“She’d been tortured, my lord, and then garroted,” Anne said with a solemn face.

Gillian shivered in his arms.

***

Noble rallied his troops, explaining briefly to the staff that the danger to Gillian and possibly Nick had increased, and until further notice they were to maintain the utmost caution.

“No visitors, unless known to Lady Weston or myself, are to be allowed in,” he ordered as he paced before the line of servants. “No tradespeople will be allowed in the house for any reason. Likewise, servants from other houses, your personal friends and acquaintances, will be banned. Until we have the bastard responsible for the threats against Lady Weston locked away in gaol, your sole responsibility will be to see to her safety, and that of my son. Are there any questions?”

The line of footmen, butlers, and other male staff members shook their heads. Crouch raised his hook.

“Yes?”

“Eh, m’lord, what should we do if ’er ladyship is desirin’ to leave the ’ouse?”

“I have informed Lady Weston that she will not leave the house except in my presence, or the presence of Lord Rosse.”

Crouch rubbed his chin with the curved part of his hook. “Beggin’ pardon, m’lord, but that didn’t stop ’er last time.”

Noble’s face was grim. “It will not happen again. Are there any other questions? No? Excellent. Is everyone armed?”

The row of men nodded. One of the footmen coughed and stepped forward.

“Yes, Dickon?”

“My lord, shouldn’t we have a watchword? Like in The Mysteries of Limehouse, where the watch captured an infamous band of pirates when they were spiriting away a group of young ladies for a sultan from a distant land, where they would be made slaves to his desire and forced to—”

“Yes, yes, I see your point, Dickon. Very well. We shall have a watchword. Any suggestions as to what it might be?”

“Testicle!” piped up Charles.

Noble frowned at him.

“’E means tentacle, m’lord. ’Ad ’is ’alf day yesterday and saw one of them octopantses at the zoological gardens.”

“No, I mean testicle,” argued Charles.

Noble considered his footman. “Is there any reason why you wish the watchword to be testicle, Charles?”

The young man sucked in his cheeks and bounced on the balls of his feet. “No, my lord.”

“Just like the word, do you?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Noble stopped pacing in front of the footman and narrowed his eyes at him. “There’s nothing you should have told me that you haven’t, is there, Charles?”

Charles’s eyes widened. “Me, my lord?” he squeaked.

“Mmm,” Noble said, giving him a close look, then continued his pacing. “Very well, our watchword is testicle. Should you encounter someone who does not answer your cry of ‘Halt, who goes there?’ with a snappy ‘testicle,’ you will restrain him and shout for assistance.”

“A lady wouldn’t say it,” Charles said.

Noble spun around to face the interruption. “What’s that?”

“You asked me if I had a reason for choosing the word testicle, my lord. I thought of one. A lady wouldn’t say it. Therefore, any lady villains we encounter wouldn’t say the watchword.”