'Pay no attention to them, but Brigid, do not visit them, and try not to be alone. I would not trust that man. He is like his son.'
Brigid, despite her fury, had several questions. She did not know which to ask first, then decided Matthew might not know the answers to some of them, so she started with the one he might know.
'What did Colum do in London?'
'Promise me you will not tell anyone, even Sophia, if I tell you? It would upset her, and she is so much better I don't want anything to worry her, perhaps set back her recovery.'
'Of course I won't tell her if you ask me not to, but what is so dreadful?'
'I am telling you as a warning. You may be in danger. Colum is not the ineffectual, overgrown schoolboy he sometimes appears. Do you recall his wanting to challenge the man he said cheated him at cards?'
'Yes. Wasn't he the man whose body was found in St James's Park?' She suddenly realised what he was hinting. 'Matthew! No! It's not possible! You surely can't suspect Colum!'
'I don't just suspect. I found someone who saw him. I told him that, and advised he left straight away for Ireland. His parents do not know, unless he told them himself, but I doubt he would have done so. He'll have made some other excuse for leaving Brighton so suddenly.'
*
Brigid could not sleep that night. She had to believe Matthew, but the thought of her cousin, whom she had considered so ineffectual, murdering a man in cold blood just because he felt he had been cheated, was difficult to accept. Did her aunt and uncle know? And if they did, could they still want her to marry him? If so it was despicable, for they must know she would then be in danger from his temper if anything displeased him. What excuse had he given them for leaving Brighton so suddenly? Matthew had explained how he had spoken to Colum and forced him to depart. Although he had not said so, she suspected it had been to free her from Colum's unwelcome attentions. A sudden tear came into her eyes. He did care for her. She had to be strong in her refusal. It would be wrong for her to give in to his persuasions and allow him to marry her. He would come to regret it in time.
Mindful of his warnings, and suddenly recalling she was going to visit the lady who wanted a companion, she decided to bury her pride and ask him to accompany her. It would not do to depend on the protection of a groom, if she were really in danger. Colum was supposed to have gone to London, but what proof did she have of that?
She encountered Matthew coming out of the breakfast room, and he looked at her in concern.
'Did you not sleep? You look hagged.'
'Thank you for your compliment! Matthew, will you drive me to see this woman? What you said last night has frightened me, and I do not care to drive alone.'
'I'm sorry to have frightened you, but glad you have taken my warning seriously. Of course I will drive you, but not in a wretched gig. We'll go in my curricle. When do you wish to start?'
An hour later they were bowling along leafy country lanes. Matthew chatted about the people he had met in Brighton, the glories of the Pavilion, to which the Prince Regent was once again making changes, and his own plans for his manor house in Yorkshire, where he intended to go at the same time Sophia went back to Oxfordshire. He made no reference to any hope Brigid might be with him, and she was grateful for his forbearance. They seemed to be back on their former friendly footing.
Matthew drew up before the house where the woman Brigid had come to see was staying. It was an exquisite Queen Anne house, not large, but beautifully proportioned. Matthew accepted an invitation to walk about the grounds with the owner, while Brigid was ushered into the drawing room.
An hour later Brigid emerged and climbed into the curricle. She was silent as they drove away, but when they turned out of the driveway she began to giggle.
'What is it?' Matthew asked.
'She had a pug dog,' Brigid said, still giggling. 'It was overweight and smelly, and only stopped yapping when she was feeding it sweetmeats. I would be expected to groom it and take it for walks though how far it could walk, more than from its bed to its food, I can't say!'
'So you declined the position.'
'I was a coward. I told her I had to see someone else tomorrow, which is true, I had a reply to that advertisement this morning, and I would let her know. She was not pleased at the notion I was interviewing her too. Whatever this other position is like, I shall reject this one. I will probably have to apply for a governess's position, or even ask Miss Benson to permit me to teach back in her seminary.'
To her relief Matthew did not comment, and on the way back to Brighton they amused themselves by imagining all the worst conditions Brigid might encounter in her possible new positions.
She went with him to the stables, and they walked back to the Steine. As they entered the house Jameson gave them a look of resignation, and they soon discovered the reason for the butler's expression when they went up to the drawing room. Mrs O'Neill was sitting with Sophia, weeping into a handkerchief, while Sophia stood beside her holding a bottle of smelling salts as though she did not know what to do with it.
*
Chapter 14
'What is the matter?' Brigid asked. 'Aunt Mary, what has happened?'
Much as she despised her aunt, she could not view her distress and not respond to it.
Mrs O'Neill managed to explain in between her sobs.
'Sinead! She's gone to Gretna Green! Oh, the wicked girl, how could she treat us so? To want to marry that penniless creature when she had so many opportunities of doing far better for herself.'
'If he is penniless, they won't get very far,' Matthew said, his tone completely unsympathetic. 'Do you realise how much it would cost to get to Scotland, even if they go by the stage?'
'Mr O'Neill discovered he hired a chaise and four,' Mrs O'Neill said indignantly. 'My Sinead can't travel on the common stage!'
Matthew gave an exasperated sigh.
'Then he can't be penniless.'
'Has anyone gone after them?' Sophia asked. 'What a pity Colum has gone to London, or you might have sent him after them.'
Sophia, Brigid realised, did not know the truth of why Colum had left Brighton. She glanced at Matthew, but he was not looking her way.
'Where was the chaise taking them?' Matthew asked. 'It would be sensible to enquire from where they hired it for news of where they may have gone.'
'That is why I came here.'
By now her sobs had ceased, and she was looking hopefully towards Matthew.
'What do you mean? What can we do?' Sophia asked.
'Mr O'Neill is too old to go chasing after them, so we hoped your husband, and Mr Childe here, would volunteer to go and try to find traces of them.'
Sophia was left gasping at this, while Brigid felt utter shame at her aunt's blatant selfishness. Matthew was unmoved.
'You had best hire someone,' he said. 'Alex and I have better things to do than engage in a wild goose chase for a couple of idiotic children eloping to Scotland, leaving Sophia and Brigid here unprotected. I would not be surprised if this isn't another trick so that you can get Brigid into your toils again.'
Mrs O'Neill was gobbling, unable to speak, and her face grew red with fury. At last she managed to utter.
'How dare you, sir! We have not tried to trick Brigid, but tried to protect her from scandal!'
'Which your son created, probably with your connivance, certainly with the help of your daughter. And you have the impertinence to expect us to help you now.'
Mrs O'Neill struggled to her feet.
'I won't stay here to be insulted!'
'Good,' Matthew replied. 'Permit me to escort you to the door.'
She flounced from the room, and Matthew followed her. Sophia, who had looked rather shocked at his rudeness, collapsed into a chair and absentmindedly sniffed at the vinaigrette. Brigid, though feeling sorry for her aunt's distress, could not help laughing.
'I hope Sinead will get away,' she said as Matthew came back into the room. 'What dreadful parents she has! Ma
tthew, you don't really think that's a plot to get me into their power, do you? It's like one of the gothic novels I'm so fond of reading.'
'I don't know what to believe of that family, but I am not leaving you and Sophia alone. We have only their word for it Colum has left Brighton. He and your uncle are dangerous.'
*
Matthew's concern for the two women extended to escorting them down to the beach on the following morning, when they went to bathe. Sophia was puzzled, and when they returned to the house Brigid hung back while Sophia went up to her room, and dragged Matthew into the morning room.
'We ought to tell Sophia,' she said quietly. 'She knows they tried to compromise me, force me into marrying Colum, but she doesn't think that is so very dreadful.'
'It was abominable!'
'Yes, I agree, but if he were madly in love with me, she says, it would be merely the stupid action of a love-crazed romantic.'
'Could she not tell the boy had no more feelings for you than he had for a dog which was in his way?'
Brigid laughed. 'Thank you for the comparison. Sophia doesn't know how dangerous Colum can be, she won't take the threat seriously.'
'My sister is not a fool, she'll take precautions.'
'Perhaps, but she will think them excessive. And you may not be here all the time, if she wants to go to the library, or for a drive. I may not be able to deflect her without telling her the truth. We cannot expect you and Alex to stay as guard dogs all the time. Does he know the truth, by the way?'
Matthew shook his head.
'No, and I did not wish to alarm Sophia.'
'Isn't it better she knows? She won't be frightened for herself. After all, it's me they want, though I cannot imagine why, when I have made it so plain I detest Colum and do not like any of them any better. I do hope Sinead gets away from them. Jonah seemed a pleasant enough fellow, and if she truly loves him, even if he has no title and not a great deal of money, it could be the making of her.'
Matthew gave her a steady look, then nodded.
'I'll tell them after dinner. It's my belief Jonah and Sinead will have gone to France. After all, it's so much nearer than Scotland.'
'Oh, I do hope they have! It would serve her parents right for being so obnoxious!'
*
'So what can we do now, husband?' Mary O'Neill asked as they ate a solitary dinner. The servants had been dismissed after serving the soup, and the two of them were dining on a simple ragout of lamb.
'I cannot understand why Colum left in such haste. He knows we depend on him. There is not a great deal we can do without him, and in any case, they are now suspicious of us, they will be more on guard,' Mr O'Neill said.
'I'm more concerned about Sinead, where she is, and what will become of her when that Meekins fellow deserts her, as I am sure he will.'
'She's not important. As she has not managed to find a wealthy husband, with all the opportunities we gave her, I wash my hands of her.'
'That's unfair! She did try, but for some reason she did not take. I had hopes of Matthew Childe, but he was so intolerably rude to me, I am glad after all he did not offer.'
'He would not have done. He was too opinionated. Tomorrow, we will set off back home. I have another plan, which I did not want to use, but I am left with no choice.'
'Tomorrow? Must we leave in such a hurry?'
'Yes, if I am to pull this off. Have our baggage packed so that we can set off early. I've ordered a carriage. We'll stop one night in London, and I may find a trace of Colum, then we'll travel on and perhaps meet up with him on the way.'
'Yes, he's bound to go home. But after all our planning, to go home with nothing is so disappointing.'
'It will not be nothing, I promise you. It will simply take a little longer to deal with. And you know, it may be more pleasant if we do not have that wretched girl with us all the time. She would have made us uncomfortable. It could be a blessing it has turned out as it has.'
'Except for my Sinead.'
*
They were all quiet at dinner that evening. Brigid and Matthew were thinking of what they had to tell the Langstons, and Sophia was still shocked at the scene with Mrs O'Neill that afternoon. Alex and Matthew stayed for just one glass of port after the ladies had retired, and Matthew hinted he had something important he wished to say.
'If you will excuse me, Alex, I would prefer to say it to both of you at the same time.'
'Both? Do you mean Brigid knows?'
'Yes, so shall we go up to join them now?'
He explained what had happened to Charles Twyford, how his stabbed body had been found in the canal in St James's Park, and his suspicions.
'I found the woman he'd been going to see. Though to be more accurate, she found me. She had seen the attack and recognised who killed him.'
'Colum O'Neill?' Alex exclaimed. 'Do you mean he murdered Twyford?'
'He admitted it. I spoke to him as soon as I came down to Brighton. I advised him to put himself out of the reach of the law, either in France or Ireland. He should be safe in either place. I didn't want Brigid to have to see her cousin publicly disgraced and hanged. That is why he has disappeared. However, I cannot be sure he has left Brighton, or is not lying low somewhere in the town.'
'That boy! A cold-blooded murderer!' Sophia whispered.
'Quite ruthless. I'm sure his parents don't know the truth, but they are equally ruthless. They would probably approve that he disposed of a problem so neatly.'
'You told Brigid?' Sophia asked.
'I needed to warn her. I was terrified when she was missing. I imagined all sorts of dreadful fates had overtaken her, not simply an uncomfortable night in a filthy alehouse.'
Brigid shuddered at the memory.
'Thank goodness it was nothing worse,' she said, 'and you came galloping to the rescue. I'm sure my uncle was furious to see you. He'd spent most of the time since he came and found us telling me I had no option but to marry Colum, and threatening to force me if I refused.'
Alex was looking grim.
'You are under my protection, Brigid. Tomorrow I am going to hire a man I know here, a former pugilist, and neither you nor Sophia are to move from this house without him. Not even when one of us is with you.'
Sophia gave an uncertain laugh.
'But here, in Brighton, where there are always people around, what could they do?'
'It would not take a moment to haul you into a closed carriage. If they chose their moment wisely, when there were not many people about, and perhaps created some disturbance to distract attention, they could do it. That's how I would,' Matthew said.
'I never knew my little brother had such a devious mind,' Sophia said.
'Perhaps that is what comes of fighting under Wellington! He could be devious at times.'
*
On the following day Matthew made it his business to enquire at the house the O'Neills had hired, and found there an indignant owner.
'They left at dawn today, without giving notice, and owning me a month's rent!' he complained. 'I don't know how to contact them, the only address I had was somewhere in London, which was probably a rented house too.'
'The agent there would be able to tell you their address,' Matthew said, not really sympathetic with someone who rented out property without obtaining both the rent in advance and a deposit against breakages. 'All I know is that they live near Dublin.'
'It would cost me more to chase them,' the man said gloomily, 'but I'll know better another time. What was it you wanted with them?'
'It wasn't important, and if they have really gone there's nothing I can do about it.'
Matthew wondered whether they had gone in pursuit of Sinead, and were now on their way to Scotland. Somehow he doubted it. They would not care about a mere daughter.
He did not, however, relax his vigilance with Sophia and Brigid. Alex had hired his pugilist, a man in his forties who was over six feet tall, and had impressive muscles. He was still fighting fit, he assured
them, and ready to take on any fool who thought to injure his ladies.
Sophia protested she felt conspicuous walking about town with Samuel following two paces behind, or driving in the barouche with Samuel riding a large stallion alongside, which kept inserting its nose into the carriage and dribbling all over her gowns.
Alex merely laughed, which annoyed Sophia even more.
'Put something over your gowns,' he advised. 'I can't always be with you, but you can at least catch the dribbles. It's not as though the brute is trying to eat you.'
'He tried to snatch the feathers on my hat yesterday,' she said. 'Fortunately Brigid saw what he was doing in time, and batted him on the nose.'
Brigid giggled. 'He looked so offended,' she said. 'I felt obliged to apologise to the beast.'
'I won't be wearing any hats with feathers or flowers or greenery he might take a fancy to,' Sophia said, but she had to laugh. 'It was so idiotic! And poor Samuel was mortified.'
'Do it for me,' Alex said. 'Until we are sure all the O'Neills are safely back in Dublin, I mean to protect you.'
*
On the following day Brigid and Sophia, accompanied by Matthew and with Samuel walking along a couple of paces behind, were strolling along the sea front when they were hailed by the O'Keefs.
'We were wondering when we might see you again,' Cecilia exclaimed. 'Do you remain in Brighton much longer?'
'A few more weeks,' Sophia replied. 'How are the poems and the novel progressing?'
'Not well at all. We think we may have to go back to Ireland soon, and try to find a cottage there. When do you return, Miss O'Neill?'
'I have never been to Ireland,' Brigid replied. 'I am hoping to gain a position as a companion or governess soon.'
'But why? Surely you have no need to earn your own living? Your grandfather was wealthy.'
'He may have been,' Brigid replied, annoyed at this airing of her personal affairs by virtual strangers, 'but he did not leave his fortune to me.'
Patrick O'Keef stared at her in astonishment.
'But he did! Everything! I know my father, who drew up his will, was surprised, but the old man - I beg your pardon - your grandfather, had just quarrelled with his younger son, and he said he didn't know anything against you, so would leave you all he had.'
The Irish Bride Page 14
