Chapter Twenty-Two #3
“Then she is meant for you,” Lady Annalise assured with a sweet smile before she stood to take Beaufort’s hand to join him on a nearby settee.
Last to arrive were the Orsons, accompanied by Lady Freya, who was obviously exhausted, but Aaran still thought her the most beautiful woman of his acquaintance.
Duncan immediately claimed everyone’s attention.
“It is best we discuss the truth and then what we will speak to the public.” The room grew quiet.
“First, Marksman and Kepper managed to intercept Lady Rayland and Mr. MacAlasdair before they departed for the coast with the contents of Rayland’s safe and several other heirlooms. Aaran, I have instructed your brother to wait for Rayland’s return, make his apologies for his mother’s perfidy, and then join us here at Thom Manor.
We will then make arrangements for young Baron Pitcairn to return to Scotland and finally become a responsible landowner and a member of the aristocracy.
He should be seen burying himself in his duties to prove his blood was not tainted by his parents.
Intelligent people will understand, but many will…
Well, we all know how gossip is sometimes stronger than reason.
In some ways it will be good for him not to have a certain element hanging onto his title. ”
“I will write to my man of business to assign someone reliable to assist Boyde as his estate manager,” Aaran assured.
“When he joins us here, he and I will determine a plan to move forward.” He glanced briefly to Lady Freya, who was studying her hands.
“Perhaps I should return to Scotland with Boyde,” he suggested.
“No!” his family chorused.
After a moment of heavy silence, Duncan continued. “You and Lady Freya will marry and face down the haut ton,” Duncan instructed. “None of this madness is your fault, and you will not hide away as if it were.”
Aaran wished to argue, but not before his brothers, nor before Lady Freya. He would not wish her to think he did not wish to spend the remainder of his days with her. “Yes, sir,” he said softly, and Freya echoed his reply.
“First, let us begin where this chaos all started,” Duncan directed.
“Aaran and I were correct regarding MacAlasdair being my shooter. We were also correct that my former friend did not shed his coat in the Lyon Den’s garden, but rather kept running.
Lady Rayland, though she was still addressed as ‘Lady Roland’ at that time, had a coach waiting for him.
” His Lordship paused to look around at each of Aaran’s brothers before he continued, “I owe our success in this matter to each of you, for you did not give up on the mystery. I am proud of you,” he confessed.
He sighed heavily before continuing. “Marksman still has a sister, and Thompson has a mother. We assumed the rest of you were without family, but we erred. The person who was the mastermind of this past year’s chaos-laced misery was the former Miss Magdeline Bellton, Aaran’s mother. ”
The room grew excessively quiet, and everyone refused to look upon him, except for Duncan and Lady Freya.
“Shortly after the attack on me at the Lyon’s Den, I sent inquiries to America,” Duncan continued without interruption.
“I acted on a hunch which came to me while reprimanding Mrs. Braylon about her overriding my orders to the staff at Duncan Place. She gave me a look, one I had seen before, years earlier, when I refused to marry Miss Bellton. My reaction was only a hunch, and, in truth, I thought myself a bit batty, but I could not shake the feeling.”
“Why did you not say something of this?” Orson asked.
“I thought I would test the woman to learn if what I thought might be true, but before I could follow through, Mrs. Braylon up and disappeared. We also thought it was odd that the only other time she was spotted was by Thompson at the trials for the Prime Minister’s murder.
Perhaps she worried that her son would recognize her if she was again in public. ”
“She had no worries there,” Aaran said.
“It was only after we returned to London after the Luddite trials that I was informed by the authorities in America that Miss Bellton had indeed returned to British shores after twenty years. The dates of her expected arrival in England coincided with when our troubles began. The report said she had first lived in the Canadian wilderness and had married or was as married as one might be without the benefit of clergy. That first husband died, and she left the area shortly afterwards. No one knew where. Eventually, though, it was believed her husband, a Mr. Tyendi, had been killed, and all the evidence pointed to her having poisoned him. Unfortunately, Miss Bellton had already sold Tyendi’s land and had left no trail as to where she had gone.
“The authorities belatedly learned she had moved to the Virginia wilderness, living in several mountain communities. She married three more times. Each man had a fortune of some size. After the fourth unusual death, people became more suspicious. Nowadays, the so-called American wilderness has become quite crowded and more civilized since their last war against our king.”
Marksman frowned. “She is the suspect in each of these deaths?”
“Yes,” Duncan replied. “The authorities believe she returned to the United Kingdom to escape being taken into custody.”
“All along, we thought it was a man,” Lady Emma said in wonderment.
Duncan swallowed hard, and Aaran wished to disappear, for, eventually, all Duncan had learned would soon be common knowledge.
“There has been documented findings, of late, that claim that a person can, in his or her mind, be more than one person, each living in the same body. Physicians believe it is a mechanism to protect oneself from the trials and tribulations of the real world. We are of the assumption, Miss Bellton is one of those individuals, where the mind essentially splits to develop different personalities to protect itself. I will gladly share the information the Americans sent me on a young woman named Mary Reynolds, who has been studied by a noted physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, who believes the woman was victimized by religious persecution and it caused her to develop a separate personality.”
“Is such why I heard my sister’s voice in the close behind Mr. Sustar’s shop the day I meant to chase after her,” Lady Victoria asked, “while Benjamin heard a man? Was the person actually Lord Graham’s mother?”
“I doubt Miss Bellton could sound like your sister, but your mind likely was hoping the voice was Miss Cassandra. Graham and I believe the person both you and Benjamin sought that day was Miss Bellton,” Duncan confessed.
“That being said, I admit, I do not fully understand how a person can switch back and forth so easily. We all require clarity on this… for lack of another word, phenomenon. We have been assured this condition is not hereditary. It is a means for a person who has known a great emotional shock to manage extreme pain or a crisis. It is rare, but it can happen.”