Page 52 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
A shadow crossed Victoria’s face.“I felt I had to make a concession if we weren’t to live in a state of enmity.Believe me, Dunstable makes a formidable enemy.He is devious and cruel and… well, I was frightened of him so after Mr.Grimshaw had legally secured Clara’s and my fortune so that Dunstable couldn’t fritter it away, I gave Dunstable some information about a certain young lady that he’d been wanting for a long time—”
“Miss Evelina!There you are!I thought you were in your bedchamber, still glowering at the ceiling.”Kitty’s cheerful face appeared round the door.“I just spied your mama’s carriage drawing up and thought to warn you, for she doesn’t like lie-abeds and she certainly doesn’t like misery mugwumps like you’ve been.”
“Well, my heart is less broken than it was this morning, Kitty, since I can believe that I haven’t been forsaken.Certainly not by my friends.”Beaming at Victoria and Clara as they all rose, she accompanied them to the door, lowering her voice to say hurriedly, “I’ll try my best to see you at Dunstable’s funeral though I truly don’t know how I’ll get there with Mama so opposed.”
Clara gripped Evelina’s wrist, her expression knowing.“We’ll stop by in our carriage on the way.In the side lane at midday?And we won’t tell your Mama, we promise.”
And then the door burst open and Mrs.Tarot’s statuesque form appeared in the doorway as the two girls offered respectful bobs, saying they were just leaving after paying a morning call upon Evelina.
Evelina watched them disappear down the garden path as she summoned a dutiful smile for her mama while feeling immensely bolstered by the conversation she’d just had.
Victoria’s resourcefulness had given Evelina the courage that she, too, could assert her will without cutting family ties.Somehow, she would discover a way to speak with her father so she could learn the terms of the financial arrangement he’d made to safeguard her future.
Or she’d find a lawyer.
Chapter24
The baby’s crying, my love.”
Lily, who had been staring out across the fields and insensible to anything but her own thoughts, jerked into awareness and bent to stroke the head of the grizzling infant she was pushing in its perambulator along a path by the water’s edge.
Hamish gave her shoulders a brief squeeze.“My dear, I hoped that proposing this walk would take your mind off matters, but it seems to have had the opposite effect.”
Lily sniffed and bent to pick up the child, although it had settled.
Unlike her own thoughts.
“How can I think of anything other than a terrible miscarriage of justice, Hamish?You, of all people, hate injustice.And I knew LuLubelle better than most, though I know you hate me to mention anything pertaining to—” She broke off, aware she was being unfair.Hamish never reproached her for anything pertaining to her past.With a sigh, she went on, “I saw her every day for months.Fate dealt her a cruel blow when she was sent from the workhouse to a household that exploited and abused her.But she’d kept her brothers and sisters together through the money she earned at Madame Chambon’s.And now she’s been accused of Lord Dunstable’s murder.Charged with his murder.Wrongfully.”
“Can you be entirely certain of that, my dear?”Hamish looked quizzically at her.“Of course, you’d champion a friend, but the police must surely have the evidence to back up anything so serious as a murder charge.She may have done it in self defense and that could save her from the gallows.”
Lily shook her head.“LuluBelle doesn’t have a temper.She’s pliant and yielding and she’s been beaten plenty of times without ever raising a finger to defend herself.Believe me, I know.”
Hamish squeezed her shoulders again before holding Sebastian in his arms.“Perhaps you could explain to LuLubelle that she’ll get a more lenient sentence if she at least confesses with the mitigating circumstances being self-defense?”
His words raised her ire.“Hamish, you may think girls like LuluBelle have no pride or lack morals but that is exactly the reason behind her unyielding attitude,” said Lily.“She’ll never ever admit to something she didn’t do.Even if it’ll save her life.If I know LuluBelle, she’d rather die than confess to having murdered Lord Dunstable when she didn’t.”
“And you don’t think Madame Chambon did it?”
Lily shook her head.“I do not.”
Hamish gave a frustrated sigh as he began to rock Sebastian who’d started whimpering.“My darling, you are not a detective or a policemen and nor were you at Madame Chambon’s the night of the murder.Please be realistic and accept that you cannot do anything to help LuluBelle if the police have charged her with a murder to which she refuses to confess.Clearly they’ve interviewed her at length and are satisfied she did it.They would not send an innocent woman to the gallows without compelling evidence, I am sure.”
Lily narrowed her eyes.“I have no doubt they would if it made life easier to satisfy the demands of the victim’s grieving family to make a conviction quickly and when the person convicted is already morally corrupt as a fallen woman.Why, Hamish, I can’t believe—”
“My darling, I think you should lower your voice.People are looking at you.And now I see Lord Bellingham coming this way though I’m not sure if—”
“Why, Mr.McTavish!”Lord Bellingham raised his head at the very moment Lily glanced about her at her husband’s exhortation and saw that Bellingham looked as startled as if he’d just been pulled from a reverie as deep as Lily’s a few moments earlier.
Lily forced a smile.She had no wish to engage in conversation with Lord Bellingham given the clandestine—no, repugnant--nature of their last meeting.If he mentioned to Hamish that he’d seen Lily in disguise or had gone with her to Madame Chambon’s, Hamish would be… well, if not condemnatory, then at least concerned and disappointed.
Naturally, good manners required Lord Bellingham to stop and pass the time of the day for at least a moment or two since they were the only people gazing at the waters of the pond in the middle of the deserted park.
Hamish tried to jolly the mood, perhaps having been cast down by Lily’s low spirits.But clearly, Lord Bellingham was as downcast as Lily had been.
“No doubt you’ve heard there’s been a conviction,” her husband said.Most unhelpfully, as far as Lily was concerned.
Lord Bellingham nodded.Evasively—Lily thought—he said, “Yes, a woman by the name of Lulubelle.Not that I believe it,” he said.“Why, she—” He broke off suddenly, glanced with confusion at Lily then, fortunately perceiving that they both had a vested interest in keeping their visit to Madame Chambon’s from Hamish, said weakly, “Who’d have thought a young girl would have the strength to overpower a man like Dunstable?I hope the police have got the right person.”
