Read A Gentleman of Fortune Online
Authors: Anna Dean
Tags: #Historical Detective, #Mystery, #Napoleonic Era, #female sleuth
A Gentleman of Fortune (7 page)
‘And what would happen then?’ asked Flora eagerly.
‘Then, I am afraid, he would be committed for trial at the Assizes.’
‘But how dangerous is the accusation?’ asked Dido. ‘How heavily would Mr Vane’s testimony tell against him if the matter were to be put to a jury?’
‘That is a difficult question to answer,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘It would depend a great deal on just what he has to say of this “Kendal Black Drop”.’
‘But Mr Vane is an apothecary. The jury would believe what he told them about such things.’
‘That is very true,’ he acknowledged with a reluctant nod. ‘It is so very difficult to determine the cause of any person’s death that the opinion of a reputable medical man must always carry a great deal of weight.’
‘Oh dear.’ Flora began to wring her hands in great agitation. ‘Oh dear, is there no hope for poor Mr Lansdale?’
He was dismayed to find that he had distressed her. He had, without knowing it, been addressing himself to Dido’s vigorous mind and had quite overlooked the more delicate sensibilities of her cousin.
‘Well, well,’ he said with more gentleness, ‘I would not say that there is no hope, Mrs Beaumont, by any means.’ He turned kindly towards her. ‘I rather think – I
hope
that the time which has elapsed since the poor lady’s death must materially weaken Mr Vane’s case. You see, if a case were brought, a jury would be sure to ask why, if his suspicions are strong and well founded, Mr Vane did not make his complaint as soon as he discovered his patient was dead.’
‘Oh! And so they would not believe that he was telling the truth?’ cried Flora.
‘They would be a great deal less likely to believe him than they would if the matter had been raised at the time of the death. Yes,’ he said firmly. ‘Yes, upon reflection, I do believe that this must be Mr Lansdale’s greatest security. In point of fact, I very much doubt that Mr Vane will take the matter any further now. If some fresh evidence were to come to light – something which Mr Vane could reasonably claim had heightened his suspicions – then it might be a different matter. But, as it stands, the case would be unlikely to convince any jury.’ He paused and cast Dido a look of deep concern. ‘I think you had better both put the matter out of your heads entirely,’ he said.
‘Oh thank you Mr Lomax!’ said Flora with great feeling. ‘You have quite set my mind at rest.’ She was now smiling very happily. His kindly manner and quiet authority had been more than sufficient to bring conviction where conviction was so very welcome.
But Dido’s mind was far from being at rest. She was thinking of fresh evidence: evidence which might increase suspicion against Mr Lansdale and send Mr Vane to the magistrates. She was thinking of Mr Henderson’s secret visit; of red-shaded candles and a great many other things. But she said nothing – partly out of consideration of Flora’s feelings and partly out of consideration of the very solemn look which Mr Lomax had turned upon her.
…It is very considerate of Mr Lomax to travel so far just to ease Flora’s mind, is it not, Eliza? He is a remarkably humane man.
But I confess that I can take little comfort from the information which he gave us and I remain as anxious as ever about Mr Lansdale. For, you see, by Mr Lomax’s account, the young man’s security must rest upon there appearing no new evidence against him… And I am afraid, Eliza, I am
very
much
afraid, that new evidence may appear.
Supposing Mrs Lansdale was…receiving attentions from Mr Henderson.(For, though her age must argue against it, her large fortune would certainly render it possible – if she was sufficiently vain and he was sufficiently flattering.) The anticipated marriage of his aunt would be a severe blow to Mr Lansdale’s expectations – and if it should come to light – if Mrs Midgely should know of it and decide to spread it abroad – then is it not the very kind of evidence which would tell most heavily against him? The very circumstance which the jurymen might believe had driven him to desperate action?
And there is something else which I keep remembering and which troubles me greatly: Mr Lansdale’s remark that he was
not guilty of feeling
too little
affection; did he mean to say that his fault is rather that he feels
too much
? And, if so, to whom is that affection directed? I
will not
suppose, for the sake of our cousin’s reputation, that she can be his object – in spite of the look which he gave her as he spoke. But there is no escaping the thought that an unsuitable attachment of his own – one which his aunt would disapprove; one which might have caused her to disown him – would also strengthen the case against him: provide, in the eyes of the jury, a reason for his wishing his aunt dead.
And, all in all, it seems to me that, if the justices are brought to believe that Mrs Lansdale was murdered, then they will certainly believe Henry Lansdale to be the murderer. The rumours against him
must
be stopped. I must, somehow, find out the ‘rottenness’ in Richmond before it is too late.
No doubt, having read so far, Eliza, you are beginning to fear that I am in danger of setting up as a professional solver of mysteries as I once threatened to do. But do not worry: I have not yet leased consulting rooms in town, nor arranged with the brass engravers to announce my existence to the world. I will proceed very cautiously indeed.
There are, however, several questions to which I am most eager to find answers…
Dido stopped writing, for it had occurred to her as she completed the last words that the question foremost in her mind was one which she could not share with her sister – or with anyone else…
It was dusk now and she was once more writing beside the open window of her bed chamber, with a slight cool breeze blowing in upon the stored heat of the day and just lifting the pale curtains. The owl was calling again from the river, and the laughing voices of people returning on foot from a party drifted up from the road. A crane fly had found its way in and circled about the candle before dropping down to tiptoe daintily across her letter. She watched its progress through the black words and once more let her mind return to Mr Lomax’s visit: recalling every speech, every look, every meaning – and every imagined meaning.
Why had he come? That was the question which kept recurring.
She wished most earnestly to believe that his motive was simple affection – a desire to be in her company. And his laughing insistence that she was the true cause of his journey had promised well… But afterwards there had been other remarks which were much less satisfactory – and his looks! Sometimes it had seemed there was more anxiety than affection in his looks. Sometimes she had even suspected disapproval…
And then he had been most decided in refusing Flora’s invitation to stay to dinner. Of course his excuse that he was expected back at Brooke must be allowed – but he could have regretted that expectation a little more!
What did it all mean? Was she as dear to him as she had once been, or had he changed?
The uncertainty was very painful. Perhaps, she thought, a woman of five and thirty was not constitutionally suited to love. The agitations and heightened emotions which were delightful at one and twenty were now become tiresome…
Although, upon reflection, Dido recalled that she had always been a little impatient in these matters… There had been the young man at her uncle Grainger’s ball, many years ago… Mr Willet… No,
Captain
Willet. Everyone had said he would make her an offer that evening. And he had been half an hour stammering the most trivial nonsense to her on the terrace, after saying that he particularly wished to talk to her… Half an hour of the state of the roads and its being, ‘a remarkably dry season, do you not think, Miss Kent?’ In the end Dido had lost patience with him and returned to the dancing – and so had never known whether she might have aspired to the dignity of becoming Mrs Willet.
Ah well! She would certainly listen for more than half an hour to Mr Lomax, if he was ever got to the point of stammering upon a terrace, but, in the meantime, there was little she could do but wait for more opportunities of being in company with him, and watch his behaviour closely when they were together…
And, while she waited, she had more than enough to occupy her mind, for the danger in which Mr Lansdale stood seemed to be increasing. The need to solve the mysteries surrounding him was becoming urgent – and an exercise in strict reason was just what was needed, at the moment, to make her calm and rational.
She would set out a considered list of all the questions which troubled her.
…Firstly, I would like to know why Mrs Lansdale’s little dog was killed – and by whom
.
Second: what was the exact nature of Mrs Midgely’s connection with the dead woman? They
cannot have met
regularly or Miss Prentice would surely have known about it. But there was one visit for sure. What was the purpose of that visit?
Third: why was Miss Prentice so shocked to hear of the visit that she fainted?
Fourth: who else, besides Mr Henderson, came to Knaresborough House on the evening before Mrs Lansdale died? There was certainly another gentleman, and, very probably, a lady too
.
Fifth: why did Miss Prentice borrow a book from a library and tear it up
?
Sixth: why should Mary Bevan wish to conceal from her guardian the fact that she had received a letter? I know that this does not seem to be at all connected with Mrs Lansdale’s death, but nonetheless it troubles me. It is so out of character for her to tell a lie – and, from the colour in her face, I would judge that it caused her a great deal of pain to do s
o
.
And lastly, the question which I feel is of the utmost significance, why does Miss Neville not acknowledge that Mr Henderson – or anyone else – visited her cousin on that fateful evening?
For, you see, Eliza, she continues to deny it – and in the strangest manner!
She and Mr Lansdale called here today, soon after Mr Lomax left us. And, since Mr Lansdale was very happy to monopolise Flora in conversation, I was able to have a quarter of an hour’s uninterrupted talk with Miss Neville.
It was a useful quarter of an hour – though hardly a cheerful one. For behind her habitual smile, Miss Neville has a great many grievances and discontents which want only
a sympathetic listener to bring them forward. Or perhaps I should rather say, an insignificant listener, for I do not doubt that, with people of rank and fortune, Miss Neville knows well enough how to make herself agreeable – or she would not have continued long with Mrs Lansdale.
She was much concerned with her own future and told me that Mr Lansdale has invited her to stay on with him until the house is given up in a week’s time. Which is, of course, quite remarkably civil of him. Though she does not suppose for one moment that she will be idle, in that week, for there is a great deal to be done as to settling what is to become of her cousin’s gowns and a great many other little matters which a gentleman has no idea of. And she does not doubt that all this will fall upon her shoulders…though, of course, she does not mean to complain…
And, all in all, she presents a very amusing mixture of gratitude and resentment.
As to Mr Henderson’s visit: well, Eliza, I am becoming an adept at the business of discovering secrets and so I came at that by strategy. I wondered, I said, towards the end of her visit, since I understood that she had lived in Richmond all her life, whether she was at all acquainted with a gentleman that my brother knew – a Mr Henderson.
She shook her head. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I do not believe that I am.’
And, Eliza, there was not the least trace of consciousness in her voice or in her manner. I will almost swear that she had never heard the name before in her life – unless of course she is such a consummate actress that she ought to be making her fortune in Drury Lane rather than playing the part of a poor relation here in Richmond.
So I said no more of Mr Henderson. But then, almost as they were leaving, I contrived to turn the conversation back to her recent loss. ‘It is a great comfort to you, I am sure,’ I said, ‘to know that the poor lady died quietly and peacefully; but you must also regret that it was not possible for you to bid her farewell, for I understand that you had no reason to believe her unwell when she retired for the night.’
‘Oh no, no reason at all. And you are quite right Miss Kent,’ – with an expression of great feeling – ‘quite right. It grieves me terribly that I did not go to her all that evening. If I had heard the slightest sound from her chamber, I would have gone.’
‘Or,’ said I, ‘if you had only had a message to take. If, say, there had been a visitor called.’
‘Oh,’ said she, ‘but there were no visitors. There never were – I believe Mr Lansdale explained as much before. All her acquaintance knew that she went very early to bed and, in general, she slept so lightly that even a knocking on the house door was enough to wake her. Evening visitors were quite forbidden.’
‘I see,’ I said. ‘Then my friend Miss Prentice must have been mistaken.’
‘Miss Prentice?’ she asked.
‘Oh it is nothing,’ I said. ‘But Miss Prentice thought that she saw a gentleman call at the house that evening.’
And then, Eliza, she looked very conscious indeed! The colour flooded to her cheeks. And, though she continued to deny that there had been any visitor, her voice was shaking dreadfully as she did so!
So what can all this mean? The name of Henderson meant nothing to her, and yet the news that his visit to
Knaresborough House had been observed threw her almost into a panic.
Why? Could it be that she saw the gentleman that night, but did not know his name? Was she disconcerted to hear that the house was watched? Or could it be that for some reason she did not know of the gentleman’s having called and was shocked to find that she had been so deceived? Yet it is scarcely possible that she could have known nothing of his visit, for the drawing room at Knaresborough House is at the front and hard by the house door.
Well, I shall soon have further opportunity for talking to her for Flora and I have been invited to eat a family dinner with them. And, in the meantime, there are other enquiries which I wish to make. I think I shall pay a visit to the circulating library…