Chapter 8
“Do as I SAY!” Lady Catherine yelled at the hapless maid who had a position at the dower house.
She was currently demanding that the maid go to Rosings to steal money from the strongbox in the master’s study for which she still had a key.
Much to her vexation, she was no longer permitted entrance to her house for the trifling reason of trying to remove her ‘throne’ and have it installed in the dower house.
Who knew that her brother, the one that should defer to her, had meant it when he had said that she was not to remove anything from the manor house?
One of the snivelling weasels had informed him, which had led to the great lady being barred entrance to her house.
Now this quaking servant was refusing to do her bidding. What was the world coming to?
“Beggin’ yer pardon, mi Lady,” the fearful maid said, knowing that Lady Catherine was wont to strike any servant who did not do exactly as she demanded, “but just like you, we be not allowed to enter the great ‘ouse.” Lady Catherine lifted her hand to strike the snivelling girl, Maddie or Mary or something, she cared not. Her hand descended with such force the girl’s head snapped back and she fell, hitting her head on the corner of a table and then did not move again.
For once in her life, Lady Catherine de Bourgh was fearful.
She knew that there was nothing that would protect her from the law and the noose if she was tried for murder.
Her dowry had recently been released to her so she made the snap decision that she must away.
She had been planning for such a contingency if need be.
She had saved most of her one thousand pounds a year since she had dispatched the contemptable Sir Louis and had purchased a nice house with some land in Warwickshire, just outside of Packwood.
The location had been chosen as it was close enough to her traitorous family to exact her revenge when she was ready, but none of the families had any interests in that particular shire.
In addition, Packwood was a small market town that was not too close to the Great North Road her family utilised when travelling between the north and London.
She had travelled back and forth using a circuitous route in a hired carriage so her nosey brother would have no idea where she went on her travels.
Reggie had deigned to allow her to use Sir Louis’s cottage in Ramsgate, so she would have the vehicle from Rosings deposit her at the house and then have it return for her at a date that she gave.
Her brother had done her a great service by informing her that when she used the house, she was responsible for the servants.
She had only her loyal maid with her, well loyal to the money that her mistress paid her.
As soon as the Rosings’ equipage left, her maid would hire a carriage for her.
Over the last year she had staffed her house in Packwood with servants on whom she could count to do her bidding as she paid them more than she would have liked but felt that it was needed to purchase their loyalty; more importantly, their discretion.
The servants and the townspeople knew her as Mrs Fitzpatrick, a widow. It went against everything to not receive her due as a Lady, but she understood well that she needed to keep a low profile and that keeping the appellation of Lady would draw unwanted attention to her.
Lady Catherine looked around the dower house to make sure that she had not left anything, then summoned the carriage to convey her to Ramsgate.
Her maid had seen Mary lying in a pool of her own blood but ignored that fact as she packed all of her mistress' belongings, including the baubles Lady Catherine had managed to pilfer from Rosings before being banished.
When her carriage arrived, Lady Catherine ordered the driver to convey her to Ramsgate and return in a week.
As soon as they arrived in Ramsgate and the carriage disappeared from sight, the maid, Miss Olive Toppin, went to the inn where the carriage her mistress had quietly acquired was waiting with the driver and a footman, both of which had been paid to be at the inn for a few months until they were summoned.
Within an hour of arriving in front of Sir Louis’s old cottage, Mrs Fitzpatrick and her lady’s maid were in her comfortable, but not ostentatious carriage using a most circuitous route to her new home in Packwood.
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Before she left, Lady Catherine had told the cook and footman, who had both been out of the house when she hit the maid, that she was taking her lady’s maid and the maid of all-purpose with her to Ramsgate, and they were not needed until she returned in a sennight.
When the two servants returned on the appointed day, there was no mistaking the stench of a decomposing body.
With great trepidation, the footman searched within and found a dead and rotting Mary in a pool of her dried blood on the floor.
After stumbling out of the house and retching, the footman had the presence of mind to summon Mr Brian Mason, Rosings’ steward who had been installed by the Earl of Matlock.
Mr Mason immediately sent for Lord Metcalf, the local magistrate, and wrote an express to his employer.
The fact that he was told Lady Catherine had claimed to take the maid with her, yet she was here and not at the cottage in Ramsgate when the driver had arrived to return her to her home, there was little doubt who was responsible for poor Mary’s murder.
Lord Metcalfe brought the local sheriff with him, along with the steward to inspect the scene of the crime.
Even though the men held cloths soaked in herbs over their noses, they could still smell the stench.
Luckily, they did not need to be within awfully long as it was easy to see what had happened.
The corner of the end table had dried blood and hair on it, and the victim was lying akimbo right next to it in a pool of congealed blood.
As it was to the back of her head, Lord Metcalfe determined that a murder had been committed, and based on her subsequent behaviour, that Lady Catherine de Bourgh was the likely suspect.
The body of the girl was removed with haste, and after her family who lived in Hunsford were notified, she was buried that same day.
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Two days before they were scheduled to leave for Pemberley, Lord Matlock was handed an express by his butler.
He saw the seal of Rosings' steward and opened it wondering what his imperious sister had done this time. He read the missive then read the missive again. Yes, there was suspicion that his sister had a hand in her husband’s death, but even he did not expect this level of callousness and evil from his sister.
He sat too stunned to move for a few minutes, then forced his legs to function and went in search of his wife.
Lady Matlock was in her sitting room working on some embroidery.
She smiled as she saw her husband, but the smile was quickly replaced by a worried frown as she saw his pale pallor as he looked like he was in shock.
He wordlessly handed her the letter, and it was not many minutes before her look matched that of her husband.
“Oh, Reggie, if I did not read this for myself, I would not have believed that your sister would sink so low,” she said as she took her husband’s hand in her own when he plopped down listlessly next to her.
“I do not know what to say,” he said in a monotone voice. “There is no point rushing off to Rosings as everything is in hand there; Mr Mason is nothing if not efficient. I am sure that we will hear from Metcalfe soon concurring with the conclusions laid out in the express.”
“Will a search be mounted to bring Catherine to justice?” Elaine asked.
“Yes, I believe there will be one,” Reggie said as he looked off into the distance, “but I am sure that given that no one knew there was aught amiss until a sennight after my sister took flight, I am afraid that the search will not find her. She has her dowry; she withdrew it in the form of bank notes so there will be no way of knowing if she opens an account at another bank as there is no bank draft to be verified.”
“It looks to me like she has been planning to disappear for some time,” Elaine concluded. “It could be that the murder of the maid was not planned and made her accelerate her plans.”
“I think that you may have a point there, my love,” Reggie said.
“We will still go to Pemberley as planned, will we not, husband?” his wife asked.
“Yes, I see no reason to put off the inevitable, George and Anne must be told as there is no hiding Catherine’s disgrace,” he said with a sigh. “The only question is whether it will become a public scandal.”
“The one advantage of the way that Catherine lived and gave offence to most is that she has not been seen in society for years and so will not be missed,” Elaine pointed out. “Unless someone from Kent spreads the story, no one will think it strange that she is not seen in society.”
“I will write to Metcalfe and Mason,” Reggie responded, “and will authorise Mason to pay a sum to any servants who know about this, and also to the family of that poor, unfortunate girl. Hopefully, we will keep this away from society, at least until she is apprehended. There will be no way to avoid a trial.” After kissing his beloved wife, Reggie returned to his study to write the expresses.
They were dispatched and on their way to Kent within the hour.
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