Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Thank you so much for coming…” Edward led the young woman through the manor and toward his office. “I know that this must be difficult for you, just as you are likely aware of the danger.”
“You promised that you would protect me,” the young woman said, her voice cracking with fear.
“And I will,” Edward was sure to tell her. “I promise you, nothing will happen to you. You have my word, on my honor.”
She nodded with understanding, but the worry did not leave her face. And as she followed Edward into his office, he took note of the way that her body shook, how withdrawn her shoulders were also. She was terrified. Not a surprise, considering what she was there to do.
“Please, have a seat.” Edward gestured to the chair by his desk as he walked around and took his own. “Can I get you anything? Tea? Water?”
“I am… no, I am fine.” She swallowed. “I just wish to get this over with.”
“Of course.” Edward did his best to look comforting, not easy for him, but he did not want to intimidate the young woman. She was helping him, after all, and he needed her to know that he was on her side. “And take your time, please. When you are ready.”
The young woman’s name was Sally Sanderson.
She was in her mid-twenties, had strawberry blonde hair, freckles across her nose, but her most noticeable feature was the large gap between her front teeth.
Edward had first heard of her three days earlier, since tracked her down, and finally convinced her to come and see him personally.
As he had been told, she worked at a tavern, a rather dangerous one in London’s south; not the type that someone of Edward’s standing would ever be found at. Before she worked there, however, she had worked as a main for Lord Grundon. That was what he wished to speak to her about.
“As you know, I used to work for Lord Grundon,” Sally began, her voice cracking as she tried to center herself. She could not look directly at Edward; her stare saved for the table. “He was a good lord, never rose to anger, never really seemed to notice the staff, so long as we did our job.”
“And if you didn’t do your job?”
She shrugged. “Nothing untoward. But he didn’t have eyes for us workers…” She breathed in deeply. “You wished to know about Miss Wexley, yes?”
“That’s right. I have done so research of my own. She is living in a nunnery in the north, apparently quite happy. But how she came to be there, that is what I need to know.”
Another deep breath. “She was just seventeen-years old. A child still. When she first came to the estate, I assumed…” She laughed bitterly.
“I suppose I assumed it was her mother he was interested in, not that I ever saw her mother. But you know how the staff gossip? It became clear pretty quickly that she was who he was pursing.”
“Which he did do,” Edward said, looking right at Sally.
“He did,” she confirmed. “Most of what I know is rumor. But from what I was told, he pursued her aggressively –”
“Aggressively how?”
Finally, Sally looked at him. There was pain in her eyes, a look of surprise as if the answer was obvious.
“She was a child, Your Grace. She didn’t know any better.
In her eyes, Lord Grundon was rich and well-respected, the type of man she ought to have trusted.
But he took advantage of her, giving her not a chance to say no.
And then…” She bit into her lip and hesitated.
‘Please, Sally. This is important.”
“You don’t much like Lord Grundon, do you?” she asked.
“I have a feeling you are of the same mind.”
She laughed bitterly. “I got no reason to. After he did what he did, he fired me and the other maids, worried we might talk. Worse, he made it impossible for us to get work at any other estate. Told everyone we’d been caught stealing.
But I never stole.” Her expression was determined.
“I never did anything wrong. Believe that.”
“What did he do?” Edward pressed her. “I told you I would protect you, Sally. And if what you tell me proves true, you will have a place here on my staff. But please, I need the truth.”
Sally took another deep breath and nodded her head.
“He put a child in her, is what. Just seventeen, unwed, and he debased her, Your Grace. Worse still, he blackmailed her father so he would keep his mouth shut. Threatened him, though I don’t know with what.
Had her sent away, the child forgotten. He ruined her life…
” She sniffed. “And she was such a lovely girl, too. Poor thing didn’t deserve what he done. ”
Edward made sure to hide the relief on his face, as he did not want to make it appear as if the news brought him any sense of happiness. It was, after all, a tragedy, so it ought to be treated as one.
However… I have you now, Lord Grundon. Know that I do.
Edward had spent the week working against Lord Grundon, determined like nothing else to save his reputation while destroying the despicable lord’s name at the same time. He would have his revenge, of that there was no doubt.
He started by paying off every paper in London to cease in running stories about him and his gaming hell.
He then paid them to run a counter narrative, refuting the scandal sheets, confirming everything written to be lies.
It was little more than a bandage for a bullet wound, and a week later proved that few believed the new story.
However, was he to tie those rumors to Lord Grundon, proving that he was not a man to be trusted, and one who should be excommunicated entirely, then it might just be enough to save both himself and his niece.
Enter Sally Sanderson…
“I want to thank you again,” Edward said calmly. “For coming forward and telling me what you know. I am in the process of connecting with Miss Wexley too, whom I hope to see returned to society. They should not be punished for what happened, and I mean to make it so.”
“You are a good man, Your Grace,” Sally said as if she believed it. “I knew it. The moment you told me what you knew… you’re a good man.”
His smile was forced, and guilt threatened to undo it entirely. “Just doing what I can to help those in need.”
Although the result of his research would see a happy ending for Miss Wexley and her child, Edward knew that the actions he took had nothing to do with trying to do the right thing, and he certainly was not seeking to save Miss Wexley as if from the goodness of his heart.
But Sally Sanderson needed to believe that was the reason.
What was more, telling himself that good would come from this helped to ease the guilt and the sorrow and the abject misery that had battered and beaten at Edward all week.
“Thank you.” Edward stood. “Please, my steward will meet you in the foyer…” He strode across the room and opened the door. “He will take your details and tell you what comes next.”
“Oh, yes.” Sally blinked as if confused, then slowly stood and crossed the room. “That is… if you need anything at all, please do not hesitate.”
“I am sure we will speak again soon.” He smiled as she walked out the door, and he held it as she looked back a final time.
Once she was through the door, and once it closed, the smile dropped, as did Edward’s shoulders, as did the forced enthusiasm that he had needed Sally Sanderson to see.
He slunk back to his desk and collapsed in his chair. He took a deep breath, running over what he had just heard, confirming that it was surely enough to undo Lord Grundon and make him pay. The man was a predator, the very worst of people, and soon the world would know it.
And then, finally, I will be able to concentrate on Millicent so this Season will not be a complete loss.
However, and most typically, Edward struggled to summon any sense of victory or triumph from within. He searched for the enthusiasm he ought to have felt. He reached for the burning vengeance that he had led him down this path. He pleaded with his conscience to see this for what it was!
Alas, Edward could hardly bring himself to offer so much as a smile.
It had been a long and most sordid week.
To get through it, Edward had focused solely on Lord Grundon, pouring every ounce of strength he had into unseating the conniving lord as he deserved to be unseated.
And while it did much to get him through each day, it did just as little to distract him from that which haunted Edward at every turn.
To put it simply, he did not care about his vengeance as he wanted to care. He did not see the point anymore. He knew why he had to do it. He knew it must be done. But why bother when at the end of the day, he would be back to where he had been at the state of the Season?
Alone, was where. Miserable. Lying to himself daily about how content he was, while knowing that had he only listened, had he only not been so stubborn and damn foolish, that he might have been happy… that his life might have turned out better than he had dared to dream.
I ruined it. My life… my relationship with Celestine… and any chance I had at having something more than this… this pitiful existence that is my reality.
So it was that he sat alone in his office, lamenting his mistakes, unable to care about his victory because such victories were hollow when there was nobody to share them with.
He missed Celestine… oh, how he did.