Page 80 of The Secret Life of the Elusive Governess
“I know you can,” the slightly older woman, probably in her nine-and-twentieth year, spoke, “But breakfast foods, especially my brioche, homemade lemon curd, and strawberry preserves, are my specialty.”
A plate was set before Caroline with a cup of warm milk tea and the governess felt the taste buds in her mouth already springing to life with the mere succulent smell.
“Very well, I will indulge this once,” Caroline sighed, knowing that it was the same phrase she had told Verona every time for the past four days when the other woman had made her meals.
“Please,” Verona smiled, as Caroline lifted the fork and cut into the soft bread.
“Good morning, Miss Robins,” Henry called while entering the room. The best Caroline could describe the man was ‘nondescript.’ The older manservant had a medium height and medium girth with ordinary brown hair and dark eyes and easily blended into a crowd. “How are you this fine day?”
“I am doing well this morning, sir, how are you?” Caroline smiled and rested her fork on the plate.
“Hearty as a horse,” the man replied, “Miss Mills, a word.”
“No,” Verona said, and nudged the fork back into her hand, “You will eat, Miss Robins, I will not have His Grace heaping vengeance on my head when he sees you as a waif. You will finish this meal when I finish speaking to Mr. Cartridge.”
Laughing, Caroline took up the utensil and began eating again as her companions stepped outside on the nearby balcony. Caroline had a plain view of them and though their conversation looked casual, the governess knew they were discussing particulars about her.
One night in an inn room when Caroline rested, with Moses having his own quarters, he had gone and confided in her,Edward has set up a relay system to convey any news to his servants. A man will leave from his household and carry the message a third of the journey, and then the middleman will take it to the third man. It cuts out days of waiting and Edward’s man will be in full knowledge of what is happening on this side of the investigation.
She did not make them any the wiser but the moment she saw Verona’s eyes widen to comical proportions, and then shoot a furtive look to her, Caroline knew it was time to say something. Taking the last bite of her meal, Caroline sipped her warm milk tea and waited until the two came inside.
“Wonderful,” Verona said in a valiant effort to hide the paleness of her previous shock, “You ate all of it.”
Settling her cup on the table, Caroline looked directly at them, “What is happening back home? I know that you two know, so do not ever try to lie to me. His Grace told me that Lord Dalton had set up a relay system to send you news about what is happening at home. Please tell me.”
After a confirmatory look to her companion, Verona sat at the table and clasped her hands before her. “Miss Robins, the news we have received is particularly disturbing and I would rather you not know but…it cannot be avoided. Do you know of a Miss Janet Orville?”
Caroline frowned, even as her heartbeat sped up. “Yes, I know of her. She is Her Grace’s lady maid, what of her?”
The woman servant’s face twisted into a grimace, “She was found dead three days ago in woodland near Camdonshire with a pistol shot to her head.”
Horror raced up Caroline’s body, her appetite vanished and was replaced with a sick hollowness in the middle of her chest. Bile raced up her throat and she clapped a hand over her mouth to keep the contents inside. Many questions ran through her mind but the predominant one was ‘why’. Why would anyone kill Miss Orville?
I know she hated me…but why?
Swallowing back the harsh liquid, Caroline reached for her now lukewarm milk tea and gulped the rest down. Her head felt like it was spinning. Cradling the cup with cold hands Caroline could barely ask, “Do they know why?”
“I cannot say, Miss Robins,” Henry spoke, “We were not told.”
It is him,Caroline deducted.My uncle is the one who did this, I know it—but why? Why would he kill her… unless she was the agent inside the house and my uncle is trying to conceal his actions.
“If you will excuse me, I have to lie down,” Caroline spoke in a pained half-whisper. Standing up, she left the room while feeling their eyes latched onto her back and climbed the stairs to the loft. There, fully clothed and shod, she sank onto the bed and curled up while a deep emptiness was spreading through her body.
Am I the reason she was killed? Was it because he had not found me that he tried to harm Moses in another way? Is her blood, somehow, on my hands?
Chapter 29
An unexpected death was not one Moses had ever foreseen happening in his home. The untimely passing of Miss Orville had sent a wave of bleakness through the manor that left some of his servants grim-faced and uneasy.
The most perturbed was Lavinia. Upon hearing of her maid’s death, the Duchess had spiraled into true despair. Moses had once feared that her illness from the years before would resurge but, thankfully, even with her constant crying, that did not occur. The funeral, arranged by his estate, was going to happen the next day and an emotionally exhausted Moses found himself in his study nursing a strong snifter of brandy.
“She was the one to betray Caroline,” Moses sighed, while staring into the amber liquid, “I know it but I am damned if I can prove it.”
Taking out the sketchbook, Moses fingered it. “And what a foolish thing to die for.”
“We suspect she was mugged, Your Grace,” a constable said while delivering his report, “A pistol shot was in the middle of her head, her reticule was taken, and her body shows dark bruises—signs of a struggle. It is more than likely that a napper was trailing her and took advantage of her in an opportune moment.”
Flipping the book open, Moses, one-handedly, spun to this favorite image, the one of him sitting atop Pegasus with the bearing of a king. His princely stare made him wonder.Is this how you see me, Caroline? A King? If so, surely you are my Queen. I just need to find a way to truly make you be mine. It will be hard but I cannot have it any other way.
