The next morning,before Mr. Tidemark could hustle his wife back into their carriage to leave Baydon, Cassie demanded they tell her the truth about the Marquess and Mr. Stillworth.
Lakehurst thought she looked quite fierce, standing in the entrance hall, her arms akimbo as she stared Mr. Tidemark down.
He nervously pushed his glasses up his nose. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he declared huffily.
“I will not allow your carriage to leave until I am satisfied with the truth. Please, into the parlor,” she said sternly, gesturing to the open parlor door.
“Ask Mr. Stillworth,” he said instead.
“We don’t know where he is or if he even made it out of the cave alive. Lord Lakehurst and I almost died last night escaping Darkford’s cave. I’d like to know why.”
Mr. Tidemark’s mouth moved back and forth, as was his habit, before blurting out some piece of information. He pushed his glasses up his nose again. “It is all my brother, George’s, fault,” he declared.
Mr. Liddle came up behind the couple and gently touched their shoulders to encourage them to go into the parlor.
Mr. Tidemark sneered at him. He walked into the room with ill grace. Vanessa clung to his arm, tears beginning to puddle in her blue eyes.
Cassie saw everyone seated comfortably, then turned to Mr. Tidemark again. “Explain,” she said sternly.
He sighed. “Roxanne, the Marchioness of Darkford, gave birth to twin sons she named Richard and Raymond. Everyone thought the births were fine; however, she contracted childbed fever and soon died. My brother was distraught. He didn’t want to have anything to do with his sons since he’d lost his wife. He told me to get rid of them. Bernice, our sister, had just lost her babe. I suggested she could take them. Bernice agreed.
“After a year, when his grief lessened, he decided he needed to have his heir. He came to Bernice and took the baby known as Richard away with him. But Richard was not the firstborn, and once Raymond discovered they were brothers, I made sure he knew he was the elder and that he should be the rightful heir to the Marquess of Darkford.”
“Part of your revenge against your brother?” Lakehurst said, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared down at the man.
“Yes.”
“Stillworth said he chose Richard due to his hair color?” Cassie said.
He laughed. “He felt Ricard looked more like himself.”
“But they were twins!” she exclaimed.
“Not identical twins. Richard’s hair, for example, was a lighter blond.”
“Why didn’t he take both babies?” she asked.
“After Roxanne died, he didn’t even want one! But he needed an heir and did not want to remarry. Truthfully, Raymond had it better than Richard, for our sister loved him as if he was her own. She and her husband gave him everything. Discovering Richard was his brother after their twenty-first birthday was the worst thing that ever happened to him.”
“What was your role in all of this?” Lakehurst asked.
He laughed. “George and Bernice’s arranger.—Until I met Vanessa, then George tossed me aside as if I were an old piece of boot leather.”
“Arranger?” Lakehurst said.
“When he needed something to happen, I quietly made sure it did.”
“Including switching children,” Cassie said.
He nodded. “I didn’t care. I was a younger son. To me, one baby was like another.”
“The magistrate and the coroner are coming up the drive. Behind them there is a carriage with a ducal shield,” Mr. Liddle said from his vantage point by the narrow window.
“What?” said Lakehurst. He crossed to the window.
“It’s Grandmother!”
* * *
