Page 62 of Lady Audacious
‘He was believed?’ Reuben asked.
‘I couldn’t say. He either scarpered or was killed. Either way, he’s not been seen since then, but his actions left the aristocrat to concentrate his ire on our parents. They intended to move permanently to Fox’s Reach, which is where they were on the day of the accident. I was there too, as were you, Odile. Mama spent a long time in the gardens with you, showing you all the herbs growing there and testing you on their names.’
Odile swallowed. ‘I knew I’d been in those gardens before.’
‘Anyway, our father had been in the village and returned in a great state, saying we must leave at once. The aristocrat had somehow tracked them down to Fox’s Reach and was not about to listen to reason. Father thought it best that we made ourselves scarce, giving the man time to calm down and that…that is how the accident came about.’
There was a deafening silence as Odile and Reuben digested that information. Odile eventually spoke, her voice brittle, and Reuben saw the tears glistening on her long lashes. He ached to comfort her, feeling great sympathy for her emotional turmoil. He very much doubted whether she had thought her parents had poisoned people, albeit unintentionally. Perhaps they had not, and someone copying their ointments had got the balance wrong. That seemed more probable.
‘You did not die,’ Odile said, shaking her head, ‘and yet you made no effort to keep in touch. To reassure a confused, lonely little girl who couldn’t understand what she had done wrong.’
‘You were ill for a long while, and delirious.’
‘Ha! Perhaps you should have rubbed your wretched ointment onto me.’ Odile’s eyes flashed with anger.
‘Frankly I didn’t know what to do to help you. I thought you were beyond help and that you would die too. After you left the sanitorium where your injuries were initially treated, I took you to a friend’s house, a man I could depend upon. I treated you myself with herbs and prayed for a miracle. My prayers were answered, which gave me great joy but also left me with a dilemma. I had to keep a low profile myself, which is why I changed my name. I was engaged to be married at the time. I shared everything that had happened with my future wife. She was both sympathetic and resourceful.’
‘I am sure she was,’ Reuben said, disliking the woman intensely without even having met her.
‘It was she who suggested that I take her name, rather than the other way around. But as I say, we were not married at the time and I couldn’t have you with me, Odile. It was Primrose who found Miss Mackenzie’s establishment. Well, she had been a pupil there herself and knew you would be safe from harm.’
Odile snorted but didn’t respond.
‘The vengeful aristocrat knew of my existence and your innocence would not have prevented him from harming you, if only to avenge himself on my family. I couldn’t take that risk and so I did what I thought was right and instructed Sandwell accordingly.’
‘Fox’s Reach? ’ she asked.
‘Mama and Papa eventually made a great deal of money from the ointments; more than they could spend. And more profit than they ever wanted to make from the misery of others. That is not the people they were,’ he added passionately, pleading with his eyes for Odile to believe him. ‘I took enough to establish myself and invested the residue for you to inherit when you came of age.’
‘I see.’ Odile swallowed, but it was clear to Reuben that she did not see at all. ‘Did it not occur to you that I would much prefer the company of an older brother to help clear the fog in my mind and remind me who I am supposed to be?’
‘More times than I can recall,’ he added, sincerity writ large across his features.
‘You expect me to believe that when you never once came to see me? Not even when I came of age and took possession of Fox’s Reach.’
‘I wanted to; you must believe me.’ He again focused his attention on the floor beneath his feet and Reuben sensed a weakness in him that had made him put his own interests ahead of those of his young sister. Reuben suppressed a disapproving growl, despising the man for his selfishness.
‘The aristocrat whom you have not named and I will not ask you to must have recovered from his grief by now and stopped blaming you,’ Reuben said tersely. ‘There can’t be any continuing danger.’
‘I am now a married man. I have been for ten years.’ Peabody spread his hands and had the grace to look chastised. ‘I have a young family to consider and cannot risk…’
‘In other words, your new family is more important to you than your sister.’ Odile glowered at him. ‘Tell me this much. Who is Albert Brigstock?’
‘Has he bothered you?’
‘Who is he?’ Reuben reiterated.
‘He helped Father with deliveries, that sort of thing.’
‘He was a paid employee?’ Odile asked.
Peabody shrugged. ‘Yes. He knew what our parents did. He had to be trusted in that respect.’
Odile absorbed that information with an abrupt nod. ‘Did I ever have a dog? I have vague recollections…’
‘You did. You adored all animals and chased after them, right from the moment that you could first walk. Mama gave you a puppy. It was in the carriage when…’
‘I see.’ She stood and Reuben sensed the anger radiating from her in suffocating waves.
