Page 49 of A Gentleman's Reckoning
“The woman you hope to persuade to the altar.”
This brought John’s gaze back to Lord Hollingsworth. “If there is any way I can do so, yes. Given the fact that I am attempting to expose her father, I find it difficult to imagine how it can be accomplished.”
“Well, I wish you luck. I will put off my suit for Lady Eugenia at present, for I have not been entirely persuaded that she can make me happy in the place of her mother.”
John offered up a silent prayer of gratitude for that.
“However,” the earl continued, “if you do not achieve your objective, I will assume that my way is clear.”
The idea that he would lose Geny toanyonegoaded John beyond measure. “I will find a way.”
Early the next morning,John decided to pay a long-overdue visit to Mr. Peyton. It was the next step in his plan to get to the bottom of the missing funds, both the five hundred pounds that Mr. Thompson was purported to have donated, and also the peculiar bookkeeping records that showed no disbursement for Sir Edward Burbank’s donation early on, and which let Lord Hollingsworth’s go missing. He hoped that Mr. Peyton would be as honest as he had thought him when he first applied for the job. The clerk soon showed him into the agent’s office.
“Mr. Rowles, a pleasure. Please come in.” Mr. Peyton stood and gestured to the chair across from him. “I would have thought that your work at the foundling asylum must have kept you too busy to come and pay a visit to me.”
“It does indeed keep me busy, especially now that the wall has become more damaged than originally thought. I assume you received my letter?”
“Indeed, I did.” Mr. Peyton shook his head. “It’s a terrible business.”
“And that is what brings me to your office.” John looked up as a servant came in carrying tea. Mr. Peyton offered him a cup, but he shook his head.
“I am surprised at the lack of newer donors that forces such restrictions on our spending. It is for this reason that I’ve come to call. To begin with, there were two discrepancies that I could find from the early accounting book.”
Mr. Peyton held up a hand. “Perhaps you would care toexplain to me why you are looking into the early accounting books?”
John had expected the question and was prepared for it. “I wanted to research how the spending had been done in the past to make sure I was continuing to disburse the asylum’s finances in a similar manner, if not improve it.”
“I see. That was a good notion.” Mr. Peyton appeared to accept this, but John detected a new reserve in him, as though he were displeased.
“There are entries which I cannot account for, and some of these are recent in the last months. For one thing, some of the entries on the ledger are listed as capital redirected for mill and housing works. May I ask what this is?”
Mr. Peyton sent him a patronizing look. “Mr. Rowles, were you not hired to see to the affairs of the asylum in its present state? I hardly see why you must look into past entries.” He settled more comfortably in his chair. “The earl is a charitable man. He is building a mill in Manchester, along with housing for the workers, not that it is any of your concern. In the mill’s early stages, the donations were being split between the asylum and the mill as needed.”
John absorbed this surprising information. Did Mr. Peyton think him stupid? One did not invest in one venture and accept that the funds would go to another without being notified of it—unless the donors did know of it at the time of their donation. He decided against questioning the agent too closely for fear of drawing suspicion on himself.
“I see. Perhaps you might enlighten me as to Sir Edward Burbank’s donation of five hundred pounds in the asylum’s early stages? The amount was not redirected, nor was it added to the overall surplus. I did not discover how it was used.”
“That I can easily explain,” he replied. “Sir Edward donated before we had begun meticulous record-keeping. We used themoney in the early setup of the orphanage. There were many expenses at the time, of course.”
“I understand.” John would let that one pass, as well. There were other, more important issues to address.
“However, when we discovered a marble plaque listing the early donors, I saw that the Earl of Hollingsworth had donated seven hundred and fifty pounds, and yet that figure is nowhere to be found unless it is for the anonymous sponsorship of the orphan, Gabriel Smith.”
“Hmph.” Mr. Peyton leaned in with a patronizing look. “Had it not occurred to you that perhaps Lord Hollingsworth might have had personal reasons for doing so.”
“It did, and so I asked him if Gabriel was his.”
Mr. Peyton could not have looked more astonished. “Surely you did not show up at the earl’s residence uninvited? How are you connected with Lord Hollingsworth?”
This John hadnotthought through. Of course, it would seem strange that he—a man who supposedly had no connections nor was even gentleman-born—could approach someone of Lord Hollingsworth’s caliber.
“It was, I admit, under unusual circumstances that we were presented. However, the opportunity was enough for me to ask him the question and explain the reasons for my curiosity.”
Mr. Peyton stared hard at him. “It still seems to me an outrageous thing to do. Are you sure you know your proper position, Mr. Rowles?”
John felt a trickle of sweat roll down his neck. He had to move carefully, for he could not afford to lose his place at the asylum.
“I do know my position. As I said, the circumstances allowed for such frank speech between us. But I do not make it a habit of going about asking members of the peerage if they have any illegitimate children.”
