Chapter Seventeen
Lady Mary
My hand hesitated only a moment before I knocked on Lord Richford’s door. I had a legitimate reason to be here. It was my Christian duty to offer comfort to my neighbor, after all. But I knew that wasn’t my true purpose, and a small part of me hated myself for it.
“Lady Mary.” The earl’s majordomo greeted me when he opened the door. “How nice to see you.”
I shuffled inside before he could deny me access. “How is Richford today? I’ve come to offer whatever aid I can.”
He turned a solemn face to me. “My lord is reviewing proposed legislation in his study. I will inform him of your presence.”
I waited impatiently in the foyer, hoping Lord Richford would be too polite to turn me away. We were socially acquainted, but didn’t know each other well. Pretty soon he might think me as interfering as Miss Abbott.
His man returned, inclining his head. “Follow me, please.”
He led me into a richly appointed room, its full-length windows inviting in the western sun and illuminating the stacks of papers on the wide oak desk. A thick Berber carpet muffled my footfalls, and the chair I was shown to cushioned my rump like I was sitting on a cloud.
Lord Richford waited until I was seated before retaking his own chair. “Lady Mary, how kind of you to call.”
“I wanted to see how you were faring after the funeral.” I shifted. “I have experienced what it is to bury a spouse, and I thought perhaps you’d want to speak with someone who understands what it is you’re going through.”
His shoulders drooped. “That is kind. I do sometimes feel as though no one knows how I suffer, but of course that isn’t true. Many of my peers have faced the death of loved ones.”
“Yes, but even when I lost my Cavindish I had some comfort in knowing it was God’s will and he was no longer in pain.
” My stomach twisted, and I wondered that I could be so disingenuous to a grieving widower.
But I pressed onward. “Lady Richford was in the prime of her life. And to have someone take her from you must be an exceptional kind of pain.”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing beneath his whiskered throat. “Indeed. I still cannot understand why someone would do that to her. It doesn’t make sense.”
“The actions of a madman rarely do.” I traced my thumb along the lion’s head that topped today’s walking stick, following the curves of its mane.
I needed to phrase my next words delicately.
“There has been some talk at the club that your wife was using some of my rooms after hours for her own purposes. Do you know anything about that?”
Richford gripped the edge of his desk, his knuckles going white.
“You’ve been speaking to my son. I can assure you that his insinuations that his mother was…
was… enjoying the company of other men are completely unfounded.
She was mine and I was hers. And any accusation to the contrary is insulting. ”
I sat back. I’d never heard Richford speak so forcefully. It made me like him more, especially as it was in defense of his marriage.
She was mine and I was hers.
It was a lovely notion. There had been a time when I’d felt the same way about my husband.
When the first notes of marriage had made our days easy, our nights pleasurable.
Before other considerations had intruded and added false notes to our song.
Until I’d taken that final step that had put a permanent wedge between me and my husband.
And he’d become someone who was no longer mine, and I was someone he had a difficult time being in the same room with.
The back of my throat burned. That was the past. It was no use crying over what could never be changed. It was the present that needed my attention.
“I actually hadn’t thought that was the reason for your wife using the rooms in my club.
It is a women’s only club, after all.” A one-off assignation perhaps.
It appeared that the security at my club wasn’t all that I had thought it to be, but conducting a continuing liaison at a place where men were conspicuous would be the height of foolishness.
Add to that the fact my club had no beds, only some divans and chaise longues that would be uncomfortable for the task, and I could only conclude there were much more sensible places for Lady Richford to have an affair.
“Perhaps she was using if for another purpose? Did she have a hobby she didn’t want to bring home?
Business that would be easier to conduct at my club? ”
Richford’s body sagged into his chair. “I apologize. Of course, you wouldn’t entertain such vile ideas.”
I rubbed my ear. It was sweet he believed that.
Richford sighed. “My son is a good man, but he and his mother often butted heads. They were too much alike, I fear.” He gave me a wan smile.
“Now Edgar is eager to assist me with my business matters. He wants to help me through my grief. He doesn’t realize that I need to keep my mind engaged or else… .”
“Your thoughts stay fixed upon your loss.” I nodded.
That I could understand. I didn’t think, however, that Bannister’s newfound interest in business was entirely pure of heart.
The young man was greedy for money he didn’t earn, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he had an angle to somehow pad his purse.
“And her staying at my club late?” I probed gently. “Do you know the reason?”
Richford scratched at a mark on his desk. “We loved each other dearly, but my wife did enjoy time on her own. She sometimes thought her social duties as viscountess tedious. It wouldn’t surprise me if she only wanted a few spare moments to rest where she wouldn’t be disturbed.”
I refrained from looking at my surroundings. The Richford townhouse was quite large. There would be many rooms where the viscountess could find solitude if she so desired. I had come here to prod answers from Richford, but even I couldn’t bring myself to strip him of that happy delusion.
But Richford showed no signs of deception. If he knew his wife was a thief, I would think he’d show some signs of guilt or embarrassment. I saw none. He was either an exceptional liar, or he was unaware of his wife’s shameful activities.
If she’d engaged in such shameful activities. I only had Mr. Cooke’s word on the matter.
He pulled open the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a folded ticket.
His eyes brightened. “We were to travel to the Continent, to explore the castles along the Rhine. Susan asked for the trip. She said she wanted to start fresh, recapture the bloom of new love.” He blinked rapidly as he gazed at the scrap of paper.
“She said she missed me and wanted it to be as it was when we were newly wed, just the two of us.”
Richford cleared his throat. “With Edgar out of the house, it sounded like a lovely idea.”
I nodded. I could only imagine how a marriage would change when children were brought into it.
In many ways, the change would be a blessing, but there would have to be a change in the feelings between husband and wife.
You could no longer put the other first. That place of primacy belonged to the child.
I slowly rose, suddenly feeling every year I’d lived in my bones. “I’ve taken up too much of your time, Lord Richford, but if there is ever anything I can do for you, please send word.”
He nodded, but made no move to rise and show me out. His attention was all on that ticket, and to the reinvigorated marriage that would now never occur.
When I stepped outside, I raised my face to the sun. That visit had made me feel unclean. I should have gone to the viscount with the sole purpose of offering my aid and comfort. Instead that had been merely subterfuge.
Of course, Lady Richford’s murderer should be brought to justice. I didn’t question my decision to help find the malefactor, only my methods.
I plodded to my carriage, my driver holding the door for me.
I also questioned Lady Richford’s reasons for that trip to the Continent.
Was the distance she’d felt from her husband the natural result of time and motherhood?
Or was there something else she felt was coming between her and her husband?
Was she going to disclose her misdeeds to Richford and seek forgiveness for her sins?
And if she had been going to confess all, was that the reason for her murder?