Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Harry, still pink about the gills, had to stifle another smile. “It’s very gratifying to me to have your blessings, even if they are solely to benefit your horses.”
Lissy shook her head. “Ignore Megs. She’s too mercenary.
But I can tell you that you won’t have our blessings if you go and take part in this silly duel tomorrow because now we know the truth we can categorically say Sir Julian intends you harm.
And if he gets to shoot first, he’s going to be aiming to kill. ”
Harry frowned. “That’s very melodramatic of you.”
All three of them shook their heads in unison.
“Not at all,” Megs said. “I happen to know he nearly shot his old gardener’s boy because the boy, who’s a good friend of our, I mean your, gardener’s boy.” She frowned. “Only now he’s our stable boy. Very confusing.”
“Nearly shot him?” Harry’s voice rose in shock.
She nodded with vigor. “He missed, but Dick told me the intent was there and the boy, whose name is Sam, refused to go back to work at Thornby even though his father beat him for it. Sam told Dick that Sir Julian is dicked in the nob.”
Lissy scowled at her. “That’s not at all a ladylike term, Megs.”
“But it’s what all his servants think, so it must be true. They’re all afraid of him.”
Harry digested this information. Whatever the boy Sam had told his friend, it was entirely possible Sir Julian had not meant to shoot at him.
It could have been an accident. But…if all his servants thought him “dicked in the nob” as Megs had so succinctly put it, there might be some truth in it.
After all, he did seem to be under the impression Miranda had been promised to him by her late husband and that the promise was binding in some way. Which wasn’t true at all.
He began to feel most uneasy about this whole affair.
“Can you ring for Crawford please?”
Megs obliged with a hearty tug on the bell rope, and Crawford was there in under a minute. “You rang, Sir Henry?”
He might as well be blunt. “I need another favor of you, I’m afraid. What do you know of Sir Julian’s mental state?”
Crawford hesitated and glanced at the girls. They all gazed back at him in what looked like breathless expectation.
Crawford cleared his throat, looking awkward. “It’s really not my position to say, Sir Henry.”
Harry shook his head. “Well, you’re going to have to. I’m asking you to be honest with me and tell me everything you’ve heard. Rumor, facts, everything.”
Crawford shifted his feet. “I suppose I would have to say that he is not known for his balanced outlook on life, Sir Henry. As witness, his challenge to you. He, er, he has a certain reputation in the neighborhood, even though he’s a magistrate.”
“Have you heard that he tried to shoot his gardener’s boy?”
Crawford nodded. “I have.”
“Do you think it’s true?”
The poor man shifted his feet again. “I do.”
“You think he intended to shoot the boy?”
“I do.” Crawford bit his lip. “And from what you told me of this morning’s events, I fear he might have tipped over the edge.”
Harry ran his fingers through his hair, regardless of how that made it stand up on end. He sighed. “He doesn’t sound as though he’s of sound mind.”
“Dicked in the nob,” Megs said.
Her sisters both poked her hard and she scowled at them. Clearly she liked that phrase too much to give it up.
Crawford pressed his lips together. “I suspect you might be correct, Sir Henry.”
Harry looked back at the girls. “And you require me and your mother to go and appeal to his sense of fairness?” He shook his head in something akin to despair. “The sense of fairness you think a man who tried to murder his gardener’s boy might possess?”
Lissy managed an apologetic grin. “Now that you put it like that…”
Harry got to his feet. “I will return to Rampton, but not to try approaching Sir Julian, and certainly not in the company of your mother.” He paused. “I was prepared to face him in a duel when I thought him sane, but, if he is not, as it seems possible, then that would be wrong.”
“Not at all a good idea,” Mims said. “That’s what we’ve been telling you.”
Harry nodded. “Thank you for this intervention. After how he behaved this morning, I think it would be best if you girls remain here as it seems to me he might well be dangerous. I shall ride over to Rampton and bring your mother back here for her own safety. That seems to me the best idea. And then we can decide what course of action to take.”
The last thing he wanted as he began his new life as owner of Windrush and husband to Miranda was a deranged would-be suitor of hers just a few miles away.
But how to deal with this? The most important thing was to keep Miranda and her daughters safe, and then he could decide how to deal with the unhinged Sir Julian.
How lucky he was himself a medical man with past experience of mental disturbance.
And that he also had friends with more experience than he had.
Sir Julian would have to be persuaded to consult one of them.
That was going to be the hardest bit. There was little alternative to being institutionalized and doing that might prove difficult.
Sir Julian was not about to go easily. Perhaps Miranda might be able to persuade him.
He went to the door. “Please make yourselves at home. I’ll be back shortly with your mother.”
“Don’t forget Betsey,” Megs said. “She won’t be safe from him either.”
At least none of them were clamoring to accompany him.
He gave them all a confident smile, despite his inner turmoil. “It’s less than a mile. I’ll be back before you know it. Just wait here and I’ll have your mother with you within the hour.”
They nodded as one, their belief that he could sort out this problem touching.
And he headed to the stables.