“Has Deele heard where Lady Hester might be?” I asked instead.

“Not yet,” George said. “Nor has anyone else to my knowledge, but…”

“He will eventually,” I supplied, and received a nod from my friend.

Another problem to add to my list. When the Marquess of Deele did find Hester, he would, once again, attempt to remove his sister from her beloved Miss Grant and incarcerate her in an asylum, or find some other way to keep the women apart. At least until Hester turned thirty-five, in five years, and was no longer under his vindictive guardianship.

“Do you and Lady Julia go to the Berry sisters’ drawing room tonight?” George asked. The subject of Lady Hester was clearly at an end: information imparted and received. “Those of us still in attendance to His Highness will be present. I believe Lord Sidmouth is speaking.”

“Indeed, my sister and I will be there,” I said.

“Excellent. I look forward to your dismantling Sidmouth’s argument.” He sent me a glinting look. “And perhaps Lord Milroy’s too.”

I bowed in my saddle. “Thank you, I will do my best.” I paused, knowing that my next, more serious gratitude would no doubt be brushed aside. “And thank you for the warning about Deele and your continued goodwill.”

“You may always count on my goodwill, Augusta.”

I smiled. “Considering your cultivated capriciousness, I wonder why.”

He laughed and gestured to his Weston ensemble. “It is simple. You and I are cut from the same cloth.”

One of his puns. Yet there was another meaning behind it.

He straightened in his saddle. “Well now, if Alvanley and I are to gallop, then we should do so and get it over with. Adieu.” He saluted with his crop and turned his horse.

Did I dare ask him about Evan? It was a risk, yet I had to know.

“George,” I called.

He reined his horse in again and looked over his shoulder.

“Have you heard any other whispers about the Belfords? About the older brother?”

He raised his brows. “I hear many things, Augusta. Do be careful, my dear. Some boundaries are too dangerous to cross, even for us well-dressed people.”

And on those cryptic words, he clicked his tongue to his horse and trotted away. I watched him rejoin Alvanley at the gate, the two men immediately in deep conversation.

Did his parting words mean Julia and I should be careful about aiding Lady Hester, or was he referring to my dealings with Lord Evan Belford? Whatever the case, he seemed to know a great deal about our illicit activities.