Page 24 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
Her mother bit her lip.“Ignore the fact anything was said.If they bring it up, refute the fact there was an understanding between you since the engagement was not made official.You must continue with your London season as if nothing has happened.”Her Mama drew in a breath, adding, “Though perhaps you should resign yourself to a husband from a lower rank.”
The now-familiar sense of confusion and indignation reasserted itself as Evelina smoothed her green silk skirts, which, she could not forget, had been fashioned by the finest Parisian dressmaker.“I came to London to make a fine marriage.It is what I’ve been brought up for, Mama.Papa has provided me with a handsome dowry.Lord Dunstable is—was—just the kind of husband I was supposed to marry.I believe there was some hold-up due to a clause in the contract, but that is all.”She felt her lip trembling, but forced herself to remain calm.“Why should I resign myself to marrying someone who is not an aristocrat?I want to speak to Papa.Why will Papa not see me?”
She thought of William.Lord Bellingham.He was the man she wanted to marry.And why should she not?Lord Dunstable’s death had surely cleared the path to their union.He’d all but said in as many words that he’d come to London, especially to seek her out.Her.Evelina.
Opening her mouth, she was about to tell her mama then realized it was too soon with Dunstable dead only a few hours.
“Your father is a reclusive man.Do not expect to hear from him, my dear.”
Evelina clasped her hands together and gathered the courage to ask her mother where her father now lived.
She needed to find her father so she could ask him, herself, why he was being—as Dunstable had led her to believe—ticklish over that certain clause in the marriage contract.
Then she wondered if, perhaps, her father had objected to Lord Dunstable as a bridegroom.
Perhaps he would be entirely amenable if it were someone else.
Someone like William.Lord Bellingham.
She drew in a deep breath and prepared to ask her mother to furnish her with the details of her father’s location.
But her mother was looking at her as if she somehow understood this was what Evelina intended to ask.
And Mrs.Tarot’s expression was so severe that Evelina lost courage.
The carriage ride Lily sharedwith her husband that evening as they journeyed to Lord Lambton’s residence where they were to dine with Lily’s father was a little tense.
Lily knew she’d been underhand in taking baby Sebastian with her to the office and not mentioning to her husband that she’d visited that den of vice, Madame Chambon’s.But she’d been wearing a hat with a particularly thick spotted veil that day which she’d drawn down.She’d not been recognized.
However, she suspected that Hamish, though such a champion of freedom for women, would feel that his own wife had possibly run the risk of compromising her reputation and, consequently that of the very conservative magazine he ran for his father, with her antics.
After some silence in the dimly lit carriage as it bumped over the cobbles, she finally asked, “What should I expect when I open up Manners & Morals at breakfast tomorrow, Hamish?”Her mood since her afternoon’s meeting with Evelina Tarot had grown darker.“Will Lord Dunstable’s photograph be plastered over the front page?”
While Hamish had sent a reporter to cover the story, he’d intervened editorially and, as he reassured his wife, toned down its speculative and sensationalist tone.
“His photograph, yes.We have a duty to our readers to report Lord Dunstable’s death and while I might ordinarily not have stripped Albert Wilson’s narrative of its more colorful tones, I do not think it serves our newspaper to include the fact Lord Dunstable’s body was discovered in a brothel.”
Lily leaned back against the squabs and closed her eyes.“I’m glad to hear it.”
Her husband squeezed her hand.“I’m sure the matter will be concluded soon, and your young lady can go about her business of finding a suitable husband— though perhaps not of Lord Dunstable’s caliber.”Hamish finished this with a frown.For what Lily hadn’t told him, Archie had, embellishing the details, as Lily had discovered when she and Hamish discussed the matter briefly while preparing to dine at Lord Lambton’s several hours earlier.Hamish had, naturally, stayed later than usual at the office on account of this piece of breaking news.
“And why not of Lord Dunstable’s caliber?”Lily asked.
“What aristocrat—or true gentleman—would ally himself with the daughter of a brothel madam?”Hamish looked fondly into his wife’s eyes.“I don’t make society’s rules, my dear, and I certainly don’t endorse many of them, but it’s the way of the world.”
“But Hamish, what you just said is predicated on the fact that Evelina Tarot’s real identity will now be revealed to the world?Why can it not remain hidden?Lord Dunstable was prepared to marry her.Why not someone else of his wealth and social standing?”While Lily had initially been of Hamish’s thinking, she’d changed her mind.Why did the woman always bear the greatest brunt of any scandal?Miss Tarot had been brought up believing herself a noblewoman.She’d pass muster in the most exacting dowager duchess’s drawing room.Why was it not possible to continue the charade?
“Lily, I—”
“And surely Lord Dunstable would have known the truth about Miss Tarot’s origins?Or at least some of it.No doubt that’s why he wished to avoid making the marriage public until after the fact.If he was a regular at Madame Chambon’s and knew Miss Tarot was Madame Chambon’s daughter, obviously Miss Tarot’s true lineage was less important than her dowry.It must have been sufficiently large that he was willing to turn a blind eye and, indeed, keep the marriage secret until after the fact so that there’d be no scrutiny of her origins.”
In the weak lamplight, Hamish looked at her with new interest.“You clearly know a great deal more about this case than you led me to believe.”
“I’ve barely had five minutes to talk to you about it, Hamish.That’s why I’m doing so now.My father will know more about Lord Dunstable and his family that might throw light on Dunstable’s motives for contracting the marriage.”
Hamish chuckled.“You’re a clever woman, Lily.Perhaps you can even solve the murder—”
She hesitated, wavering between telling him that’s what Madame had asked of her, then deciding, again, that he wasn’t ready to hear that she’d visited the woman at her premises that afternoon.“I just want to ensure Miss Tarot comes out of this unscathed.Her reputation, at any rate, though I don’t believe she was in love with him.”
