Stranger at the Dower House (Strangers Book 1)

by Mary Kingswood

  “No, no, no! I am not in earnest, I assure you. I could never live in poverty, not even to please Laurence.”

  Laurence laughed and said, “Vi, you will have to get used to the way we tease each other.”

  “Oh, thank goodness! Such a sum! How wonderful! Pray forgive me for saying you were expensive, Mrs Middlehope. I had not the least idea.”

  “I shall only forgive you if you call me Louisa.”

  “Oh! Oh, how kind you are, dear Louisa. Goodness me, six thousand a year! And Laurence’s income, too. Why, think how comfortable we shall all be. Perhaps I shall buy a new bonnet for the wedding. Dear Lucy will make me something suitable. You are not planning to rush off and get a licence, or anything so precipitate?”

  Louisa smiled at her. “I promise we shall not marry until Miss Cokely has made you a bonnet.”

  “Oh good, for I should like to do you credit. It is not every day that one acquires a new sister. Shall we have some tea now? I am sure you are ready for a cup. Laurence, dear, will you ring the bell?”

  ~~~~~

  Laurence enjoyed dinner that evening. Edgerton made an eloquent little speech wishing the betrothed couple a long and happy life. There was champagne, followed by his finest claret in honour of the occasion. He need not conserve his supplies any longer, for he could afford to fill his cellar again. Best of all, he had the pleasure of Louisa sitting beside him, and for once he was permitted to devote all his attention to her without Viola glowering at him.

  Captain Edgerton and Mr Chandry were full of amusing anecdotes, the captain managing to raise the occasional smile from Viola and Henrietta blushing furiously under Chandry’s gallantry. Laurence could only hope his daughter was sensible enough not to have her head turned by the attention. He would not be entirely sorry to see Edgerton and his friends leave, amusing as they were.

  When the ladies and Edward had withdrawn, Edgerton produced a slip of paper.

  “Your estimable future wife has compiled this list of possible murderers for us, Gage. All the single men of the district are listed there. However, we may safely exclude the farmers and the like. Miss Labett has told us clearly that she was to marry a great man with a fine house, and there are not many who fulfil those criteria. Here, what do you make of it?”

  He looked at the list, in Louisa’s neat handwriting.

  ‘Lord Saxby betrothed

  John Winslade

  Luke Winslade in India

  Roland Beasley

  Zachariah Gage

  Kenneth Gage in prison

  John Brownsmith from the Boar’s Head

  Several Vale brothers from the farm

  Harry Smallwood (the smith before Thomas Preece)’

  “Great-uncle Zachariah! Good Lord, but he was an old man and had not two beans to his name, let alone a fine house or unimaginable wealth. He came into a tidy inheritance later, but he was pretty well destitute at the time. Roland Beasley? His house is modest, and he did not even have it, then. It was his aunt’s. And if we exclude the innkeeper, the farmers and the smith… we are left with… Winslade. That seems unlikely.”

  “What about Lord Saxby?” Edgerton said. “He was betrothed but Miss Labett might have thought he would throw over the lady.”

  “He would never have done so,” Laurence said. “No gentleman ever would, and Miss Labett had mingled with the gentry for long enough to understand that. I never particularly liked Saxby, but he was very conscious of his position and the honour of the family name. Besides, he was not the type to plot a murder, I should have said. He was hot-headed and impulsive, so I can imagine him lashing out in a rage, but this was more carefully contrived. Nor do I see Winslade as a murderer, to be frank. Or Beasley, either, come to that.”

  “There I can only agree with you,” Edgerton said. “Having seen both Winslade and Beasley with Miss Labett’s remains, and their perfect ease in talking of her and examining her, without the least consciousness, it is inconceivable that either of them might have been responsible for her death. I should very much like it to have been Saxby, if only because the fellow is dead, which would spare everyone a great deal of unpleasantness, but I cannot see it.”

  “The letter did not actually mention marriage,” Chandry said. “She only said that she would be in a position of great wealth. Is it possible that she was Saxby’s mistress?”

  “That is an interesting thought,” Edgerton said. “Was he likely to take a mistress, Gage?”

  Laurence frowned, considering. “I would not have said so, for he was careful with his money and the expense would have been high, but who can say? He was some years older than I, so I did not know him well at that time. My father always said that he was wild in his younger days, but that marriage had settled him. Even if it were so, why would he kill his mistress? Why would anyone do so? If she were angling for marriage and he was reluctant, I can perhaps see him becoming embroiled in a violent quarrel, but if she were willing to be his mistress, there would be no need to kill her.”

  Edgerton heaved a frustrated sigh. “You are right, of course. Murder is such an extreme response that tiring of a lover is hardly sufficient cause. It is a mystery. Shall we join the ladies? Perhaps your delectable betrothed may be persuaded to join us in a rubber of whist.”

  ~~~~~

  Louisa saw Laurence every day, and now it was not merely hoped-for accidental meetings but by arrangement. They walked with the dogs, rode together, received the congratulations of their neighbours side by side, and dined together, either at the Grove or at the Dower House. Laurence took her round the upper rooms of the Grove to choose a bedroom, and Viola showed her all the formal rooms and the domestic offices. Chambers inspected his future domain, and deemed it worthy. He and Mrs Rogers eyed each other warily, but Louisa sat them down and drew up a list of responsibilities to prevent hostilities.

  “Shall we go and see Truman about the banns?” Laurence said one day as they sat in the secret arbour, the younger dogs racing each other through the undergrowth while Ian sat beside them. “Or would you prefer me to obtain a licence? There is no need to wait, is there?”

  Louisa exhaled slowly. “Well… I shall have to go north to retrieve my books first. I cannot settle without them, and Pamela and Thomas have made a complete muddle of the library at Roseacre, and cannot tell what is mine.”

  “We could marry first and make it part of our honeymoon trip, if you like.”

  “If you do not object violently, I think this is something I have to do alone. I must make my peace with Pamela and convince her, if I can, that I am not grieving excessively over Ned or my non-existent children, and if I cannot do that, I shall have to learn to accept her ways, trying as I find them. If you are with me, it will be all too easy to hide behind you and not address the problem head on. Do you see? But I shall only be gone for a little while. A week, or two at most. Then, when I have all my books, we can think about a wedding.”

  He smiled and gently brushed her cheek with one finger, so that she smiled in pleasure at his touch. “It shall be just as you wish, my precious love.”

  Before she could leave, however, it was necessary to accompany Viola to Miss Cokely’s to order a wedding bonnet.

  “You have such an eye for styles, Louisa,” Viola said. “I can never tell what would suit me, and then I feel obliged to buy something dear for poor Lucy’s sake. Will you help me choose?”

  Naturally, such an appeal could not be refused, so to Miss Cokely’s they went. For a good half an hour, the three ladies set about their appointed task with the seriousness it deserved. Once the style had been agreed upon, however, and the more frivolous matters of ribbons and frills and decorative touches were all that remained, the conversation turned in other directions.

  “Is there any news about poor Miss Labett?” Miss Cokely said. “Is there any suspicion as to who may have murdered the unfortunate woman?”

  “None at all,” Viola said at once. “It is the most shocking thing, for she claimed that she was to m
arry a wealthy man with a fine house, but no one of that nature would conceivably kill her, would they?”

  Louisa was struck with a sudden thought. “You must remember her, Miss Cokely. You were in the village at the time.”

  “Oh yes! I remember her quite well, for she was the last governess here for quite some time… until the girls at the Hall began to grow up.”

  “Can you think of any bachelors in the neighbourhood that we might have forgotten? We have only Squire Winslade, Mr Beasley and Lord Saxby who fit the picture of a wealthy man of property.”

  “No… I cannot think of anyone else, and none of them— Well, Thomas Saxby had a temper, but he would hardly murder anyone.”

  “And he was betrothed,” Viola put in. “Miss Labett disappeared not two days before his betrothal party.”

  “Was the betrothal a sudden affair?” Louisa said. “Might he have dallied with Miss Labett and then seized the opportunity to drop her for an advantageous match?”

  “Oh, no,” Miss Cokely said. “The marriage had been under discussion for almost a year, and he was very set on it. The Makenhams are a most respectable family, you know…an earl, in fact.”

  “A marquess now,” Viola said. “Henrietta Makenham was a great heiress, too, so it was a very good match altogether. Lucy, do you think this is too dark a green?”

  Louisa, losing interest in ribbons, wandered over to Mrs Cokely at her usual seat in the window. “Good day to you, Mrs Cokely. You are well, I trust?”

  “Mr Birch’s boy went past at eleven minutes past twelve, taking the meat to Mr Exton.” She tapped the clock on the table beside her with her pencil.

  “I still have not met Mr Exton,” Louisa mused. “One of two people I have a great interest in knowing, but since the other is dead, I must rest my hopes in Mr Exton.”

  Mrs Cokely withdrew her gaze from the window to look directly at Louisa. “Dead but not forgotten. He troubles us still, Thomas Saxby.”

  “What was he like?” Louisa said, thrilled by this sudden lucidity.

  “Bad man,” she said. “Money… he was only interested in the money. Took him months to convince the earl. So strait-laced, the Makenhams and they saw through him. He would have done anything to get his hands on that money. Ha!” Her head snapped back to the window. “Birch’s boy is back again. Three minutes before the half hour.” She tapped the clock again, then made a note in the book beside her.

  “What would he have done?” Louisa said anxiously, but the moment had passed.

  “Birch’s boy returned at three minutes before half past twelve.” Tap.

  “Tell me more about Lord Saxby.”

  “Birch’s boy went past at eleven minutes past twelve.” Tap.

  Louisa gave it up.

  She was almost home, Viola chatting merrily at her side, before she understood. “He would have done anything to get his hands on that money,” she said, stopping dead.

  “Louisa, dear? Are you all right?”

  “I must find Captain Edgerton. At once!”

  30: A Promise For The Future

  It was a full hour before Captain Edgerton returned from a ride, and Louisa paced about the Grove library the whole time, while Viola twittered anxiously. Laurence, more amused than concerned, plied her with sherry and macaroons.

  Eventually the captain and Mr Chandry arrived, coming straight from the stables.

  “Skeates tells us that Mrs Middlehope is in agitation, and we cannot have that,” the captain said, bowing to her. “Pray tell us what we may do to help.”

  “It was Lord Saxby!” she cried. “Because of his engagement to Henrietta Makenham and her fortune. He would have done anything for that money, according to Mrs Cokely. She says he was a bad man. It must have been him.”

  “But he was betrothed, so—” Mr Chandry began, but Louisa waved that aside.

  “Yes, yes, but Miss Labett threatened his marriage. He killed her so that she would not interfere with his plans.”

  Captain Edgerton accepted a glass of sherry and said thoughtfully, “So you think he got tangled up with Miss Labett, and then he wanted to marry Miss Makenham so he… killed the governess?”

  “No, the marriage was in his mind for almost a year. Her family were against it seemingly, but he managed to convince them in the end and there was to be a big party to celebrate the betrothal. Dorothea Labett and her child would have interfered with that. She put him under pressure and he killed her.”

  “Why not simply pay her off?” Laurence said. “Reprehensible as it is, there are many men who behave in such a way and then shuffle the girl off to a cottage somewhere with an annuity.”

  “I think she was ambitious,” Louisa said. “We know from her previous behaviour that she was set on getting a rich husband for herself. She knew that Lord Saxby would never agree to that, so she set herself to embarrass him. Would that have worked? Would a pregnant governess have destroyed his marriage?”

  “Possibly, but what would that achieve?” Captain Edgerton said. “How could she—”

  “Blackmail!” Viola said abruptly, then went pink as they all turned to her in surprise. “She was a devious little madam, and she probably cared less for the man than his money. If she could get that another way, she would have. And Thomas would never have given in to that. There would have been no end to her demands, and the constant risk of a scandal, threatening his income from his wife’s money. It was all in trust, you know, and the trustees could have turned off the tap at any moment. He loved his money, and I have no idea what he spent it on, for he was never extravagant.”

  “Blackmail… yes, that makes sense,” Captain Edgerton said slowly. “And that is a relief, for the fellow is dead and we need not drag a baron through the ignominy of the Assizes.”

  “But disappointing that you will not now need to deploy your pistols or sword,” Louisa said, smiling.

  “That is indeed a disappointment,” the captain said solemnly. “One always expects a murder case to reach a spectacular conclusion, with the miscreant cornered and fighting for his very life. It is rather like having the generals lining up their armies for a battle, and then deciding to turn round and go home. Still, no doubt it is all for the best that the culprit is no longer with us. In fact, since we can prove none of it, we may legitimately tell the world that the murder cannot be resolved after so many years. There is no need to distress the Saxby family with any of this, but I think we may set the case to rest now. Excellent work, ladies. If ever you want employment as crime-solvers, do let me know.”

  “Oh, no, Captain! No, no, no!” Viola cried, taking him seriously. “I hope I never encounter another murder ever again. It has all been most disagreeable. Most disagreeable!”

  But her eyes sparkled with pleasure as she spoke.

  ~~~~~

  ‘Bath, 10th August. My dear Gage, I have excellent news from the front to report, for the enemy is routed at all points and the field is ours, or yours, I should say. The magistrates have been most obliging, and the false Mrs Haywood and her devious friends have fled in the night before they were arrested, taking little more than the clothes they stood up in. They seem not to have had the foresight to provide themselves with easily portable funds in case of such an eventuality, having accumulated all their unspent ill-gotten wealth in the High Street Bank against the day when your daughter marries and claims her inheritance in full. You are now the proud owner of a rather good house, fully furnished and supplied with six servants, and the sum of twenty-two thousand four hundred pounds. I congratulate you, sir. May I thank you for allowing me the very great privilege of acting on your behalf in this matter. I cannot remember when I have last enjoyed myself so much. Your very grateful servant, Pettigrew Willerton-Forbes. Post Script ~ I am delighted to hear that the matter of Miss Labett’s death has been resolved to the satisfaction of the good captain, but I regret to inform you that he is fully determined on discovering the fate of Miss Dilys Hughes next, so you will have to suffer our company for a while lon
ger.’

  ~~~~~

  The day before Louisa’s departure for the north, Laurence was to dine alone with her for the first time. He arrived well before the appointed time, bearing a bottle of claret in one hand and Cognac in the other. He had expected the house to be in uproar with a whirlwind of packing going on, but he found her stretched out on the chaise longue in her study, book in hand.

  “Are you not supposed to be panicking?” he said, between kisses. “Or at the very least, rushing about looking harassed.”

  “That sounds too exhausting for words. Marie is packing, and what else is to be done? Thank you for lending me your travelling carriage, and your coachman, too. Sarah and I will be most comfortable in it.”

  “Sarah? You are not taking Marie?”

  Louisa shook her head, the curls on either side of her forehead bobbing in a manner he found adorable. “Marie had the most dreadful journey south, and I will not inflict that on her again, poor girl. All the way to Durham and back in that carriage of yours would bring her to death’s door, and she is far too good with my clothes to risk it. Will your people keep an eye on her? And the others, too?”

  “Of course, but will you truly be away for two weeks?” he said, aware that his voice had grown wistful. “How shall I manage?”

  She smiled and stroked his cheek gently. “It cannot be done in much less. Four days each way, and I do not know how long it will take to sort out these books. But it is the last tie with Roseacre, and once that is severed I shall be free of it. I do not think Pamela will descend upon the Grove as readily as she descended upon me here. I must hope so, anyway.”

  “She is not quite the monster you like to portray her as, I feel,” he said gently.

  “A monster? Oh no! Just an irritant, like a persistently buzzing fly. Poor Pamela! I am so hard on her, I know. She means it for the best, and the fault is mine, I am fully aware, so I intend to make my peace with her once and for all. Whenever she rubs me the wrong way, I shall remember that I have you waiting for me at home, and smile benignly at her. I suspect a great deal of her anxiety on my account is guilt. She feels that Roseacre and the title should have been mine, and that she has wronged me somehow. Once she accepts that I am perfectly happy without those things and learns how to manage as a baroness, she will be a great deal less irritating.”