Page 54 of A Baron's Disguised Lady
“Let’s go upstairs, Lavinia. You don’t need to see this,” he said, taking her by the arm.
But Lavinia held back. She wanted to see, for she was curious as to the purpose of the intrusion, even as she feared knowing the truth. She did not know whether to tell Archie about the footsteps on the corridor and the turning of the handle on her bedroom door. He would only get upset, and overly protective.
“Who do you think…” she began, but now he hustled her out of the scullery, and out of earshot of the butler, who was now busy measuring the window for the bars.
“Don’t you think it’s strange. Doctor Airdale comes with news of Gwendolene’s death, and on the same night the house is broken into? I wonder what they were looking for. Perhaps the very diary we spoke of. I checked Gwendolene’s bedroom as soon as I heard, but it doesn’t seem to have been disturbed. I wonder if whoever it was got disturbed,” Archie said.
“It was me,” Lavinia blurted out.
She wanted to be honest with him, and now he looked at her in surprise.
“What do you mean?” he asked, and Lavinia took a deep breath.
“It was me they came for. I woke up in the night and heard footsteps on the corridor. Someone tried the door to my bedroom. It was bolted, thank goodness. I saw them running across the garden a short while later, in the direction of the orchard,” she said.
Archie’s eyes grew wide with horror, and placed his hand on Lavinia’s arm, as though she was about to be snatched from him by an unknown assailant.
“No one’s safe… no, it’s too… how awful,” he exclaimed, and it seemed his reaction was just as she had expected.
“It makes sense, though, doesn’t it? You said yourself this was about Gwendolene. They’re trying to scare us. They must know Doctor Airdale brought you the results of his investigation into the powder, and that we know Gwendolene was murdered,” Lavinia said.
She was scared, but she was not about to be cowed into abandoning the investigation. They were getting close, and if the murderer was desperate enough to break into Sarum Lacy House, it meant they feared discovery.
“And they’ve succeeded. I can’t allow… oh, Lavinia, I’m so sorry. You didn’t come here to be mixed up in all this, and now… to threaten you… it’s too awful,” he said, but Lavinia shook her head.
“I know the risks. Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I won’t run away,” she said.
He looked at her and sighed.
“Oh… but… I can’t expect it of you, Lavinia. I can’t ask you to risk so much,” he said, but Lavinia’s mind was made up.
She had vowed to help him, and she would not renege on her promise. They were in this together, and they would simply have to strike a more precautionary tone.
“But you are. You’re risking a great deal. We’ve got to discover the truth. Poor Gwendolene… I think about her a great deal. She was all alone… she had her troubles, but she couldn’t speak about them, she couldn’t tell anyone, not even you. She deserves justice, and I won’t walk away from her,” Lavinia said.
She looked at Archie defiantly, determined not to be scared, even as she could not help but feel some sense of fear over the events unfolding around her. He gave a weak smile and nodded.
“I don’t know what I did to deserve your arriving here, Lavinia. Perhaps Gwendolene herself sent you. But I know one thing… I couldn’t do this without you. But I want you to be absolutely sure. If you don’t want to take the risk, I’ll understand, but I promise I’ll do everything in my power to protect you,” he said, and Lavinia smiled at him.
“Come along, let’s go and look at Gwendolene’s diaries. They might tell us something. Even the slightest detail could be crucial,” Lavinia replied, and Archie nodded, the two of them now making their way back upstairs to the hallway, and on up to Gwendolene’s bedroom.
It was just as they had left it before, apart from the dressing table was now cleared of vanities. Archie had thrown them all away… anything that might still contain the deadly cherry laurel.
“It still doesn’t feel quite right… going through her personal possessions, I mean,” Archie said, and Lavinia nodded.
She knew it would be difficult. A woman’s diary was her intimate companion, but that was why it was so necessary to read it.
“Would you like me to do it? I won’t tell you anything you don’t need to know,” she said, and Archie nodded.
“I think that’s for the best, yes,” he replied.
It was not difficult to find Gwendolene’s diary. Lavinia looked in the place she herself would have thought to keep it; in the drawer of the bedside table. There were two volumes, the first being childhood juvenilia, and the other a proper diary, begun on the day of Gwendolene’s debut.
Taking a seat, she opened the book and began to read.
My dear diary, how glad I am to have you as my companion and confidant. I feel I can tell you anything—and I will. Today was the most perfect day. The ball, the dancing, the senseof at last being taken seriously. Mother gave me an emerald necklace to wear, and Archie’s gift was a pair of earrings.
They sparkled in the sunlight, and I’m sure everyone was looking at them. I danced with several men—one of them a captain in the militia, and the other the second son of an earl. Oh, how happy I feel, and to write these things to you, dear diary, fills me with such joy.
