“Look,” said Jane, “when we found out that Mr. Felton worked for the Beaumonts, everything made sense.”
“I don’t see how it did,” said Cassandra. “I thought he likely worked for Mr. Eves, since he was taking letters from Mrs. Beaumont to him.”
“Yes, well, you weren’t there when Byron said to me that Mr. Beaumont likely knows that Mr. Eves is the actual father of the babe, so, that might be why it wasn’t clear to you,” said Jane.
Cassandra blinked at her. “No, that clears absolutely nothing up. What?”
Jane cleared her throat. “All right, well, let me see. We know that Beaumont was there that night, at the tavern, for he said that he saw Byron on the street, after he’d been thrown out. But then Beaumont didn’t stay at the tavern. He didn’t know what had become of Byron. Which is because he had gone up that ladder, put the laudanum in Mr. Hardy’s sleeping draught, and gone on his way, so as not to be near when the man dropped dead.”
“But why would Mr. Beaumont do such a thing?” said Cassandra.
“Well, we know that Mr. Hardy had already blackmailed Mr. Beaumont about his predilection for men.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with that!”
“Ah, but it does,” said Jane. “I don’t entirely know how this works, but since Mr. Beaumont prefers men so much, he arranged for someone else to father his babe, I think. Or he decided that if his wife found someone else to do it in his stead, he would not be displeased. I don’t know, but whatever the case, he was certain that Mr. Hardy would know and he could nothave this secret used against his child. So, he wished for Mr. Hardy to be unable to harm him or anyone else ever again.”
“I don’t know,” said Cassandra. “I can see that motivating a man who had fathered a child, but if Mr. Beaumont is not even the father—”
“Well, he will be the father,” said Jane. “In every way that matters. He will claim the babe and give it his name and raise it up and perhaps, from his perspective, it was the only way he was ever going to have a babe anyway.”
“Oh, I don’t see this,” said Cassandra. “Why would that be the only way he could have a babe?”
“Well, this is something else that Byron said,” said Jane. “He said that some men are drawn to both men and women but others are only drawn to one of the other, and that Beaumont was only drawn to men. So, if that was the case, perhaps he simply was unable to…”
“To what?”
“Oh, heavens, Cassandra, must I spell this out for you?”
“I think you must, because I do not understand.”
“To, erm, perform with a woman.”
“Oh,” said Cassandra, eyes wide. “You mean he wouldn’t…” She gestured with a finger, sticking it out.
Jane raised her eyebrows.
“Well, we really should not be discussing this.”
“You forced me into it!” cried Jane. “I had not thought it through to that degree, anyway, until you made it imperative that I defend my thinking, and now—”
“Well, let’s move on, then,” said Cassandra. “How did he get the laudanum?”
“Oh, from any apothecary,” said Jane. “That’s easy enough. It’s also easy to get something very strong.”
“Yes, I suppose,” said Cassandra. “But I don’t see how you knew it.”
“Because we knew that Mr. Beaumont instructed Mr. Felton to put the ladder there!” said Jane. “Mr. Beaumont wanted an easy way in and out of the inn, and he wouldn’t have minded if it went into Miss Seward’s bedchamber, considering the two of them had some… affair when they were younger.”
“And that’s the bit that doesn’t fit,” said Cassandra.
“Oh, indeed,” said Jane, tapping her lip. “After all, if he’sthatunable to do anything with a woman at all, then how did Mr. Hardy have anything to watch? Or Mr. Seward, for that matter?”
“Only perhaps,” said Cassandra, “that is why he had her procure those men at all. Because if he knew they were watching, then—”
“Oh,” said Jane. “Mr. Eves is not the father of the babe at all, then, is he?”
“Mr. Eve’s presence was required in order to make the babe,” said Cassandra. “Because without a man involved in the process, then Mr. Beaumont could not manage it.”
