Chapter Fourteen #2
‘All I can tell you,’ Alice continued, ‘is that after his interludes with Mrs Armstrong, the master was usually in a very good mood. But on the last occasion, before I was obliged to leave his employ, I walked past the library when they were in the room and could hear her raised voice berating him. I recall the incident because Templeton was very much master of his own domain, and no one got away with shouting at him.’ She paused.
‘Especially not a woman. Even Lady Templeton would not have dared.’
Alice’s son had started to grizzle. She reached down to scoop him onto her lap and jiggled him on her knees until his eyes drooped and his head fell onto her shoulder.
‘I often observed bruises on her ladyship’s person and assumed her husband was responsible for them,’ Alice remarked.
‘However, he didn’t raise his voice in response to the Mrs Armstrong’s trimming – not that I heard, at any rate.
Presumably he attempted to appease her instead, which is nothing short of remarkable. ’
‘Interesting,’ Reuben mused.
‘He was in a foul temper after she left, presumably because Mrs Armstrong had got the better of him, and we all kept well out of his way for the rest of the day.’
‘Thank you, Alice.’ Reuben stood but waved Alice back onto her stool when she attempted to do the same thing with her son now asleep in her arms. ‘I have taken up too much of your time, but you have been a considerable help to me. I shall not forget it.’
‘I am very happy to have obliged, your grace. Good day to you.’
‘Good day, Alice. Don’t hesitate to send word to Alton Hall through your brother if there is anything you need. Anything at all.’
Reuben’s mind was as lively as his stallion’s pace as he rode home, convinced now that he was onto something. Mrs Armstrong being so important to Templeton and hailing from Liverpool, the same city that Lady Bartholomew had mentioned in respect of Dalton, couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.
Could it?
He needed to know more about Mrs Armstrong’s circumstances, and fortuitously a fountain of all local knowledge lived beneath his own roof.
Reuben left Brandon in the care of his groom and strode towards the house with Percival at his side. He found his mother in her private sitting room, engrossed in a book.
‘Am I disturbing you?’ he asked, smiling as he walked into the room.
‘Only in the most delightful way.’ She cast her book aside with a speed that defied any real interest in its contents.
‘Sometimes I feel I should read to improve my mind, but unfortunately my mind seems perfectly content to remain woefully ignorant and does not absorb one word in ten. It is most dispiriting.’
Reuben laughed as he bent to kiss his mother’s brow and then took the chair beside hers, flipping the tails of his coat aside with a practised flip of his wrist. ‘My advice is to read for pleasure. Too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing.’
The dowager beamed. ‘My own thoughts exactly.’ She frowned at the heavy tome she had just discarded as though she bore it a grudge. ‘I shall borrow the latest scandalous novels from the circulating library in future and have a much nicer time of it.’
‘A good plan.’
‘Shall I ring for tea?’
‘No, Mother, I cannot linger. I merely came to ask you about a neighbour.’
‘Which neighbour, dear?’
‘A fairly new arrival. A Mrs Armstrong.’
‘Oh yes, I know the lady. What has she done to attract your attention? She is a little old for you, if you don’t mind my making such an observation. She is attractive enough in her way, I suppose, but she must be at least forty. Probably even older.’
Reuben smiled. ‘I have never set eyes on the lady and have no personal interest in her. It’s simply that her name came up in my search for Dalton. I wondered if you can tell me anything about her.’
‘Did it now?’ Reuben’s mother pursed her lips, a rare gesture since ordinarily she approved of everyone she met.
‘You do not care for the lady?’
The dowager waggled a hand from side to side.
‘I have only met her on two occasions, in other establishments. I know nothing specific to her detriment but … oh, I don’t know, there was just something about her attitude at both meetings that I found disconcerting.
I tried to make allowances. I mean, she is not from the aristocracy, and her husband amassed his fortune through trade.
The wealthy middle classes often find us intimidating when they find themselves thrust into our midst and so they put on airs to compensate. ’
‘Is that what Mrs Armstrong did?’
‘Now that you mention it, no. Not precisely.’ The dowager frowned. ‘She actually seemed to think that she was superior to us all. She said and did all the right things, but there was something in her supercilious manner that made me think she was merely going through the motions.’
‘A change from the customary sycophantic behaviour you are accustomed to enduring, if nothing else.’
‘A change, yes, but not necessarily for the better.’ The dowager shook her head. ‘I hesitate to speak ill of anyone, you know that, dear.’
‘All too well,’ Reuben replied with a smile.
‘And I have probably got Mrs Armstrong all wrong. I mean, she is not long widowed; less than two years, I believe. Grief sometimes has an odd way of manifesting itself.’
‘Do you know what Armstrong’s occupation was? He clearly left her well provided for, given the size of the house she has leased.’
‘Something to do with shipping, I believe, dear.’ The dowager waved one hand in the air. ‘Why? Is it important? I could ask.’
‘No, don’t do that. You have merely confirmed what I expected to hear.’
‘How can poor Mr Armstrong have anything to do with Lord Dalton? He died long before Dalton went missing.’
‘That is something I have yet to decide, but at least now I have a starting point.’
‘Would you like me to invite Mrs Armstrong to tea, so that you can meet her and judge her character for yourself?’
‘Yes, that would be very helpful. Thank you,’ Reuben replied after a moment’s contemplation. ‘Invite a few others too, including the Daltons. I would like to see how she reacts to their presence.’
‘My, this is all very mysterious – and really rather exciting, I must say.’ The duchess smiled. ‘I will make the arrangements for the day after tomorrow, if that will suit.’
‘Perfectly. Thank you, Mother. But now, if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to.’