Chapter 12
“No.”
“No!”
He kept hearing it in his head. While a voice in his mind told Sebastian he shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, because if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t be bothered with this, but he couldn’t help it and now there he was. With Isabel’s shaking voice in his mind.
While he had been able to put aside the sound of her fear on that night they met when she was attacked, by some mild miracle, Sebastian was haunted that night in bed with her voice refusing an offer.
An innocent-sounding offer that was clearly anything but.
Thomas Ravenshaw.
Seeing as he hadn’t been brave enough to face his wife over unspoken topics that eventually needed to be addressed, Sebastian told himself a temporary reprieve was permitted. Besides, she needed some time to herself after a busy few days after her friend’s visit, surely.
“Mrs. Maple?”
The housekeeper jumped, shrieking. He winced as she turned around to stare at him with wide eyes. Stepping out of his office onto the carpet hadn’t caused a sound when he called to the woman.
“Your Grace.” She swallowed hard. “My… my sincerest apologies.”
“It’s entirely my fault,” he reassured her with a shake of his head. “I merely wanted to inquire if any old newspapers might be kept somewhere in the house.”
Straightening her skirts, the housekeeper took a few steps forward. Her shock from a second ago was momentary. By the time she was near, there was that reserved smile on her face.
“Yes, I believe we keep most papers up in a storage room by the cellar.”
“That’s an odd place for paper.”
Her gaze skirted down. “The household enjoys reading the newspaper when it comes.”
After the lord has read it, she means. Everyone takes a turn. Have I been taking any of them with me? Best keep an eye on that so I don’t get in their way of reading.
“Very good,” he said, not wanting her to think there was any need for punishment. The smarter the staff, he liked to believe, the better they ran a house. “Could you perhaps deliver everything from this entire year?”
Those eyes of hers widened further. “The entire year?”
“Eleven and a half months, yes. There is no rush, but I should like them by the end of the day,” Sebastian added encouragingly.
“Very well, Your Grace. I shall see what we can do.”
Back into his study he went. It was growing more comfortable in there every day he spent inside.
And he was spending more days here than expected.
While tempted to return to London once again, Sebastian reminded himself of his decision when he had left last––he had to work on this marriage with Isabel.
And the best way to work someone is to know the person.
“Your Grace?” Once of the footmen appeared with a wooden box in hand. “You asked for the old newspapers?”
“I did, yes. Come inside.” Seeing the man struggling, Sebastian took the box from him with ease. They both ignored the young man’s reddening ears. Once the box was situated beside the two chairs by the fire, he waved to it. “Can you read?”
Fernsworth, he thought the lad’s name was. “I suppose so, yes. Yes, I can,” he added more confidently at Sebastian’s raised eyebrow.
“Close the door and join me, then. It’ll go faster.”
“Your Grace?”
“What is your name?”
Still bewildered and awkward on his feet, the footman glanced warily around the room before looking back at him. It seemed Sebastian was surprising everyone again. Or regularly. Did they keep expecting some specific behavior from him?
Sebastian nodded. “Well?”
“Todd. Todd Fernsworth. Your Grace,” the footman added.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Fernsworth. Please take a seat since you’ll want to get comfortable.” Sebastian pulled out what he assumed would be a third of the newspapers to stack them on the sofa just as the footman cautiously sat on the very end of the sofa. “Comfortable?”
Fernsworth eyed the papers beside him before looking up. It took a second, but then he finally shifted further back. “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Good. We’re looking for mention of the Darbyham title or Ravenshaw family.
” Sebastian scratched the side of his brow while trying to recall.
“There was some sort of scandal earlier this year, but I cannot recall when exactly it took place. Something to do with the Crown? There might have been a hanging.”
Leaning forward, Fernsworth gaped at him. “You don’t know? But you married her!” It took a heartbeat of them staring at each other for the young man to realize his impolite behavior. He flushed and moved his brown curls from his face. “Er, Your Grace.”
Sebastian didn’t mind the outburst, clearly having caught him by surprise.
However, he did mind that it must have been quite the scandal to make its way out of London and here. And for someone in his household to already know about it didn’t sit well with him.
Perhaps I should have looked into her family before the marriage. But we had to move in haste. It was clear there was something amiss judging from the whispers being spread, but I was too distracted to pay them any mind. Besides, what are rumors but wishful lies?
He let out a slow breath. “All right. Tell me everything while we look for the articles. I want to know everything.”
“Oh, you won’t find much here,” Fernsworth said while grabbing the first paper to carefully unfold. “Most of what I know comes from Mrs. Maple’s cousin, Hester Smith, who works as a chambermaid in a solicitor’s London office. They exchanged letters.”
Paper crinkled in his hands. He noted the January date and inwardly sighed before redirecting his listening ears to the footman. “Do you recall when it began?”
“Not until after the vegetable garden started to unfreeze. We were getting some cabbage by then, so it would have to be after March. Or maybe we had the asparagus at that point. That would be May.”
Food was important to Fernsworth, Sebastian presumed. “Which one is it?”
“I can’t be certain. But we were talking about it through part of the summer, I remember. There was a court case, you see.”
“A legal scandal?”
Fernsworth moved further to the edge of the sofa while Sebastian sorted through the January and February papers to set those aside. There were only six or so per month, as they came from different distributors.
“Indeed. The Earl of Darbyham only has two children, a daughter and a son,” the footman explained. “Her Ladyship and the earl’s heir.”
Sebastian grew concerned for a moment as he realized that the staff knew of the scandal tied to his wife and how they might treat her.
But then he recalled the laughter he had heard in the halls.
The smiles on his staff. No, Isabel was just fine here.
Safe, even. Coming here was a good thing for her.
“Very well. It had something to do with the heir and the Crown, yes?”
“Precisely, Your Grace!” Fernsworth looked thrilled to be sharing the story. His eyes widened and he beamed as he carried on. “It was through gambling dens and horse betting and unsavory investments that connected the heir to the throne.”
He frowned. “The Prince Regent? Prinny?”
Setting aside several papers he had sorted through, the footman nodded and then hesitated.
“Indirectly, but yes. The charge was embezzling from the Crown. The heir made markers and promises with Prinny twice, along with other representatives of the Royal family. He offered exchanges with false gold and counterfeits and bad cheques. It carried on for nearly two years before anyone realized that it was a pattern of bad behavior and fake money.”
“What happened to him after the case? The heir?”
“Thomas Ravenshaw, eldest child of John Ravenshaw, the fourth Earl of Darbyham, was not hanged nor sent to prison.” Fernsworth sighed as he leaned back into the sofa.
His gaze went elsewhere. There was something else on his mind, apparently, as he fell quiet for a spell.
It gave Sebastian a minute to review another paper where he finally caught reference in a title from last May. “But he wasn’t acquitted.”
Sebastian glanced up. “No? Then what happened?”
“That’s just it, I’m afraid. We don’t quite know. There was reference of restitution. Lands were being taken from the Earl to the Crown. But they couldn’t take away the title or country seat. Before they could offer the final sentencing, the heir, Thomas, disappeared.”
“So?”
Fernsworth shrugged. “They refused to finish the sentencing without him present. Financial restitution has been made. Or most of it, at least. The case fizzled out then. That’s why it disappeared from the papers.
We kept an eye out for it through the summer.
But by the time we were done with everything but the winter berries, well… There was nothing in the papers.”
There were questions that he couldn’t answer, so Sebastian worked with him to sort through the rest of the papers. The footman’s reading ability wasn’t strong, but Sebastian pointed out a few tips along the way. They read through the papers until he had reviewed everything.
“Thank you,” he told Fernsworth. “I’ve kept you long enough. Can you return the rest of the papers to storage?”
Nodding, the footman picked up the box. He had grown much more relaxed during their two hours together, chattering away and confessing his interest in gardening––particularly horseradish.
“Yes, I sure can, Your Grace. Thank you for letting me work with you today. You’re not at all like what people say. ”
What the devil is he talking about?
Sebastian slowly straightened up from where he had been putting the twelve newspapers in chronological order. “I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, ah, that is, I… I didn’t mean…”
The staff was talking about him. He knew they would. It was clear they did. And yet something about Fernsworth saying that now rubbed him wrong.
“No, Fernsworth, I’m afraid you haven’t said enough.” Sebastian offered a tight smile as he crossed his arms. “You have done much for me this afternoon. I think you can do one more thing. Three words, Fernsworth. What are people saying about me?”
The footman glanced over at the door like he might escape. And perhaps he would. “Er…”
“Strong? Bold? Rude? Brash? Soft?” He offered.
“Dangerous,” Fernsworth blurted before jerking back.
He nearly dropped the box. He was redder than a summer strawberry.
“They say you’re a fighter. You lived on the streets and befriended thieves, that you can’t be trusted and…
I shouldn’t have said a word, Your Grace.
A thousand apologies. Truly! Please, I need this, I can’t… ”
Sebastian gave a sharp shake of his head that immediately silenced the bumbling fellow. “I won’t send you with your papers. But I would suggest you learn to watch your tongue. And should any other popular words come around… Let me know.”
Inching his way toward the doors, the footman nodded. “Very well, yes, Your Grace.”
He waited until there was a hand on the door. “And Fernsworth?”
“Yes, Your Grace?”
“I am. I have lived on the streets of London,” Sebastian said as he came around his desk. “I befriended thieves, pickpockets, and the worst of the city. And whenever I am back in Town, I enjoy a good boxing game.”
Fernsworth blinked. “Ah.”
“Do you have a problem with that, working under my roof?”
Hastily shaking his head, Fernsworth stumbled out the door into the hall. “No, Your Grace, not at all! It’s a pleasure working here. Really,” he added eagerly.
Sebastian held back a sigh as he forced a smile. “I’m glad to hear it. Thank you for your assistance today, Fernsworth.”
And then he closed the door to give himself some peace.
Returning to his desk, Sebastian knew he shouldn’t have acted like that with Fernsworth.
But those words bugged him. The judgement was a bother.
It was something he had faced for most of his life, people assuming his nature.
His size meant everything to everyone else.
It only brought him trouble no matter if he was in the streets or in the comfort of his own home.
Not very comfortable, is it?
Nor had he done anything to make it better, Sebastian considered. He sighed. An apology was due to Fernsworth. Maybe he would go down in the morning to clear up matters.
His gaze caught on the papers. For one of the latter articles about the Ravenshaw scandal, they had noted Isabel’s name.
The rest of the time it was only an elusive mention to certain family members.
But on and on her presence was clear to him––she had attempted to proclaim her brother’s innocence until the evidence was piled too high against him.
Where her parents stayed silent, she had spoken up about justice and second chances.
Throughout his reading, Sebastian kept hearing her alarmed shout of “No!” she had told her friend that morning.
What an absolute betrayal she faced this year. How alone she must have felt, not having her family at her side. Her brother committing illegal activities… No one was there for her. How could her friend not understand how she feels?
Sebastian stewed over this in a dark and heavy silence through the evening, rereading the newspapers and wondering what he could do to help his wife.
If only he could go back in time, he thought, to have been there for her.
A protective anger burned low in his chest as he considered what his options might be to take care of Isabel.
I will fix this for her. However I can, for us, I will fix everything.