[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
ke as their elder brother along with a distinguished family history. The pa
ir had had much contact with nobility in England, after all; she had been a
music teacher, he a dancing master to scions of the peerage. Both were nat
ural actors. Both were highly discontent with their lot and prepared to do
anything to improve it. The titles had been predictably irresistible to cer
tain members of Philadelphia society, and it wasn't hard to dupe the lot.
They made shameless use of their new status to acquire goods, services, fav
ors, and stayed as guests of some of the best families in the city. Though
they took out many loans they'd no intention of paying back, they were alwa
ys short of cash and on the lookout for a means of getting more.
But the trouble in that city from the approaching war made it impossible for
them to fulfill such plans as they'd made; escape was necessary. Enter my i
nnocent cousin, Anne, not terribly smart, but possessing relatives with a lu
xuriant sanctuary far from the conflict.
Possessing money ... at least on one side of the family.
Once they arrived and got their bearings, it was determined that one of them
should try to marry into that money. James would come to pay court to my si
ster, as there was less difficulty for a husband to control his wife's prope
rty than the other way 'round. All he had to do was be what he essentially w
as, handsome, genial, naturally charming, but without a speck of real feelin
g or guilt for what he was doing.
Caroline was the same way. They were perfectly matched.
Then they'd found out that Elizabeth was my heir. Her money alone would b
e a fortune, but how much better would
it be to double it. That's when they made their first attempt on my life. D
uring the happy confusion of a tea party, it had been easy enough to keep A
nne distracted. Caroline had slipped a good dose of laudanum into my tea an
d watched with approval as my blameless cousin stirred in plenty of sugar,
which would mask the taste for me.
The plan was that I should simply fall asleep, never to wake. If anybody at t
he party noticed me dozing off in a chair, one or the other of them would pre
vent any attempt to rouse me. The greater likelihood was that once I felt sle
epy enough, I'd go upstairs to bed, never to return.
They couldn't know that I would not be drinking it; I'd long planted that pro
vision into their minds as I'd done with everyone else: that they should enti
rely ignore the fact I never ate or drank anything.
What a shock it had been to them when Rapelji had come in and raised the a
larm about Father.
Father . .. my poor father ... he might have died in my place, all unknowing.
And Mother ... all these months ignorantly bearing the stigma of a poisoner.
I roughly pushed the stabbing rage aside and made Caroline go on.
Made cautious by this blunder, they held off for a time, until things could
fall back into their usual routine. They did not for a moment believe Beld
on's story about the flying gout and noticed right away the new lock on his
door. After much speculation and observation, later confirmed when Elizabe
th decided to confide in Norwood, they knew it was Mother we all suspected,
not them. With relief they watched and waited for another opportunity, and
James proceeded with his courtship of Elizabeth.
Caroline apparently had little objection to her husband's conquest of anoth
er woman and none at all to his going to a prostitute for the easement of s
uch urges as come to a man forced by circumstances to be celibate. After he
'd finished with Molly one night, he'd gone to The Oak for a fortifying dri
nk and had overheard the regulars joking amongst themselves about my recent
departure to pay my respects to the lady.
He wasn't aware at that time of Molly's reputation for discretion. He knew t
hat one careless word from her to his
prospective brother-in-law could endanger his chances with Elizabeth. Besides
, there was the additional gain of inheritance to consider. I had to be silen
ced.
And the men to do it were right there. Ash, Drummond, all the others.
For they were Norwood's men.
He'd met them and secured their services on one of his frequent trips away t
o see to "business." Faster and more certain than marriage, he'd made lucrat
ive arrangements with them, finding likely places for a raid and taking a po
rtion of the profit. They'd been in Glenbriar that night to plan the next on
e and he ordered them to kill me, saying that I'd found them out and would t
alk.
There were two problems with that, though: Ash had decided on his own to t
ry for a ransom on the side . . . and I was no longer the ordinary man I a
ppeared to be. No wonder Norwood had been so completely astonished to see
me alive on the road the next night. I was supposed to be dead and driftin
g somewhere at the bottom of the Sound.
Also to his misfortune, Knox had been captured. He'd been closemouthed, bu
t then I'd promised to make the man talk. Norwood's wife had to see that h
e did not.
"You? How were you involved with that?" I demanded. My influence upon her
had lowered her guard so much that she was readily answering questions as
though they were part of a normal conversation, requiring only a word or t
wo from me to keep her going. It was just as well. The initial effort of c
oncentration had been painless, but to sustain it for any length of time m
ade my head ache terribly.
"I left the house carrying some of James's clothes," she said. "I changed into
them, then cut across the fields to get to town, before any of you arrived."
Sweet heavens. She must have taken the idea from the play I'd given Anne to
read. Certainly she she would have greater mobility and be less noticeable
in men's clothing.
"What did you do?"
"Watched and waited. When I saw Knox in the room with you, I broke the wi
ndow and shot him, then ran. James led them in the wrong direction, away
from me. I got back, changed again, and went on to the house with no one
the wiser."
"Then what?"
"That was all. The whole thing had been so much of a risk and all for nothi
ng because you obviously didn't know anything harmful against us. I then to
ld James to work on the girl. Marriage to her was safer and more profitable
. Besides... there would be others soon enough."
Others? I didn't take her meaning right away. It was too awful to see, I suppo
se, and when I did, I wished that I hadn't.
Elizabeth was only to be the first in a series of marriages. Now that they'
d worked out their ploy, they would eventually venture forth to take full a
dvantage of any number of other women with money. Over the years they would
be able to make thousands of pounds with very little effort or expenditure
of their own funds.
Of course to do so, they would have to find a way of divesting themselves o
f Elizabeth's company fairly soon, but in these unsettled times it would be
simple enough to arrange something with Ash. They'd already made mention o
f it to him. It had been what Norwood and Caroline had been discussing whil
e I'd seen to the horses. Their disagreement had been about whether to keep
me there or let me leave. Caroline had wanted me well away from things. He
r plans had been laid; she did not want me around to risk the least disrupt
ion of them. But to get me out, she'd have to go as well, and Norwood hadn'
t liked it. His dear and loving wife was the more clever of the two, after
all; he'd wanted her with him, just in case anything unexpected did arise.
The idea was to make it look like another rebel incursion. Norwood would eme
rge to tell the sad tale of how he'd been knocked unconscious trying to defe
nd his house, awakening after all was over to discover the body of his bride
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]