“Has he gone?”
Walter nodded. “I am so, so sorry,” he whispered. “I am the world’s biggest fool. I never mean to hurt you, but it keeps happening anyway. This is the second time I have driven Lomax away, and this time there may be no way to bring him back. It is entirely my fault, and so it is for me to make things right, as far that is possible. I cannot give you Lomax, I cannot give you anyone worthy of you, but I want nothing more than to give you the home and family you crave. Winnie, will you marry me? It is only second best, I know that but—”
“I will.” She lifted her eyes to his. “Yes. I will marry you, Walter.”
Joy raced through him so abruptly that he quivered where he stood. Yes! She would be his wife! He almost cried out with exhilaration.
“Wait a moment,” Sir Hubert said. “You are not in a position to offer for anyone, Walter.”
“It is entirely unsuitable,” Lady Strong said firmly.
“No employment, no income, no prospects,” Sir Hubert said. “I donotapprove.”
“Nor I,” said Lady Strong. “Walter is not a fit person to marry my daughter.”
Winnie ignored them. Her hand still resting in Walter’s, her eyes fixed on his, she smiled. “Thank you, Walter.”
He smiled back, then raised her hand to his lips. “My pleasure.”
30: The Urn On The Stairs
Another Saturday, and another gathering in the old nursery to reflect on progress. Luce and Neate sipped Madeira, while Pettigrew Willerton-Forbes and Sandy worked their way through a plate of cakes. Michael was occupied in cleaning his array of pistols. Only Miss Peach was absent, still off on business of her own in Pickering.
“Pettigrew, who would you put money on at this point?”
Pettigrew brushed crumbs from his waistcoat. “John Whyte, the illegitimate son. He has only recently discovered his origins, and is bound to be resentful. And now he has disappeared, riding a valuable horse of Mr Bertram Atherton’s. A clear sign of guilt, if you ask me.”
“Very possible,” Michael said. “Whyte has probably sold that horse of Mr Bertram’s, changed his name and vanished beyond any finding. Then there is our other missing suspect. We know where Miss Tess Nicholson is, but she refuses to return home.”
“You could go to her,” Luce said.
“Yes, I could travel all that way and she might still refuse to see me,” he said. “She is the niece of an earl, so I can hardly force the issue. Nor can I arrest her, despite my blustering to Shapman. Besides, she is surely too dainty a creature to have wielded that axe.” He sighed. “Her lover is not at all dainty, but he seems genuinely honest, to me, unless I have completely lost my touch. Frankly, I think the answer lies at Pickering. This house of Nicholson’s, occupied by a respectable widow or in use as a house of ill-repute, take your choice, and what was he doing owning a chandlery?”
“What about these quarrels Lady Alice mentioned?” Luce said. “Lord Farramont, Eustace, Kent…”
“And the problem with any member of the family,” Michael said, “is why go to the bother of an axe? Far easier to add rat poison to the decanter in his room, which anyone who knew the chaplain well could have done. No one in the castle would need to kill him with an axe.”
“Except one,” Sandy said softly.
Michael exhaled sharply. “True. Despite all our efforts, westillcannot eliminate the Lady Alice. I cannot bring myself to believe it, yet she is such a capable lady, she could easily have murdered her husband.”
“How would she have done it?” Luce said. “She simply leaves her bed, walks down the stairs, retrieves the axe, then goes back upstairs — is that it? A blind woman?”
“Why not? You have seen how competently she manages the stairs. She rests just one finger on the rail and glides up or down as swiftly as you or I. And she can do that at night just as easily.”
“She wouldnae even need to do that on the night of the murder,” Sandy put in. “No one saw the axe on the stairs, after all. She could have taken the axe earlier and hidden it somewhere. Or her maid could.”
“Not the maid,” Michael said. “She is a God-fearing woman who would have told us at once if her mistress had asked her to acquire an axe. No, the Lady Alice would have done it herself.”
“Assuming she knew the axe was there,” Luce said.
“True. But she knew there were displays of weapons on the stairs. She could easily have examined the display and found the axe.”
“Do you think so?” Luce said. “I should like to see it. In fact, why not try it? You have tried everything else — the drainpipe, the scullery window, burning the nightgown. Let us put the axe in place, I will blindfold you and you can retrieve it.”
Michael laughed in delight. “Very well, wife. I love an experiment! Sandy, bring the axe. Luce, do you have a scarf for a blindfold?”
It took them some time to secure the axe in place, for the belt which should have held it was broken. In the end, they borrowed a belt from one of the gardeners, by which time word of the plan had spread throughout the castle, and a little knot of servants stood in the great hall, watching.
