Epilogue
EPILOGUE
J uliet threw herself down on the bed after Horatio had finally left.
The tears that she had held back while he was there, finally broke through. She sobbed for the life she had given up. Grieved for the life she might have had. There was no helping it. She could not live a lie.
When she had agreed to a marriage of convenience, it had been on the understanding that all concerned knew the nature of the union. Whether the groom was Nigel or Horatio. There was no deception.
But by marrying Horatio before he had been given a chance to reconcile with Jane, his childhood love, would be to live a lie. To live a life wondering if he was truly happy or just pretending. Just making do with her, while regretting the loss of his life's true love.
She lost all awareness of time as she lay there, pain eating at her. She wished that Doctor Carmichael had never given her his magical medicine, had never saved her life. Then she could have slipped away quietly. Horatio would have found Jane and she would have helped him to overcome his grief.
It was all she had ever known since living with her Aunt and Uncle. That she was a burden to all those she surrounded herself with. Yet, despite their absence from her life, she could not break free from that notion.
She sobbed until the effort was too much. Sleep swept over her with her last thoughts being that she should leave the inn before Horatio returned in order to spare him the pain of telling her the truth.
A knocking at the door awoke her. She looked up blearily. From the light coming through the window, she could not tell how long she had been asleep. It was still bright outside so it could not have been long. The knocking came again, insistent. Horatio would not knock, she reasoned. Perhaps it was Jane, coming to the inn to tell Juliet that Horatio would not be leaving Carlisle with her. She got up, smoothing her skirt and dabbing at her eyes and cheeks with a linen cloth dipped in the basin of cold water on the washstand. She inspected her appearance in the mirror.
“Just a moment!” she called, determined to face her fate looking presentable.
When she opened the door, it was not who she had expected. A priest stood at the door. He had fair hair and bright blue eyes. There was something familiar about his face, though Juliet could not place it. She was not well acquainted with priests except the vicar at Little Wetherby village where the Godwins attended church every Sunday.
“Miss Semphill?” he asked.
“Yes,” Juliet replied.
“May I come in, Miss Semphill? It is a matter of urgency.”
Juliet supposed that the taboo concerning an unmarried man being alone with an unmarried woman did not apply if the man was a priest. She stood aside to allow him to enter. Graeme put his head out of his room and she gave him a smile.
“Nothing to worry about Graeme,” she said.
“His Grace told me to keep an eye out, Miss,” the driver said.
“Go get yourself a mug of ale,” Juliet told him.
He grinned sheepishly and held up a mug.
“I'll just sup this up here if it’s all the same to you.”
Juliet turned to her visitor, stepping into the room but leaving the door open so that her guardian did not need to worry.
“What can I do for you, Reverend?” Juliet asked.
“It is what I can do for you , Miss Semphill,” he began. “My name is perhaps known to you and unlikely to be held in high esteem. I am Matthew Ainsworth...”
Juliet's face must have told the story because he raised his hands placatingly.
“I am aware that my sister and your... friend have painted me in the worst possible light, but I am here to save you, body and soul, from a great and wicked sinner.”
Juliet folded her arms and lifted her chin.
“We have been here before, Reverend. Not with you perhaps but with others whom I believe were fellow conspirators. The Kimberley's for example. Or at least Meredith. And possibly the patriarch of that family at the time, the Duke of Marlingford himself. They tried to make me testify against Horatio. Made me lie and destroy the lives of two men as a result. I will not lie again.”
“Miss Semphill, I played no part in what happened all those years ago. I did recommend that Jane break off her engagement to that man as it seemed the most prudent course of action. But I was not a conspirator. Merely an observer. But now, I must cease to be an impartial observer and become an active participant. I came here to reconcile with my sister...”
“If you played no part, then why the need to reconcile?” Juliet interrupted.
“Because Jane had become affiliated with... Catholics. In order to fund her school, she went not to the Church of England but to Rome. Under the influence of her papist husband. Whose family was rumored to have supported the pretender to the throne fifty years ago. The Jacobite Charles. I had prayed for her and my answer became clear. I could not let religious dogma come between two siblings who are the last of their line.”
Ainsworth sounded genuine, even humble. Juliet narrowed her eyes.
“But you are here now because you wish to turn me against Horatio,” she said, “no matter what your story about why you came to Carlisle. That is what you intended by coming here, is it not?”
“To save you, and only because of what I witnessed at my sister's home. Had I not seen what I have seen, I would not have come here.”
Juliet sat, arranging her skirts for a moment, and then looked up at Ainsworth calmly.
“Very well. What did you see?” she asked.
Was this the moment of final truth? When she would discover Horatio's choice? Her heart raced, she swallowed, willing the moment to be over and done with.
“I witnessed my sister and the Duke of Ravenscourt... engaged in... intimacy . Scandalous, sinful intimacy of the kind that should not happen except within the bounds of lawful wedlock.”
“Intimacy,” Juliet said flatly.
Her heart stopped. Her stomach clenched and a dark despair fell over her. It was as she had expected. As she had predicted. The dream was over. The impossible dream that she could ever be truly happy.
“I am afraid so. I fear that my sister still harbors feelings for the Duke, feelings which she could not hold back upon seeing him. I am sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. I did not know where you might be found but reasoned that the Swan would be a good place to start. It is the best inn Carlisle has.”
Juliet nodded. “Well reasoned, Reverend. And what would you have me do now that I know this?'
“Do not remain here! I can take you away from this nest of sin and from his wicked influence. You needn't return to the Godwins if you do not wish. I know that they have not treated you in a very Christian way.”
Juliet scoffed. “I should say not. Where would you have me go then?” she asked.
“I can offer you sanctuary!” Ainsworth exclaimed, “somewhere that the Duke will not find you.”
“And you would have me speak out against him?”
“No! I would save your soul. That is all I care about. I do not play the games our peers are obsessed with. I care not for gossip,” Ainsworth said.
“Then you have missed your calling, brother, for you do it so very well,” Jane Bonel said from the doorway.
Juliet's head whipped around. Jane stood there, Horatio behind her. Juliet rose and Jane came to her with open arms.
“Juliet, I do not love Horatio as anything more than a brother. And he loves me as a sister. My brother is making his last roll of the dice to destroy Horatio's life.”
She embraced Juliet who looked over her shoulder at Horatio with wonder. He was glaring at Ainsworth who shrank back from the stare.
“There was no intimacy. We talked and Horatio took great pains to tell me that he loved another. He was most concerned that he did not hurt my feelings. But he did not realize, that actually, he was assuaging them. For I had held the same worry ever since you came to see me. I thought I would break his heart. But, it belongs to another. You ,” Jane said kindly.
“One of the pupils said they had seen a priest loitering outside the school. We thought we should return forthwith before you could work any mischief,” Horatio muttered darkly, “and I see we arrived not a moment too soon.”
“I think I must write to the bishop concerning your behavior, brother. You cannot be allowed to go about spreading lies and hiding behind your collar,” Jane said, sternly.
“The Bishop of London is a close friend and ally. I don't think he will take your word over mine,” Ainsworth scoffed.
“I speak of the Bishop of York ,” Jane corrected. “You are good friends with the Archbishop of Canterbury. I am also acquainted with him. He does not share your prejudices concerning Catholicism and has been an active supporter of my school,” Jane replied calmly.
Ainsworth's eyes bulged, either from panic or rage. His face darkened.
“You would take the side of a man who was a vagrant and then an innkeeper's apprentice over your own blood?” he demanded.
“Jesus was a carpenter's son,” Horatio pointed out, “and associated with the humble, not the rich and powerful. Is there not a lesson there for you, Ainsworth?”
“These women are... whores!” Ainsworth screamed, “And you are a man who associates with whores! You are a fornicator and an adulterer!”
Without warning, he sprang across the room and backhanded Horatio across the face. Juliet actually screamed. It was an exclamation of pure terror, terror at what Horatio would do next. Ainsworth stood before him, breathing heavily, waiting. Horatio merely looked at him, without moving.
“Do you offer me insult, sir?” Horatio whispered.
“I do!” Ainsworth roared, “and stand ready to give satisfaction. Name the time and place!”
“ Nowhere and never ,” Horatio replied flatly, “I choose to ignore the insult. I refuse your challenge.”
Ainsworth gave a snort. “You proclaim yourself a coward then?”
“I do. For I am deathly afraid that I will lose the woman I love if I kill you. For I will hang and Juliet will be alone. I am frightened of my anger. Frightened for your life. I choose to give in to my fear and keep my life. My future is more important to me than my honor. Or my reputation. So do your worst, Reverend. I care not.”
“Go, brother, and do not return,” Jane commanded, “and I may reconsider writing to the Bishop.”
Ainsworth hastened from the room, cursing them at the top of his voice and almost knocking down Graeme in his blind flight. Horatio moved to stand in front of Juliet. He took her hands in his own and then knelt.
“Juliet. Since you came back into my life with a hunt for a wayward mouse, I have loved you. I always will. In health and in sickness. In life and beyond. I am thankful for every moment spent with you and every moment to come. I love you desperately and with every fiber of my being. Will you become my wife?”
Jane clapped her hands together, tears welling in her eyes above a wide smile of joy. Juliet found herself bursting into sobs too, looking down at Horatio's handsome, noble face. Her Horatio. Her Duke. Her savior.
“Yes, I will!” she cried, collapsing to the floor in Horatio's arms.
A huzzah that almost raised the rafters of the inn came from Graeme who stood in the hallway. Jane joined in, applauding energetically. Juliet wiped her eyes, unable to see Horatio through the blur of tears.
He kissed her tenderly and for a long time. Such a long time that Jane and Graeme quietly left the room, closing the door behind them. Juliet and Horatio did not notice.
They had each other and needed nothing else.
The End?