An Independent Woman

by Candace Camp

  It could not be true, she cried inside. Her mother could not have had an affair with Trenton Barre. She could not have given herself to that cold, wicked man. She could not have loved him.

  Juliana let out a soft moan. She thought about her childhood. Looking back on it, she could see that even though she had suffered as the poor relation to the family, her circumstances could have been much worse. Their cottage had been large and nicely appointed. And if many of her clothes were hand-me-downs from her cousin Seraphina, at least they were plentiful and richly made. It was unusual for the Barres to have sent her to a finishing school, even if the flighty Seraphina had needed watching over. She had not, after all, been a great deal more of a handful than some of her friends, all of whom were sent there without a relative hanging on.

  Most of all, as Lilith had made clear, the generosity Juliana and her mother had received had not been at her cousin’s hands. Lilith had clearly despised her mother and would have gotten rid of her quickly. Obviously Trenton had been the one who had given them the house, who had provided for them, who had sent Juliana to school.

  And just as clearly, Juliana knew that Trenton Barre would not have done such things simply out of kindness. Consider the way he had treated Nicholas, his own nephew. Trenton Barre had not been moved by charitable instincts; he had never been given to pity.

  She wondered how she could not have seen that fact before.

  She thought back to her childhood, to the visits that Trenton Barre had made to their household. For the first time, she considered how odd it was that it was always Trenton, never her mother’s cousin Lilith, who came to call on them. She could count on her fingers the number of times Lilith had darkened the doorway of their cottage. but Trenton Barre’s visits had been weekly.

  Juliana remembered her mother’s agitation, the way she would sit down, then stand up, going frequently to the window to look out when it was time for him to arrive. She recalled how her mother had always insisted that Juliana look her best for Mr. Barre, with a freshly tied bow in her hair and her best dress on. Her mother, too, had always been careful to look her best—her prettiest dress, her hair done up in attractive curls, color pinched into her lips and cheeks. It was not surprising, certainly; one would expect to put on one’s best front for a benefactor. Still, she could not help but wonder about it now. Had her mother been dressing up because he was their benefactor…or because he was her lover?

  Whenever Trenton came into the house, her mother would whisk Juliana into the parlor, where she was expected to smile and bob a polite curtsey. Juliana remembered those visits well. She had hated them. She had feared and hated Trenton, and it was agony to have to stand there, smiling and answering his questions politely. It had always been a vast relief when, after a few minutes, her mother would nod and tell her to go to her room. Juliana had always run to her room and closed the door, overjoyed to be out of the man’s presence.

  She had never questioned why Trenton had always stayed for so long after she left. Or why her mother told her to stay in her room until Mr. Barre had gone. She had simply been glad not to have to see him again.

  Juliana pressed her hand against her stomach, feeling ill. She felt as if her life had been suddenly turned upside down. Was everything she had thought about her mother a lie? Had she not spent the rest of her life grieving after Juliana’s father? Had she actually lain with so foul a man as Trenton Barre? Had she loved him? Had she been an adulteress, stealing the affections of her cousin’s husband?

  It seemed too horrible to contemplate. Surely Lilith was lying to her. Lilith had clearly been jealous of Diana—and little wonder, given her mother’s sweet, gentle personality and the way it must have contrasted with Lilith’s icy demeanor. Perhaps Lilith had simply been suspicious and jealous without any cause. Perhaps she believed what she had said about Diana and Trenton…but that didn’t necessarily mean that what she thought was true.

  There was one person who would know the truth, Juliana realized, and she fastened onto the thought like a lifeline. Mrs. Cooper, the woman who had kept house for Juliana’s mother from the first day they moved here. She would know what had happened all those years ago. A child might not have realized what was going on when Trenton Barre came to visit, but there was no way a grown woman working in the small cottage, so close to the mistress of the house, would not have known if their frequent visitor was Diana’s lover.

  She would go to see Mrs. Cooper again. She knew, with a sick fluttering in her stomach, that what she learned from the woman might be devastating to her. But Juliana could not go on not knowing. However much it might hurt, she had to discover the truth.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CRANDALL’S FUNERAL WAS the following day. It was far too bright and sunny a day for a funeral, Juliana thought. The cemetery looked not at all gloomy, but a pleasant place of dappled sunlight and shade. Roses climbed against the iron fence at the edge of the churchyard, showering their sweet scent upon the gathering.

  Juliana glanced at the people grouped around the freshly dug grave site. The women were all dressed in black, and the men wore black armbands of mourning. Juliana had made it a point both yesterday and today to check whatever jewelry each person was wearing. The problem, she quickly discovered, was that so soon after the death, no one was wearing anything as festive as rubies. Earrings were uniformly of jet or onyx, and the men’s cuff links and tie pins were of the same ebony shade, or a simple gold or silver. It would be difficult, she knew, to get a chance to look into the others’ jewelry cases.

  On one side of Juliana, Winifred stood, her hands tightly clenched together, staring down at the casket. Across from them, Lilith was ramrod-straight, and, though very pale against the stark black of her dress and hat, her face was composed. Lilith, Juliana thought, would never allow her emotions to overcome her, even for her son.

  The vicar finished his words and said a short prayer; then the casket was lowered into the ground. One by one the members of the family passed by, starting with Lilith, and continued on toward their waiting carriages. Juliana knew it would be the proper thing to do to go to Lilith, to support her as much as the woman would allow, but Juliana simply could not face it today.

  She had slept little the night before, her mind running in the same tracks as it had been ever since Lilith had blurted out the news that Juliana’s mother had had an affair with Lilith’s husband.

  Juliana turned and walked not toward the carriages, but toward the other family graves that lay nearby. Trenton Barre’s grave was next to his son’s, and after that were the other Barres. At the bottom of the family plot, separated from the Barres, was her mother’s grave.

  She stopped in front of the simple headstone and gazed at it for a long moment. She felt Nicholas come up beside her, and he slipped his hand around hers. Juliana glanced up at him, a faint smile touching her lips. Somehow the touch of his hand strengthened her.

  “You are troubled,” he said.

  Juliana looked at him, startled. He smiled at her.

  “I can see it in you. There is something besides Crandall’s death that worries you.”

  Juliana nodded. “I—it—Lilith accused my mother of stealing Trenton from her. She told me they were having an affair.”

  Nicholas stared at her. “What? Do you believe her?”

  “I don’t know why she would lie about something like that. She loved Trenton, and she would not besmirch his name casually, just to upset me. I think that she believes it. But whether it is true…I don’t know. I don’t want to believe it of my mother.”

  She looked up into his face, her eyes filled with distress. Nicholas squeezed her hand.

  “Aunt Lilith is a woman who likes to believe the worst of everyone,” he told her. “She is filled with anger and disdain. The fact that she believes it does not make it so.”

  “I know. I keep telling myself that. But there are things…”

  “What things?”

  “Oddities…about our situation here
at Lychwood Hall. My mother was Lilith’s cousin, no relation to Trenton. Yet clearly it was not Lilith who allowed us to stay here, so it must have been Trenton. And when did you ever know him to act out of kindness?”

  “He took me in although he hated me,” Nicholas pointed out.

  “Yes, but he had to. Your grandfather turned you over to him, made him your guardian. And clearly he hoped that you would die before your grandfather, and he would inherit the estate.”

  “Still, both of them were given to doing what looked good. They would not have wanted their peers to label them parsimonious or ungiving. Turning away Lilith’s cousin and her daughter would have reflected badly on them.”

  “I just wish I could know. I—I thought that Mrs. Cooper might be able to confirm whether Lilith was telling me the truth.”

  “Perhaps she can. You should talk to her before you believe Lilith. I will go with you. Tomorrow afternoon.”

  Juliana smiled up at him, feeling better. Somehow, whatever she found out, it would not seem as bad if Nicholas was with her.

  JULIANA WAS GOING down to supper that evening when she saw that Seraphina’s door was standing open. She glanced in. Seraphina was standing at her dresser, a jewelry box in front of her. She was picking through her jewelry, frowning.

  Juliana’s heart began to beat faster. Quickly she stepped into the room, saying, “Are you going down to supper? I’ll walk with you, shall I?”

  “What?” Seraphina turned toward her distractedly. “Oh. Yes. Sorry, I feel so…strange. As if everything around me is going faster than I.” She shook her head. “Silly, really. I have been standing here trying to find some earbobs I can wear. I own nothing jet, it seems.”

  Juliana walked over to her side, looking down into the jewelry box. “You have so many beautiful jewels.”

  She spotted a red glint among the jumbled-up jewelry, and she reached in to pick it up. It was an earring, a dangle of rubies, but none were missing. Trying not to be obvious, she scanned the box for its mate. Or perhaps a necklace that matched the earrings.

  Seraphina practically snatched the earring from Juliana’s hand. Juliana looked at her, intrigued by the other woman’s reaction. There was a look of…yes, almost fear in Seraphina’s eyes.

  Juliana’s heart thumped wildly in her chest. Could it be that it was Seraphina who had killed her brother? Was that why she was sorting through her jewels, trying to find the ruby that was missing?

  “Those are lovely rubies,” Juliana said, watching Seraphina’s face as she spoke. “Is there a necklace that matches them?”

  “Yes, of course.” The alarm in Seraphina’s eyes intensified.

  “I should love to see it.” Juliana did her best to keep her voice casual, despite the tension that was rising in her.

  “Why? Oh, God, you know, don’t you?” Seraphina raised her hands to her mouth, her eyes growing huge. “How could you know? Oh, please, don’t tell Herbert….”

  “Seraphina…I am sure that there must have been a reason for what you did,” Juliana said, keeping her voice calm as she reached out to lay a hand on Seraphina’s arm. “It won’t go so hard on you if you confess.”

  “No!” Seraphina jerked her arm away, backing away. “I can’t tell him. I can’t! You don’t understand!” Tears welled in her eyes. “How did you know? Did Crandall tell you?”

  “What?” Juliana gaped at her.

  “He promised he would not tell anyone. That is why I paid him!” Seraphina cried.

  “Seraphina…what are you talking about?” Juliana asked, realizing that they were talking at cross purposes. “What did Crandall promise not to tell? Why were you paying him?”

  “You mean you didn’t know?” Seraphina stared at her. “But you—I must be going mad. I thought you realized that the rubies were glass.” She let out a wild little laugh.

  “Glass? You mean they aren’t real?”

  “No. That is the whole problem!” Seraphina wailed. “Sir Herbert will be furious if he finds out. I dread that one day he will look at them closely, that he will realize…”

  “He doesn’t know that they are glass?”

  “Of course not! Oh, what a muddle.” Seraphina plopped down on the chair in front of her vanity and propped her elbows on the table, leaning her head in her hands. “Why did I ever let myself lose so much money?”

  “Gambling?” Juliana seized on the one thread of the conversation that she thought she understood.

  Seraphina nodded. “Yes. At first I kept winning. It was so exciting!” She looked up at Juliana, her eyes sparkling at the memories. “And Crandall knew them. He introduced them to me. I thought they had to be proper people, even if I didn’t know them. I mean, they were simply card games in Mrs. Battle’s house. It wasn’t as if I were going to a gambling hell.”

  “But then you lost money,” Juliana supplied.

  Seraphina sighed. “Yes. Barrels of it. I didn’t see how I could lose so much after I had done so well at first. Sir Herbert says they tricked me—that they let me win in order to catch me in their web.” She looked at Juliana. Tears sparkled on her eyelashes, and she reminded Juliana of a child learning the truth of Father Christmas. “Do you think he’s right?”

  Juliana felt an unexpected twinge of pity for Seraphina. “Yes, I’m afraid he probably is. Mr. Hakebourne was telling us that Crandall did that sort of thing, taking people to ‘friends’ who cheated them at cards.”

  Seraphina nodded, her expression sad. “I wouldn’t have thought he could do that to his own sister. I—we weren’t terribly close, and I know Crandall did things that weren’t nice, but…”

  “It was wicked of him,” Juliana agreed. “He was desperate for money, I think.”

  Seraphina’s expression hardened. “I know. He made me pay him to keep quiet.”

  “Keep quiet about what? Sir Herbert knows about your gambling losses, doesn’t he?”

  “He doesn’t know about the jewels,” Seraphina told her. “I sold them. I couldn’t pay my IOUs, and they wouldn’t allow me to continue to play if I didn’t pay them. This was before Sir Herbert found out. I didn’t know what to do—I had used all my allowance and more. I hadn’t paid the dressmaker or the milliner, because I’d gambled the money for my clothes, too. I was at my wits’ end. I had to keep on playing. It was the only way that I could get my money back, don’t you see? Then Crandall—and it’s so unfair because he is the one who suggested it to me!” Seraphina looked indignant.

  “Suggested what to you? That you sell the jewels?”

  Seraphina nodded. “Yes. Crandall said I could pawn them and use the money to play. And I thought I would win the money back, and then I could get the jewels back. And in the meantime, he said, I could have copies made. It seemed such an easy solution, so I gave them to him—the whole ruby parure. And my pearls. My rings. The sapphire bracelet Herbert gave me as an engagement present.”

  “You pawned all of those?” Juliana asked in awe.

  “Not all at once. Bit by bit. They gave me so little money for them!” Seraphina looked outraged. “And then I could never win anything back. I just kept on losing and losing. Finally Herbert found out about the gambling, and he was so angry with me. He said…” She let out a sigh, looking devastated. “He said he was ashamed of me. I think he wishes he’d never married me. So I couldn’t let him know I’d sold all my jewelry. I don’t know what he would have done if he had known that.”

  “I see.”

  “And then—” Seraphina’s eyes narrowed as she spat out, “Then Crandall started threatening to tell Herbert about my pawning the jewels. He said I had to give him money or he would tell him. It’s so unfair, when he was the one who suggested that I do it in the first place!”

  Juliana could think of nothing to say. Was there nothing that Crandall would not have done? It seemed as though every day she learned worse and worse things about him.

  “He was always making comments—and that was even after I’d paid him. He would compliment me
on my necklace, and I knew he was laughing at me, that he was reminding me of what he knew and how I’d have to pay him. I didn’t have much. Herbert keeps me on a short allowance now, and I had to give Crandall almost all of it. It’s awful, I know, but when we saw Crandall there on the floor, dead, I thought—well, I was glad! I was so relieved that he wouldn’t be able to extort any more money from me.”

  Juliana let out a long sigh. She wondered if Seraphina had any idea how much she had revealed. Clearly Crandall’s sister had good reason for wanting him dead. As long as he was alive, she would live in terror of his revealing the truth to her husband, giving him all her money. His death had released her from a great burden. It was not a long leap from that fact to the realization that perhaps Seraphina had been the one who killed him.

  Still, Juliana could not help but feel sorry for her. Even though Crandall would no longer be able to extort money from her, she was still obviously afraid that her husband would find out what she had done with her jewelry.

  “Seraphina…maybe it would be best if you simply told Sir Herbert what you did. He knows you were desperate for money.”

  “No!” Seraphina’s eyes widened. “I couldn’t. Sir Herbert mustn’t know. The rubies were family heirlooms. So were some of the rings. And many of them were presents from him. He would be horribly angry.”

  “I know he might be angry right now, but don’t you think it would be better in the long run? As it is, you are living in fear that he will discover the truth. And at least he might be able to recover some of the jewelry.”

  “But he would have to pay for it!”

  “Well, yes, he’d have to pay back the money you borrowed, but at least he would still have the family heirlooms. It would be much worse if he learned of it years from now and could no longer recover any of them.”

  However, Seraphina was insistent that she could not tell Sir Herbert the truth, so Juliana gave in and assured her that she would not reveal to him what Seraphina had told her. She did not add that she fully intended to tell Nicholas about her discovery. And if it turned out that it had indeed been Seraphina who murdered Crandall, then everyone would know all about the woman’s troubles, in any case.