“The Tidemarks, of course. What’s he done? The castle is still standing,” he said as a joke.
Cassie stared at him. She’d never seen this cavalier manner in him, yet he said he rode ahead to warn her. She compressed her lips. She reminded herself she had seen little of him since Richard died; still, his manner concerned her. “I wonder for how long,” she finally said.
She picked up her unfinished glass of wine and took a drink. “The caretakers he’d left here were robbing the estate.”
“Surely you exaggerate. How can you know this?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.
“We have examined the estate books,” she said, her hand sweeping before her to include Gwinnie and Lakehurst in her statement. “They’d enter ten guineas in the ledger book if they received a bill for five guineas. Reports sent back to Edmund would show an expensive place to run, and he continued to try to create economies. Never once did he come here. My brother came to Baydon to get me and Alex after Richard’s death, not Edmund.”
Mr. Stillworth’s lower lip jutted forward. “I thought Uncle Edmund was hoarding funds, increasing the estate's value. I find what you are saying hard to believe,” he said, shaking his head.
“You remember Carlyle, don’t you?”
“The deaf stable hand? Yes, I do. Good with horses.”
“Richard provided for him in his will, promising room and board for his life. It didn’t specify a salary for work done, so the Gallaghers fired him as a stable hand and grudgingly gave him food and a place to sleep, that is all.”
“Sounds more like the fault of the estate manager than the Gallaghers,” he said offhandedly.
“We have found, for reasons I cannot fathom yet, Mr. Brownings only responsibility to the estate is in collecting rents that Mr. Gallagher took from him. I have no idea where Mr. Browning is now; however, I can tell you I wish to speak to him.”
“You know why Uncle Edmund didn’t want to come here, don’t you?” Stillworth offered.
“No, I don’t,” Cassie said emphatically.
“Because the old Marquess never let him bring Vanessa here.”
“Vanessa has never been here?”
He shook his head. “Never. And that hurt both of them. Edmund did not receive much in the way of money from his father. Vanessa Farrow came from a wealthy merchant family. Her dowry was large. And strangely, they fell in love with each other.” He shook his head, his expression displaying wonder over that fact.
“And remain devoted to each other,” Cassie added in mutual wonder.
“I know! It’s unfathomable. When Edmund announced he would marry Vanessa Farrow, his father cut him off, saying he’d smell too much of the shop to be welcomed at Baydon any longer. After he died, Edmund thought he might be able to come here; however, his brother was like-minded to their father and refused their visit. Quite embarrassing for Uncle Edmund after they travel to get here following his father’s death. His sister, my mother, tried to intervene on his behalf. However, the new Marquess was as much of a curmudgeon as his father had been. From what my mother told me, they only saw a softness in him when his wife, Richard’s mother, died after childbirth.”
“How sad,” Gwinnie said.
Stillworth nodded. “After his father died, Richard determined to heal the breach, and I think did; however, Edmund refused to come here. He said he saw no reason to.”
“But he’s coming here now,” said Gwinnie.
“It is a sad tale; however, it doesn’t answer the question as to why Tidemark didn’t take more of an interest in the estate; after all, following years of neglect by the family, he suddenly had his nephew honoring him with his trust,” Lakehurst observed.
Stillworth shrugged. “I agree. It makes little sense.”
“We are not going to solve that mystery tonight. Now that there are four of us, shall we adjourn to the parlor for a game of whist?” Gwinnie suggested, bouncing up out of her seat.
Cassie laughed and rose as well. “I’m up for it.”
Lakehurst and Stillworth followed them out of the dining room.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Bats
Lakehurst rose early the next day. He hadn’t slept well during the night, his mind thinking about all that he’d learned the day before... and what he still didn’t know.
Along with his concern for Cassie’s well-being and safety expanding, his admiration grew, his heart considering possibilities he hadn’t allowed his mind to consider.
