Chapter 12 #2
“And yourself, Lady Forsythe?”
He looked at me with a studious expression.
“A most interesting inquiry case on behalf of a client.”
He nodded. “I hope that I have been of some help.”
Very much so, I thought. Although I didn’t know what to make of it yet.
I thanked him.
“Thank her ladyship for her generous donation to orphan children,” he said as I stood to leave. “Four more have entered the school program. If not for her care, they would be on the street.”
It was a program that I also donated to regularly.
I nodded with a sudden thought. “I will be certain to tell her.”
A needle in a haystack.
I was reminded of the saying as I called to the hound and left Mr. Brimley’s shop. Our conversation had been most interesting.
We walked to the corner and found a driver.
“Destination, miss?”
I had a thought. It might be that needle in a haystack, yet it was more than I previously had.
“Sussex Square,” I told the driver.
There was no number for an address at my great-aunt’s residence.
How did one put a number on a medieval fortress that had been transformed over the centuries into one of London’s most stately manor houses?
It covered several acres including the forest, the great walls of the original fortress built for William the Conqueror when he decided to invade and then make himself king.
Aunt Antonia’s grandfather had the adjacent manor built, although it was still possible for one—namely a somewhat rebellious, very curious child—to explore the original king’s residence that included dungeons and twin towers.
I loved it, even when I became lost and took several hours to find my way back to the manor. Across the whole of London, it was simply known as Sussex Square.
Twins, I thought again as those two towers came into view and the driver swung the coach through the gates. I stepped down before he came to a full stop at the front entrance, Rupert beside me as we reached the double doors before Mr. Symons, her head butler.
“Good day, Miss Mikaela,” he greeted me in the middle of the great hallway, somewhat flustered that I had arrived before his usual formal greeting.
“Where is my great-aunt?”
“I believe she is upstairs with her seamstress. For the final fitting of her investigative costume.”
Oh dear. And the reason I was there would only encourage her in her determination to join my inquiry for Lady Ellsworth.
I left Rupert with Mr. Symons and ran up the stairs to the second-floor private rooms. I found my great-aunt in her sitting room with her seamstress.
“Mikaela! So good to see you, dear. What do you think of my costume?”
I had my concerns when she first announced that she should join me with Brodie away. I decided to simply indulge her determination to have her own costume.
Now, however, I discovered my first doubts about her choice for that costume had been realized. And for a moment, just a moment, I couldn’t think of anything to say.
Her costume included trousers with a three-quarter coat in a wool tweed over that included a cape. No doubt for bad weather when out and about.
“I am having the haberdasher make a certain type of hat that can be used when the weather turns. The coat has several pockets,” she pointed out. “For collecting evidence, and a notebook. And this one is hidden,” she opened the front of the coat.
“For carrying a revolver like yours. I decided against a knife. A revolver is far more effective, don’t you agree, dear?”
She looked up at my silence. “You are quite pale, dear. Has something happened?
Something, however, I didn’t have the heart to tell her. I needed help with that needle in the haystack, even though it would only encourage her.
“I need your assistance.”
“Of course, dear. How delightful. Will it include going out and about? I can have Mr. Hastings ready the coach.”
“That won’t be necessary. It’s regarding information you may have.”
“Information?”
I have often wondered what the servants think about my great-aunt with her various costumes, the Viking long boat for her eventual send-off, the ‘river’ she had built in the great hall complete with Egyptian barge for one of her celebrations.
Eccentricities, people called them, yet they had filled my sister’s and my childhood with incredible adventures. She had indulged us as she would have the children she never had, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
However, I would draw the line at her carrying a revolver. Not that I was afraid for her, but for whomever she encountered.
I made a mental note to inform Mr. Symons before I left to make certain she didn’t acquire one, as I followed her to the lift to return to the formal parlor below.
I must admit that she was bubbling with excitement at the prospect of participating in the inquiry on Lady Ellsworth’s behalf.
She still wore her costume as she went to the side table and poured two glasses of Old Lodge whisky.
“Now, tell me how I may assist you, my dear?”
I declined the dram of whisky.
I reminded her that she had spoken of sending a note of condolence to the family, Sir Anthony had responded, rather than Lady Eugenia.
“Do you still have that note from him?”
“It should be in my writing desk in the library...”
I was already across the parlor.
Her writing desk was where she wrote letters to friends, personally signed invitations to her latest soiree, opened mail that she received, and received letters from our private school in Paris informing her of our progress, as well as my occasional transgressions.
It was also where she discussed those letters from Paris when we returned on holiday.
“Quite colorful,” she had announced, after receiving word of one my escapades.
“Is there anything you wish to tell me, Mikaela?”
I suspected at the time that she was concerned about the young girls I had escaped with and anyone we might have encountered while we were absent from our lessons. To be more exact, young men, though she had not been specific. Yet, the inference was there.
I had assured her there was not anything, and that young French men were actually quite dull. She had laughed.
I thought of that as I opened her desk and found various pieces of correspondence that had been neatly tucked away. I eventually found the response to her note with Crofts’ distinctive embossed seal and Sir Anthony’s signature.
“Have you found what you were looking for?” Aunt Antonia inquired.
“May I have this?”
“Of course, dear. If it will help in some way. I have no use for it.” Her eyes sharpened. “Is it about the case?”
“I don’t know yet,” I replied.
I had asked my driver to wait. Aunt Antonia followed me to the front entrance as I went to find Rupert.
“This is quite exciting,” she announced. “Do let me know if it is of some importance. My costume is not yet ready. But I could wear my driving costume if you need me.”
I kissed her on the cheek.
“I will be certain to let you know.”
I gave a sharp whistle, and Rupert rounded the far corner of the manor. Mr. Symons accompanied me to the coach. Rupert followed. I retrieved a stick from him that he had found, much to his displeasure. I handed it to Mr. Symons.
“My aunt is not to go about with a weapon,” I informed him.
He was much in agreement. “Of course, miss. Does that include a sword from the sword room?”
“Most definitely.”
“May I have Mrs. Jeffers notify you if there is an issue?” he inquired. “As you well know, her ladyship can be quite determined in things. No offense meant.”
He spoke of Mrs. Jeffers, her housekeeper in Mr. Munro’s absence. She was very capable.
“None taken, and most definitely you are to have her contact me if there is a need.”