by Abby Ayles
“Even for those who had no part in it? Do you believe it justice to be condemned for the actions of another?” Elias challenged.
Miss Frost failed to provide an answer.
“My dear lady. If it were your father, would you share the same sentiment you just expressed?”
Her eyes lowered from his face as she shook her head gently.
"Then it would be my suggestion that, until you can accept the judgment you seem apt to so freely give, you refrain from doing so."
Elias walked away without another word. He needed some air if he was to be expected to remain amongst them for much longer.
“Lord Chatleton, where are you off to?” Captain Standish called.
“I think I need a bit of fresh air,” Elias replied.
“Very well, but don’t be long. These lovely ladies would like to hear more of our time in Italy,” Captain Standish mused.
Elias tried to smile. “I promise I won’t be longer than necessary.”
He didn’t linger a moment longer. Elias walked out of the drawing room and down the hall, to where two large doors opened onto a terrace. He let himself out.
The moment he was outside, he felt the aggravation rise up from inside of him. How could they treat her like that? His jaw clenched with the strain to hold in what he was feeling.
He walked to the edge of the terrace and looked up at the stars. Helena used to do the same when she was upset. She said it calmed her to see how vast and numerous the heavens were. It made all of her troubles seem small. Elias wondered if it would work for him.
The sky was indeed lovely that night. Every star could be seen in its brilliance as the clouds hid themselves from view. Two stars, in particular, got his attention. They shone brighter than those around them but were separated by some distance, yet Elias felt as if they were meant to be closer.
His eyes turned from the stars to the house, where the darkened upstairs windows now called to him. Which one was hers? Where had she hidden herself?
They were as those stars, surrounded yet separated. Close yet divided. He wanted nothing more than to reach out his hand and take hers, but her father didn’t wish it, and for her sake, he would make it easier for her to remain loyal to him.
All of this was for her sake. Elias had done all he had in the hope of seeing justice, but mostly to ensure that Helena wouldn’t suffer from it. He wanted to protect her, he always did.
As children, he and Helena were always at each other’s side. He looked after her as he would a sister, but now he wanted to cover her and protect her as a man did a woman – a hero to his heroine.
Elias breathed deeply. Perhaps one day he could express the true feelings of his heart toward her, but for the moment he would have to keep them hidden. He could do more for her with his investigation than he could otherwise. His eyes refocused on the lights shining through the pane of the drawing room’s window.
The party of guests had grown with the evening, and now the original group was accompanied by many more. Some of them had invested with Mr. Leeson. If anyone had a reason to want to frame the man for a crime, it would be one of them. Perhaps he could discover if the culprit lay among them.
Elias resolved to put aside the insults that had been lobbied in Helena’s way and focus his energy on getting to the truth. The comments and looks would never stop until the real culprit was caught and Mr. Leeson was freed. That would have to be his driving force.
He marched back into the house and joined the party again. His façade of amicability was returned and set perfectly in place as he spoke with Agatha and her sister, before purposefully taking a turn around the room to speak to those who might have something to gain by Mr. Leeson’s incarceration.
Elias started with those who he knew for sure had invested. The men were less than polite about their feelings toward Ambrose Leeson, and Elias did his best to keep his true feelings guarded as they spoke. A fellow victim would play to their sense of solidarity and perhaps allow something to slip.
One-by-one he spoke with them and held down the bile that rose up in his gut from their judgments. Finally, he’d run out of those he knew to have invested and decided that the guidance of Mr. White would be beneficial.
“Mr. White,” Elias greeted cheerfully. “We did not get to speak when we arrived. How are you?”
“Very well, Lord Chatleton,” the man replied. “I was most surprised to see you in our company.”
“As was I to see you. I did not know you were acquainted with Captain Standish.”
“Not entirely. His sister, Miss Standish, is a recent acquaintance and was the one who issued the invitation to join the party,” Mr. White explained.
“You certainly have made an impression that she should invite you,” Elias commented. He wondered at the connection. Mr. White had hardly a connection in London that was not due to Ambrose Leeson. Now, with the man incarcerated, he found himself amongst a society he could never have dreamed of.
“She has been very kind,” Mr. White replied with a smile.
Elias returned it. “I wonder, Mr. White, as Ambrose Leeson’s clerk, you would be privy to information regarding the unfortunate investment that was made some months ago. Correct?”
The expression on the other man’s face faltered. “Why do you ask? I had no part of that, I assure you. The constables questioned me already concerning that and the embezzlement. I had nothing to do with it.”
Elias lay a hand on the man’s arm. “Calm yourself, sir. I didn't say you did. I simply wished to know whether you were privy to the names of those who had invested.”
Relief washed over Mr. White’s expression. “I see. What interest do you have in it, Lord Chatleton? Certainly, it has nothing to do with the current circumstances.”
“Perhaps not, but then again, perhaps yes. It may be that Mr. Leeson did what he did in order to satisfy one of those men. I simply wish for you to provide me with a list of names. I already know most, I believe, but I need a confirmation on your part.”
Elias kept his focus on the man who seemed to waver under the intensity of his looks. Mr. White was truly a skittish character.
“I believe I could be of assistance,” Mr. White finally replied after some thought.
“I’d appreciate it if you could provide me with a comprehensive list by tomorrow. In the meantime, I’d ask you to point out those of our company who would’ve made an investment with Mr. Leeson.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now,” Elias answered. “Is it too much trouble for you?”
“No, not at all. I just didn’t think you would want that information so soon,” Mr. White answered.
“There is never a better time than the present,” Elias answered. “Don’t you agree?”
His answer was responded to with a quick nod of Mr. White’s head.
“Wonderful, I will expect those names to be given to me by the end of the night,” Elias stated with a smile. “Enjoy your evening.”
“Lord Chatleton?” Mr. White called as Elias turned to leave. He stopped to face him. “Please, Your Lordship, I would ask that you conceal the source of your information, for my sake and for Mr. Leeson’s. I would not want to bring him any further distress than he already has, and I would not want to gain some of my own.”
Elias nodded. “I understand your anxiety and appreciate your concern for Mr. Leeson. You can trust that whatever information you provide me will be kept in the strictest of confidence.”
“I do appreciate that, Your Lordship. Do enjoy your evening,” Mr. White said as he bowed his head slightly and turned away.
Elias watched him for a moment. He still wondered about the man, but there was no reason to suspect him of anything. Though he seemed to have come up in the world, Elias did not know him well enough to confirm that it was due to anything other than some legitimate connections, as indeed there seemed to be.
He turned away and found Captain Standish amongst the guests. He joined his friend and their
amiable company and continued to enjoy the evening. All the while, thoughts of Mr. White, the information he had to give him, and the missing Helena, were ever on his mind.
Arabella was very cheerful. Elias had to admit that she had an endearing spirit, something he could not say of her sister. Agatha hovered around the peripheries, giving her comments on all that was going on. Several times Elias heard her mention Helena’s name. What argument had the girl with her cousin that she would seek to defame and destroy her prospects in society?
Elias didn't have long to wonder. The ladies left the men for bed, and the conversation changed to rum and tobacco and the latest news from India and the Americas. Captain Standish had a host of stories and a willing party to share them with. Elias found respite from his troubles in listening to the Captain's sometimes harrowing tales.
He found it funny, how life in two very different circumstances could test the fortitude of a person, each one preparing to face a different kind of trial.
He prayed with all his heart that whatever trials lay before Helena, she would be able to endure them, and reap the rewards of having passed the test.
Chapter 23
The anguish was unspeakable as Helena looked down from the top of the stair at Dunlily and sighed to herself.
Every day she saw Elias and had to restrain herself from seeking him out. It was a torture hardly bearable. Seeing his handsome face as he smiled at others and doing his best to avoid her gaze as she avoided his, was awful. She hoped that this mess would end and they could once again return to how it was. How it was meant to be.
Dinner was a practice for the stage. Helena dressed in her prettiest gown, did her hair as elegantly as she could, and forced a smile upon her face that never reached her eyes.
It fooled most, but she knew that Elias could see right through her. He knew her to the depths of her soul and could read every look in her eyes. That’s why she hid them from him.
Thankfully, dinner was over, and that torture was passed, but the rest of the night still lay before her. She would have to do her best to hide her eyes and never meet Elias’s gaze.
Helena didn’t want him to know her pain. She didn’t want him to worry as he was prone to do. He had always protected and shielded her from hurt. It was in his nature, and Elias was not a changeable man. He was steadfast and she adored that about him. She could depend on him like no other.
“I’m still so very sorry about Agatha,” Arabella apologized for the thirtieth time it seemed. “I have spoken to her, and Mother too. She will not behave so shamefully again.”
It had been days since the incident in the parlor, and Arabella was still fretting about it. Her younger sister had a way of disquieting her with the simplest action, as Helena was learning.
Agatha, whatever her faults, had her reasons for her animosity, though Helena could not think what they could be. It mattered little, however. What she spoke was the truth, at least in part, and nothing could change that.
“I have told you over and over, I am not offended,” Helena assured. She wanted to comfort her cousin.
“I know what you say, but it doesn’t change what she did. It was quite embarrassing really, to have her say those things so boldly to strangers,” Arabella tsked.
“She is young and full of her own knowledge of the world. She will learn in time what is suitable and what isn’t and when best to hold her tongue and not engage in the conversations of others.”
“Oh, were that day a week ago, we would all be the better for it,” Arabella replied as they walked together down the stair.
Elias appeared, walking the corridor as he headed for the billiard room with some of the other gentlemen. The Captain looked up and spotted them.
“My dear Arabella and Miss Helena. How lovely you look this evening,” he said with a smile and a small nod of his head.
“Indeed, they do,” one of the men of the party agreed. Helena had completely forgotten his name, but he was lank, with a long face and nose, and exceptionally large teeth.
“Thank you, sirs,” Helena and Agatha replied simultaneously.
“You are too kind,” her cousin continued.
“I must agree,” Helena said as her eyes drifted toward Elias, and for a moment they connected.
It was seconds only, so fleeting one might not remember it, but in that time, Helena saw her entire life flash before her. She saw every tender moment. How he would talk with her, hold her as she wept and give comfort that only he could. She wanted it back. She hated the divide between them.
She was not meant to hold him at arm’s length but to have him close. He was not meant to watch her without a word. He was to scold her when she needed it and soothe the hurt of his words with words of even greater gentleness.
“Where might you ladies be heading off to?” the captain questioned as he looked about them. “I see you have forsaken the others ladies of the party who are playing cards in the drawing room.”
"I felt a bit too tired for cards. I thought a walk in the garden for some fresh air would do me good," Helena answered. "Arabella was kind enough to offer to join me."
“It is my pleasure really. I so seldom see my cousin, that every moment to be with her is a time to be cherished,” her cousin answered.
“And such good cousins you are to one another,” Elias interjected with a small smile that made Helena’s heart beat faster.
“You are welcome to join us,” Arabella offered. Elias turned to Helena for a fraction of a second before answering.
“I thank you for the invitation, but I have already promised myself to the billiard table and I cannot possibly escape my promise. Perhaps another evening?”
Arabella smiled. “It is quite understood, Lord Chatleton. Perhaps another time.”
Arabella and Helena bid farewell before walking toward the rear of the house and the large doors which opened onto the gardens.
“We added a maze last spring,” Arabella informed as they walked the stony path amongst the shrubs and flowers. Helena’s aunt had clearly spent a great deal on the new garden design. There was even a Grecian temple built on top of the small hillock to the west of the garden.
“A maze? Why, a lot has certainly changed since I last visited here,” Helena commented.
“It is because you haven’t visited in so long. I have always wondered why that was. Why our families stayed so often apart,” Arabella commented.
Helena had no answer for her. She believed it was the effect of time but in truth, she had hardly ever considered it. It was the way it was. She knew for certain there had been no quarrel, therefore distance could be the only culprit.
They walked for several minutes before the lamplight from a coach got their attention as it drove down the path to the house.
“A visitor at this hour?” Arabella questioned.
“It must be Beatrice,” Helena replied. “She wrote to say she might arrive tonight, but it was more likely the morrow. I suppose they made good time on their journey that she arrived so soon.”
The women hurried back to the house.
“Is Miss Beatrice Leeson here?” Arabella asked one of her servants as they passed in the hall.
“I have shown her to the study, miss. She was with the other ladies but soon left and said she did not wish to be with company. Her room was not yet finished so I thought her best in there,” the plump woman replied.
“Good. I will help you. I have special linens I would like to use in her room,” Arabella said to the woman. “Helena, will you look after Beatrice while I make sure everything is ready for her?”
“Of course,” Helena replied with a smile. “It will be no trouble at all.”
She turned from the two women and walked toward the study.
The sight that met her was one she would wish to erase forever. Elias was standing on one side of the room while her sister stood at the other. They were staring at each other as Beatrice unleashed a fury of words upon him.
“You have undone
us, my lord. You have undone us all. You have taken all we have and wish to leave us with nothing, while you enjoy the luxuries your good connections can afford you. But what of us? What of my family?”
“Beatrice,” Helena interjected as she rushed to her sister’s side. “Be quiet before the house hears you.”
“I will not. He should hear how our father languishes. How our mother has been frail and frightened that the physician will come to announce his death. He should know of what has become of the man he once claimed to be a friend. The man he turned his back on,” Beatrice spat.
Helena had never seen her so emotional. It frightened her.