Her Saving Grace (24 page)

The couple looked relieved, which made Damaris feel pained.

“Unfortunately, he is correct in one way
; you cannot remain here indefinitely. Father told me that his assets were divided equally among us, and I am certain that my brothers will want to sell the property. It won’t happen overnight so you still have time, and Lord Copley has offered you a cottage on his estate to retire to. I will of course continue to support you for the remainder of your days.”

The Higgins had sobered as she continued but they couldn’t argue with her
plan.

Nate realised that Damaris was rich enough to buy her brothers
’ share in this house but he didn’t mention it now. It wasn’t good business sense to keep a large townhouse only to house two former servants. He would mention it to Damaris when they were alone however and leave the decision to her. The couple might actually enjoy having their own little cottage, where they could perhaps tend a small garden, and that would be much easier to keep than this large old house.

“We understand, dear,” Mrs Higgins assured her. “You’ve always been very kind to us
and you continue to be; this isn’t your fault and we don’t blame you.”

“Thank you.”

“Besides, a cottage might be nice, might’n it, Mr Higgins? You could grow your vegetables and town wouldn’t be very far away.”

“Aye. Some say that a change is as good as a rest, so we’ve nothing to lose.”

Damaris was relieved. They left and just Nate, Damaris and Ella remained.

Damaris took a seat so that she was more level with Ella and took both her hands in her own.

“Ella, I have a suggestion for you. I know that you have friends here but I was wondering if you would like to come and live with me? You would have your own room and lots of clothes and toys to play with, and of course, I’ll be there too. Do you think you might like that?”

Ella’s eyes grew wide.

“I know it must be scary for you and you don’t have to come if you don’t want to, I just thought that perhaps you liked me and might want to live with me.”

The girl still didn’t speak but she didn’t look as afraid either.

“How about this,” Damaris suggested. “You come to live with me for a few weeks and if you don’t like it, you can return to your friends here, how does that sound?”

Ella cocked her head to the side for a moment as she thought, then she nodded.

Damaris gave her a huge grin and pulled the child into her arms, holding her tightly. “Thank you. I’ll do everything I can to make you happy.”

When they separated, Ella went with Lisa and packed her few belongings
, while Damaris spoke with Lilly for a few minutes, then they all returned to the carriage.

The ride to Copley Hall was awkward and mostly silent, so it was a blessed relief when they arrived and alighted from the carriage.

“You take Ella,” Nate told Damaris. “I’ll show our guests to their rooms.”

She didn’t need telling twice and almost ran inside, pulling the girl after her.

Hearing more voices than was usual, his mother came out to the hallway as they entered, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

“Mother, these are our
guests
for a few days, Damaris’ brother and his wife, Mr and Mrs Howard.” The very slight emphasis he put on the word guests would be missed by most, but he knew his mother would hear it, and realise that there was more to the story that couldn’t be explained yet. “May I present to you my mother, Lady Copley.”

“Very pleased to meet you,” Isabelle told them as she curtseyed. “I didn’t know you were coming but all our guest rooms should be ready to occupy, if you’ll follow me.”

***

In an effort to help Ella feel at home, and possibly a desire to hide from her brother, Damaris settled in the playroom with Ella as they explored the cupb
oards, drawers and shelves.

There were all sorts of toys in here, from wooden building blocks, to
jigsaw puzzles, to a three foot tall rocking horse. One wall had a large chalk board and coloured chalks, probably for the children to draw on and one cupboard housed an elaborate toy theatre, with cardboard characters who could be arranged to act out scenes. There were two freestanding bookcases and the books ranged from childish fairy tales, to adult fiction and textbooks.

Ella seemed rather overawed by the choice of playthings, so Damaris chose the brightly coloured building blocks and dragged the box to the centre of the room. She had no idea what to try and build so in the end, she opted to see how many bricks she could pile up before the tower toppled over.
Ella stood and watched as the tower grew but showed no sign of wanting to help, even when coaxed.

The tower made it to about two feet
tall before it toppled over. The next one to just over a foot, as Damaris placed the blocks unevenly. She began the third tower, again placing the blocks unevenly upon one another, and as she reached for the next block, Ella reached out and correctly positioned the building block.

It became a game, with Damaris placing the block poorly and
Ella placing them correctly. Eventually Damaris just handed her the blocks to place on the tower and this time, the tower reached almost three feet before toppling over. Damaris laughed but while Ella’s eyes shone with pleasure and she gave a small smile, she didn’t laugh. In fact, she still hadn’t spoken a word.

They were joined by Isabelle, Nathaniel, Annabelle and Mat
thew at different times, although Ella hid from everyone except Nathaniel.

They moved on from the bricks to a jigsaw of Europe but it was fairly easy
, since each country was a whole puzzle piece.

The adults and Gladys ate d
inner with Ella in the childrens’ dining room, because it was less formal than any of the dining rooms downstairs. Ella had no table manners at all and once she realised she wouldn’t get in trouble, ate ravenously. Gladys did her best to slow her down and helped her to eat, with a patience that few adults would show. They tried not to stare at Ella too much, although she was so cute that at times it was hard to resist, but they were here so the girl could get used to them and wouldn’t fear them, and staring at her wouldn’t help matters.

Christopher
and Hortense had been served dinner in their rooms, under the pretext that they would be too tired to socialise, and Damaris was pleased that she didn’t need to dine with them.

Ella seemed to come out of her shell a little over dinner, which is to say that she made eye contact a few times.
When they were finished, it was time for her to go to bed, so Damaris asked her to choose a book from the playroom. When Ella made no move to do so, Damaris chose a book of folk stories. Gladys helped the girl change into her night things and put her to bed, then Damaris began to read from the book.

It had been a busy few days for the girl and before Damaris had finished the first chapter, Ella was sound asleep.

Damaris closed the book and pressed a soft kiss to Ella’s temple. Gladys followed suit, then headed into her room, next door, although Damaris was pleased to see that she left the door open and an oil lamp burning, just in case the child woke up frightened in the night.

It was still early since they had eaten dinner at the time children usually would,
so Damaris headed downstairs and found the family in the drawing room.

She and Nate managed to have an almost private conversation while the others chatted, and she told him what Eliza had told her earlier, about the rumours circulating about
Wallace Sondham. Nate admitted that he didn’t know the gentleman very well but he was worth investigating, just in case the old adage of no smoke without fire was true.

Exactly how they went about investigating him was unclear at the moment; they couldn’t even talk to him until he returned from London. She suggested that in their official capacity as Constable and Justice, they could order the butler to allow them to search
Sondham’s study, with the hope of either finding something incriminating or perhaps an old diary, which might detail his movements at the time her father disappeared.

Doing that however, would let
Sondham know that he was a suspect and if there was any incriminating evidence they hadn’t found, it would surely be destroyed once he learned of their visit. That was assuming that it hadn’t been destroyed the moment Charles Howard’s body had been discovered.

Nate suggested that they pay a visit to Charles
’ solicitor in London the following day, both to get started in settling the estate, and so that they could ask if he knew who handled Sondham’s legal or business affairs. As much as lawyers and accountants were supposed to keep their clients affairs private, they often didn’t see the harm in talking amongst other lawyers or the gentlemen at their clubs.

They c
ould also pay a visit to William Manning, his friend who worked at his father’s auction house. William had replied to say that the list of paintings didn’t mean anything to him off hand, but that he would ask around. Although the list seemed random, Nate couldn’t shake the feeling that it was important. Why else would he write the names in runic letters if they meant nothing?

Damaris
agreed, although she seemed unhappy to note that Christopher would insist on going with them and if they didn’t tell him, he would feel slighted, which would raise his ire.

Nate didn’t particularly seem
to fear Christopher’s anger but he could see that Damaris did, so he agreed to appease her brother as much as possible.

***

Lord Alistair Melchin had been Charles Howard’s friend ever since they had been at Oxford University together, and his lawyer ever since they qualified. It was he who forwarded Charles’ letter to Damaris after he went missing, asking his daughter to take care of his mistress, and there were probably few family secrets that Lord Melchin didn’t know.

The journey to London was mostly silent, with
Christopher hiding behind a copy of the Lanford Times, while his wife kept her nose buried in a book. Nathaniel tried to make conversation on a few occasions but the responses he received were perfunctory, and he soon gave up.

They had sent word ahead of their intention to visit, and so Lord Melchin
had cleared his diary and was waiting for them. He greeted Damaris warmly.

“As beautiful as ever, my dear. You must be causing quite a stir in the
sleepy town of Lanford.”

Damaris blushed
, even although she was used to his somewhat effulgent attitude around her.

“And is this your
new beau?” he asked, turning to Nathaniel.

“Nathaniel Copley,” he introduce
himself. “I am helping Lady Wellesley investigate her fathers… disappearance.”

“Yes, quite.” He turned back to Damaris. “Dreadful business, my dear. As much as I cannot claim surprise at this outcome, it pains me to be proved right.”

“You and me both, Lord Melchin.”

He turned to the other members of the party,
although his attitude cooled considerably.

“My condolences, Mr Howard.”

“Thank you. Might I introduce my wife, Hortense Howard.”

“Pleased to meet you, my dear. Well, come through to the office. My clerk has tea and coffee prepared.”

They exchanged a few more pleasantries as the beverages were served and it almost seemed to Damaris that he was trying to delay matters. She had to admit, she wasn’t particularly looking forward to this either.

“I cannot
in good conscience read the Last Will and Testament until your brother, or a lawyer acting on his behalf, is present but I see no harm in divulging the general terms; it is my understanding that he has told his daughter of its contents. Aside from a few small, specific bequests, your late father’s estate is divided equally among all three children. He appointed me to act as Executor and although I have yet to receive his death certificate, I have already made a start in collecting the debts of the estate.”

“Debts?”
Christopher asked, his coffee cup pausing halfway to his lips.”

“Yes, nothing exceptional but when he disappeared, he obviously left some accounts outstanding.
If I recall correctly,” and his tone said that he remembered every detail, “I forwarded the details to you. When the accounts remained outstanding after you had left for France, I wrote to your brother in Edinburgh, who settled them, so the estate owes him that money plus interest. Then there are the taxes on your father’s Lanford home for the past six years, which Lady Wellesley has been covering, as well as the staffing costs, which the estate will repay her for.”

“How much?”
Christopher demanded.

“I don’t need repayment,” Damaris insisted.

“I would have to check the final tallies but including those accounts he left unsettled, and estimating the costs his estate has incurred to date, I would say that the estate owes almost a thousand pounds, plus interest.”

“
A thousand pounds!”

Damaris actually knew it was more like double that but she hadn’t been keeping the lawyer updated on the taxes or wages she paid. She
had never intended to claim the money back, only to keep her father’s home in good condition, just in case he ever did return.