Page 61 of Sacrificing the Untamed Lady Henrietta
That was the one part that she was struggling to piece together. Surely, a dismissal from a household did not equal death as revenge. Then again, he had always been somewhat unhinged. Perhaps, he did have that level of darkness within him, though it had been buried deep all these years.
Now, Henrietta had given him an excuse to release it.Well, two may play at such a game.If Ewan sought to entrap Mr. Booth into making a confession, there was no way that Henrietta was not going to be present. It was her life that had been threatened, and she would see him pay for his trespasses against her.
Chapter 24
“Lord Peterborough, My Lord tells me you wish to speak with me in private?” Seth said as he entered the drawing room. Lord Averson had made himself scarce, giving Ewan the opportunity he had requested.
“Averson is correct.”
“If this is in relation to our previous encounter, please allow me to apologize for my behavior towards your lady wife,” he said, in apparent earnest. “She and I share something of a tempestuous past.”
Ewan smiled coldly. “So, I have heard. And yet, you neglected to mention this connection to Lord Averson when he employed you, did you not?”
“I confess, I was deeply ashamed at having been cast aside in so callous a manner. I did not wish it to reflect badly upon me, for I had been a loyal and trustworthy servant to the Oliver family for countless years.” He paused, as though doubting whether he ought to continue. “Mr. Oliver sent me away without a reference, and as Lord Averson did not ask for one, I did not like to denigrate myself.”
“So, you were deceitful?”
“I was.”
“And you have told the truth to Lord Averson?”
Seth sighed. “I have not. Is that why you have come? Are you intending to reveal me to him?”
“That remains to be seen, Mr. Booth.”
He looked puzzled at Ewan’s reply. “If there is a chance that you may not, I should very much like to plead with you for silence. I am not without remorse for the actions that I have taken, but… you see, I have a family of my own. No wife, of course, as I often felt married to the Olivers. My job was my wife. But, I have an ageing mother and a sister who has suffered much in the past years. Without this position, they will be left destitute. I will not find another without some difficulty.”
Ewan eyed him suspiciously. He could detect no hint of a lie in the servant’s words, but he had learned a long time ago that the least likely people were often the best at deception.
“That does not excuse your behavior, Mr. Booth.”
“No, I understand that. I only wish to plead for your compassion in this instance.”
“The sort of compassion that you showed my wife?”
Seth paled. “I was impulsive in my anger towards her, Lord Peterborough. The wound was still fresh when we encountered one another on the promenade. Seeing her came as quite a surprise and tore the wound asunder once again.”
“Again, that does not excuse your behavior. She is your superior.”
A hard glint shone in Seth’s eyes. “Yes, My Lord.” Evidently, he did not like her being called his superior one bit.
For that split second, Seth’s imploring mask cracked slightly, revealing the darker shades of his character beneath. Indeed, in that moment, Ewan could well believe that this man was capable of unsavory deeds.
“Tell me, where were you this afternoon?”
The mask returned. “I was here, My Lord.”
“And the household can vouch for you?”
He paused. “I cannot say. I was undertaking personal duties from ten until two, which keeps me out of the way of most of the house.”
How very convenient.
“And you did not leave the house for any purpose?”
“I departed at around eleven o’clock to undertake an errand for his Lordship, and I returned at just gone noon.”
Ewan narrowed his eyes at the miscreant. That left an hour’s window in which Seth might have been able to arrange the incident in the woodland. It would not have been long enough for him to carry it out himself, but that did not matter. Seth could still be the mastermind, even if he had not pulled the trigger himself.
