Page 57 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
Evelina gasped.“You act for my father!Then you can tell me where to find him.Is he still in Aberdeenshire?Why, I feel my mother has kept so much from me!Mr.Grimshaw, I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
His smile was tinged with sadness.“My poor Miss Tarot.You make yourself out to be friendless and abandoned.”
“I feel it, right at this moment.”
“And why is that?”
Suddenly, Evelina did feel very forlorn and alone, despite William’s bolstering words in the church.But where was he now?And Clara and Lady Victoria?“I’ve spent most of my life in Paris, but now that I’m here, my mama does not have me to live with her and now my … well, the man who wishes to marry me has gone away for a few days.”
“Gone away?Where, Miss Tarot?”
“He’s gone to search for my father to ask for his blessing.”
Mr.Grimshaw was very still.“Did he tell you where he’d gone?”
Evelina shook her head.“I don’t think he knows where to look.But if he’d only not thought I was returning home with someone else and left in other company, he might be with me here and have been in a position to find out the information he is seeking right here!This is good fortune indeed, Mr.Grimshaw.Goodness, I have so many questions to ask you.”
“Yes, good fortune indeed.And I’d be very happy to answer your questions.You must be very curious about your family.About your father.”He leaned forward, frowning as he tapped his foot on the carriage floor.“In fact, we could do worse than begin setting that to rights, right here.”
“Right here?”Puzzled, Evelina put her head on one side.
“Your father’s side of the family is all interred in this very cemetery.I could show you your grandparents, your aunts.All your forebears, in fact.I can’t believe no one has told you this.”
“Mr.Grimshaw, I had no idea I had any other relatives!My mother has told me nothing.And neither has my father.I cannot understand why not, though I suppose it’s because they—Well, never mind,” she finished abruptly.“I would love to see the family crypt.”
Excitement skittered through her veins.
Mr.Grimshaw leaned out of the window to give directions to the coachman before ducking his head back inside.“Well, Miss Tarot,” he said, “let us waste no time.I will show you where you belong.”
Chapter 27
Relief surged through William at the clear delight he’d seen radiated in Evelina’s face when she’d unexpectedly beheld him in the church.
No one would look at him like that unless they were clearly in love.
For a moment, he was persuaded to drop everything and simply accept matters as they were.After all, Evelina’s love, and their shared future together would still be possible if William simply whisked her away—eloped—and only returned at a judicious moment when there were other matters to distract the gossips.
If William was happy to accept Evelina as she was, then why twist himself in knots trying to discover the identity of her father?
Or trying to make sense of Dunstable’s murder?
But then he thought of LuluBelle.
How could he, in good conscience, refrain from overturning every stone possible in his attempts to prove her innocent of Dunstable’s murder.
The police had not interviewed the one man quite possibly responsible.
A man who owned a walking stick intricately carved with intertwining snakes.
Still, he had done everything he could in that respect.
So, when Evelina had unclasped her hand from his so she could make the requisite mark of respect as she bowed her head during the final words said over Dunstable’s casket as it was lowered into the ground, William decided that after a final visit to the police inspector to furnish him with his suspicions, he’d visit Evelina in the morning and together they’d make secret plans to elope.
One look at her shining face told him she’d accept him.
And wasn’t that simply his ultimate objective?He didn’t need her money.
He just wanted her love.
