The older brother spoke again without missing a breath, it was if they were one person speaking.
“We didn’t mean no harm to come to anyone, I swear it.”
Then the younger of the brothers spoke again.
“We had to do it to help our ma and little sister, my Lord. We’ve been on the streets since our Papa died in the middle of this past winter. What was left of the winter near took our ma and sister, as well. They were starving, and certainly won’t be making it through another winter on the streets in London with no home and no hope of a way out.”
Both the young men hung their heads as Marco looked them over. They were wearing clothes which were torn, dirty, and too small. They had shoes, if they could be called such. There were so many holes in them that they offered little protection from the elements. The men of Ashewood Village who had gathered around to hear them questioned were all as affected as he was with their pitifulness, and yet they had still done wrong, and there had to be someone to hold to account for this.
“I’ve never seen you in Ashewood before,” Marco noted, drumming his fingers on his desk. “Why come all the way from London to make trouble here? And how can making trouble here possibly help your mother and sister, if they are in London?”
“We’re being paid to do it.” The older of the two brothers spoke up. He paused and swallowed hard. “We couldn’t say no to the money, not with the state Mama and Violet were in when he approached us.”
“He? Who paid you to do this?”
Marco rose from his seat to pace behind his desk.
The younger of the two brothers did a palms-up gesture.
“We did not get ’is name, I’m afraid, but he was a bit of a stocky fellow, about half a head shorter than you, with dark hair and hazel eyes. He offered us a sum that borders on the obscene. It was enough to buy Mama and Violet lodgings and food for the entire summer, at least.”
The older of the two troublemakers took up the tale at that point.
“He told us we were to make as much trouble as possible for you, and burn down as many buildings as we could, to make you pay for humiliating his sister, but we didn’t want to harm no one, I swear. We just needed money for our ma, ’til we found honest work.”
Marco went still, then. Now he knew exactly who’d seen to it that he was drawn away from London, and from Lady Eugenia’s sweet company.
Lord Greywood, Lady Henrietta Gale’s brother, was the mastermind of all this trouble and strife, it appeared. And all for the role Marco played in exposing Lady Henrietta’s schemes?
That seemed, to Marco at least, a bit of an overreaction on Lord Greywood’s part. Still, it was a motivation he could understand, at least.
The younger of the two brothers hung his head and spoke again, while the older of the two swallowed convulsively.
“We wanted to stop after the first one, the gatehouse. Seeing the gatekeeper cry made us feel bad, but the man who paid us to do this had said that he would make sure our mother and sister suffered for it if we didn’t do exactly what we were paid to do.”
Marco studied them, an idea coming to him. He needed a way to stop them, but he did not want anyone to be hurt because of it– and it seemed that their mother and sister would be at risk of just that, if he simply locked these men away. If it had been him in their situation, with a mother and sister under dire threat, he knew that he might have taken a devil’s bargain too.
They seemed genuine, and had answered him honestly – perhaps there was a way that he could turn that to his own advantage, and save their family in the process. They were watching him with trepidation in their eyes, as if his silence foretold doom. The villagers watched as well, and their faces showed him that they hoped for a fair and sensible judgement. He took a deep breath, and spoke to them again.
“I can see that such a situation would leave you with little choice – and whilst I abhor what you have done to my property, I applaud your loyalty to your family. Therefore, I have a question for you - what if I was able to offer you honest work and a roof over your heads, including your mother and sister, here in Ashewood? Would you cease your affiliation with the man who’s been paying you and take the honest work instead? If you were willing to stop working for him, I might be able to offer you something better here on the Ashewood Estate, or perhaps in Ashewood village, if you’re needed there?”
“Gladly, my Lord.” The elder of the two brothers spoke for both of them. “It is very generous of you to make such an offer after all the trouble we’ve caused. In truth, I was expecting to be sent off to prison this afternoon, once I was brought here.”
“Lord D’Asti,” the blacksmith spoke up, “I’ve been needing an apprentice or two to help out around the forge. My last apprentice now has his own smithy three villages away, and I’ve been looking for another for a while. The job comes with a small cottage that my mother-in-law lived in until she moved to the next town, to help her oldest son in his shop. I’m sure wecould find work for their mother, as well, both the seamstress in town and the local store could use some help. Since your father’s death, while things have been difficult at times, they are improving, thanks to you, and there is more prosperity in the district as a whole. And that means the chance of more work.”
Marco thought for a moment before he agreed.
“If these young men are willing to accept your offer, I’m more than willing to allow it.” The young men both lifted their heads with hope in their eyes, but they didn’t smile, both seeming to be afraid that they had not heard correctly. “I will send you in my carriage to gather your mother and sister. You need not fear that you will be harmed. This is not your fault, I understand - but mind you, never cross me or my people again, or you will suffer punishment. Is that clear?”
They both nodded their heads in vigorous agreement, sagging with a relief so overwhelming that they were apparently unable to speak.
Marco looked at his stablemaster and no words were needed to communicate his wishes.
“I will get these young men to London and safely back with their family, my Lord. It’s fortunate that we saved the carriage house, and the horses, from the fire…”
The two young men looked shamefaced at his words, and hung their heads as the stablemaster started to guide them away, but Marco held up a hand to stay their retreat for a moment.
“I’m afraid that, in our rush to put an end to the destruction you have wrought, I never caught your names, nor introduced myself. I am Lord D’Asti. And you are…?”
