Page 16 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
She stared down at it, unsure of what she felt.Triumphant?Protected?
She’d soon be Lady Dunstable.
She’d achieved her aspirations in less than a fortnight, determined to meet the expectations of the parents she’d barely known, and to prove to her schoolfellows she was every bit as worthy as the other girls whose parents lived ordinary, domestic lives under the same roof.
“Is that not true, Evelina?”
She nodded, surprised that the use of her Christian name grated, which was wrong when, of course, Lord Dunstable was negotiating her marriage contract with her father.Soon she’d be married to this man and suddenly she felt frightened and unable to breathe.
But then she realized Lord Dunstable, himself, was not the reason.
No, it was the way Lord Bellingham was looking at her.As if he’d just accepted that something he really wanted was out of reach.His daughter had said he’d been galvanized into finding the woman with whom he’d rescued a child, though she did not know all of it.
No one did.
Except Evelina and William, united forever, she realized in that act of simple bravery.
Evelina had acted too quickly in choosing a husband when she’d thought the heart did not have a place in such a decision.
Hadn’t she?
Chapter8
Lily rocked the crib beneath her desk as she wrote up her ledger.She smiled.
Six girls situated within just four weeks.It was a noteworthy achievement upon which her darling Hamish had just congratulated her before he’d warned, “My father may visit this afternoon.”
“In which case I should make myself scarce,” Evelina had said with a smile.“And take little Sebastian with me.”
But now Gracie was here, and Lily was not smiling at her news.
The long-serving maidservant from Madame Chambon’s looked pale and frightened, which was not to be wondered at in view of the circumstances under which she’d left her employer’s house.
For Gracie had just witnessed a murder scene, though Lily was having difficulty understanding precisely what Gracie was trying to tell her.As the girl gulped and stumbled over her words, Lily glanced at the doorway, unsure if Archie’s impending arrival would be helpful in calming his sweetheart or if it was better for her to hear everything, unfettered, from the girl’s lips, first.
“Gracie, I’m going to have to ask you to go back to the beginning.Assisted, perhaps, by a nice glass of brandy to help with the nerves,” Lily now said, rising.“Please stay right here, take some deep breaths, and I’ll be back with the bottle.I think we both need a medicinal shot.”
Hamish’s office was a little down the hallway.He raised his head with his habitual adoring smile, which turned to worry when he saw her expression.
“Lord Dunstable is dead,” Lily said without preamble.“His body was found in Madame Chambon’s private sitting room.But that’s not the worst of it.”
“Dear God, it’s not?”Hamish said, rising and coming towards her.
“No, it’s not!Where’s the brandy, my love?I need it for Gracie, who has just told me something even more shocking.”
“What could be more shocking?That young Gracie killed him?”Cognizance dawned, and he said in almost a resigned, matter-of-fact tone, though with a question at the end, “But of course.It was Madame?”
Lily shrugged, her hands trembling as she took the bottle her husband held out to her.“Those are facts that cannot be ascertained right now.However, what I do find most troublesome is that the young woman who was in here barely a fortnight ago and who is betrothed to Dunstable; the young woman who hired Gracie’s friend Kitty to be her lady’s maid—”
Hamish frowned, recalling correctly, “Miss Evelina Tarot?”
“Yes.Miss Evelina Tarot.”Lily swallowed.“I have just learned from Gracie that she is, in fact, Madame Chambon’s daughter.”
Hamish’s eyebrows shot up.“Madame Chambon’s daughter!And her betrothed… or soon-to-be … is dead in her mother’s—” He looked a little gray as he added, “pleasure house.”Appearing as if he would accompany Lily down the passage to her office where Gracie was waiting, no doubt, in dire need of the brandy Lily had come to fetch, but Lily shook her head.
“And why did Gracie come to see you?”His frown deepened.“Surely, no connection has been made between you and Madame Chambon?”
Lily understood his concern.Though the months Lily had spent under Madame Chambon’s roof had been innocent and, to date, entirely hushed up, any whispers of Lily’s association with the brothel owner could be detrimental to her reputation, not to mention that of Manners & Morals.
