by Abigail Agar
“Is that a threat to kill me? Are you really trying to suggest that you are going to bring about my death?” Doyle asked, a laugh in his voice. He could not believe this any longer. It was just too much for him to know what to do anymore.
If George would not leave, what was he supposed to do? At this point, George was simply mocking them, laughing about how he hated everything which Doyle and Miss Blackwell most respected. He was everything Doyle detested in a man and he couldn’t quite figure out how to just get George to go.
“Mr. Sinclair,” Miss Blackwell began, “do you not think it would be wise to put an end to this?”
“I will go when I have finished saying everything I wish to say. I still have not told you that I get headaches from this musty place. Who likes the smell of books? When I hear customers say that I think they are the greatest fools in existence. Surely you must agree with me, Miss Blackwell,” he said.
Miss Blackwell’s mouth dropped open in horror and offense, as if this were the most ridiculous thing George had said so far.
“George! Get out!” Doyle finally shouted, having had enough. He took a threatening step forward and George stepped back, looking between the two of them as if he really understood now that he was in trouble.
He glanced around the room and turned, as if he were truly going to leave.
But he paused in his step at the door and turned back to them once more.
“Oh, and by the way, Mr. Brooks, there is one more thing about which you ought to be aware,” he said, with the door wide open.
“And what is that?” Doyle asked through clenched teeth.
“Recall the damage which was done to the shop during the riots? I was the one who threw the rocks in the windows. It gave me great satisfaction to do so. You are more than welcome, Mr. Brooks, for the new windows you were able to get as a result of my work. I am, really, quite proud,” he said.
With that, George turned again and stepped out the door and into the street.
For a brief moment, Doyle was simply glad that George was gone. But then, he saw a constable just outside. The door was not yet closed, and Doyle and Miss Blackwell watched as the constable stopped George at once.
“Excuse me, young man, what did you just say?” the constable asked.
“Hmm?” George asked.
“Did you just confess to being a part of the riots? Were you one of the lads responsible for the damage done to our streets?”
“Me? No! No, no, no, no, no, you are mistaken,” George insisted, desperately.
“I just heard you accept responsibility, saying you were quite proud,” the constable said.
“You misheard me. I was not referencing the riots. No, I was talking about…about windows,” he said.
“What about the windows?” the constable pressed, taking a step towards George.
“Just that Mr. Brooks has very lovely new ones as a result of those terrible riots,” George said.
“He is lying, constable. We just heard him. He was very proud of having destroyed the windows here at Brooks Books,” Miss Blackwell said.
“Yes, that is what I thought I heard,” the constable said.
“He did, indeed. You heard him and whatever he says now, it is too late for him to take back what he has already confessed, is it not?” Doyle asked.
“Certainly. Come along now, lad. We must go to the station. I believe you have more than a few things to answer for,” the constable told George, coming near to take hold of him.
“No! You are wrong! Do not listen to Mr. Brooks, he is a madman! I swear, I had nothing to do with the riots! Honestly, it is all a misunderstanding. I am angry at him and I only said that to frustrate him. It means nothing,” he said.
“First you tell me that I misheard you and now you are saying it was all just a trick to pull over on your employer? I do think that you are quite a confused young man. Come now, it is best we go and discuss this at the precinct.”
George pulled away before the constable could get a hold of him. He was fast, but Doyle was fast as well, rushing behind George to block his escape from the constable. There was nothing he could do. He was stuck.
“Get away from me!” he shouted.
The constable blew a whistle, and two others came running. The three of them had quickly surrounded George, and Doyle was able to pull back and retreat into the shop as George continued shouting.
“You are wrong! It is not what you think! I was simply trying to get arise out of him. He is a dreadful employer and that is all there is to it!” he shouted.
“Enough! Get him down to the precinct. This man is absolutely insane,” the constable said.
Doyle was stunned by all that was taking place. He had arrived at the shop just a little while before, hoping to clear his own name with Miss Blackwell. Instead, this whole ordeal had taken place and George was revealed to be a madman with no morals at all.
Whatever had taken place to cause this, Doyle was simply relieved that he and Miss Blackwell were still at peace and that they now understood one another. Trust may have been broken, but he hoped that it could now be rebuilt.
“We will see to it that he is dealt with. If he has any money at all, you shall be repaid for the windows,” the constable told Doyle.
“No, please. His mother is ill, and the family needs that money. George may be troubled, and I hope that I never see him again, but as he will no longer be working, please allow his family to keep the money he has earned thus far,” Doyle said.
“Very well, Mr. Brooks. I do wish the best for you and the shop. Maybe I will come by and get a copy of that new book you have been advertising,” the constable said.
“You are a fan of reading?” Doyle asked.
“Most definitely. And I do my rounds over this way and keep looking at the flyers. It sounds like quite a read. Anyway, thank you for helping us catch this man. All the best!” he shouted before running off with the others to get George to the precinct.
Doyle stood and watched, aware of the presence of Miss Blackwell beside him.
“Well, do you trust me now?” he asked.
Chapter 36
Completely astonished that all of this had happened in such a short time, Pippa noted the contrast of silence now that she was once again alone with Mr. Brooks in his shop. They looked at one another and then back into the street, as if they could neither comprehend nor be glad for what had just taken place.
“Well, that was bracing,” Mr. Brooks said.
“Indeed, it was. I have never known a man to be so angry. Do you really think that he is going to be all right? I mean, obviously he is completely mad, but I still hope that he is able to get through this troubling season in which he finds himself,” she replied.
“I honestly do not know. If you had told me that George Sinclair would respond in this way, that he was this sort of man, just a week ago, I would have told you that you were full of nonsense.”
“Indeed, he has been bothering me a great deal lately, but I did not anticipate this. I was not aware that he was so…that he was like this,” Pippa said, not knowing quite what else to say.
“I always believed that George was a good man. I thought his charm and attention with young ladies was a tribute to his decent character, but as it happens, he was hiding something else underneath it all along.”
“Yes, well, that is all there is to it,” she sighed.
Mr. Brooks led her back inside and, suddenly, they were at a loss for what to say or do.
Pippa wondered if she ought to leave. Maybe he wanted her to go so that he could pick up the remains of his shop’s dignity? Maybe he wanted her to leave so that they did not have to discuss their very strange confessions under the unique circumstances of that morning?
But Mr. Brooks gestured for her to sit and Pippa did so, thinking that it was probably the best idea.
She was certainly nervous, but also quite eager to know what he wanted to say. They had already shared so much through the conversation whi
ch had involved George, but if Mr. Brooks truly did care for her, maybe he would share it now in these more settled moments.
“Miss Blackwell allow me again to apologise for my earlier behavior. I know that you probably do not trust me, and I cannot blame you for that. Indeed, I made a terrible error in judgment, as we have already discussed. I was wrong. I hurt you and I was foolish,” he said.
“I understand,” she told him, but he held up a hand to stop her.
“No, I need to say a few more things,” he said, looking at her with pleading eyes.
Pippa nodded, relenting to listen to him.
“If I had been a more honest man, you would not have ended up in this situation. You would not have had to worry about George and his strange behaviour. You would not have had to hear my reasoning or evidence of my character. It is my own fault that you did not trust me, and for that, I am terribly sorry,” he said.
She nodded, still not saying a word until she knew that he was finished.
“But you ought to know that I meant the other things I said as well. Not only can you trust me, but you should also know that it breaks my heart that I have hurt you because the truth is that I love you deeply. You mean more to me than anything in all the world, Miss Blackwell,” he said.
She smiled at him with tears blooming in her eyes. He loved her. He had said it, but now, he was saying it in a time when Pippa truly trusted him and believed that he wanted what was best for her.
“I love you and I can only ever hope that you will give me the chance to prove that you are everything to me. My heart beats with a thousand words for you, but none of them are adequate. There is no adjective which can encompass the vastness of my affection.”
“Oh, Mr. Brooks,” she said, crying and trying to maintain her composure.
“I know that your mother and father will not approve of it. I know that you have only just been convinced that you may trust me. I know that there is no reason anyone should expect us to be together and that you may not even hope for it, but I need you to know that I care for you beyond the telling of it,” he said passionately.
“Mr. Brooks, you must hear me out,” she said, jumping in, unable to stop herself.
“Miss Blackwell, if you are wanting to tell me that I am a fool and that I must stop telling you these things, I ask you to say nothing. Just go and let me wallow. I cannot bear to hear from you that you want anything other than love and a future with me. If I should suffer but a moment’s rejection from you, it shall be as a lifetime,” he professed.
Pippa had never heard something so heartbreaking, but she was delighted that she would not have to break the heart of this man who had become her greatest love.
“I would never say such a cruelty, Mr. Brooks,” Pippa promised.
“Y-you would not?”
“No. Never. I could not lie to you like that. The truth is vastly different,” she said.
“It is? Then what is the truth, Miss Blackwell? What is it that you feel in your heart? Please, I must know it. I must know the truth,” he said eagerly.
“The truth is that I love you far beyond anything I ever imagined. I did not know that love could be so beautiful. I did not know that it could be as fickle and mysterious as it is stunning and magnificent,” she told him.
“Indeed, it is all of those things,” Mr. Brooks agreed.
“The novels we read show us a sweeping romance, but it is not like that.”
“No? Then what is it like?” he asked.
“It is…mellow.”
“Mellow?”
“Indeed,” she said. “It is the roots of a tree on an island in the middle of a storm. All around it, the wind blows and the waves crash, but those roots are buried deep under the ground and they steady the tree, make it firm and rooted strong. Even if the tree is blown about, those roots dig into the earth. They are peace. They are strength. They are home.”
“Home,” Mr. Brooks repeated.
“That is what love is like,” Pippa explained.
Their eyes locked and, for a moment, Pippa expected him to kiss her. But Mr. Brooks did not move. He simply gazed upon her, lovingly and with the sweetest, most delirious expression on his face.
“You are remarkable,” he said.
“How so?”
“You have let go of everything which happened between us and now this is how you describe the love you feel for me?” he asked.
“Of course it is, Mr. Brooks. It is the truth. This is precisely how I feel about it. I am sorry that I did not trust you before. I know that you had bad intentions to begin with, but I ought to have known that you had remedied the matter. I know you better than this. I know you well enough to know that you are a good man in every sense of the word and you would do nothing to intentionally hurt me,” she said.
“On that account, you are correct,” he said.
“Therefore, I can only apologise for my unbelief. I was wrong for thinking the worst. You are such…well, as I have already explained, I cannot even begin to tell you what I think of you. Every wonderful, positive word you can imagine, I attribute it to you. But in this moment, as we stand here and try to understand what it is that we have just overcome, I want you to know that my love for you is unceasing and that whatever distrust I formerly had is now gone,” she said.
“Thank you for that, Miss Blackwell. I am entirely grateful for your kindness,” he said. “I promise you that I am going to do everything within my power to remedy whatever still must be repaired between us. Although I am very glad you have learned to trust me, I never want you to have another reason to struggle with that.”
“And I do not expect that I shall. You are a good man and I know that,” she said.
Pippa really did know it. She wished that her mother and father were the sort of people who would be able to see it. There was no chance now that Pippa was ever going to marry a baron or whomever else her mother and father tried to insist upon. She knew whom it was that she loved and she would not be swayed otherwise.
No matter how hard they may try, she had made her decision. If Mr. Brooks would have her, she would be his wife. But if they tried to come up against her during this decision, Pippa would have no choice other than to take a step back and allow them to live in their fury. She would let go of them if that were what it took to live happily with Mr. Brooks.
Of course, he had not yet proposed. She was beginning to wonder if he had any intention to. After all, this would have been the perfect moment. Pippa wished for nothing more than to see him drop to his knee and pull out a ring and ask her to be his wife, but he was showing no signs of that intention and it was painful for her to accept.
Still, they had professed their affection and love for one another. Maybe the was enough for now? Maybe Mr. Brooks had other plans which would enable them to receive the approval of her mother and father first, before they were to become engaged and married?
“Miss Blackwell, I know that we have already had quite a long day and it has been only…” he looked outside to judge the sun in the sky, “only about an hour since we met here. Maybe a little bit longer. However, I do hope that you are able to come on the proper night when the book is released. I have a very big surprise for you that evening,” he said.
