Except, these ledgers did not resemble any type of account he was familiar with. There were credits listed for every quarter, which matched the amount he allowed for the estate, and a balance of remaining funds at the end. Those were normal. What wasn’t normal were the columns between labeled ‘CON’, ‘ACT’, ‘REP’. The numbers in the REP column were what was reported to him. However, he had no idea what the other columns represented.
He studied each entry to try and make sense of her accounting and kept returning to Mrs. McGraw. Charlotte still reported payment going to her. That salary that he had agreed to pay her was in the CON column, while there was a scratch in the ACT column, with the amount appearing again in the REP column.
There were several more discrepancies as well. However, the figures listed in the CON and ACT column always calculated to the amount in the REP column, which he was beginning to believe stood for Report, because those were the figures that were sent to him. But why?
As there was a scratch in the ACT column for Mrs. McGraw, did that mean that nothing was paid, which would make sense since the woman didn’t work here any longer, but reported to him differently.
If so, why?
Victor leaned back in his chair as the most disturbing thought occurred to him. Was Charlotte embezzling from the estate?
He quickly found the earliest accountings and studied each. Her system had been the same since she took over the household accounts.
Individually the amounts were not large but combined, the amount that she had accumulated over four years was no small matter. In fact, she had shifted nearly three thousand pounds to herself in addition to the one hundred pounds a year that had been negotiated as her allowance in the marriage settlement.
He was assuming she shifted it to her because it had not been spent and it was not accounted for in the ledgers.
Her personal accounting, which was the allowance, was also sent to him annually, and Victor knew that she spent little of her personal funds. The most costly were paints, brushes and canvases. Occasionally she bought shoes or stockings, but little else.
He frowned and glanced back through her spending to note that Charlotte hadn’t so much as purchased a new dress in over two years, so why did she lie about the household accounts?
Staring at the ledgers did not bring the answers he sought.
Did he ask her directly, or did he wait and watch?
If he demanded answers now, she might not answer him honestly. Further, he had now uncovered three secrets: Mrs. McGraw, being a governess and now the finances. What else was she hiding from him?
In the end, he decided to wait and watch and see what else he could learn, and hoped that he was mistaken, but what other explanation could there be other than she was hiding funds from him?
When Charlotte returned, he attempted to draw her into conversation, but she informed him that there were household matters that she must attend to and that she didn’t wish to interrupt his day.
There was nothing to interrupt.
He didn’t speak to her again until they sat down to dinner.
The conversation waspolite. She had asked about his day, how he found the weather, and other mundane topics. After dinner, she retired to the parlor and worked on her needlepoint while he sipped brandy.
This was not the person he had married or had written to these past four years. Each of her letters had been long and filled with details of her life in Willanton and the estate, which she had named Wisteria House because once she had cleared the dead plants and weeds from around the house, the Wisteria sprouted and came back beautifully. Therefore, she repainted the shutters to white because the blue was not complementary. Those were the things she wrote to him about, along with the ordinary and humorous. He looked forward to having similar conversations and enjoying her perception of what was around her.
Victor glanced up to his portrait that still hung above the fireplace. A gifted woman who created art throughout the manor had painted it. Passion and creativity flowed from her fingers, and he expected to see some of that in her personality. But that was not who dined with him this evening, nor who was sitting quietly on the settee stitching.
She was all that was proper and respectable.
She also kept secrets and her distance.
What the blazes had happened to the Charlotte he thought he knew.
Had he ever truly known her?
When Charlotte indicated that she wished to retire for the evening, he escorted her upstairs and like the evening before, kissed her and then continued on to his chamber where he poured another brandy and paced. Though he was determined to wait and watch, that did not mean that he wasn’t on edge in wondering who exactly he was married to.
Chapter 12
Charlotte entered the house and paused, afraid that Victor was already awake and breaking his fast. It had been her intention to return before he rose but she had been delayed at the mill. The dye she wanted to use for the new wool was almost perfect and after further mixing of the colors, it may turn out exactly the way she wanted, but she wouldn’t know for certain until tomorrow after it was dry.
After handing her bonnet to Walters, Charlotte turned toward the breakfast room to make certain everything was prepared for Victor. Today she would show him that she could see to his comfort and be a sweet, pleasant, and quiet wife. However, she was brought up short when she noted that Victor was already seated at the head of the table, a cup raised to his lips. He set it back in the saucer and rose. “Good morning, Charlotte. I trust your walk was pleasant.”
“Yes, it was. Thank you for asking.”
