“It brings on bleeding, as I understand,” said Jane, lifting her chin at him.
“No,” said Byron. “That’s the other one. I can’t remember what that one is called.”
She gave him a withering look. “I suppose a man like you would know all about these sorts of women’s concoctions.”
He had the decency to look away, abashed. “I have never pretended to be anything other than what I am, Miss Austen.”
“Now I’m Miss Austen, am I?”
“And anyway, we are getting off the point, which is that Mr. Hardy might have done it. And Mr. Hardy might also have been involved with Miss Seward.”
“I don’t think it makes sense,” said Jane. “Why would Mr. Hardy kill Anne when he knew that it would mean he would lose the tavern, his livelihood, and the only place he has to stay?”
“That’s a good point,” said Byron.
“Well, between the two of them,” said Jane, “one of them is lying.”
“Two of who?” said Byron.
“Eves and Hardy, of course,” said Jane.
“Right,” said Byron. “Why would Hardy lie about who it was that Anne was lying with? Of course, he could have made up the whole thing about wild carrot. Maybe that’s not where he was. He might have been somewhere entirely else, and he simply said he was running an errand like that for Miss Seward.”
“Would he make that up?” said Jane.
“I don’t know,” said Byron, “but you are, as we have, even now, just established a woman.”
“Just established that now?”
“No, you know what I mean, we mentioned, in conversation—”
“It’s a very odd thing to say, my lord—”
“I only mean, you’re a woman, and would you give such an errand to a man like Hardy?”
“Well, I might be a woman, but I am not the sort of woman who would procure such a thing.”
“No? Not even if you were married?”
“Isn’t the purpose of marriage to have children, not prevent them?”
“That’s debatable,” said Byron. “But all right, I suppose. It’s only that sometimes, I think, women are desirous of a bit of a break, especially if the children are very young.”
“Look, my lord, I am not married, and I am never going to have any children,” said Jane. “Perhaps there is no point in contemplating what I would do.”
“No, true.” He sighed into his fish. “You see my point, though?”
“I don’t know that I do.”
“Only that I think this is an intimate activity. If a woman were to charge a man with procuring something like this for her, we would assume that the man involved was… well, I don’t know what man a woman charges with doing such a thing. Men don’t even visit midwives, do they? It would be something she’d do herself or something she’d ask another woman to do.”
Jane considered. She ate some more bread. Chewing thoughtfully, she nodded. She swallowed. “Yes, you may be right. Are we going to have to go and inquire after this midwife, then?”
“It’s a bit too far to go on horseback, isn’t it? We don’t have to go after Mr. Seward overnight, but perhaps we need your sister to accompany us for this.”
“Overnight?” said Jane. “Oh, we can easily go there and back in one day. I’m certain of it.”
“Perhaps,” said Byron.
