Chapter 28 #2
He remembered the sadness in her expression. The way he had longed to comfort her. The despondency in her body when they had run into the problem of the cipher. I was the one who took us away from the case, just so I could make her smile.
“Your joy is not weakness, Cousin. Eric would have been glad that you have found some happiness in the misery of all of this.” Toby let out a long sigh.
“In truth, I suspect some of my anger was because of that, and I am sorry. It was hard to see you so happy when my own heart has felt leaden since I heard the news.”
His cousin gave him a sad smile. Warner’s chest tightened. He knew that Toby was trying to console him, but he did not deserve it.
“It is understandable. I find that I feel rather guilty about the whole thing.” Warner massaged his jaw with his hand. “Nothing could have happened between the two of us, not without Eric dying.”
“I suppose there is some truth to that, but my brother only ever wanted you to be happy. Besides, it is not like nothing could have happened between you.” Toby arched an eyebrow at him.
“You simply would have had to keep your relationship a secret. While divorce is not unheard of, Father would have never stood for it. It is not the done thing, not for our sort of people anyway.”
Warner scoffed. “And yet he would be happy for me to seduce his daughter-in-law.”
He could just picture that conversation.
“My father need not have known. And Eric would have been a hypocrite to begrudge his wife finding happiness in the arms of another.” Toby poured himself a glass of scotch and took a sip.
Warner’s heart skittered. “What do you mean?”
“His mistress of course. Although, can one have a mistress before one is married?” Toby gave him a sardonic smile. “Either way — I am well aware that his heart did not belong to your wife.”
Warner felt as though someone had struck him in the belly. “He never told me.”
Did he not trust me? Warner’s chest ached, even as his head reeled.
“I suspect he did not want you to think less of him.” Toby shrugged. “You did rather idolise him, and his falling in love with a servant was the height of impropriety. Let alone being fool enough to sire a child on her.”
“You know about the baby?” Warner’s mind struggled to make sense of what he was hearing. I would never have thought less of him for that.
“I suspect he would have kept that last part to himself, but I heard him and Father arguing so loudly about it that I feared the house would fall down around their ears.” Toby winced.
“I do not think I have ever seen either of them so angry; they were still not speaking when I had to return to the front.”
“When was this?” Warner could feel the start of a thought forming in his hungover mind, and he moved towards the journal.
“A few weeks before he got engaged to your Duchess. I cannot remember the exact date.” Toby massaged his jaw. “It was partly why I could not come back for the wedding — the leave was too close for the army’s liking.”
Warner nodded as he began to leaf through the book, calculating dates in his mind. Something was nudging his attention, but he could not quite work out what.
“Why did he not write about it?” Warner frowned as he flicked through the pages. “He mentions a disagreement, that he is worried he has disappointed someone, but he does not name your father. He only mentions someone called ‘Souris Day’.”
“That was our little codename for Father,” Toby explained, his eyes going distant at a memory.
“Codename?” Warner’s brow furrowed.
“Eric wanted me to keep up to date with everything that was happening when I enlisted, but the army reads all correspondence. He did not want anything getting out that might jeopardise the estate, so we came up with little names for things.” Toby ran a hand through his hair.
“Any reference to ‘Souris’ is father. A reference to ‘Marigold’ is Eric’s love.
I had not thought he would use the names in his private thoughts. ”
“I suspect he thought it would be easier to be consistent. It would save him from slipping up when he wrote to you.” Warner’s mind burned as the entries seemed to snap into place.
That would explain why mentions of ‘Father’ stop appearing after a certain point.
“So when he said that Souris Day seemed to be trying to make peace, he was talking of your father.”
Warner’s mind was racing; the heaviness of the scotch had lifted.
“Indeed.” Toby was now reading over Warner’s shoulder, and he pointed to a line on the page.
“That must be when they made up. ‘Souris has offered to have Kidlington house redecorated and to cover all the expenses — something of a wedding present.’ I know they discussed this at length. You know how little Eric cared for the latest fashions of the ton, but father insisted that after the things he had said, it was the least that he could do.”
Warner stared at the page Toby was pointing to, reading the words as the bottom fell from his stomach. Toby continued speaking, apparently unaware of the turmoil within Warner.
“He truly went overboard. Ordered the most expensive bits and pieces you could imagine. Still, you can’t deny the house looks better for it.
Pity Eric never got the chance to really enjoy it.
I wish I could remember the pigment; I’d like to get some for the Dowager Cottage.
” Toby mused. “Some foreign sounding name.”
Warner looked from his cousin to the journal and then to the list provided by the chemist. His heart hammered so fiercely against his ribs that he feared it might burst from it.
His mouth was dry as he asked, “Was it Prussian Blue, by any chance?”
Toby nodded. “How did you know?”
“I need you to decipher the rest of that list.” Warner’s eyes were unfocused. “And then I am going to speak to my wife.”