Chapter Eleven #2
“I don’t think it makes sense,” said Jane. “Why would Mr. Hardy kill Anne when he knew that it would mean he would lose the tavern, his livelihood, and the only place he has to stay?”
“That’s a good point,” said Byron.
“Well, between the two of them,” said Jane, “one of them is lying.”
“Two of who?” said Byron.
“Eves and Hardy, of course,” said Jane.
“Right,” said Byron. “Why would Hardy lie about who it was that Anne was lying with? Of course, he could have made up the whole thing about wild carrot. Maybe that’s not where he was. He might have been somewhere entirely else, and he simply said he was running an errand like that for Miss Seward.”
“Would he make that up?” said Jane.
“I don’t know,” said Byron, “but you are, as we have, even now, just established a woman.”
“Just established that now?”
“No, you know what I mean, we mentioned, in conversation—”
“It’s a very odd thing to say, my lord—”
“I only mean, you’re a woman, and would you give such an errand to a man like Hardy?”
“Well, I might be a woman, but I am not the sort of woman who would procure such a thing.”
“No? Not even if you were married?”
“Isn’t the purpose of marriage to have children, not prevent them?”
“That’s debatable,” said Byron. “But all right, I suppose. It’s only that sometimes, I think, women are desirous of a bit of a break, especially if the children are very young.”
“Look, my lord, I am not married, and I am never going to have any children,” said Jane. “Perhaps there is no point in contemplating what I would do.”
“No, true.” He sighed into his fish. “You see my point, though?”
“I don’t know that I do.”
“Only that I think this is an intimate activity. If a woman were to charge a man with procuring something like this for her, we would assume that the man involved was… well, I don’t know what man a woman charges with doing such a thing.
Men don’t even visit midwives, do they? It would be something she’d do herself or something she’d ask another woman to do. ”
Jane considered. She ate some more bread. Chewing thoughtfully, she nodded. She swallowed. “Yes, you may be right. Are we going to have to go and inquire after this midwife, then?”
“It’s a bit too far to go on horseback, isn’t it? We don’t have to go after Mr. Seward overnight, but perhaps we need your sister to accompany us for this.”
“Overnight?” said Jane. “Oh, we can easily go there and back in one day. I’m certain of it.”
“Perhaps,” said Byron.
“My sister should perhaps accompany us regardless,” said Jane. “We’ll need to find out if this midwife even exists.”
“Yes, and if not, it could mean that there wasn’t any man in her bed at all.”
“Right,” said Jane. “We have what? The word of a maid at the tavern, who thinks there was?”
“Beaumont says she was wild,” said Byron. “But she might have grown out of that. People do.”
“Do they?”
“Not me, but people do.”
Jane laughed softly. “I see. Well, maybe she didn’t have any lover at all. But that would beg the question, why would Mr. Hardy lie?”
“Why indeed,” said Byron. “Unless he did it.”
“And it doesn’t seem he would, not if it would mean he had nowhere to go.”
“Which means, it would be more likely that Mr. Eves would lie,” said Byron. “He’s not married, correct?”
“That’s correct,” said Jane. “He owns the inn in town and he is quite vocal about what he thinks is best for the town in general. He’s involved in town business, and he’s well-liked.”
“And he hates the tavern?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I don’t see it. If you’re tupping some woman—”
“That word again!”
“Sorry.” Byron spread his hands. “When you’re involved with a woman like that, you don’t actively work against her, is all I’m saying.
So, the only way I would believe that he had been her lover and that he was actively telling everyone in town he wanted the tavern closed down was if he’d been her lover in the past and then she’d ended their affair. ”
“Revenge,” said Jane.
“Revenge,” said Byron. “That’s a good reason to poison someone, isn’t it?”
“Could he have…” Jane poked her fish with her fork. “A person wouldn’t kill a woman just to get a tavern closed down, would he?”
“Oh,” said Byron. “You’re saying, they were never lovers, but that he knew if she was out of the way, that then her cousin would come in, take the place over, and sell it to someone who would not make it a tavern.”
“I think that’s quite a stretch, don’t you? To take a woman’s life over such a thing?”
“But it’s so easy to spike her drink with too much laudanum,” said Byron quietly. “I don’t know.”
“But if that’s the case,” said Jane, “why would Hardy say they were lovers?”
“Yes, none of this makes sense!”
“It seems to be becoming more and more complicated the deeper we get into it, I must say,” said Jane. “How long do we have before our appointment to go and speak with Mr. Seward?”
“Ah,” said Byron, taking out his pocket watch. “We’ve time enough, but we’d best concentrate on eating, not talking.”
“THIS IS AN odd thing to inquire,” said Mr. Seward. He was paging through the books for the tavern, which were kept in the corner of a storeroom. He’d brought them there to look over the books in case they wished to see how well the business did before buying it.
But then, Lord Byron had just come out with asking him where he was the night that his cousin died.
“Is it odd?” said Byron. “Well, I’m a bit of an odd character. Where were you?”
“Home, of course,” said Mr. Seward.
“And where do you reside?” said Byron.
“Berkshire. What does this have to do with anything?” said Mr. Seward.
“We understand that you were quite keen on the inn years ago, when your uncled passed.”
“I wasn’t keen on it,” said Mr. Seward. “I don’t want a tavern, not at all. The sooner I can sell it, the better.”
“You want the money from the sale of the tavern, though,” said Byron.
“Chiefly, I want the thing out of my hands. I’d be willing to take a low price for it, lower than it’s worth,” said Mr. Seward. “Don’t go spreading that about, but here, me to you, sir, I tell you, make me an offer. I am quite inclined to take anything at this point.”
“Why is that?” said Byron, ignoring the fact that Mr. Seward hadn’t called him, “my lord,” but then they really hadn’t done much in the way of introductions, so Seward couldn’t be blamed.
“It’s nothing wrong with the tavern, don’t worry,” said Mr. Seward. “It’s all in fine shape, I swear to you. And I am in no need of the money. I have a robust income. I’m in imports. Tea, mostly, but some spices and other things as well. I own ships.”
“You do.” Byron regarded him, brow furrowed.
“I do,” said Mr. Seward. “Yes. So, you see. An offer, any offer at all—”
“We heard rumors,” said Byron, “that Mr. Hardy had done some negotiation to keep you from taking the tavern before. Can you tell us anything about that?”
“I kindly allowed my cousin to remain here and run the tavern,” said Mr. Seward. “She wished it, and I have no desire to run a tavern, clearly, so it was all very tidy.”
“Hmm,” said Byron.
Mr. Seward looked him over. “You’re not even casting one glance at these books. I don’t think you intend to make an offer.”
“Well, no,” said Byron, shrugging. “I don’t really want to own a tavern, truth be told. Sounds like a dreadful headache.”
“It is. That’s why I want to sell it,” said Seward. “But I don’t understand. If you don’t wish to buy it, why are you here speaking to me?”
Byron shifted on his feet.
Mr. Seward turned to Jane. “You. You look familiar. But if you’re one of those spinster sisters who lives up at the cottage in Chawton, then why are you with him?”
“Mr. Seward, I have to say,” said Byron.
“Regardless of how much income anyone has, everyone would like more money. Absolutely everyone would, even if one has more than they can spend in a lifetime. I keep the company of very wealthy men often, and I tell you, they are all eager for more. So, I don’t know that I believe you when you say that you don’t care about the money for this tavern due to having an income.
But I do think you seem quite motivated to sell it quickly.
I simply don’t know why. Is it not for the money but for some other reason? ”
Mr. Seward shook his head. “Who are you? I realize we never did discuss that.”
“I’m Lord Byron,” said Byron. “The sixth Baron of Rochdale. This is Miss Jane Austen.”
Mr. Seward sighed, looking back and forth at the two of them. “And what is it you want from me?”
“We think your cousin was murdered,” said Byron with a little shrug.
Jane gave him a look. Was it wise to reveal that? She supposed it would have come out eventually.
“Oh,” said Mr. Seward, making a face. “Well, that’s positively horrid. By whom?”
“We don’t know,” said Jane. “We’re asking questions to try to figure that out.”
“You think it was me?” said Mr. Seward, suddenly putting it all together. “You think I killed poor Anne to get my hands on this grubby tavern?”
“Well, for the money, maybe,” said Byron, “but I have to say, I can’t understand why you’d go to so much trouble and then offer it to us for any offer we might make for it. So, I’m not sure what I think now.”
“Why did you relinquish the inn to Anne before?” said Jane. “The rumor is that Mr. Hardy convinced you somehow.”
At the mention of Mr. Hardy, Seward’s lip curled in disgust. “That man is a devil.”
“Is he?” said Jane. “What do you mean?”
“He threatened me,” said Mr. Seward. “But here it is, if you’d like to know. The day that Anne died, do you know who came to my house to speak to me? Why, Mr. Hardy himself. And he took it all back, claiming he wouldn’t do any of the things he said he’d do.”
“What did he say he would do?”
“Why, ruin me, of course,” said Seward.
“Ruin you how?”
“I’m not going into that,” said Seward. “I don’t know why he changed his mind, but it didn’t last anyway.
The minute I get into town upon hearing about poor Anne’s death, that Hardy man is right here, telling me that I must sign over the deed to the place to him.
Well, it was one thing to sign it over to Anne.
She was my blood, even if she was a woman, but to that upstart, that wretched Hardy, definitely not.
No. Never. However, I would like to be done with this business and away.
I shall go on a boat to India, let Hardy tell anyone anything he wants.
By the time I come back, it will all have blown over. ”
“So,” said Byron, “Hardy blackmailed you before, threatened you with revealing a secret?”
“Oh, no,” said Seward. “That’s as much as you’re getting out of me, I tell you.
But I didn’t kill Anne. For one thing, I thought I had Hardy’s blessing to come and take the place from her.
He indicated she could not handle it. So, I didn’t think I needed her to be dead.
The only thing keeping me from claiming ownership was Hardy himself.
And for another thing, I liked my cousin. I liked her rather a great deal.”