The Christmas Conundrum

by Karen Hall

  “Good.” Nigel sighed, his relief obvious. “Did you get any sleep last night? You look all done in.”

  “Not much,” Daniel admitted, rubbing his forehead. There was something strange about this event, something he couldn’t put his finger on and it was making him uneasy. He really needed go ahead with his holiday, even before Charlie arrived.

  “I’m going home,” he said, getting to his feet. “Thanks for all your help, Nigel. I’ll send a note ’round to your office later.”

  After putting on his coat and hat, he left his chambers and walked the longest way he could to the cab stand. The memory of Tabitha Goforth’s face at the party had kept him staring at the ceiling all night, keeping sleep far away. He really needed a nap.

  The cab quickly deposited him in front of his home in Westminster, just around the corner from Saint Margaret’s church. Evans, his butler, eyed him with some alarm as he took Daniel’s coat and hat. “Is anything wrong, Mr. Hollingsworth?”

  “I’m just tired, Evans,” Daniel told him. “That’s all. What’s the possibility of tea and sandwiches?”

  “I’ll ask Mrs. Johnson to put something together for you, sir,” Evans said. “And your daughters should arrive soon, sir. I was about to send Billy round to your chambers with a note. They said they wanted to be sure you were at home.”

  “Perhaps with the New Year I can have one of those telephones installed here and at my chambers,” Daniel said. “Faster than sending round the second footman with notes all the time.”

  Evans, who’d served the household for ten years, nodded. “An excellent idea, sir. I saw the stories in the papers this morning about Mrs. Goforth and her daughter. Who’d believe Mrs. Goforth is actually Phillip Caulfield! Is there going to be any trouble for you because of all this?”

  “I don’t think so, Evans,” Daniel sighed. “Mrs. Goforth and her daughters aren’t really as bad as the papers are saying. They’re just strong-willed women who are willing to fight for what they believe.”

  A fumbling at the doorknob led Evans to step away, but before he could reach it, the door shoved inward and Victoria burst inside, with Kathleen hot on her heels.

  “Papa,” Victoria gasped. “Thank goodness. We must talk with you at once.”

  Panic punched Daniel’s heart into an alarming speed. “Has something happened to Charlie?”

  “No, Papa,” Kathleen assured. “But we need to talk to you about Mrs. Goforth and her daughter Elizabeth.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “OUR SERVANTS ARE FROM the Goforth agency?” Daniel was very glad he was sitting down. The parlor suddenly seemed very warm. Rubbing his temples, he stared at his daughters seated across from him and asked, “All of them?”

  “Not all,” Kathleen admitted. “Evans, Pruitt, our coachman, Mrs. Johnson—”

  “Our cook?” Daniel’s voice rose. “Next thing you’ll be telling me Billy the second footman and Oscar my valet are from the Goforth agency as well.”

  “Yes, and Lucy the first parlor maid and Jones our first footman too,” Victoria said hurriedly. “So only some of them, Papa.”

  “And you’re telling me your mother knew that they had criminal backgrounds?” If Daniel had fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole, things couldn’t be any stranger and he wondered what else his daughters might now about his household. “When did she tell you all this?”

  “Just before she died,” Kathleen said sadly. “She wanted us to know in case anything happened after she was gone.”

  “But she asked us not to tell you because of your running for office,” Victoria said. “She was afraid it would hurt your career. But she also had wanted to give these people a second chance. She said that if we knew what they’d done in order to survive, we wouldn’t judge them for having to go to prison because of it. They didn’t kill anyone. They just made mistakes.”

  “We thought you needed to know now because of what happened at the party last night,” Kathleen continued. “The papers were filled with stories about Mrs. Goforth being Phillip Caulfield and about her daughter’s employment agency placing former criminals in people’s homes. We didn’t want someone finding out our staff was hired from there and try to make trouble for you. Are you going to help Miss Elizabeth Goforth?”

  “I thought you didn’t like her, or her mother,” Daniel said slowly. “Especially Mrs. Goforth. You’ve always called her ‘that woman’, just like most of London.”

  “Papa, I don’t agree with everything she stands for or believes in,” Victoria said. “But because of her, you have so many more votes than Mr. McCracken! And she helped poor Bouncer! How can we not appreciate what she’s done for you? How can we not admire her courage?”

  “And I’m beginning to think she’s right in some ways.” An unfamiliar tone of defiance crept into Kathleen’s voice. “Archibald actually had the nerve to tell me he didn’t want me coming to talk to you about this. Not see my own Papa? How dare he?”

  “Arthur said the same thing,” Victoria said, making a face. “I told him if he didn’t want to have a modern version of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata in his own home, he’d change his tune.”

  Daniel coughed into a hastily produced handkerchief. “You mean to say you threatened to withhold your—ah—romantic favors if he—”

  “I did the same thing,” Kathleen declared. “You should have seen his face when I explained what it meant to him!”

  “I knew teaching you girls the classics would cause trouble one day,” Daniel groaned. “Back to the matter at hand. Go get the servants from the Goforth agency and bring them here, please.”

  Nodding, the girls hurried from the room, only to have the servants back with them almost immediately. They must have been waiting in the hall. They lined up before him, their expressions varying between the terrified and the guilty.

  “It has come to my attention,” Daniel began, “that my late wife hired all of you from the Goforth Employment Agency.”

  The servants exchanged glances and then Evans, straightened his shoulders and said, “Yes sir, she did.”

  “And she knew about your pasts?”

  “Yes sir,” Evans said again. “When there was more than one of us here from the Goforth agency, we decided we should tell her.”

  “That’s a fact,” Mrs. Johnson declared, and the others nodded.

  The old affection for his sweet wife threatened to overwhelm Daniel. The fact that she’d kept their servants past from him had his head nearly reeling. “What did she say when you told her?”

  “That everyone makes mistakes, and everyone needs a second chance,” Pruitt said. “God rest her soul, she was one of the finest women I’ve ever known. It was an honor to work for her.”

  “Amen,” said Jones. Lucy and Mrs. Johnson began to cry.

  “I see,” Daniel said. “Well, thank you. That will be all.”

  The servants stared at one another and then at him. “Can we at least count on a reference from you, sir?” Evans finally asked.

  “I’m not going to give you one because you’re not going anywhere,” Daniel said. “Unless you want to leave my employment?”

  “No sir!” Evans practically shouted as the others slumped in relief. “Not at all, sir.”

  “Good,” Daniel said. “Besides, we have Christmas to plan and Charlie will be here any day. Now, Mrs. Johnson. About those sandwiches?”

  “Right away sir,” a still crying Mrs. Johnson told him. “Right away!”

  She hurried from the room, but not before she stopped long enough to kiss him on the cheek. The others servants filed out, leaving only a smiling Evans.

  “Thank you, sir,” he said. “Thank you for believing in us.”

  The doorbell sounded and still smiling, the butler left to answer it. A minute later, he ushered a frantic George Edgeworth into the room.

  “Edgeworth!” Daniel shot to his feet as comprehension finally dawned in his brain. “Are you related to—”

  “Robert Edgeworth?” his secretar
y gulped. “Yes sir. Mr. Hollingsworth, I’m sorry for interrupting, but you must let me tell you my side of it.”

  His story spilled out. His gambling. Robbie’s blackmail. The list of servants from the Goforth agency placed in homes of the wealthy. And the girl he loved being among them.

  “Annie changed her name when she got out of prison, sir,” he explained. “That’s why when I gave Robbie the list, I didn’t recognize it. Her real name is Ginny Banks. Now she’s been dismissed from her position and it’s all because of me. Can’t you help her, sir? I love her with all my heart. I spent half the morning giving back the money I took from those people. Please help her, sir. Annie’s a good girl.”

  Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God. “How did your cousin know Mrs. Goforth was actually Phillip Caulfield?” Daniel asked.

  Edgeworth spread his hands. “He said he found a story she’d written out, signed with Caulfield’s name, just before she sent it to the printer’s and held on to ‘that tidbit’ ‘til he knew it would do the most damage. He’s hated her for years and swore to pay her back for sacking him.”

  “Hmm.” Daniel’s eyes narrowed. Then he rang the bell, summoning back Evans. When the butler appeared, Daniel said, “Evans, please tell Mrs. Johnson to put those sandwiches aside for our tea and to lay lunch for four.” He looked at Edgeworth and his daughters before adding, “We have a strategy to plan.”

  Chapter Twelve

  TWO DAYS LATER. OLD Bailey Courthouse

  “You want to recuse yourself before the case even comes to trial?” Judge Cranwell stared at Daniel Hollingsworth from the high bench. “On what grounds?”

  “It has come to my attention that my late wife knowingly hired staff from the Goforth agency,” Mr. Hollingsworth, splendid in his robe and wig, said smoothly. “And even though she’s dead, I think as her husband, I could still be held responsible for her criminal acts. I cannot be considered for this case.”

  “But—”

  “I have also accepted campaign contributions from Mrs. Goforth and her daughters,” Mr. Hollingsworth continued. “Large ones. So there again, is a conflict of interests. My ability to continue in this case would be suspect.”

  “We only gave him fifty pounds,” Clara hissed from their place in the front row. “Or did you give him more?”

  Tabitha shook her head, her heart pounding. “No,” she whispered. “I didn’t.”

  “And finally, I must recuse myself from this case because I am guilty of the biggest conflict of interest of them all,” Mr. Hollingsworth continued. “I am in love with the defendant’s mother, so how can I possible be asked to prosecute her daughter?”

  It took Judge Cranwell a solid minute of pounding his desk with a gavel before the filled-to-overflowing courtroom quieted enough for him to ask, “You’re in love with Tabitha Goforth?”

  “Yes, Your Honor. A fact I was only lately aware of.” Mr. Hollingsworth turned and gave Tabitha a rueful smile. “Sorry, Tabs, old thing,” he said. “If I’d realized it earlier, perhaps it wouldn’t have come to this, making such a public announcement before I told you privately but—”

  “It’s all right, Danny,” Tabitha said, trying to decide whether she should laugh or cry. The looks on her daughters’ faces—Clara beside her, Elizabeth in the witness box—didn’t help. “I have to say the same thing myself. But then, we’ve both been rather busy lately.”

  “And you are going to have to recuse yourself, Joseph!” A voice boomed out as the tall figure of Lady Cecily Cranwell entered the courtroom, followed by her sisters Lady Emily Oakendale and Lady Agnes Altman.

  “Mother?” Cranwell asked. “What the devil are you doing here?”

  “To be sure that justice is done!” Lady Cecily declared. “You can’t judge this case because your aunts and I have known about the Goforth agency for years and supported it almost since it opened. We’re the ones who thought of hiring former criminals in the first place.”

  “Oh, Lord,” Cranwell groaned. “Are you serious?”

  “Of course,” Lady Cecily continued. “There was a servant in our household growing up who was falsely accused of stealing and was sent to prison. We decided that one day we would do something to help girls and others like her. Our husbands, decent enough men, would never have approved of our doing such a thing, so we had to wait until they were all dead.”

  The courtroom erupted in laughter and Cranwell had to use his gavel again. “And?”

  “Well, we learned of people coming out of jail—”

  “Our solicitors kept us informed of that,” Lady Emily said proudly.

  “Aren’t they wonderful, solicitors?” Lady Agnes declared.

  “Hush, sisters,” Lady Cranwell ordered. The Old Girl was clearly enjoying herself. “Anyway, Joseph. We convinced some friends who owed us several favors—”

  “You mean you blackmailed them,” Cranwell said dryly and the court laughed again.

  “I don’t know if I’d call it that,” Lady Cecily said modestly. “Anyway, our friends—all very rich and with several houses each—agreed to take in these people and train them for two or more years. When they were satisfied they could pass muster, they sent them to the Goforth agency, where we, your mother and aunts, also supplied character references. So we are just as guilty as Elizabeth Goforth. So you can’t hear this case either, Joseph. Not unless you want to arrest your beloved mother and aunts.”

  She smiled sweetly and turned to face Daniel. “I always knew you’d fall in love with Tabitha Goforth, you silly thing,” she accused. “Opposites always attract.”

  “I should have asked you, ma’am,” Daniel said, winking at Tabitha. She quickly covered her mouth to stop her laughter.

  “Next time you’ll know better.” Lady Cecily faced the bench again and scowled at her son. “Well, Joseph? What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to close this hearing and go have several stiff drinks,” Cranwell said. “A new judge and new prosecutor certainly need to be found. And as Christmas Eve is two days from now, I’m releasing Elizabeth Goforth to her mother. Heaven help you, Daniel. Court is adjourned.”

  Pandemonium broke out, but it was nothing compared to the joy coursing through Tabitha as Daniel crossed the courtroom to pull her into his arms and kiss her quite thoroughly. Her burst of laughter ended the kiss, and raising his head, he peered at her and pretended to scowl. “What’s so funny?” he demanded.

  “I think,” Tabitha gasped, “you’ve really walked into the lions’ den, Mr. Daniel Micah Hollingsworth. Heaven help you, indeed.”

  “But I have right on my side,” he whispered. “And you.”

  And then he kissed her again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  THE HOLLINGSWORTH HOME. The Next Evening

  “And so, all the families who hired servants from the Goforth agency have decided to drop their lawsuit against it,” Daniel said as he poured his own version of Christmas Cheer into the cups. “They say it would be too much trouble to find and train new ones, especially at this time of year.”

  “Thank goodness!” Victoria said, sipping tentatively at the lethal concoction.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind having your name withdrawn for QC, sir?” Arthur Hancock asked.

  “Not at all,” Daniel said with a grin. “I think that with the Goforth women in my life, I’ll have all the legal work I can handle.”

  “Especially with those angry landlords,” Tabitha commented. “They’re still threatening to sue me for libel, but we have all the proof we need to fight them. And when Daniel and The Clarion finish with them, they’ll think twice about fighting against the Hollingsworths and the Goforths at the same time. Talk about a powerhouse!”

  “Hear, hear!” the Goforth daughters chimed in, prompting a burst of laughter from the others. That the mother of these incredible women had approved of his proposal to their mother last night still had him in a fog of happiness.

  “And thank you for helping me, sir,” A
nnie said, standing next to George Edgeworth. Daniel couldn’t recall ever seeing his secretary looking so happy.

  “And as soon as we find out where that rat Robert Edgeworth is hiding, we’ll take care of him too,” Tabitha told her. “Robert will wish he’d never put pencil to paper. After all, I’m about to marry the best barrister in London.”

  “In all of Great Britain,” Kathleen corrected.

  “Of course,” Tabitha agreed. “Perhaps in the world? What a delightful Christmas we’re going to have!”

  “Made the merrier by us,” a voice announced from the door, and the tall figure of Charlie Hollingsworth strode in. “Home at last!”

  “Charlie, my boy.” Daniel didn’t care if a lake of tears fell from his eyes as he pulled his only son into a bear hug. “Did you just arrive?”

  “Yes, and am not surprised to see your name in all the papers,” Charlie said, turning to hug his sisters. “You never did things by halves, Father. Melinda, where are you?”

  A slender woman hovered in the door, her eyes wary. Her dark skin and expressive eyes belonged to the native peoples of India, making her a beauty indeed. She hesitated then walked to join Charlie and take his outstretched hand.

  “This is Melinda, everyone,” he said proudly. “My wife. We could have waited until we got back to England to get married, but it wouldn’t do to travel from India as an unmarried couple, so we did the deed in the little Anglican chapel in Bombay. Melinda, that tall chap is my father.”

  “I’m happy to meet you, Mr. Hollingsworth,” Melinda said shyly. “Charlie has told me so much about you.”

  For a moment, there was silence as all eyes took in the couple, one of them fair, the other dark. Then Daniel came forward and embraced Melinda.