Chapter 16 #2
“It is about Mr. Stevenson.” Susanna glanced towards Lady Ellen and Lady Kilthorn, both of whom had received a full explanation of the situation in the carriage.
Lady Kilthorn had not only been willing to support Susanna in attending the solicitors, but she had practically demanded that she herself be present to add a little more weight to the conversation.
Susanna was glad of her presence now, especially given the sharpness of her gaze and the way it fixed itself to Mr. Graves.
She hoped it would unsettle him enough to force the truth from his lips.
“I am not acquainted with a Mr. Stevenson, I am afraid.”
“Oh, do not be ridiculous, Mr. Graves,” Susanna spoke quickly, interrupting him.
“Yes, you are. You are very good friends with a Mr. Henry Stevenson, who is solicitor to the Marquess of Lancashire.” She paused, watching him as the fellow’s eyes rounded a fraction.
He cleared his throat gruffly and looked away, color rising in his cheeks. “Is that not so?”
The man had no choice but to nod. “Yes, that is so. Forgive me, Lady Susanna, I thought you were speaking of another gentleman rather than a personal connection.”
Susanna said nothing, waiting until the fellow looked her straight in the eye before she continued. Keeping her voice low and her gaze steady, she leaned forward in her chair. “Tell me, Mr. Graves, why did you lie about my father’s investments and debts to Mr. Stevenson?”
Mr. Graves went very still indeed. He licked his lips, drummed his fingers lightly on the table, and then let out what sounded like a tiny laugh, which rubbed hard against the confusion in his expression. “I – I do not know what you mean, Lady Susanna.”
Sighing audibly, she shook her head. “Mr. Graves, this will not do. You will tell me the truth, or else I shall go directly to my father and tell him all that I know. For the moment, I have kept this matter private, and there is still a chance I may do so.” She tipped her head a fraction, then spread out her hands.
“You have served my father and our family well and for a long time. There must have been good reason for you to lie to Mr. Stevenson, even if I cannot yet see it.”
Pushing himself up from his chair, Mr. Graves set both hands on the desk and looked back at her steadily, his eyes fixed on hers.
For a long moment, he said nothing, and Susanna clasped her hands tightly in her lap, waiting for him to speak.
Outwardly, she kept her expression neutral, holding his gaze without flinching even if her heart was racing wildly in her chest.
“I – I want to tell you that I have no notion of what you are speaking of, Lady Susanna, but I cannot.” Mr. Graves lowered his head, a groan escaping from his lips. “It seems Mr. Stevenson has broken my trust.”
“He has done nothing of the sort,” Susanna retorted, having no clear idea as to whether or not Mr. Stevenson had done so but repeating what Lord Lancashire had told her.
“Lord Lancashire spoke to him, to ask where he had garnered the information about my father’s financial standing.
Mr. Stevenson was honest, stating that he had spoken to you, given that you are his trusted friend.
It was his trust that you broke by speaking untruths, Mr. Graves. Can you not see that?”
Mr. Graves shut his eyes and scrubbed one hand over his face, his expression screwed up.
“You will tell me why you told Mr. Stevenson such untruths, Mr. Graves. And you will tell me now.”
Susanna spoke with more authority than she had ever done before, her voice filling the room as she kept her gaze pinned to the man in front of her.
He sank back down into his chair, his shoulders rounding and his eyes still closed, but Susanna did not feel even an ounce of sympathy.
Not yet, at least. She wanted to – needed to – know the truth as to why he had lied so severely.
Mr. Graves let out a long breath. “I was told to.”
Her eyebrows shot up, but she said nothing, biting back the questions on the tip of her tongue. From the corner of her eye, she saw Lady Kilthorn settle a hand on Ellen’s arm, perhaps reminding her to stay silent.
“I was told that should anyone come to speak of the Duke of Somerset’s financial standing, I was to say two particular things.
One, that there were some questionable investments which I had advised against, given that there were ties to some nefarious schemes, and two, that he was in debt.
Debts which had not been repaid for some time and could not be paid. ”
Susanna’s stomach clenched. “You were told to say such things? Why?”
Mr. Graves still did not open his eyes, his chin sinking towards his chest. “I do not know.”
“And you spoke to Mr. Stevenson when he asked?” Ellen, who clearly could not remain silent even though she had promised to do so, leaned forward in her chair. “Did you speak to anyone else?”
With a shake of his head, Mr. Graves finally opened his eyes but did not look up at any of them. Instead, his gaze settled on his desk, his whole body seeming to sink lower and lower into his chair. “Only to Mr. Stevenson, and it grieved me to lie to him since we are the very closest of friends.”
Susanna’s heart began to quicken, a question burning hotter and hotter in her mind.
“Mr. Graves, you say that you were told to do such a thing, but it cannot be that you simply did as you were asked. You have enough loyalty to my father, and to your own position, so as not to be so easily manipulated, I think.”
With a shrug, the man glanced at her, but he shut his eyes again. “I thought I would be stronger.”
“Stronger?”
He nodded. “Against the threats. In the end, however, I could not risk it.”
Susanna licked her lips, then coupled her hands in her lap, gripping them together tightly as the truth edged towards her. “Mr. Graves, someone threatened you? They said that if you did not do as they instructed, you would bear heavy consequences for it?”
With a sniff, Mr. Graves pulled out his handkerchief and mopped his forehead.
“Yes, Lady Susanna. That is just as it was. Nothing would have coerced me to speak against your father – save for this.” His shoulders rounded all the more.
“If I did not do as I was told, then my family would have been taken from me. My business would have been shattered. My entire life would have been thrown upside down, and I would have been left with the ashes.” His lips curved in a mirthless smile.
“I would not have believed it possible, had it not been that on the same day as I received that letter, my wife came to see me. She had found something in the house which questioned my loyalty to her, although, to my relief, I was able to reassure her that it was not as she feared.” He sniffed again.
“I could not risk losing her. I could not risk losing everything.”
Susanna frowned. “Who was it that wrote to you, Mr. Graves?” She gentled her voice, not wanting him to think that she was berating him in any way for giving in to such threats.
It was understandable, for to be threatened with losing everything that you hold dear would have been a significant burden indeed.
“Did you not think to speak to my father about the matter? He would have been displeased and might well have fought to find out the truth.”
Mr. Graves squeezed his eyes closed, lines drawn out across his skin.
“They were watching me, I knew it. Whenever I stepped out, shadows were moving near me. Every letter sent, every note given had someone following it. Even if I had spoken with the Duke about it all, there was no guarantee that I would be saved from such threats.”
Releasing a slow breath, Susanna nodded in what she hoped was an understanding way.
“You must have been very afraid, Mr. Graves. Please, be assured that I will not go to my father about this matter; I will not have you concerned about that. Your position was untenable, and I can well understand your struggle.”
The man, upon hearing this, brought his handkerchief to his eyes and let out such an exclamation – nay, an explosion – of emotion that Susanna was quite startled.
Only then did she realize the true extent of Mr. Graves’ suffering.
He had endured this alone, for many a day, many a month, and now, to be not only confronted by it but reassured that he would not be punished for it, must have been a great relief to his heart.
Susanna, not at all certain what to do, glanced to Lady Kilthorn, who gave her a minute shake of her head.
Sitting back in her chair, Susanna waited until Mr. Graves had composed himself, which did take a good few minutes.
“I am sorry,” he choked out, dabbing at his eyes with his handkerchief. “You cannot know of the trouble that has been hanging over me like a shroud for so very long. I was afraid the Duke would hear of my lies and now…”
“Now, you need not be afraid any longer,” Susanna said, gently. “Mr. Graves, I would leave you, but I should like to state that if anything like this were to come to you again, you would write to me at once. You need not fear doing so, I can assure you.”
With watery eyes, Mr. Graves nodded. “I shall.”
“Before I take my leave,” Susanna continued, rising to her feet, “I must know who it was that wrote to you, Mr. Graves. Who was it that threatened you so?”
Mr. Graves closed his eyes and shook his head. “This is another reason I dared not speak of it, Lady Susanna. The gentleman is so well known, so held up by society that I could not even imagine speaking to anyone of what he had said.”
Before Mr. Graves had even spoken the fellow’s name, Susanna knew precisely who it was that he meant. Her heart sank, her shoulders dropping as she tried to make sense of it all.
“It was Lord Blackwood,” Mr. Graves said, hoarsely. “He did not sign his name, but his seal was upon the letters. You can understand, I am sure, why I was too afraid to think of speaking to anyone about his words to me.”
Straightening and trying to ignore the buzz of confusion in her mind, Susanna offered Mr. Graves a gentle smile. “I do indeed. Thank you for telling me, Mr. Graves. Good afternoon to you.”
“Good afternoon.” His chair scraped on the floor as he rose to his feet, bowing low. “And thank you, Lady Susanna. Thank you for everything.”
The afternoon sunlight seemed unbearably bright as they stepped from the dim, leather-scented corridors of the solicitor’s chambers and into the street.
Susanna blinked, her mind still turning over the weight of what Mr. Graves had confessed, and was surprised to see a familiar carriage drawn up against the curb — and more surprised still to see two gentlemen descending from it.
“Lancashire.” She could not quite keep the tremor from her voice. “You came.”
Lord Lancashire took her hand without hesitation, his eyes scanning her face with an intensity that suggested he had been imagining the worst during every minute of their separation. “I could not wait at home. Kettering insisted we should be nearby in case you had need of us.”
“It was the least we could do,” Lord Kettering said, though his attention had already turned to Ellen. “Lady Ellen. Was the visit… productive?”
Ellen drew herself up, and something changed in her bearing — a sharpness that Susanna had come to recognize, the same focused energy her friend brought to every problem she encountered.
“More than productive, Lord Kettering. Mr. Graves was threatened into lying about the Duke’s finances.
The letters he received bore Lord Blackwood’s seal but not his signature — the same pattern as the letter sent to Lord Lancashire.
” She paused, gathering her thoughts with a precision that drew Kettering’s full attention.
“He was told to say two specific things: that the Duke had made questionable investments tied to nefarious schemes, and that he carried significant unpaid debts. Neither is true. But whoever crafted these lies knew exactly which fears to exploit — they chose allegations serious enough to frighten Lord Lancashire away but vague enough to be difficult to disprove quickly.”
Kettering stared at her. It was not the polite, half-attentive gaze that gentlemen so often bestowed upon ladies who spoke of serious matters. It was the look of a man who had just heard something laid out with a clarity he had not expected and was reconsidering his assumptions accordingly.
“You draw the same conclusion, then,” he said, slowly. “That the seal was borrowed, not stolen.”
“Borrowed by someone with access to Blackwood’s study,” Ellen confirmed. “Someone who would not be noticed there. Someone close to him.”
“Someone in his household,” Kettering finished, and their eyes held for a beat longer than was strictly necessary — long enough for Susanna to notice, long enough for Lady Kilthorn to notice too, the older woman’s mouth curving into a small, knowing smile.
Ellen looked away first, a faint color rising in her cheeks. “Yes,” she said, her voice a fraction softer. “Precisely.”
Lord Lancashire, who had been listening with his arm still around Susanna’s, nodded slowly. “Then we are closer to the truth than I dared hope.” He looked down at Susanna, his expression grave but warmed by something like admiration. “You did well in there.”
“We all did,” Susanna replied, glancing at Ellen — who was very carefully not looking at Lord Kettering, though the color in her cheeks had not yet faded.