Chapter Twenty-Three
“We have to speak to Cousin Harry about this,” Mims said. They were sitting on the bench in the tack room with a confused Archie, whose face still resembled a beetroot.
Lissy took pity on him. “Why don’t you go and finish your sweeping, Archie. If you don’t your pa will be angry. We mustn’t keep you from your work.”
Mims and Megs nodded. “No, we mustn’t.”
Archie departed, perhaps glad to escape their persistent inquisition that had elicited what he and the other servants knew about the coming duel—which of course was everything as servants always know everyone’s secrets.
And of course, it was Archie’s own father who was to be one of the seconds, whatever they were. None of them were sure of that.
“What are we going to say to Cousin Harry?” Megs asked. “Just ask him not to do it?” She didn’t sound all that convinced, and as she probably still thought it was a romantic thing to happen, despite them now knowing that the other duellist was Sir Julian, she was not to be trusted.
Lissy frowned. “I don’t think that would really work.” She scratched her head. “But Mims is right that we need to speak to him. Perhaps if we take him back to see Mama, she might be able to persuade him to rescind his agreement to the duel.”
Megs frowned too, and wrinkled her nose. “I’m not at all sure how these duels work, you know. Is one allowed to just back out of them?”
Mims huffed. “They’re against the law, so yes, of course you can back out of them if you have any sense. Sir Julian challenged Cousin Harry, but why he did it, I have no idea.”
“Because he wants Mama for himself,” Lissy said. “Horrid man. Haven’t you noticed how often he’s called since Papa died? And the way he looks at her. It makes my toes curl.” Which was quite true.
“I’m just puzzled why it was Sir Julian that challenged Cousin Harry,” Mims said. “Because it sounds to me like it was Cousin Harry who was insulted.”
Lissy shook her head. “I doubt we know the whole truth. He won’t have divulged everything, that’s for sure. But the thing that worries me most is that Sir Julian was the challenger.”
Her sisters regarded her with interest. “What does that signify?” Mims asked.
“The one thing I know about a duel is that the challenger gets to shoot first.”
Mims clapped her hand over her mouth. “They don’t both shoot at the same time then?”
Lissy shook her head. “No. One at a time. Challenger first. And I have a strong suspicion that Sir Julian is not the sort who will fire into the air just to indicate his honor has been restored.” She paused. “Not that he has any honor.”
They sat still for a long minute in silence.
Then Megs jumped off the bench. “In that case, we must go now and speak to Cousin Harry and then make him come home with us and talk to Mama. I’m sure she can persuade even the most horrible of people because she’s so nice, and by that I mean Sir Julian, that he’s made a terrible mistake.
” She beamed. “And if he won’t, then I volunteer to shoot him dead myself and not in any silly duel.
We’ll need to get Papa’s pistols out of the gun room. ”
Lissy frowned at her gun-happy youngest sister but said nothing. For once she was as one with her and would herself consider shooting that awful man if it came to it.
Mims jumped up too. “Never mind Megs volunteering to do the shooting. We need to hurry.”
Lissy regarded them both for a moment. It was all right for them to think this was something that could be sorted out by talking to Harry and Mama, but she had a nasty feeling it couldn’t. However, they had to try. She stood up. “Very well. Come on. We’ll go and find him right now.”
Harry was sitting in his study cleaning the duelling pistols he’d inherited from Sir Geoffrey and which Crawford had fetched from the gun room when a knock came on the door.
He looked up as it opened a crack without him inviting anyone in.
Lissy’s anxious face peeped around it, and just below, Megs’ face appeared as well.
He smiled. “Come in.”
It seemed Mims was there too. They came inside and Lissy closed the door behind them. A veritable deputation.
For a moment, they all stood looking at him in silence before Mims dug Lissy in the ribs as if she was their delegated spokesperson.
“Yes?” he said. “Can I do something for you?”
Lissy nodded. “You most certainly can.”
Now he was intrigued. “Pray go on.”
“You can come back to the farm with us and speak with Mama.”
He raised his eyebrows. He would like above anything to do exactly that, but he wasn’t quite sure why it was so important to her daughters that he should do so.
“We know,” Mims said.
“Everything,” Megs added.
“You do?” he said, wondering what on earth they were talking about. Could they have discovered what was going on between him and their mother? This was a little awkward. Embarrassing even.
“We tortured Archie Miller, and he told us,” Megs said. “So now we know everything.”
Lissy scowled at her.
They all three continued to regard him rather accusingly, but by now he’d worked out that what they thought they knew had nothing to do with him loving their mother. At least, probably not…surely Archie Miller was not someone who knew anything about it—about anything at all, really.
He shrugged, curious now. “I have no idea what Archie can have told you.”
Megs set her hands on her hips. “He told us about the duel you’re going to fight against that awful Sir Julian. That’s what.”
“Ah,” he said, realization dawning. “The duel.” He frowned. “I suppose it was too much to hope that the servants could keep it to themselves.”
Lissy pulled a wry expression. “To be fair, it was terribly easy to get it out of Archie because he’s sweet on me and very childlike. And contrary to what Megs just said, we did not employ any torture. We didn’t need to. He gave up the information easily due to his wanting to please me.”
Harry nodded, his lips twitching as he tried not to smile. “I shall remember in future not to confide any of my deepest secrets to Archie Miller.”
Megs’ gaze slid to the pistols on the desk.
“Are those Grandpapa’s duelling pistols, that were Papa’s as well?
Are you going to use those tomorrow? Can I see?
Papa would never let me hold them because he said they were too special.
He said girls couldn’t have duelling pistols, which I think is silly.
I’d love to fight a duel, and I’m a very good shot so I’d be sure to hit the other person. ”
Harry ran his fingers over the barrel of the one he’d been cleaning. “I suppose they must be your grandfather’s. Crawford found them for me from the gun room. He’s acting as my second. As is Archie’s father.”
“What’s a second?” Megs asked.
Harry smiled. “I have to have two helpers to organize the duel, but as I know no one here I’ve asked Crawford and Joe Miller. A bit out of the ordinary to have servants as seconds, but I don’t care.”
“I could’ve been your second,” Megs said. “And if he shot you, I would’ve shot him for you myself, and killed him. I’m an—”
“—excellent shot. Yes, we all know that,” Lissy interrupted.
“We don’t want you to fight a duel with Sir Julian,” Mims said. “Because he’s such a horrible person he’ll probably kill you.”
Megs didn’t look so certain of this, the little savage. Her gaze was still resting fondly on the pistols.
“I have been challenged,” Harry said. “It would have been churlish to refuse. The man was enraged with me, struck me and behaved abominably to your mother.”
Lissy frowned. “Then why was it he challenged you? Surely for that sort of behavior you should have been the one to challenge him? I don’t quite understand.”
Now he thought about it, neither did he. Harry rubbed his nose with a gun-oily finger. “I suppose it was because he mistook my behavior towards your mother. He is under the misapprehension that he is doing the right thing.”
“Misapprehension?” Mims asked. “Then all you need to do is put him right and everything will be fine. We want you to come with us to talk to Mama and then we want all of us to go to Thornby to tell Sir Julian he is in the wrong. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“Are you…are you by chance fighting over Mama?” Lissy sounded distinctly as though she might be on the right track here.
She fixed a penetrating stare on him that might well have gone to his very soul.
Damn the child. “You are, aren’t you? And I don’t mean just because of the misapprehension.
” A triumphant smile slid across her face. “You love her, don’t you?”
Mims and Megs joined in staring at him. “Please say you do,” Megs said. “Then our horses can come back to the stables at the Hall.”
Mims gave her a fierce poke.
Heat blasted up Harry’s face. So much for not telling them until after the duel.
Lissy cast a further look of triumph at her sisters. “I knew it. I told you so. I’m wise in these matters.” She turned back to Harry. “And is this all because that awful Sir Julian wants her for himself?”
Considerably taken aback by this combined attack that was so near the mark, Harry could think of nothing else to say but, “How do you know?”
Lissy gave a somewhat inappropriate chuckle.
“If you think we haven’t known forever that Sir Julian has designs on Mama, then you are mistaken.
Of course we know. We’re girls. We listen at doors, we watch, we see things.
Just because people say ‘children should be seen and not heard’ doesn’t mean to say we don’t see and hear ourselves.
In fact, being ignored makes it far easier for us to find out what’s going on. Plus the servants all talk to us.”
Mims nodded. “So of course we knew Sir Julian was calling on Mama so frequently because he wants to marry her.”
“Only we don’t want her to marry him,” Megs added. “We want her to marry you.” She paused. “For the stables and things. If you don’t mind.”