trusted—and know that he would grow up without me. Perhaps it's just as well that I'm exceedingly unlikely ever to have a child of my own."
"You're a bit young to be swearing off parenthood."
She returned the flask to him. "Do you? Have children?"
"Not that I know of. We don't exactly live a life that's suited to it. Which doesn't mean I've never thought of it."
"Don't tell me you have a secret longing for a rose-covered cottage and a nursery of fat babies."
A smile pulled at his mouth. "Hardly. But the thought of home has a certain seduction."
"Has it been a long time since you were back?"
"So long I was quite another person."
"That could mean yesterday."
"So it could." He took a swallow from the flask. "I used to think what I wanted more than anything else was my freedom."
"You're the freest person I know."
"Ah, but then you don't really know me at all, do you?"
"Used to think?" she said.
"Lately I find that even I am subject to the occasional clichéd longings. The land one's ancestors trod. The air one breathed in childhood. The smile of one's first love." He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Mélanie steeled herself against any reaction. "Was she your first love?"
"Who?"
"Josephine."
He smiled for a moment. "I was young enough that she might have been." He returned the flask to his pocket and held out his hand. "Come back to the inn, cara. Hortense will need you. All we can do is take care of what needs to be done, one step at a time."
She accepted his hand and let him pull her to her feet. "That's what Raoul says."
"And O'Roarke has an annoying habit of being right."
Chapter 1
London
January, 1820
"Mummy! There's a sword missing."
Mélanie Lescaut Rannoch set down her pencil and looked up from the manuscript of Past Imperfect, her first play, which was set to open in five days. Dear God. Only five.
Her six-and-a-ha
lf-year-old son Colin was in the wings of the Tavistock Theatre, bent over a basket of props, studying the contents with the same intensity with which she'd seen his father scour a crime scene for clues. "It must not have got put away after the rehearsal, darling. See if you see it lying about anywhere. Can you help, Jessica?"