Matteo chuckled into the darkness. “I thought I had lost my chance to talk with you.”

“Never. The Pimpernel is always available to those in need. We aid as many as we are able. If we have been slow in responding, it is because the urgency of our missions has increased and we were detained more often in France.”

Matteo’s voice held a touch of something. “And I gave cause for suspicion. I do apologize. It seems my misguided youth has come to create disaster for us all.”

“We have little time. What have you to tell me?”

“Éléonore is threatening my dear friend and butler and his family. She claims they are under watch every day.”

“Potier, yes?”

“You know of him? Then you are getting him out?”

“All in good time. Who else is she threatening?”

“Is not Potier enough of a priority? She will immediately imprison him, before all the others.” Desperation made his voice a little higher than his usual deep bass.

“And who are the others?”

A sigh filled the darkness with sound. “As a youth, I wrote journals, pretend denouncements, with Éléonore. We wrote them together, recording all the cruel and unkind things we witnessed our neighbors doing. She has these journals. I have with me a list of those mentioned in our writing. Three are already to safety. They have left the country. But the others—I have no way of knowing how they fare, except that they are, every day, in more danger.”

“Leave the list on the ground near your feet. After you leave, I will take it with me to Paris. We leave at the first tide.”

“Take me with you. I long for nothing more than to save my fellow French.”

“You must stay. You are too great a target. They would arrest you immediately.”

“I care not for my life. I have a personal responsibility. They might not be in danger but for me.”

“Your neighbors would have fallen under suspicion soon enough. Potier would likely have been spared. But you must trust me. We will care for them and deliver them all safely to the shores of England.”

“But Potier is of the utmost urgency. Éléonore will detain him in but one week’s time. We have no room for delay or diversion.”

Simon smiled in the darkness. So like himself Matteo sounded. He began to regret the many hours he had spent suspecting the man. “You must stay here. You are invaluable to the prince, and your absence would be difficult to explain. Your presence in France would put any mission at great risk. Trust us. You must trust us. You have my word that Potier will be safe.”

***