Chapter 56
Endings, Which Are Also Beginnings
Who can be in doubt of what followed?
Jane Austen, Persuasion
The trial in the matter of the death of Admiral Robert Walsingham was a brief and straightforward affair.
The only man suspected in the affair, Nathanial Spence, confessed and let himself be taken quietly away.
The woman for whom he risked all was not beside him.
Elizabeth Kinsdale had died of fever while in custody and was buried beside her father in the village churchyard, with all her family in attendance.
It was speculated in some circles that her death was what finally removed Mr. Spence’s desire to resist his fate.
The matter of the death of Sir Anthony Kinsdale never came before the magistrates.
The coroner’s jury, upon hearing the full circumstances as related by Mr. Adam Harkness, Mr. Sampson Goutier, Mr. Samuel Tauton, and Devon Winterbourne, Lord Casselmaine, and further sworn to by Miss Rosalind Thorne and Miss Cynthia Kinsdale, and her sister, Miss Clara Kinsdale, ruled the matter death by misadventure.
In an entirely separate matter, a certain Miss Smith and Mr. Wallace were taken up by the constables as they attempted to board a ferry at Dover. A letter of thanks was later sent to Mr. Sanderson Faulks and another to Mrs. Charlotte Black from Bow Street.
Miss Alice Littlefield afterward denied this incident was in any way the inspiration for her highly popular adventure novel. No one believed her.
Cynthia Kinsdale returned to her family’s home and there lived quietly, acting as trustee and guardian for her young son, Johnathan, who would inherit the estate and the title when he came of age.
Any potential contest or irregularity over the matters was quickly settled when the vicar of the Church of St. Brendan’s on the Shore proved perfectly ready to swear that he had indeed married Miss Kinsdale to Captain Johnathan “Jack” Walsingham five years before.
Clara Kinsdale and Lord Casselmaine were married in a quiet, private ceremony, and left at once on their honeymoon trip to the Continent.
When September arrived, Rosalind and Adam were married quietly at her parish church.
The Reverend Mr. Button expressed his deep satisfaction with the event, and intoned the words of the service with a level of feeling that rendered the ceremoney all the more meaningful.
Not that Rosalind followed much of it. To her embarrassment, her mind kept drifting away from the sacred admonitions and to the fact of Adam beside her, warm and whole and real.
Adam bowed his head as they knelt together, but his smile never quite left his face.
The wedding breakfast was held at the Harkness family home.
Adam’s mother insisted that it should be so, and Rosalind was not about to start married life by arguing with her new mother-in-law.
The weather remained fine and the family took over the common yard between the houses.
They festooned it with flowers and set up a dozen trestle tables.
The entire neighborhood feasted on the efforts of Adam’s mother and sisters, and Sampson Goutier and Sam Tauton rolled in barrels of ale, supported by the Harkness brothers and brothers-in-law.
A far more decorous meal was held at Orchard Street.
Organized by Sanderson Faulks and presided over by Alice and George Littlefield, it was attended by select members of the haut ton.
The next day, the whole affair was described in glowing terms in the major papers as an excellent match, uniting two of London’s hidden treasures into a harmonious whole that would be sure to grace society’s homes for years to come.
Alice denied that she had dictated the words personally. No one believed this, either.