Never Wager Against Love by Maureen Driscoll

want to have our business concluded as
quickly as possible.”
    “As do I,” he agreed.  “I have no wish to linger here.”
    Just then, the guard returned with a rather short, thin man
with a waxed mustache.
    “You said you wanted to see the warder?” the genial man
asked Arthur.  “I be he.  Sergeant Phineas Flagstone, at your service, sir.” 
He bowed to them both.
    “Is there somewhere we might speak?  Perhaps a place to sit
down?” asked Arthur, who was worried about Vanessa’s pallor.
    “Of course!” said the sergeant.  “Follow me, if you please.”
    They followed Sergeant Flagstone up a flight of stairs, past
storerooms and offices filled with guards and the occasional civilian.  There
were boxes and trunks piled in a haphazard manner throughout the building.  Few
signs indicated their direction and by the time they reached the sergeant’s
office, Arthur had lost track of their route.  After moving a box of files from
two rather wobbly chairs, Sergeant Flagstone asked them to have a seat and took
his own behind a desk.
    “May I order some tea for you ma’am?” he asked.
    Vanessa shook her head.  Some of the color had come back to
her face during their expedition through the building.  “That is very kind of
you, but I don’t believe….”
    “Watkins!” called Sergeant Flagstone to his adjutant. 
“Bring some tea for our guests.”  He looked back at them apologetically for the
interruption.  “I don’t get many visitors.  So, what can I do for you?”
    “Well, sergeant,” began Vanessa.  “We’re on a mission for
the Crown.”
    Sergeant Flagstone blinked.  “I don’t follow.”
    Vanessa began again.  “I am an agent with the Home Office….”
    The sergeant began to laugh.  “That’s a rich one, it is!  A
female being an agent for the Home Office.”  He turned to Arthur.  “Are you two
part of some theater troupe come to ask to put on a show?  I’ve always been a
fan of the theater, I have.  Although usually the opera dancers are dressed a
bit more….”  Here, he looked Vanessa up and down, taking in the drab brown gown
she was wearing.  “….fancifully.”
    “See here, sergeant,” said Vanessa, bristling.  “We are not
part of a theater troupe and I am certainly not an opera dancer.  I truly am an
agent with the Home Office.”
    The sergeant laughed again.  “You sure are a persistent one,
I’ll give you that.  And a right looker, if we was to fix you up a bit.  Maybe
one of them dresses that shows the ankles, trimmed with some feathers.  I do
like a good feather gown.”
    “Sergeant Flagstone, if I may,” said Arthur in an attempt to
keep as much of the sergeant’s foot out of his mouth as possible, even if it
did seem already fully swallowed.  “I assure you that Miss Gans is telling you
the truth.  She is an agent with the Crown.”
    Sergeant Flagstone was no longer laughing, but was now
extremely suspicious.
    “I’ve never heard of no female agent.”
    “Neither had I until just recently,” said Arthur.  “But I
assure you she’s one of the best agents the Home Office has.”
    Sergeant Flagstone thought about that for a moment.  “How
many other agents have you met?”
    “Enough to know,” said Arthur, hoping the man wouldn’t ask
for names.  He’d met very few agents in his life, but had no doubt that Vanessa
was one of the best, if for no other reason than she bested him at every
opportunity.
    “And who are you?” asked Flagstone.
    “I am Lord Arthur Kellington, brother to the Duke of
Lynwood.”
    Sergeant Flagstone now looked thoroughly confused.  “She
didn’t arrest you, did she?”
    “Certainly not,” said Vanessa.  “Lord Arthur has been
helping me on a mission.  We are here to…”
    She broke off as the adjutant brought the tea.  Arthur
glanced at his dirty cup, then immediately looked for a place to dispose of its
contents.
    Vanessa began again.  “We believe two villains may be trying
to steal