CHAPTER 21

The silence in the carriage was thick enough to choke on. Hannah sat beside me, staring out the window, her face pale. Beside her sat Maggie, her eyes closed as she slept. It was probably the first time she'd slept well in years.

"She looks peaceful," I whispered to Hannah.

"She does. I'm still trying to get my mind around the fact she's my mother. My actual mother. Lady Catherine was all I ever knew and I don't think she's been an example for the better," Hannah replied.

"Do you think they'll let her know Maggie is gone?"

Hannah nodded. "I would like to think they would keep their word and wait as requested, but if the matron thinks she can add to her fortune, she will. I do believe she is likely enlisting a messenger as we speak. We just need to get there before word does." Hannah leaned her head on my shoulder. "St Agatha's really is a horrid place. What shall we do with Maggie, I mean my mother?"

"Leave her with my ma. She'll do what she can while we work out what to do. We've created quite the tangled mess."

"Sometimes a tangle can be undone by pulling a single thread."

I nodded. "You know, you were quite the force back there."

"Me? A little commanding maybe."

"A fine lady," I said. I planted a kiss on her forehead.

"A common lady. Imagine a few weeks ago if someone told us that you were a lord, and I was a commoner. What a joke they would have thought it was."

"Yet you're still Hannah."

"And you're still John."

****

With Maggie tucked away in my room and Ma fussing over her like she was a lost lamb, Hannah and I were on our way to Frogmere, to confront Lady Catherine. Me, a mill worker, about to take account with the lady of the manor. It was madness, I knew, but I'd be damned if I let Hannah go through this alone.

"We're almost there," I said, breaking the silence finally.

Hannah turned to look at me. "How can you be so calm?" she whispered.

I shrugged, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "What's to be scared of? It's just words, ain't it? We've got the truth on our side."

Truth. The very thought of it felt empowering. As we pulled up to Frogmere, those grand stone walls and manicured gardens looked more like a stone cage, but there would be time to change that. If I got it back, it would change.

I clutched the envelope Ma had given me and the papers Hannah had gotten from the solicitor and Susan. Proof. Proof of who I was, of the woven lies, of the injustice of Lady Catherine's making. It seemed ridiculous, a mill worker like me holding the fate of a lady in my hands.

As we climbed the steps to the front door, I felt Hannah's hand tremble as I held it. Squeezing it, I felt her return the gesture. She turned and smiled.

The door swung open before we reached it. Kitty stood there and curtsied nervously. "Miss Hannah," she whispered. "Lady Catherine is in the drawing-room, waiting for you. She doesn't half look displeased."

"Have there been any visitors here while I was gone?"

Kitty nodded. "A messenger on horseback not long ago."

"Has she been in her study?"

"Don't know Miss. I were busy downstairs."

Kitty stepped aside for us to enter.

"You can do it. I'm here," I whispered.

Hannah nodded, her face a mask of calm, but I saw the way her fingers clenched around the handle of her reticule.

The drawing room felt grand. As fancy as the place Hannah and I had stayed. Despite all the plush furniture and fancy paintings, it felt cold. Lady Catherine sat in front of a raging fire. Her back straight, her gaze fixated on the flames. Even when we entered, she didn't turn away.

"Back so soon Hannah? How was your visit with Mildred?"

Only then did Lady Catherine turn to look at us. Her thin lips pursed. I'd only seen her from a distance. She might look like an old lady, but fear started to churn in my stomach. She sat there, perched on the edge of a silken chair like a bird of prey ready to strike.

Hannah settled into a chair opposite her, her movements controlled and deliberate. I stepped behind the chair and rested my hands on it, thankful for the support it gave me as Lady Catherine watched us both.

"Let's not play games with words. You are well aware I wasn't at Mildred's," Hannah said.

"Clearly not. Look at the company you've been keeping. Pray, when did you start stepping out with commoners?"

"After I realised that I was one."

Lady Catherine's lips curled at the edges. "I should have dealt with Maggie and Peg years ago, though Peg has hardly been an issue all these years."

"How could you do it?"

Lady Catherine waved her hand. "I needed an heir to inherit Grimmore. How was I to know about the inheritance clause in the will? Lord Sheppard should have told me I needed a male issue. This whole mess would have been avoided. Stupid Maggie, I got a girl for my trouble. I suppose you wish to know the truth of the matter. I'm well aware that beyond these walls, the ramblings of the poor don't go far with the magistrate when it's against a lady with no evidence."

"Go on then, enlighten us."

"Lord Sheppard was in ill health, a little arsenic works on vermin, and worked a treat on him. Of course, that was before the will was read and I realised my error. Nothing but a small allowance. I got notice to be gone from Grimmore within two months by his heir. It was around that time Thomas sent word he was returning. He seemed happy to tell me that his wife was with child and they were keen for the baby to be born in England. As Grimmore had been stolen from me, Frogmere was the only estate left. Without either, I would be reliant on the charity of my relatives. I didn't enter a marriage of convenience to have nothing."

"You did something to the carriage." My knuckles were white from clenching the chair.

"Yes, I paid some men. They hadn't done such a good job with Peg. Only got half the pay since she lived. Told them if they made that mistake again, they'd not be around to tell. With them out of the picture, I was installed here at Frogmere. You see, Hannah, you are the only one with anything to lose."

"How so?" Hannah asked.

"If you try to expose me by revealing your identity, it means you aren't blood. No claim to Frogmere. When I die, it will pass to some other distant relative they would need to find."

"That would make sense if your men hadn't made another error."

"Error?" Lady Catherine's voice faltered as she leaned forward. "What error?"

"Thomas and Rebekah, they did die in the carriage, but she wasn't with child," Hannah said.

"Don't be preposterous. Why would Thomas lie to me about that?"

"He didn't. Rebekah gave birth before they left France."

Lady Catherine shifted in her seat. She adjusted the fabric on her dress.

"There was no baby. The men would have noticed a baby. You think I left anything to chance?"

"There was a baby. A baby boy and a lady on board to watch over him. Your men didn't know about her, did they? Two drivers and two passengers. That was your order, wasn't it?"

The lady's gaze narrowed on Hannah. "I suppose you know what became of the boy, then?"

"I do. He's standing behind me."

Lady Catherine stood up. "Him? A beaten-up worker. Let me entertain this notion of yours Hannah, he can't prove who he is."

"Actually, I can." I took a step forward, pulling the envelope from my pocket. "This is me, Lady Catherine. This is the truth about who I am, about where I came from. With witnesses that are alive like Maggie, the lady on the carriage, and the papers we've found, it will be enough."

She stared at the letter. I didn't trust her to place it on the table—the fire being too close and a good way for her to rid herself of the proof. Hannah unrolled other documents, the ones from Mr Fredericks.

Lady Catherine's gaze flicked back and forth between the papers. She stepped forward, her fingers trembling as she reached out to touch them.

"Where…where did you get these?" she whispered, her voice barely above a breath.

"It doesn't matter," Hannah said coldly. "What matters is the truth they contain. The truth about your brother, about Lord Sheppard's suspicions, about…me. And about Maggie, locked away in that godforsaken asylum for all these years."

"It would seem my plans are unravelling." Lady Catherine rose from the seat and stepped closer to the fireplace. "I have no desire to have my name dragged through the mud. Perhaps there is a way we can correct this in a more pleasing manner?"

"We're listening," Hannah said.

"I'll go to the solicitor and reveal…who are you again?"

"John, John Ingham," I said.

"I supposed that's not his actual name?" she asked Hannah.

"Oliver Jonathan Nicholson," Hannah replied.

"Typical of my brother picking family names to show off. Fine, I'll go and reveal the long-lost son of my brother. I'll agree to relinquish the manor to Oliver as long as I'm provided with an appropriate allowance."

Hannah turned to me. Such a proposal would mean things could be done smoothly and without too much of a fuss. Amicable even. Except for her part in the deaths of so many, it would mean overlooking that to gain whatever I stood to inherit.

"John?" Hannah said.

"I don't know."

Hannah returned her gaze to Lady Catherine. "That's not enough, Mother. You can't just erase the past with some words and ink. You'll have to answer for your crimes."

Lady Catherine waved her hand. "Crimes? Don't be dramatic, Hannah. There are no crimes here, at least not in the version I'll tell. Instead, there will be…unfortunate misunderstandings. I'll have my personal lawyer draw up the papers and it'll all be settled by tomorrow's end."

I don't think I'd ever hated a person as much as I hated Lady Catherine at that moment; my fist clenched so tightly that my nails bit into my palms. Her arrogance, her callous disregard for the pain she'd caused disgusted me.

"We'll hold you to your word. I'll not stay here another night until you're gone. Let's go John," Hannah said.

We left her there, standing by the drawing-room window like she was the queen and we were the servants. I cast one last look over my shoulder, hating the smirk I saw on her face.