13. Chapter 13 #2
“I think it is high time you returned to your bedchamber, Catherine.” With his arm still draped over her shoulders, he guided her to the end of the corridor and around the corner to her own room.
“Sleep well, my dear.”
Kitty opened her bedroom door and stepped inside. As she turned to wish Hugh a goodnight, a slight movement in the shadows caught her eye. Someone was watching them.
As Mr Barrington headed in his direction, William retreated from the doorway into the Long Gallery. Hidden behind his easel, which stood in the alcove where he’d been using it, he mulled over what he had seen. It left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.
What was Kitty doing with that man in the middle of the night? It didn’t bear thinking about. It grieved William that Mr Barrington could be taking advantage of a lady who was dependent on him and no older than his sister Georgie.
If a fellow that old made up to Hetta or Charlotte, he’d have something to say. But Kitty had no one here to speak up for her. He would have to keep a brotherly eye on her in the future.
William was about to emerge from his hiding place and return to his bedchamber when a female silhouette appeared in the doorway. Kitty.
“I know you’re there.”
She must have spied a movement that had given him away. Except that she couldn’t be sure it was him. Should he stay where he was and see if she would leave? Any conversation between them tonight was bound to be awkward.
“I’m waiting.”
Abandoning the idea of outstaying her, William came out from behind his easel.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Huh! I could ask the same of you, but perhaps you would be too embarrassed to tell me.”
She stepped toward him and poked him in the chest. “What do you mean by that?”
The gesture was oddly intimate. The sort of thing Charlotte or Hetta would do. He brushed Kitty’s hand away with the thought. “What do you think I mean? I saw Mr Barrington with his arm around you. Outside your bedroom door. In the middle of the night.”
“How dare you accuse me of such…such ungodly behaviour.”
A weight William didn’t know he was carrying slipped off his shoulders at the vehemence of her tone. Her outrage was genuine, and he accepted her innocence as easily as if she were one of his sisters.
“Forgive me—I should have known you would not yield to Mr Barrington’s advances, no matter what the persuasion.”
Kitty gave a half-hearted huff of laughter. “What advances? His was a fatherly arm, guiding me back to my bedroom in the dark so I didn’t trip. He sees me as no more than a companion to his daughter.”
“I beg to differ. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“You’re imagining things, Mr Merry. Hugh—”
“Hugh? You’re on first-name terms, and yet you maintain there is nothing between you.”
“I’m part of the household. That is all.”
“Prove it. Call me William and allow me to address you as Kitty.”
“I can’t. It wouldn’t be proper. There is no relationship between us—”
“You claim you have none with Mr Barrington.”
She huffed. “Very well, William. You will soon see the absurdity of your assumptions.”
He could not argue. He had no proof apart from what he’d observed. “Let’s hope so, Kitty. It remains to be seen which of us is right.”
“If you’ve finished embarrassing me with your accusations, perhaps you would like to explain how you were in a position to observe my movements in the first place?”
“Simple. I was restless and came here to walk out the fidgets. I spotted the light of your candle and thought I’d better investigate in case you were a housebreaker. And you?”
“I saw someone in the garden.”
“An intruder?”
“No. Not a trespasser, because they would not prowl around the grounds smoking.”
William cocked his head back. “Smoking?”
“Yes, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen them. I believed I knew who they were…”
Something did not add up. “You’ve observed this smoker before and told nobody, so I assume you don’t see them as a threat, and yet on this occasion, you needed to share your suspicions with Mr Barrington under cover of night?”
“You make it sound so shocking, being alone with Hugh in the dark, but it’s no more scandalous than being here with you.”
Which did nothing to reassure him. He might wish to protect her as he would his sisters, but he couldn’t afford to forget that he did not have that right. Kitty was not part of his family.
“I still don’t understand why you sought Mr Barrington.”
“I didn’t. It was Laura I wanted to speak to, not her father. It was quite by chance that Hugh found me outside his daughter’s bedroom.”
On Kitty’s side, maybe, but William was not so sure about him. What was the man doing prowling around the house in the small hours of the night?
“That still doesn’t account for why you needed to talk to Miss Barrington so urgently. Why couldn’t it wait until morning?”
“Please don’t push me to explain. It does me no credit to have suspected Laura and suffice it to say that my fears were unfounded. I was wrong about the smoker’s identity.”
Suspected Miss Barrington of what? An assignation with a man in the garden at night?
Someone who smoked. There was only one person who fit the bill, but if Kitty presumed her friend had been meeting Mr Jenkin, William could have set her right.
The riding officer would never have given away his presence with the tell-tale smell of tobacco.
He wouldn’t press her to confirm his theory. What interested him more was why she had dismissed her suspicions—suspicions so strong that they had taken her to Miss Barrington’s door in the middle of the night.
Taking the candle from Kitty’s hand, he held it up to her face. “What did he say to convince you that you were wrong?”
There was a long pause. Would she refuse to answer his question?
She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I can’t tell you. It’s a family secret.”
He moved the light in front of his eyes, so Kitty could not escape the accusation in his gaze. “A family secret. Yet you still maintain you’re not part of the family.”
“I promised not to spread the story abroad. It is my duty to protect the Barringtons, even though I’m not one of the family.”
He lowered the candle, so that its flame flickered between them, shielding their eyes from each other in the gloom.
“I’m not a gossip, Kitty. Can’t you trust me to keep the secret as well?”
He willed her to have faith in him. Not just because he was curious, but because he wanted her to. Very much.
After another long pause, she spoke again, her volume so low that he had to lean in to hear. “Did you know about the relative in the basement who is out of his mind?”
“The what?”
Kitty gave his hand a warning squeeze. “Shh. Not so loud. We don’t want to bring Mr Barrington down on us.”
No, indeed. That would take some explaining. “Sorry,” he whispered.
“There is a man named Silas who lives at the bottom of the house. His sanity was damaged in the war.”
“How very strange.”
“Yes, and what’s stranger is that I only found out about his existence a few days ago. Laura told me, but I thought it was all lies—until her father corroborated her story.”
“It sounds bizarre—but why would anyone make up such a tale?”
“I don’t know.”
“If it is true, it’s not surprising you’ve only just learned of it. After all, it is not the sort of thing you would boast about, is it? Most of our class believe such people should be locked away, supposedly for their own good.”
“Not you?”
“No. Father says we should give dignity to every human being, regardless of the health of their mind or body. That if it is necessary for a person to be cared for in an institution, we, as Christians, should ensure they are looked after there in as humane a way as possible.”
“I think I would like him. He sounds a very enlightened man.”
Father would probably like Kitty as well. He would appreciate her no-nonsense manner. William certainly did. Even when she was cross with him, he always knew where he stood with her. Unlike Miss Barrington.
“Much as I am enjoying our conversation, Mr Mer—”
“William.”
She continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I think we should return to our bedchambers. My eyelids are fit to drop, and you must be getting cold in your…um…present attire.”
He stifled a laugh at the embarrassment in her voice and wondered if she was blushing. He had almost forgotten he was clothed in nothing more than his nightshirt and banyan.
“How thoughtless of me.” He handed the candle back to her. “Goodnight, Kitty.”
“Goodnight, Mr Me— William.”
He watched as she retreated to her bedchamber and then returned to his own room.
Later, as he lay on his bed, trying to get to sleep again, he wondered about what Kitty hadn’t told him. It seemed likely she had suspected Mr Jenkin of being the man smoking in the garden and feared Miss Barrington was meeting him in secret.
What she had not spelled out, but William guessed, was that tonight, she had acted on her suspicions and gone to confront her rather than let her friend risk her reputation.
Kitty had been willing to incur Miss Barrington’s displeasure for the sake of what was right, whether or not her actions were appreciated.
It was rare to find someone who loved you enough not to water down the truth.
And he had a whole family of someones. He probably didn’t appreciate them as much as he should.