Manon stood still in the lobby, collecting her thoughts after Sir James had left. Deciding that she simply had to wait and see what he had to tell her until she saw him for dinner later, she determined to get on with her day.
First stop was the bank next door, where after a brief series of conversations with underlings, she was soon sat with the Manager. She gave him the details of her bank in London, well one of them anyway. Manon had banks in various names all over Europe, and he set about verifying her credit worthiness, so that Manon would be able to draw on funds here.
It would take two days to confirm, but Manon paid to use the swift system that the Banks maintained. It was expensive as it relied on magic to send messages between banks in Europe and keeping it working was a delicate task, as it required expensive and constantly renewed warding to ensure it didn't break down.
Returning to the hotel and catching the eye of the helpful concierge, she approached him. "My lady, how can I help?" he asked.
"Well, Monsieur?"
"Du Valle, but please just Eric my lady."
"Well then Eric, I wonder if you can tell me where this is?" Manon held out one of the pieces of notepaper that she had acquired last night, from the man that had been following her girls. She'd folded it so only the address was showing, handily concealing the bloodstain.
She snorted to herself, thinking that they weren't hers yet, but then she was ready for a new project and they had rather fallen into her lap. "Oh, my lady, that's the Dumain House. I presume you want some equipment for your slaves, or are you perhaps thinking of selling them?"
Well, Manon thought, slave dealers, that makes sense of a sort. "Ah, equipment actually," she said. "Three of my slaves are very new, they aren't even bonded yet, but are on trial."
"Well my lady, Dumain et Fils will have anything you need I am sure. Would you like me to order the Hotel's carriage for you? They are on the eastern edge of the City, it would be a little far to walk."
"That would be most kind, thank you," Manon said, waiting as Eric turned to one of the bellhops, a pretty young girl she noticed, and sent her off to order the carriage.
"Eric, could you have a message sent to a boarding house near the docks for me? My companion is there organising things, and I'd like to instruct her to come here?"
"Of course my lady, I shall fetch you pen and paper." Manon wrote a note of instruction to Belle, incorporating two code phrases to confirm it was genuine, and having addressed it handed it to Eric.
She'd also instructed Belle to make sure their existing landlady was well paid, and that she overheard Belle telling the three girls about how lucky they were to provisionally be bought by her mistress, given they'd no money and no jobs.
Manon wanted to be sure that anyone enquiring after the girls, such as their would be kidnappers, got the impression that some rich woman had beaten them to the punch, and taken up the girls. Which oddly was the truth, just not all of it. It also meant the trail would lead the kidnappers to her at the Hotel. That way if Manon failed to find anything useful at the Dumain place, perhaps the kidnappers would come to her.
"I'll see it delivered at once." Manon thanked him, discreetly tipping him well again. The same bellhop led her to the carriage and politely handed her in, and Manon tipped her as well. She was a firm believer in the benefits of securing the willing help of any staff wherever she stayed.
Half an hour later the carriage drove through a gate into the courtyard of a white painted three story warehouse, which backed onto the river. Surrounded by a high wall, Manon's critical eye noted several guards observing her arrival discreetly, and saw more at the sides of the warehouse.
Dumain et Fils took their security seriously it seemed. The coachman helped Manon down where she was greeted by a doorman, and led into a showroom, where a well dressed older man greeted her graciously in French. Manon made a point of replying in English, as she wanted to set a scene here.
"Good morning madame and welcome to Dumain et Fils. I am Pierre Dumain, how may we be of service?"
"Good morning to you," Manon said, just on the right side of rudeness. "I arrived in Bordeaux recently but find I am in need of equipment for my servants. Some of them are very new, and I simply don't have anything suitable for securing and training new slaves. The Hotel gave me to understand that Dumain would be able to supply my needs," she said a little disdainfully.
"I see, we shall endeavour to please of course. May I enquire as to the nature of your staff, and what you require for them?" he said, not quite masking a pained expression.
"Well, yes, I suppose you must. They are three household servants, my personal servants you understand? Well apart from one girl, she's a great clumsy thing, so I shall need something different for her. Anyway, I found them yesterday, all but begging as they were destitute, and so I rather thought I'd take them in, if they prove suitable."
"I've got them on trial for a week, and if it goes well I'll take their bonds, I can always use more slaves. Well for a while anyway. "
Manon saw a slight flicker in this Pierre's eye, and knew he recognised Manon's description of the girls. "Ah madame, then if your new finds are to be personal servants, perhaps my sister would be better suited to helping you? She is more familiar with a lady's needs than I?"
"Yes, very well, I'd certainly rather deal with a woman for this," Manon said, rudely turning her back on him. Shortly after there was a soft cough from behind her, and she turned to find herself facing a woman of about thirty, her ash coloured hair piled high in a tight bun on top of her head, exaggerating her already considerable height.
"Madame? I am Cecile Dumain, I understand you need equipment for some new maids?"
Manon nodded, "Maids? Hah, yes I supposed they will be of a sort," she said, deliberately crudely.
"If you would like to come with me Madame, we have more feminine equipment there, and have staff who can model it for you if required."
Manon followed her through a curtained doorway, and was led around a series of display cases, full of all sorts of collars, cuffs, arm and leg binders, and many more things. All the time Manon was very aware that this woman, although being very polite, was watching her very carefully, making her feel quite ill at ease.
Manon thought that Cecile was the one to watch out for here, her brother seemed like a snake, but this woman was altogether different. There was a glint of barely concealed intelligence in her eye that had instantly put Manon on alert.
"Splendid selection you have here, I am so pleased the Hotel directed me to you," Manon said, and in truth she was impressed.
"Now two girls are quite ordinary, so I'll take two sets of those," Manon said, pointing at a mannequin that was wearing a full set of cuffs, a waist belt, and a collar in silver gilt. "You have Arkwright adjustable chains I assume?"
"We do madame."
"Then I want two sets of chains to match as well. Actually no, make that three of everything, I don't see why my current slave should miss out, I've been too lenient with her recently."
