Page 56 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
Dark clouds covered the sun as Evelina finally came to the dreadful conclusion that due to some miscommunication, she was going to have to find her own way home.
With trembling hands, she sought inside her reticule for a few coins that would pay for a hackney cab, but her grasping fingers withdrew only a small lace handkerchief, her dancing card, and a pencil.
“I beg your pardon, miss, but may I offer you assistance?”
A carriage navigating the rutted road nearby had halted and a middle-aged gentleman with mutton-chop whiskers had put his head out of the window.
Evelina, shaking with cold and anxiety, took a step closer.Her mouth was dry with fear, but she nodded, saying, “I believe my friends thought I’d gone home with someone else and they’ve left me.Everyone has gone.”
Looking concerned, he pushed opened the carriage door and stepped outside.“Mr.Grimshaw,” he introduced himself, formally, offering his hand.“Who are your friends… Miss?”He looked enquiringly at her.“Perhaps I know them.London is not such a large place, after all.”
Evelina was reassured by his smile.“Lady Victoria and her sister, Miss Clara Jennings.I am their friend, Miss Evelina Tarot.”
His lips pressed tight.Evelina registered the shock on his face before his smile returned.“Why, I know Lady Victoria well,” he said.“I have advised her on various legal matters, in fact.Won’t you step into the carriage and I will take you to wherever you need to go?”
Evelina clapped her hands.“Indeed, Lady Victoria has spoken to me of you.Mr.Grimsaw, you said your name was?”Then, at his nod as he helped her into the carriage, “She said your assistance was invaluable when she needed help with her financial affairs after—” She stopped suddenly, glancing through the window at the grave of the very man whom Lady Victoria had found vexatious enough to want to employ the services of a lawyer.
Mr.Grimshaw seemed to follow her train of thought.
“Lady Victoria is the late Lord Dunstable’s second cousin, that is correct.I gather she has made a confidante of you.”
Evelina sat back against the squabs, smiling at him in the gloom of the carriage as the door closed.
“Why, Mr.Grimshaw, this is almost like Divine Providence,” she declared.“I had wanted to speak to you—”
“To me?”
She thought she heard a note of alarm in his voice and went on quickly, “My friend Lady Victoria told me that you’d helped insure her affairs from interference in order for her to reach her twenty-fifth birthday which is the date she could manage her own financial affairs.As I am experiencing difficulties with my own with regard to my father’s financial provisioning, I was inspired by Lady Victoria to seek out a…a man of law, but didn’t know where to start.And now you have appeared, and I can ask you for help.In a purely professional capacity, of course.”When he continued to stare at her, Evelina added with more urgency, “For which I’d pay you, of course.”
“Of course.”Mr.Grimshaw’s dark eyes studied her.He scratched his grizzled gray head.“I don’t know how I might do this if I don’t know the details of your … difficulties.But, by all means, there is no time like the present.Do begin.”
The surge of hope Evelina had felt when the carriage stopped to assist her flowered into something greater.
But then she hesitated.“You’ve been kind enough as it is, Mr.Grimshaw, to offer to take me home.I’m not sure I should take further advantage by asking you matters for which you would charge a fee.Not when I am unable to pay it until I have access to my finances.”
“My dear Miss Tarot, I am more than happy to dispense free advice for the duration of our carriage ride.”
Evelina realized that the carriage had not yet begun its journey, for the horses were standing idle.But at Mr.Grimshaw’s encouraging look, she settled herself more comfortably and said, “It’s about my dowry.Or rather, finding out it there has been a change in the terms of my dowry.I’m not quite sure how to explain it, Mr.Grimshaw, but I know my father has settled a substantial sum upon me, except that it now appears that the original sum promised is being denied to the gentleman who wishes to marry me.At least, that is what I think is the difficulty.I really do not know.”
“Can you not ask your father?”
Feeling ashamed, Evelina looked down.“I have not seen my father since I was a baby.Nor do I know how to contact him.But perhaps…” She looked hopefully at him.“Perhaps you, being a lawyer, might seek him out and ask him these questions.I would pay you, as I said.Once I had access to my funds.Please don’t think I’d ask you to do this for nothing.”
When he looked doubtful, she went on quickly, “Lady Victoria said your assistance changed the course of her life, giving her the independence she needed to look after her sister.I need to find out what the difficulty is regarding the financial contract that my father has made in relation to my future marriage.”
“And is there someone in particular you wish to marry?Is this why you are so concerned?”
Evelina toyed with her reticule before answering.“He’s a gentleman of some standing.A politician.”
“So, you have come to London looking to make a fine marriage, but the gala and fanfare is being denied you because your future husband has found that your father is not so forthcoming as you’d expected when it comes to what you’d thought he was prepared to settle upon you?”
Evelina frowned.“The man I wish to marry is not so concerned with my fortune.He says he will marry me, regardless.But…I am concerned, and I wish I could speak to my father about it.”
“Perhaps your father does not approve of the gentleman you wish to marry.”
“I cannot imagine that being so.And if he was, why has he not sought me out to speak of it with me, face to face?”She sighed.“I speak rhetorically, of course.”
“You speak, rhetorically, Miss Tarot, but in fact, in a quite extraordinary twist of fate, I act for your father.I did not realize it when I first heard your name.But your father is a man of considerable wealth.I can only imagine the matter of your dowry has been neglected due to nothing more than a simple oversight, and the fact he has been for some time abroad.I am sure he has no idea this has been a source of concern.”
