by Dilly Court
George pulled up a chair for Essie and one for himself, and Sadie perched on a stool.
‘What did you mean when you said you know the name of the person who did this, Mrs Grimes?’ Essie said gently. ‘Was it a deliberate act of arson?’
‘It were Smeaton, miss. He must have hid in the still room. He bided his time and then when we was all abed he set the fire going.’
‘How do you know this?’ George eyed her doubtfully. ‘He surely didn’t stay around to watch the flames take hold.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong, master. Smeaton was drunk. He’d taken a keg of brandy from the cellar and drunk some of the contents before tipping the rest over the furniture and settling light to it. Trouble was that the old fool caught hisself on fire at the same time and he run out into the stable yard screaming blue murder. That’s how us was alerted and we all got out before us was burned alive.’
‘How terrible. I can’t believe he would do such a thing.’ Essie stared at her in disbelief. ‘Where is he now?’
‘The constable arrested him and took him away. I don’t care what happens to him now. I hope as how he suffers the torments of hell for what he’s done, especially after what he said when he thought he was going to his Maker. He confessed to his sins in the hope of being forgiven. God might be that generous, but I never will.’ Mrs Grimes covered her face with her grimy apron and began to weep.
Essie looked to Jenifry for clarification. ‘What did he say?’
‘Smeaton told the constable that he’d smuggled the brandy they found in the cellar that night, years ago. I were only a tiddy little maid then, but Ma told me all about it.’
‘That’s true.’ Mrs Grimes nodded vigorously. ‘Master Frederick got the blame, but he suffered for his act of bravery.’
‘That doesn’t make sense,’ George said impatiently. ‘He must have been implicated in some way.’
‘Master Frederick was a bit on the wild side, sir. He liked to share a jug of ale with the local boys at the inn. It just happened that he was walking home along the strand one night when he saw them trying to land their boat in rough weather, and he waded into the sea to help.’
‘The revenue men was waiting in the cove,’ Jenifry added excitedly. ‘Smeaton confessed that he was part of the gang, and that he knocked Master Frederick senseless in the struggle to get ashore.’
‘That’s what he told us.’ Mrs Grimes eased herself out of the chair and reached for the milk jug. ‘Smeaton convinced the revenue men that he’d been the one who went to the aid of the floundering vessel and he swore that Master Frederick had been on the boat with the gang.’
‘But surely Frederick denied the accusation.’ Essie looked from one to the other. ‘Why didn’t anyone speak up for him?’
‘We wasn’t asked, miss. Smeaton spoke for all of us and Master Frederick had often been seen drinking with the Pascoe boys and Jan Hawkes. They were all arrested and sent for trial, but Master Frederick was too poorly after the knock on the head. We all thought he’d been injured when the boat hit the rocks, until Smeaton told us different.’
Essie accepted a cup of tea from Jenifry but she was still puzzled. There were elements in the story that did not make sense. ‘Where was Lord Raven in all this?’
Mrs Grimes pursed her lips. ‘He was with his lady love. It was the night they were attempting to elope. Quite a scandal, it were at the time.’
‘He was engaged to be married?’ Essie stared at her in disbelief. Raven had never mentioned a fiancée, but now she came to think of it he had rarely spoken about anything that related to his past.
‘It were all a secret.’ Mrs Grimes topped her tea up with a generous helping of milk. She set the jug back on the table with a thud. ‘The young lady’s father had other plans for her. He wanted her to marry a widowed duke who owned a huge estate up north. That was why Master Frederick was out so late at night in a terrible storm. He’d gone to warn Sir Raven that the young lady’s father had discovered their plan to elope.’
‘I still don’t understand how Raven was involved in the smuggling,’ Essie said, frowning.
‘He wasn’t, miss. We all knew that, but Lord Crozier came to the house in a fit of temper such as you’ve never seen, and Master Frederick went to warn his brother.’
Essie stared at her in disbelief. ‘She was Lord Crozier’s daughter? No, surely not?’
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mrs Grimes put her teacup down with a sigh. ‘It was a love match if ever there was one, but I don’t think you knew the lady in question.’
Sadie had been listening wide-eyed. ‘Then it couldn’t have been Lady Alice.’
Essie was at a loss for words. There had never been anything in the least romantic in the way Alice treated her cousin, and he had never shown any preference for her company.
‘Certainly not,’ Mrs Grimes said firmly. ‘Whatever next? No, the young lady in question was Lady Alice’s younger sister, Lady Cordelia.’
‘Was?’ Essie caught her breath. ‘I didn’t know that Lady Alice had a sister. What happened to her, Mrs Grimes?’
‘Lord Crozier headed them off and forced his daughter to return home. No one knows whether it were an accident or whether she threw herself into the sea, but her body was washed ashore on Red Rock sands the next day,’ Jenifry said in a low voice. ‘I remember the shock of it all.’
Mrs Grimes nodded earnestly. ‘It isn’t spoken of much round here, miss. Folk reckon it was her loss that killed the old earl. He died of a heart attack some days later and Lord Raven gave hisself up to the magistrate, taking the blame for a crime he thought his brother had committed. Not that us knew it at the time.’
Essie’s hand trembled as she picked up the cup and held it to her lips. She took a sip, giving herself time to think. ‘What was Lady Cordelia like?’
‘Very pretty and a nice young lady, miss.’ Mrs Grimes put her head on one side, studying Essie’s face with a critical eye. ‘Not unlike yourself in some ways, but a complete opposite to Lady Alice, who was always very wayward, although I wouldn’t say that in her hearing.’
George downed the rest of his tea, stood up and stretched. ‘It seems to me that the past is best forgotten. We have to deal with the problems on hand.’
‘I think it is a very sad story.’ Sadie wiped tears from her cheeks. ‘Poor Raven.’
‘Yes,’ Essie said slowly. ‘It is a tragic case. But Smeaton’s confession means that Freddie and Raven can prove their innocence. Raven has served more than five years of a seven-year sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, and Freddie has been in exile even though he’s done nothing wrong.’
‘That’s very true, miss.’ Jenifry turned to her mother. ‘Who would have thought that Smeaton was such a wicked man? I never liked him, but how could he stand by and see someone else take the blame for his evil deeds?’
Mrs Grimes shook her head. ‘There’s no accounting for some folk.’
‘Was he very badly burned?’ Essie asked anxiously. ‘Because he’s the only person who can clear the family name.’
‘I can’t say, miss. He certainly made enough fuss about it.’
‘Are there any horses left in the stables, Mrs Grimes?’
‘Yes, miss. The head groom and his boy stayed on, but Whiddon, the coachman, found work at Daumerle, seeing as how there was no call for his services here, at least until the master returns.’
‘What are you going to do, Essie?’ George asked anxiously.
‘I’m going to have a word with the police constable who arrested Smeaton.’ Essie rose to her feet. ‘We need Smeaton’s testimony if we’re to clear Raven’s name and Freddie’s, too.’
‘But what about the house, miss?’ Mrs Grimes followed Essie to the door. ‘What shall us do?’
‘You’d best shut off the east wing and get some extra help with the cleaning,’ Essie said, picking up her cloak and muff. ‘I’m going to the stables.’
George caught her by the hand. ‘Wait a minute, Essie
. You can handle a craft on the river, but you can’t ride a horse.’
She snatched her hand free. ‘You’d be surprised what I can do,’ she said with a wry smile. ‘I’m a very good horsewoman, as it happens.’
The village constable was seated behind the desk in the police station, which consisted of one room and a lock-up at the rear. He listened attentively while Essie explained her mission, with George backing her story with more enthusiasm than accuracy.
‘So you see,’ Essie concluded, ‘I must talk to Smeaton and persuade him to repeat what he said in front of the magistrate or a lawyer. Is he here?’
‘He was badly burned, miss. I took him straight to hospital.’
‘Then I must go there right away.’
The constable shook his head. ‘I doubt if the doctor will allow you to see him at present.’
‘But you won’t let him go free?’
‘He’s still under arrest, miss. Smeaton will go to prison if he recovers, although I wouldn’t hold out too much hope of that.’
Essie turned to George. ‘We must send for Gilfoyle. He’ll know what to do.’
‘Do you think he’d drop everything to travel all the way to Devonshire?’
‘I know one person who could make him do whatever she wanted.’ Essie turned to the policeman with a grateful smile. ‘Thank you for your help, Constable. I assume you made a note of Smeaton’s confession?’
He patted his pocket. ‘As always, miss. Everything has to be written down and used as evidence in court.’
‘You’re very efficient. Goodbye and thank you again. I’m going to London and I hope to return with my solicitor. I’m going to prove once and for all that Lord Starcross and Mr Frederick Dorincourt are both innocent.’
The constable rose to his feet. ‘Amen to that, miss.’
It was early afternoon when Essie and Sadie arrived back in London. George had been reluctant to allow them to travel unaccompanied, but Essie insisted that he was needed at Starcross and she promised to return next day, with or without Gilfoyle. She doubted whether she had enough powers of persuasion to make him undertake the journey at such short notice, but it was quite literally a matter of life and death. They took a cab to Hill Street only to be informed by a disapproving Fielding that her ladyship had accepted an invitation to luncheon with Sir Henry.
Essie dragged Sadie down the steps and hailed a passing hansom cab. ‘Bearwood House, Piccadilly, please, cabby.’ She bundled Sadie inside and climbed up after her. ‘What a palaver, but time is short and I have to get a signed affidavit from Smeaton. If he should die without leaving something the law recognises all this will be in vain and Raven and Freddie will be branded as criminals for the rest of their lives.’
Sadie leaned back against the worn leather squabs. ‘It’s like being in one of Mrs Radcliffe’s stories. I feel like a heroine.’
‘I wish I did,’ Essie groaned. ‘I’m afraid that Alice will refuse to help. Now that she’s set her cap at Sir Henry, who knows what will happen? I neither like nor trust that man.’
She knotted her fingers together in an attempt to stop her hands trembling as the cab trundled at an alarmingly slow pace through the traffic, but it was not far to Piccadilly and Essie leaped from the vehicle as soon as it came to a halt. She tossed a coin to the cabby and hurried up the steps to rap on the door knocker.
The footman eyed her suspiciously but Essie held her ground, refusing to be fobbed off by excuses. ‘I know that Lady Alice Crozier is here. I insist on seeing her and I’m not leaving until I have.’
‘If you would kindly wait there, miss, I’ll make enquiries.’ The footman was about to close the door but Essie was too quick for him. She slipped into the vestibule followed by Sadie.
‘We’ll wait all day if necessary. Please tell Lady Alice that it’s of the utmost urgency.’
‘I’m with you, Essie,’ Sadie whispered. ‘We won’t let them push us around.’
‘No, indeed,’ Essie said with more certainty than she was feeling, but to her relief the footman returned quickly.
‘Lady Alice will see you now. Follow me, if you please.’
The drawing room was on the first floor with tall windows overlooking Green Park. Alice was seated decorously on a sofa with Sir Henry standing at her side. He did not look pleased.
‘State your business, Miss Chapman,’ he said abruptly.
‘I would like a word with her ladyship, in private, please.’
His dark eyebrows snapped together in a frown. ‘This is my house. I don’t take kindly to be ordered about by a servant.’
Essie drew herself up to her full height. ‘It was a polite request, sir. And I am not a servant.’
‘Neither is she, Henry,’ Alice said crossly. ‘Go away and leave us alone. This won’t take long.’
Sir Henry hesitated for a moment and then he shrugged. ‘Have it your way, my dear.’ He left the room, allowing the door to swing shut of its own accord, as if to underline his displeasure.
‘Don’t take any notice of him,’ Alice said, smiling. ‘He likes to think that he is master of all he surveys, but he will soon learn.’ She leaned back against the silk cushions. ‘Now, take a seat, both of you, and Essie you must tell me about Starcross. What state is it in?’
‘Very poor. The whole of the east wing was burned to the ground.’ Essie remained standing but Sadie plumped down in a wingback chair by the fire. ‘The rest of the house is untouched, although everything is covered in soot.’
‘I see. Well, thank goodness for small mercies. I’ll authorise any work you think necessary, but just to make it safe, you understand.’
‘I’ve left George to organise the clean-up and make sure it’s done in an orderly manner, but don’t you want to see the damage for yourself?’
‘It’s not my home, Essie. I’m sure that any restoration work can wait until Raven is a free man.’
‘And that’s why we’re here,’ Essie said eagerly. ‘It seems that the butler, Smeaton, was the fire raiser, and he suffered severe burns in doing so. I think he must have feared for his eternal soul because he made a confession that will clear both Raven and Freddie.’
‘Really?’ Alice sat forward, giving Essie her full attention. ‘What did he say?’
‘That he was the person involved with the smugglers and Freddie was merely a bystander who helped them drag the boat ashore when it was in danger of capsizing.’
Alice stared at her in disbelief. ‘But that makes no sense. Why didn’t Freddie tell the judge what really happened?’
‘Smeaton knocked him unconscious and it seems that when Freddie recovered from the blow he had no memory of anything that happened. Perhaps Raven assumed that he was guilty, it’s impossible to say, but Smeaton is in a serious condition. If he dies the truth will never be known.’
‘I was in Paris when it happened,’ Alice said slowly. ‘Losing my sister and my papa in such a short space of time came as a terrible shock. It was all over by the time I returned home. Freddie had fled the country and Raven was on his way to Australia.’
‘It must have been awful for you.’
‘It was, but I survived. Had I known the truth I might have done something about it, but it’s too late now.’
‘No, it isn’t. Raven still has two years before he’s a free man, and Freddie will never be able to return home unless Smeaton makes a full confession. That’s why I’m here, today, Alice. Mr Gilfoyle will know what to do, but I doubt if he would see me.’
‘Are there no solicitors in Devonshire? I’m sure I must number a justice of the peace amongst my acquaintances, although I cannot recall a name at present.’
‘I’m sure there are, but Smeaton is seriously ill and he might die. We simply can’t delay. You do want to clear the family name, don’t you?’
‘Of course, I do.’ Alice rose from her chair and tugged on an embroidered bell pull. ‘Henry won’t appreciate a change in plans, but you and I are going to visit Gilfoyle’s chambers.’
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br /> ‘Me, too.’ Sadie leaped to her feet. ‘Don’t leave me here.’
‘Come, if you must,’ Alice said impatiently. ‘I’ll send for my carriage.’
Faced by a determined Lady Alice Crozier, Gilfoyle eventually crumbled and agreed to travel to Starcross after he had seen his last client and had been home to pack a bag. He promised to meet Essie and Sadie on the station platform at six o’clock that evening. Alice thanked him graciously and Essie sighed with relief.
‘Henry will be grumpy for at least an hour.’ Alice waved to attract the attention of her coachman, who had been waiting on the far side of the square. ‘He was going to take me to tea at Gunter’s and he hates having his arrangements altered in any way.’
‘Why are you seeing him again, Alice? You know his reputation.’
‘Of course I do, silly. That’s what makes him so exciting. Beneath it all he’s just a spoiled little boy, and a very wealthy one, too. If I accept his proposal, and yes, he has proposed more than once, I will be one of the wealthiest women in England, and life will never be dull.’
‘What would Raven say to such a match?’
‘My dear, I really don’t care. I love my cousin dearly, but he has no control of my life. I want the best for him and Freddie, but there’s a small part of me that can never quite forgive him for what happened to my sister. She was young and impressionable, and if I’d been at home I would have tried to talk her out of an elopement.’
‘But he wanted to marry her.’
‘He knew that my papa would never consent to such a match. Royalty may marry first cousins, but Papa was firmly against it. He said that interbreeding, if you’ll forgive the expression, created simpletons and weakened the lineage. I don’t know if he was right, but that was his firmly held belief, and Raven knew how Papa felt. He should have walked away and left Cordelia to marry the man that Papa had chosen for her. The Duke would have treated her well and she would be alive today.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Essie said earnestly. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you.’