Chapter 25 Alwyn’s Undoing
Alwyn's Undoing
WHEN ALWYN came in through the servants’ entrance, he saw the Caspars’ staff seated at a well-laden table, ready for their hard-earned meal. Every face turned towards him, wonderingly.
How rude I must seem, bursting in at their dinnertime.
“Please don’t get up,” he said, moving past them. “I know the way.”
As he headed deeper into the house, a melody drifted towards him in the passageway. Thinking Miss Everson must be playing the pianoforte for her aunt and uncle, he felt even more intrusive and wondered how he might explain his appearance. But as he reached the front hall, he saw the woman herself.
With her hand on the doorknob, she looked as if she had meant to enter the parlour but was waiting, listening to the music.
It must be Mrs Caspar who is playing, Alwyn thought. Good. Here I might speak to Miss Everson privately.
He cleared his throat lightly and her head snapped towards him. When their eyes met in the semi-darkness, hers dimmed with confusion.
“Mr Alwyn,” she said quietly. “Were you called for this evening?”
“No, please forgive me for arriving uninvited at such an hour,” he murmured, drawing nearer. “I…I couldn’t stay away. May I speak with you alone here, before they hear a word of the matter?” He motioned to the shut door.
“They?” She looked from him to the door, then back again. “What matter? Do you mean the opportunity you had in mind for me?” Her face creased and she glanced again at the door. “I’m sorry, but now is not the best time for such a discussion.”
This was not the romantic encounter Alwyn had hoped for — even the music had suddenly ended — but he was determined.
“Forgive me, but I may regret it if I wait any longer.” He reached to cover her hand on the doorknob with his. “You see, it has long been my hope that you and I would spend the future…together.”
A wariness filled her eyes, and she withdrew her hand, her fingers slipping out from underneath his.
“You really must be more mindful of how you engage with young ladies, Mr Alwyn. I am still haunted by how you kissed my wrist last August.”
Haunted? He let his hand drop to his side. By my kiss? Did she think I was just toying with her, and tot me up as a rake?
“Miss Everson, my situation did not allow me to speak openly with you in that moment, so I hinted at my hopes, and — foolishly, it seems — I thought you understood me.”
He was jarred from the precipice of his explanation by a voice within the parlour.
“Do you hear someone speaking, Clarice?”
Footsteps crossed the floor, and the door flew open, pouring light out into the hall. This did not reveal Mr and Mrs Caspar as Alwyn had anticipated, but two unfamiliar women — one right before him, and another across the room, seated on the piano bench.
“At last! We’ve been waiting here, forced to entertain ourselves!” The closest woman glowered at Miss Everson. “Did the maid not tell you of our arrival, Belinda?”
Alwyn bristled.
“You oughtn’t speak to her like that.”
“Oughtn’t I?” She turned her daggered eyes to him. “And who are you to say so?”
With a grit Alwyn had never heard in her voice before, Miss Everson said, “This is Mr William Alwyn. He has been tending to Uncle George in his illness, and deserves your respect.”
As the woman studied Alwyn for a moment, her derision twisted into puzzlement.
“Mr William Alwyn, you say?” Then, with a smile like a gash across her face, she burst out with, “I think you mean William Wirth, or more rightly, Lord Farrmore!”
Alwyn’s heart fell like a stone.
“I am not wrong, am I, my lord? No, I am sure of it!” she crowed. “Clarice! Come and meet the Vanished Viscount! Who would have thought that I, of all people, would find him?”
Springing off of the piano bench, the second girl scurried over and began to examine him as if he were a newly unveiled sculpture.
“But are you certain, Anne? I never thought to see him with my own eyes!”
Who are these women? Alwyn’s mind reeled as he looked back and forth between them.
“Well, he is taller than when I last saw him, but his eyes – they are the very same – and there is something about the way he holds his head. I’d know him anywhere.”
Stealing a glance at Miss Everson, Alwyn saw she was staring at him, her mouth slightly open. Her silence was far louder than the Anne-woman’s brazen cataloging of his features.
“To think we would meet again in my uncle’s house, my lord!” the woman chittered on. “Pray tell, what brings you here and at this hour?”
She clasped her hands at her waist, quietly awaiting Alwyn’s reply. When it did not come, her look of triumph chilled.
“Do you not remember me, my lord? Miss Anne Chaffee? I grant you, it was years ago, but we spoke many times when we were together at Gawling Manor.”
Gawling Manor.
The name stirred up further dread in Alwyn’s stomach.
“My sister says you left that party very suddenly.” Clarice moued as if prickled with grief. “What trouble hied you home, my lord?”
“Your disappearance was all any of us could talk about.” Anne angled to recapture his attention, having recovered from her indignation.
“When I returned the next year, James told me you had not gone back to school. And then last year, we all heard of your father’s passing, and wondered where you were still hiding yourself.
The rumours have been innumerable — honestly, people will say anything! ”
“Wait!” Clarice clapped her hands together and turned to Miss Everson, whose face was as pale as the moon. “You said he’s been tending to Uncle George, didn’t you, Belinda?”
“Yet we can see you knew nothing of his ruse,” Anne added tartly.
“So all this time, you’ve been disguising yourself as a doctor in London?” Clarice laughed.
Alwyn forced a smile, though it felt like a grimace.
“You are sorely mistaken, I never sought to disguise myself as a doctor. Rather, I have been studying all these years to actually become one. Very soon, in fact, I’ll be a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
” Though his every word was true, Alwyn felt he was spinning a yarn.
“All of my efforts have been in earnest, as my licensure will soon attest.”
“Oh,” Anne breathed as if she was being entrusted with some great confidence. “Well, I shall be sure to set the record straight on your behalf when I hear anyone say otherwise.”
“Ho ho!” Clarice hooted. “What fun to tell our uncle that a viscount has been treating him!”
“Yes, where is our uncle?” asked Anne, fixing Miss Everson with an icy glare. “We’re out of our minds with worry! We simply must see him!”
“He is sleeping,” the latter murmured. Then, her voice grew stronger. “And he will have no visitors tonight, so I will respectfully insist that you leave now.”
“We cannot assure our mother that he is well until we see him with our own eyes, Belinda.” Anne intoned the last word as if muttering an insult. “Our aunt barred our way last time, and now you—”
“Remove yourselves this instant!” Alwyn barked and the sisters blanched as if he had just called a curse down on their heads. Taking long strides to the front door, he opened it.
After a fraught moment, Clarice drifted towards him, and dipped her head. “It was a pleasure to meet you, my lord. Should you want to come to call, we’re staying at…”
With a grunt of disgust, Alwyn swung the door as wide as it would go and waved her through. Anne followed in her sister’s wake, her nose high in the air as she sailed out into the darkening night.
Though his arm twitched to slam the door behind them, Alwyn stepped outside and watched to make certain they were safely handed into their carriage.
Only ten minutes ago, I was ready to tell Miss Everson everything, and then they appeared and made my history out to be some silly scandal. Watching the carriage roll off down Hertford Street, his chest almost hurt as he took a deep breath.
But they are gone now, and I can set things right.
Stepping back inside the house, he shut the door softly, saying, “I dearly hope to explain myself fully to you, Miss Ev—”
He looked around to find that he was alone in the front hall.
Of course. It would be best to sit for such a conversation.
But trodding lightly back to the parlour, he saw that it, too, was empty.
Miss Everson had vanished.
He waited a moment in the stillness, his heart sinking further and further, until he was certain she did not mean to reappear. Then, he went through the front door, and walked out into the city.