Page 22 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
“Indeed.”Lily dipped her head.“But that is not why I am here.You need to see your daughter and give her the comfort she needs and a mother’s advice for going forward.”
“How can I do that when I am in the situation I’m in?”For the first time, Madame Chambon sounded querulous before the armor-plated demeanor was back in place.“I am innocent, yet there was one policeman who had the temerity to suggest I be locked up.Fortunately, I was able to remind the police inspector of where he was when Lord Dunstable met his untimely end.Not that Dunstable didn’t deserve it,” she added under her breath.
Lily inferred that more than just the police inspector had been visiting the girls in their rooms upstairs and said, “I’m surprised you weren’t brought in since Lord Dunstable was found in your sitting room.Dead.”Lily reminded her.“And I’ve heard reports that some of your girls told the police they’d heard the pair of you arguing.”She wasn’t going to mince her words.She was Lady Bradden, not the virtual beggar she’d been when Madame had housed her.The power balance had shifted.
“How quickly gossip makes its way to eager ears.”Madame had lost some of her fire.She stared into the grate, which had been reduced to a few burning coals and now gave out little heat in the chill room.“We had argued, it is true.”She sighed.“And I had left the room in anger after he—” She stopped.“Well, never mind the detail.Suffice to say that I left Lord Dunstable in my study to fetch something he was demanding of me and when I returned, there he was.Dead on the carpet and Gracie screaming like a banshee.”She shook her head.“There was no sign of a struggle, no noise.Quite simply, someone had driven my paper knife straight through his neck in a single, lethal stroke.”Her eyes hardened as she turned to face Lily.“But the truth is that I had nothing to do with his death and no idea who did.”
“What were you arguing about?”Lily asked.Madame had not invited her to sit and they now faced each other like adversaries across the plush Aubusson carpet where, Lily presumed, Lord Dunstable’s body had been discovered just hours before.“Your Evelina?”she surmised, for of course, Lord Dunstable must have had some arrangement with Madame Chambon.No doubt money – namely Evelina’s handsome dowry—was at the heart of it and underpinned his decision to marry the girl with as little public fanfare as possible to avoid the inevitable scrutiny of her background.
“Yes, Evelina.”
“And is that all, Madame?Apparently, Lord Dunstable mentioned another name, and it was regarding this girl that you left your office to fetch something.Can you tell me who it was?”
Madame looked evasive.“Celeste,” she said in barely a whisper.
“You argued with Lord Dunstable over Celeste?”gasped Lily, everything else forgotten.“But Celeste is dead.”
Madame Chambon turned, raising her eyebrows.“Yes, Celeste is dead, which is why Celeste, and who she was, is no longer important.It is Evelina who must be protected at all costs.She cannot ever be associated with this house, much less be seen with me in public.I have sacrificed everything to ensure that she was brought up a lady.She’s attended the convent school since she was six years old.Then I sent her to Switzerland, where she learned the art of being a lady.She can play the piano, sing, dance, speak French and English like an aristocrat, she understands the Greek philosophers, can discuss Plato.And she is beautiful.I imagined her married to a diplomat, perhaps.A diplomat would take her away from this country and keep her safe from any gossip that might associate her with me.”The look she focussed on Lily was imploring.“She is a lady.I cannot see all this wasted and my poor Evelina’s reputation destroyed if there is an investigation into me, following Lord Dunstable’s death.”
Lily frowned as she tried to read between the lines.“So, you planned Evelina’s education so she could make a fine match.But then Lord Dunstable appeared on the scene.And he proved more than acceptable to you?”Lily tried to puzzle it out.“But why—if he was a man who also frequented a place like this?”She encompassed the room with a sweep of her arm.
Madame Chambon did not respond, and Lily did not press it.Of course, it was not to have been a simple love match.But now she highlighted the most important point.“Evelina needs her mother’s love and support,” Lily said softly.“The man she was to have married is now dead.Murdered.”
Madame Chambon was silent.Then she muttered, “I hardly think the girl is broken-hearted and grieving.”
Lily hesitated, then tried again.“But… you brokered Evelina’s marriage with Lord Dunstable?Why?”
Madame nodded, her eyes glazed as she stared into the fireplace.“Lord Dunstable wanted her dowry, of course.Isn’t it always about money?”
“You didn’t have to agree if you thought he wouldn’t make your daughter happy.”
Madame turned and her lip curled as she said, “Lord Dunstable first came to this house several years ago.Somehow, he learned I had a daughter.And then he learned she had a sizeable dowry.He said a marriage between them was the ideal plan because he would ensure no one ever knew her real origins.But then, when I demurred, not liking the fact that Evelina’s money was so much more important than the happiness of my daughter, I saw the ugly side of him.He said that if I refused—or if Evelina backed out of the marriage – he would make it known, far and wide, that my beautiful, innocent Evelina was the daughter of London’s most infamous brothel madam.”
Lily could understand this to an extent.“Still, the money you provided as Evelina’s dowry was really due to the labor of the girls who work for you.”
“It was not!”Madame bit back as she focused a haughty stare upon Lily.“That dowry is from Evelina’s father.Not that he intends to be openly associated with her, given that I am her mother.But he has visited her in Paris several times when she has not known his identity.He was pleased with what he saw.And proud.When she was fifteen years old, he drew up a contract with very generous provision for Evelina.Lord Dunstable knew of it.I don’t know how.Apart from Celeste, that’s what we were arguing about.”
Lily hesitated.“Did Lord Dunstable ever fear Lily might choose to wed another?”
Madame Chambon examined her painted nails but did not respond.
“But… hewasblackmailing you to pressure Evelina to marry him.Is that true?”
Reluctantly, Madame Chambon nodded.
“Then, if this becomes known,” Lily said slowly, “the police will think you had a very good motive to kill Lord Dunstable.”
Madame Chambon passed a trembling hand over her brow, then shrugged.“Well, Lady Bradden, I did not kill him.You know how many people come and go in a house like this.Given the man’s nature, many other gentlemen here might have had a grudge against his lordship?His late lordship.”
“How many of the girls might have wished him harm?”Lily added with a fron.“Since you said he did frequent this establishment from time to time.”
“None of my girls would commit such a heinous crime and nor would I allow my daughter to wed a man who was prone to violence!”
Lily inclined her head before making her way to the door.There was nothing more to be said except to repeat the reason she had come.“Please, will you see Evelina?Remember that she knows nothing of this however her fiancé has just been murdered and regardless of what she felt about him, she will be feeling very alone and very frightened.”Putting her hand on the knob, she added over her shoulder, “I promise I will say nothing about Evelina’s …background.Since I know what it’s like to have one’s reputation slandered, I would be the last person to allow the same to happen to her, if it were in my power.It’s the least I can do.”
“It is not!”
Lily, who’d been about to see herself out, was surprised by Madame’s vehemence, much less her next words.
