Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

S eeing Worthe gave her such a pang of delight as could scarcely be contained. Scarlett very nearly flew down the stairs, at such a pace that if she lost her footing, she would surely break her neck. But she made the front door without incident, throwing it open to see not only Worthe but Oakley and Lord Tipton moving towards the house. Was it a good thing that all three had come to her? Or did it mean bad news?

“Such a surprise!” she exclaimed as she exited the house. “What do you all do here?”

The three gentlemen greeted her, after which Lord Tipton said, “We came to speak to you, my dear. Is Reverend Margrave otherwise engaged? We had hoped to speak privately.”

“The reverend is away on business, so we shall have all the privacy we need.”

“Excellent,” said Lord Tipton .

Scarlett led the men into the house. There was a part of her relieved to see them, and hopeful for good news, but too much bad had happened of late to allow her to be fully happy. Another part of her had come to expect the worst, she supposed.

Mrs Hobson was quite in awe of the noble men arriving within her domain and fussed about, arranging tea, expressing dismay that she had no cake, and asking whether the room was either too hot or too cold for them. After being assured that they were in every way comfortable, she left them, urging Scarlett to ring for her if any need at all arose.

A short pause followed her exit.

“I know that you may be doubting my claims,” Scarlett began in a rush. “But you should know that I found a second letter. Another letter from the orphanage urging Reverend and Mrs Margrave to take me.”

“A second letter? That is splendid news, indeed!” Oakley exclaimed.

“We did not doubt you,” Worthe said, leaning forwards. “That you must know. You were never doubted for a moment.”

“The reverend had only been in Stratton Street a short time before I recognised he was not in his right mind. I had no wish to argue with him and had determined that I would allow him to speak his piece and then seek the evidence that would restore you to us straightaway,” Lord Tipton told her.

“We did not think you in any danger,” Oakley added. “ We worked as fast as we could, but alas we required time to find that which we sought.”

“It was Worthe who had the best idea of all of this,” Lord Tipton told her. “He had already spoken to a barrister by the time we caught up with him. Had we left the Leightons’ house five minutes later, he would likely have been long gone, off to execute his plan and fie on Oakley and me.”

“Forgive me,” Worthe said, with a deep chuckle. “I do have a dreadful tendency to become somewhat single-minded when given a purpose.”

Scarlett realised she should pour the tea for the men and rose to do so, appreciating the chance to be occupied while she spoke. Her hand shook a little as she poured. “I did think you had all abandoned me. The reverend, um, teased me about it a bit, that everyone was quick to turn their backs on me. Particularly Lord Worthe.”

She happened to be pouring Worthe’s tea just then and glanced up at his face, adding, “He was quite amused that you were the first to go.”

She saw fury flash briefly in Worthe’s eyes, but then he closed them. Both his fist and his jaw clenched a moment as he appeared to battle to become master of himself once more. He opened his eyes, restored to his usual amiability, and said, “I hope that footman gave you my letter?”

“He did,” Scarlett assured him as she took her seat again. “He was very good, and I was…well, I was delighted by it.”

Worthe gave her a small, private smile and she blushed, lowering her eyes.

“Scarlett, I pray you will forgive us all for what seemed like an abandonment, for it was surely not intended as such,” Oakley assured her. “We were, all of us, somewhat single-minded in our intentions to rescue our relation…my sister?—”

“My niece,” Lord Tipton added.

“My beloved,” Worthe added, making her blush even hotter.

“But we dared not send word before we had what we needed, lest it push the reverend to some wickedness,” Oakley finished.

“I am only glad to know I was not thought of as a liar,” she said.

“We might have remained in Stratton Street and argued against Reverend Margrave for hours, but it was immediately apparent the man would scruple against nothing to refute anyone else’s claim on you,” said Lord Tipton. “We needed evidence, hard evidence, that he could not argue away or dismiss. And I am pleased to say that we found it. With a few surprises along the way.”

“Worthe thought we ought to begin by finding Mrs Blythe,” Oakley explained. “So we began in Harrowsford. Mrs Blythe was not difficult to find once we learnt that she had married. Mrs Blythe has become Mrs Dobbins and is now the proprietress of a very respectable inn in Oxfordshire.”

“Mrs Dobbins gave up her position at the orphanage shortly after it burnt, so you were among the last girls whom she saw settled into new homes. She remembered you well, you and Adelaide both.” Lord Tipton paused to take a sip of the tea Scarlett had poured for him.

“She referred to you as the Richmond twins,” Oakley said. “She had not been keen to see you and Adelaide separated into two different homes, but there was no other way. It weighed on her all these years, hoping it had been for the best.”

Scarlett grimaced, not knowing if hers or Adelaide’s circumstances would have put the lady’s mind at ease.

“Happily, Mrs Dobbins was also able to provide information about where my younger brother and his wife made their home,” Lord Tipton said. “We had never known that, you see, although we did suppose it was some place near the orphanage itself. They lived in Wykham, where we found something invaluable to us.”

Lord Tipton did not have Oakley’s beaming grin, but his smaller smile expressed genuine satisfaction as he said, “A solicitor in Wykham had Robert’s last will and testament, and within it, he established me as the guardian of his children in the event of his death—save for the instance in which Oakley was of age, in which case he was given the care of his sisters.”

“So the reverend truly has no power over me?” Scarlett asked worriedly. This had troubled her late into the evening, that even if she could prove he had adopted her, that he might still be able to hold authority over her.

“ I am in charge,” Oakley proclaimed. He had taken one of the hard wooden chairs and now rocked back on two legs. Scarlett feared he might topple himself. “And I must say, Scarlett, I intend to be very stern!”

“I doubt you could be half as stern as what I am accustomed to,” she told him with a smile. “It is simply not in your nature.”

“I was surprised to find that Robert had established a very successful ale business near Wykham before he died,” Lord Tipton continued.

“Ale?” Scarlett asked.

“And who do you think enjoys our father’s ale above all others?” Oakley asked with another precarious rock backwards. “The Prince Regent himself!”

“Oh!” Scarlett laughed. “Well done, Papa!”

“It seems,” said Lord Tipton, “that his part of the business was never sold. He had a partner, an excellent man called Horton who took the receipts Robert developed and built the business upon them. He has set aside Robert’s returns all these years, thinking that one day the heir and heiresses would present themselves.”

“Heiresses?” Scarlett laughed again. “You do not mean Adelaide and I?”

Lord Tipton and Oakley exchanged looks. “There is a small fortune, and the shares in the ale business are to be divided equally among all of Robert’s heirs, male and female alike. ”

“I can scarcely believe it,” Scarlett said. “I do not imagine any great riches to come of a business divided three ways, but I would be mightily grateful to be less of a burden upon you and Lady Tip—um, Aunt Louisa.”

“As it stands, the ale fortune will be divided four ways,” Oakley told her.

“Four? Why?” Scarlett enquired.

Oakley rocked back once more, beaming with delight as he came perilously close to upending himself. “We have another sister!”