Chapter 6
CECILIA TAKES A STAND
When Mrs. Duggleston came to Cecilia to tell her there was a man belowstairs asking for fresh clothes for Lord Monteith and Sir James, Cecilia asked her to make him available for her.
“I thought you would want to my lady, so I’ve shown him into the servant’s hall and given him a mug of small beer.”
Cecilia thanked her and followed the woman through the warren of back hallways and stairs to the servants’ hall.
Mrs. Duggleston pushed open the door. She glared at the young footman who’d sat down at the table with the man to have a chat. The footman hurried to his feet, babbling apologies, and left the room.
The visitor got to his feet when he saw Cecilia. He bobbed his head and pulled on his forelock.
“Lady Branstoke, this be Jerry Smuthers. He works for Mrs. Plummer at the Rotten Apple Tavern. He’s the one as brought the request for clothes.”
“Why do my husband and the earl need a change of clothing? What has occurred?”
“I don’t know much, my lady. Jest there’d been some incident at the mine and a man were injured. They brought him to the tavern fer Mrs. Plummer to sees to. All of ’em covered in mud. It were Mrs. Plummer who tol’ me to collect clean clothes for ’em.”
“Do you know the name of the man injured?” Mrs. Duggleston asked.
“It were Davey Abney.”
She compressed her lips as she nodded. “He’s one of Lord Monteith’s supervisors at the mine,” Mrs. Duggleston explained to Cecilia.
Cecilia nodded. “How is he injured?”
“Has a ’ead wound, they said, but I didn’t see no blood, so I don’t rightly know more’n that.”
“The earl and Sir James were not injured?” Cecilia clarified.
“No, m’lady, not as I seen.”
“Very good then.” Cecilia turned to Mrs. Duggleston. “Well, that should answer if they will be back for luncheon. William,” Cecilia said, seeing her husband’s valet at the door carrying a portmanteau. “Do you have Sir James’ second pair of boots?”
“No, my lady. Only clothes.”
“From what this man has told me I suggest you also get his boots.”
“Aye, yes!” said Mr. Smuthers. “Fer the earl as well. Them boots were well caked. I were surprised when Mrs. Plummer let them climb the stairs as bad as they was.”
After the man left with two portmanteaus and two pairs of boots in hand, Mrs. Duggleston turned to Cecilia. “Lord bless me, mum, but I ’ope this weren’t more nasty doins’.”
“Me, too, Mrs. Duggleston. Me, too.”
James accepted a leg up onto his horse and tossed the man a coin.
After they’d cleaned up and donned the clothing fetched from Pomum, Mrs. Plummer insisted they have something to eat before they left.
As it was well past noon they agreed. Consequently, by James’ pocket watch, it was nearing three o’clock by the time they left the tavern.
“What will you tell your wife,” Gideon asked James.
“The truth, of course,” James said.
“The truth? Won’t she get upset?”
James frowned. “I’m not understanding your meaning.”
“Crying and hysterical, like women do,” he said.
James laughed. “You have not accepted anything I or my wife have said to you. Cecilia may be a short woman, albeit not as short as you—”
“Not by much!”
James acquiesced to that. “However, her intelligence is not short. Isn’t that what some think of you? That your height matches your intelligence? You know that is not true, so why consider that in another?”
“You are correct. Bad on my part. I should know better.”
“That you should. I will present Cecilia with all the facts as I perceived them. She will doubtlessly ask us both for observations we did not make, and we shall feel as nodcocks for not considering her questions earlier.”
“What is there to understand beyond what we saw, that the rain pushed out a retaining wall which caused a mudslide on a portion of the mine.”
“I’m not so certain that Mother Nature didn’t have man-made assistance,” James cautioned.
“What do you mean?”
“Rain-soaked clay could push weakened wood braces outward. Weakened braces. Gideon, that timber did not fail of its own accord. Someone weakened it first. I saw fresh cut wood marks on a piece of timber.”
Gideon shook his head. “The wood splintered; of course there would be fresh wood signs. No. You have not lived around clay mud, you’ve never seen how strong it can be.
I feel you are seeing sabotage everywhere.
Not that I blame you. I’m sure an investigator must be leery of all events,” he said in a dismissive manner.
James let out his breath against a rebuke as he might give a subordinate.
He was no longer in the army and Gideon was his cousin.
“I am aware that many patronize you… Do not think to do the same to me,” James said with a quiet, hard note to his voice.
It was not often he felt driven to anger; his cousin was close to reaching that point.
“You are quite serious,” Gideon said. He looked at James with slight surprise.
“I am. Your men use saws to cut the wood for the retaining walls, is that not correct?”
“Yes.”
“These were axe marks, not splintered wood or saw marks.”
“I see,” Gideon said somberly. “My apologies, James, I…”
“I’d like to go back tomorrow morning and take a closer look. In addition, when Mr. Abney wakes, you should ask him why he was in that lower area.”
Gideon frowned. “It was odd he was down there. I never considered that. Perhaps we should ride back to the mine now,” he said, starting to turn his horse in the direction of the mine.
“No, not today.”
Gideon turned to look back at James.
“Tomorrow morning will be soon enough. We don’t want to give anyone watching the idea that we might suspect something. Best to hope there will not be any rain tonight and that the clay can dry a bit more. The benefit of clay is its potential for holding memories.”
Gideon agreed, and together they continued to Pomum.
Cecilia put the staff on watch for the men returning to Pomum Court. She knew they’d go directly to the stables, so she hurried to meet them there as soon as they arrived.
As they rode into the stable yard, Cecilia ran up to James before he could dismount. “What happened?” Her eyes roved his figure, looking for any sign of injury or pain.
“Careful, my love, you could have spooked the horse,” James admonished her as he dismounted and handed the reins to a groomsman.
“Not with you riding him,” Cecilia returned. “What happened today? A man came asking for clean clothes for you and Gideon. I have been on tenterhooks.”
He laughed, grabbed her face between her gloved hands, and kissed her, then he linked her arm through his and led her toward the house. “We had a bit of adventure this morning, wouldn’t you say so, Gideon?” James asked his cousin coming up beside them.
“Only you would call it an adventure,” Gideon groused. “A retaining wall at my clay mine gave way to the pressure of the waterlogged clay. A mudslide ensued, destroying more walls, and one of my workers was injured,” he told her.
“Gracious!” Cecilia exclaimed. “What caused it?”
“I believe it was the storm last night. James believes the retaining wall timbers were damaged. He saw ax marks,” Gideon said, still clinging to his original theories.
“We’ll return to the mine in the morning to investigate further,” James told her.
“What did the man who was injured say?” Cecilia asked.
“He’s not regained consciousness yet,” Gideon said, his lips compressed.
“Mrs. Plummer will send word when he is awake,” James said.
“Did his skull crack? Was there a lot of blood?”
“No, to both questions,” her husband said.
“Then, I’m sure he will be fine,” Cecilia concluded.
“I wish I could be as sure,” Gideon said.
“Well, come into the house. It is nearly time for tea.”
“I think my cousin could use something a little stronger than tea,” James said, pulling her tighter against him.
Cecilia looked over at Gideon again. The man’s shoulders slumped. She hoped they could find something soon to boost his spirits.
Cecilia had sent Sarah away for the night and sat on a chair by the hearth, brushing her long, pale blonde hair.
The rhythmic strokes soothed her and sent her mind to thoughts of home.
She wondered how Hugh was doing. Did he miss her arms around him?
She missed having her arms around him. She missed his baby scent.
She missed his smiles, his laughs, and yes, even his cries when his face screwed up and turned red, his body rigid with frustration, anger, or pain.
She didn’t think that in the future she could go on a trip without bringing him along. She acknowledged to herself that there was a hole in her heart without him.
When James finally joined her, she was staring at nothing.
She slowly turned her head toward him. “How is Gideon?” she asked quietly.
James’ cousin had seemed mercurial in his reactions to all that was happening to him and his property.
One moment dismissive, the next moment depressed and at wits’ end.
“He confessed to me he has not been sleeping well and that has been affecting him, more mentally than physically. He misses his daughter, wishing he had not sent her away, wondering if he even needed to.”
“I understand how he feels. I have been missing Hugh.”
“As have I,” James conceded. “I told Gideon not to stay up any longer. That he needed to seek his bed if he wanted his mind sharp. He agreed, and so I left him.”
“Do you want to ring for William?” Cecilia asked as she watched James untie his cravat and take it off.
“Not tonight. I even remembered to tell William to pack my boot jack, so I am well able to care for myself,” he said with a smile.
“I could have always pulled off your boots if you hadn’t,” Cecilia said.
He acknowledged that with a nod before he went over to the boot jack to pull off his boots. He then removed his jacket and his waistcoat before padding barefoot back over to Cecilia. He picked her up, then turned and sat in the chair with her on his lap.
“There,” he said. “Now I can relax.”
Cecilia turned her head to kiss his cheek, then let herself relax in his arms. “James,” she said, “I had Sarah pack my riding habit. Do you know if the stable has a side saddle in its tack room?”
“It does not. I asked the head groom that very thing this morning before we set out for the clay mine. I knew if you hadn’t been committed to meeting with Mrs. Norcroft you would have liked to come with us.”
“You know me well,” she said, smiling. “I do want to go with you tomorrow. In fact, I quite insist I come along.”
“I know.”
“I could ride astride with my skirts tucked around me. Or I could go in a cart or carriage, but I will go,” she said firmly. She raised her head to look at his face.
She felt his chest rise and fall deeply.
“Yes. I agree. I think you should go as well. You have a way of looking at things that differs from mine and together we see more. I will talk to Gideon in the morning, and we’ll come up with a plan.”
“He won’t like it.”
“I know.”
“But in the conversations we have had, I believe he needs to learn to allow a woman her independence and strength. He struggled with getting others to allow him his independence and strength when he was growing up. His mother felt he needed coddling due to his size. Gideon has never, in my knowledge of him, ever needed coddling. He needs to learn some women don’t either. ”
“He will be much happier when he knows that.”
“You are a good lesson for him, for, knowing my parents, I know they will encourage Chelsea’s independence. The daughter he sent away may not be the same daughter that returns,” he said ruefully.
Cecilia laughed. “I look forward to finally meeting your parents when they come to London in the fall.”
“I can guarantee that they will love you and you will love them.”
Cecilia laid her head back down on his chest. “I know. I know.”