Cinders and Ashes (26 page)

“
That doesn’t explain how Hawksworth came to be hung for the
murder of a servant. Surely he couldn’t have been so drunk that he
couldn’t remember killing someone, or wouldn’t even try to explain
who he was?” It sounded too incredible to consider.

“
I think he was set up,” Peter added. “I spoke to the gaoler
at Derby, who said he could remember the man quite clearly. He was
different from the scourge they usually accommodate. Apparently,
the man spoke with a cultivated tone and kept asking for his
friend, but the gaoler couldn’t remember the friend’s name. Someone
did visit him in the family room the day before his hanging, but
nobody knew what was discussed. They had to drag Hawksworth to his
cell in the end, as he kept protesting that they needed to know the
truth. Began shouting and fighting them as they dragged him back to
the condemned cell. They put it down to the mad ramblings of a man
facing death, and ignored him. Right up until he was taken to the
gallows, he kept screaming and kicking, insisting he wasn’t Jack
Cunnington.”

“
The poor man,” Amelia whispered, looking at the mask with
renewed eyes. “He took his secrets, and the truth, to the grave
with him.”

“
Hawksworth hasn’t been heard of since. He supposedly departed
for the Americas, but took the family coffers with him and
disappeared,” Edward added. “Hawksworth’s family did confirm the
maid who died, Martha Bainbridge, was a maid at the Ballantyne
residence.”

Dominic
swore. “The bastards set him up.”

“
But I don’t understand why they are trying to kill Sebastian.
He didn’t know Hawksworth. Did you?” Amelia turned to look at
Sebastian.

“
Never met the man before in my life. I don’t think he was
after me
per se
,
I think he is after Edenvale Manor. Or something in it,” Sebastian
replied, trying to recall the details of his time in the cellar, in
case he missed something.

“
He wanted to kill you for the Penny Dreadful?”

“
There is something we are missing,” Dominic added with a
frown. “What’s at Bertram’s that Ballantyne needs to get to, and is
willing to get you out of the way to get access to it?”

“
If what we suspect is true, he has killed before and gotten
away with it. There is no telling what is going on in his mind, or
what he thinks he can get away with.” Amelia shuddered. “He has
already tried to kill you once, and very nearly succeeded. He also
knows you are alive and well. You have to be careful, Sebastian.
Given what happened at Edenvale Manor, we all need to be
careful.”

Eastleigh frowned at the assembled group. Sensing his
curiosity, Sebastian quickly recounted events, ending with their
return to the safe confines of Tingdale.

“
Then we need to act, and act quickly,” Eastleigh stated
decisively.

“
We need to visit the maid’s family and see if she can tell us
any more,” Amelia added.

“
You can’t go.” Dominic frowned at Sebastian. “You are too
much of a risk.”

“
I can’t just sit here and do nothing.” It went against
everything within him to just sit back, and let everyone else take
action on his behalf.

“
You need to remain here and take care of Amelia, and the
mask.” Dominic studied his wife for several moments. “Isobel and I
will go.”

Isobel
looked askance at her husband as he turned back to Amelia and
Sebastian. “She kept the long trousers she used to use. We can pose
as man and son, and go to the village undetected.”

Amelia
almost clapped at the cleverness of the idea.

Isobel
looked delighted. “Don’t you think they will think it slightly odd
that we are sharing a room?”

“
There is no way on this earth you are going to share a room
with other men,” Dominic stated bluntly in a tone that brooked no
argument. “If they hear the bed going in the middle of the night,
then we will have to leave them with raised eyebrows.”

That
earned him a slap on the arm from his flushed wife, who carefully
ignored the smothered sniggers from the room’s other occupants.
“What?” Dominic asked his wife with a smothered smile. It didn’t
hurt to throw the unexpected at her occasionally, he mused with a
sly grin.

“
We need to go through Bertram’s house again to check for
anything else that may be hidden,” Peter mused, carefully covering
the death mask back up.

“
But we already checked all of the books,” Amelia protested,
thinking of the hours and hours of endless and futile
searching.

“
Yes, but we didn’t check the papers for letters or
anything.”

“
I think that instead of anyone spending any more time there
for the moment, it is best if the papers are packed up and brought
here. The house needs to be emptied of all personal effects,
anyway,” Sebastian added.

“
Peter and I can head over there tomorrow with some of the
staff. They can take a cart and bring back everything that looks
interesting. You can then decide what to do with it. Are there any
hiding places uncle used to use?” Edward frowned, trying to
remember.

“
I emptied them when Bertram died. Everything hidden is
already here. There was nothing interesting anyway, except for
jewellery and I don’t consider for a moment Ballantyne would be
interest in stealing jewellery. The items are nice, but old and
unfashionable.” Sebastian considered the numerous boxes of
jewellery now tucked away in his own safe. At some point, he needed
to show Amelia, and let her choose the items she wanted to keep or
have reset.

“
What do we do?” Amelia asked, feeling somewhat
useless.

“
You, your father and Sebastian all remain here. You are under
threat because of your association with Sebastian and,
unfortunately Lord Eastleigh is under threat because of his
knowledge of Hawksworth. It is safest if you remain indoors and out
of sight for now,” Dominic replied briskly.

“
Then here we shall stay,” Eastleigh added with a nod. “I am
sure we will find something to keep us busy.” He clearly hoped to
spend the time getting to know his daughter a little more, and
relished the possibility of forming a closer bond with
her.

As the
clock chimed midnight, Amelia smothered a yawn. “Oh, please do
excuse me. I am so very tired.”

“
It has been a difficult day,” Sebastian reminded her gently.
“Why don’t you head off to bed? We will reconvene here when
everyone has returned with their news.” With heartfelt agreement
from the rest of the group, they all headed off to bed.

As she
entered her room and began to undress, Amelia thought over the
events of the day. Her delight in seeing Sebastian again, countered
with the shock and initial horror at seeing her father, topped with
the staggering revelations he had shared with them, left her
feeling bruised and uncertain of anything.

She was
still reeling from the revelation that her parents’ marriage had
been a complete sham. The thought of them being tied into a
loveless marriage broke her heart. The knowledge of the lifestyle
they were both forced to live, confirmed she was indeed right to
want Sebastian to love her in return before entering into marriage.
She couldn’t bear it if he ended up taking a mistress, because he
was married to a woman he couldn’t love.

She was
busy contemplating how to secure knowledge of his affections
without asking him outright when she climbed between the sheets.
She still hadn’t found a solution to her problem by the time sleep
claimed her.

Amelia
awoke the next morning to brilliant sunshine riding high in a
cloudless blue sky. Quickly dressing, she ignored the insistent
rumbling in her stomach and headed to the breakfast room, surprised
when she got there to find her father sitting at the table munching
toast.

“
Good morning, my dear,” he murmured with a delighted smile,
putting his newspaper down onto the table and rising to his feet.
He was about to hold the chair out next to him, when the footman
immediately tugged out the chair opposite, assisting Amelia with
her napkin and pouring her tea without prompting. He also gathered
a piece of toast, and Eastleigh was certain would have spread jam
on it for her had she not smiled up at him and murmured a gentle,
“Thank you, Jeremy,” making the man blush to the very roots of his
hair in pleasure.

“
How is your mother today?” she asked Jeremy the footman,
casually. She was too busy spreading her toast to notice the look
of delight that swept over the footman’s face briefly before he
remembered his position, and resumed his staunchly vacant footman’s
visage.

“
Much better today, ma’am,” he intoned politely.

“
Excellent,” Amelia replied with satisfaction. “How did you
sleep, Father?”

Eastleigh fought the urge to flush with pleasure himself. Joy
swept through him at her calling him ‘Father’. Suddenly the world
seemed a much more pleasurable place to be.

“
I slept very well, my dear, thank you,” he replied, watching
his daughter spread jam liberally on her toast before taking a
bite.

“
No Sebastian today?” she queried, after a sip of
tea.

“
He was here earlier, but had to go to settle some sort of
problem with one of the farmers. He said he will see you later.” He
watched as Amelia seemingly accepted the news without
question.

“
Do you have any plans for today?” Eastleigh
queried.

“
Now Isobel has gone, not really,” Amelia replied with a
frown, taking the newspaper he offered her with a smile.

“
Excellent, then if you are not otherwise occupied, would you
care to show me around this wonderful house?”

Amelia
raised her eyebrows. “I haven’t really been around it completely
myself. But I am sure the staff will help us if we get lost.
Sebastian won’t mind if we wander around and take a look,” she
replied thoughtfully. “Yes, I think that is a most excellent
suggestion.”

“
Then when you are finished,” Eastleigh replied with
satisfaction, leaning back to sip his tea and waiting while she
finished her meal.

“
Could we have some more tea please, Jeremy?” He watched as
the footman jerked to attention at the use of his name again, and
smiled when the man immediately scurried away.

“
The staff here are most excellent,” he replied with a smile
at the door. He had witnessed enough of the behaviour within the
house to realise that etiquette was rarely adhered to.

Years
ago it would have offended him, but now? He was just so pleased to
be a part of it, etiquette didn’t seem all that important any more.
Happiness and contentment practically hovered in the air, and
immediately made one feel welcome and at peace.

Sebastian and his family appeared to have accepted Amelia,
and indeed him, into their fold unconditionally. It was refreshing
to just be oneself, without the pompous niceties required by so
called ‘polite’ society.

“
Tell me, Amelia,” he began sometime later, when they had
returned from their lengthy tour of the house. Taking a seat in the
study, they had availed themselves of the tea and cakes on the tray
between them and settled back to rest in companionable
silence.

“
When Ballantyne has been dealt with, what are your
plans?”

Amelia
paused and considered her response carefully. “I don’t know. When I
first arrived, I was going to request a reference from Sir Hubert
and take up a position of nanny or companion somewhere. Since his
demise, I am not sure what I am going to do.”

“
Would you like to stay here?” Eastleigh tried not to show how
important her response was, but was on edge as he waited for her
reply.

“
I think it would be folly to do so as things stand,” Amelia
replied carefully.

“
Oh?”

Amelia
thought of the raw honesty her father had shown her yesterday, and
felt he deserved nothing less than the truth himself.

“
I love Sebastian,” she began, choosing her words
carefully.

“
That’s good, isn’t it?”

“
Not when he doesn’t love me back.” She sensed her father was
about to interject, and hurried on. “He cares about me, but I think
he feels beholden to me for saving his life. It isn’t love. In all
of the time I have known him, he hasn’t declared any feelings for
me whatsoever. You, of all people, should understand that I simply
cannot remain here knowing he doesn’t hold me in the same
regard.”

Eastleigh felt a pang of sympathy for the hurt in his
daughter’s voice. “I think you should know, my dear, that Sebastian
has asked me for your hand in marriage.”

Amelia
gasped and stared at her father. “Did you give it?”

“
I said that he had my full agreement, as long as you agreed
and it was something you wanted to do.” Eastleigh leant forward in
his chair, and placed his tea cup on the table between them. “He
does hold you in high regard.”

“
But it isn’t love, and I won’t - can’t - settle for anything
less.” Amelia’s voice trembled with hurt that refused to be
ignored.