‘I think we must ask you to be clearer than that, Mr Fletcher,’ said Martha quietly. The constable shuffled his feet and Doctor Herbert’s face remained expressionless.
‘I believe that there are people within this house who stood to gain a great deal on the death of the duke,’ said Fletcher, staring straight ahead. ‘Certainly financially, however, I do not believe that that was the primary motive.’
‘And what would that be?’ asked Thea, calmly.
Fletcher hesitated only for a second. ‘The freedom to pursue an entirely unnatural relationship.’ Now he looked between Thea and Martha. ‘I believe you are aware of what I speak,’ he said.
Thea took a breath to steady herself. ‘Fletcher, I do hope you do not mean–’
‘I do mean it,’ he said quickly. ‘I have had to witness the whole, sordid thing for so many years. I am aware that this kind of activity is not uncommon between unmarried women, but it will not do once a man is involved. It is not right to cuckold a man in his own house. There are those who say it is not possible for women to do so between themselves but clearly whatever relations you have were damaging to the duke.’
Thea pushed aside the shame she felt in her business being aired in front of the whole room. ‘But it is acceptable for him to take a mistress under the same roof?’ Fletcher looked away.
‘Men have different needs,’ said Doctor Herbert. ‘It is important that they are met. Women are not the same.’ Only the constable was sweating profusely.
There was a knock at the door and Sanders stepped through it. ‘Miss Bellegarde, Your Grace.’
‘Thank you, Sanders,’ she said.
Miss Bellegarde entered and stood inside the door with her hands on her hips. ’Well, isn’t it tense in here,’ she said, the lightness of her tone jarring with what had gone before.
‘Miss Bellegarde, there has been a potentially serious…’ started Fletcher, but she cut him off.
‘Sanders caught me up on the way here,’ she said, moving through the room to take her place in the awkward circle. ‘I’m surprised with you in attendance, Doctor Herbert,’ she said, addressing him directly. ‘You was always so buoyant in London.’ Her eyes gave the briefest of flickers to Thea, who understood.
‘Your accusations have no possible foundation,’ said Thea, certain the men could have no proof. This seemed to give Fletcher pause, but Doctor Herbert went on.
‘I became aware of the tendencies of the gardener shortly before she left my employ,’ added Doctor Herbert. ‘It was untenable to have such perverse individuals within my staff and yet you singularly sought her out and took her on, Your Grace.They do say that they flock together. When Mr Fletcher came to me, the whole thing clicked into place.’
‘You weren’t aware,’ said Frankie, piping up from where she stood near the corner of the room. ‘You had a letter saying that I kissed a man, and you sacked me for it.’
‘I had a letter saying that you were dressed as a man and kissed another woman, dressed as a man,’ said Doctor Herbert, almost spitting at her. ‘I can barely think of such abhorrent behaviour.’
Thea’s mind worked to catch up. That wasn’t what Frankie had told her, but then she wouldn’t have been able to read the letter herself. So how would anyone know that the person Frankie kissed was a woman? Who else had been there that night? She looked to Martha. She had been there and had been furious. Surely she couldn’t have...? But Martha shook her head, her thoughts clearly taking the same path. What could have happened?
‘You were having the duchess followed, weren’t you?’ Thea looked to Mrs Phibbs who had stepped forward as she spoke. Then she walked right up to Mr Fletcher, who did not back away. ‘That boy who came to the house – you were having her followed when she was out… learning.’
‘Of course I was having her followed,’ said Fletcher calmly. ‘Do you think I would allow her to go out dressed like that and risk the damage to the duke’s reputation if she were exposed? What a reckless act when political relationships are so strained.’
‘And then when you had reports of us in that alleyway you wrote to Herbert,’ said Thea, the sequence of events falling into place. ‘And got Frankie sacked.’
‘It is important that people are aware,’ said Fletcher. ‘When they are employing degenerates.’
‘Oi,’ protested Frankie and made to come forward, but Martha held out a hand to stop her.
‘It wasn’t Knatchbull or George at all was it?’ Thea asked Fletcher. Outwardly she was calm, but she couldn’t keep the waver of rage in her voice. ‘Neither of them James to write those letters to Martha. It was you that was trying to keep us apart.’ She shared a look with Martha and saw the further understanding register. ‘I knew there must be more in this than that blasted relationship over tea.’
Fletcher laughed. ‘Of course it wasn’t either of them, but wasn’t it handy that you were so tied up in your silly little growing games that I could so easily pin it on James. Your relations had to be stopped. I make no apologies for it and there is not a court in the land who would not agree with me. The duke’s honour was at stake and your… cohabitation… since has confirmed it. He was being made a fool of.’
‘No such thing was happening, Fletcher,’ said Martha.
‘Only because I stopped it,’ said Fletcher. ‘I had hoped that the time apart may be beneficial and would allow the children here to grow up without such depravity in the house.’
A shock of air left Thea’s lungs involuntarily. ‘And even if that were true, how would that be worse than their father cavorting with paid company or being too inebriated to see them more than once a week?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
‘It is only natural, and understandable when a wife is not amenable to her husband’s needs.’ The eyes of seven women bored into Fletcher as he stared resolutely at the wall behind them. ‘The activity you engage in is simply not natural, nor fair to men.’
‘Not fair to men,’ said Martha quietly, and Thea noticed that her fists were balled tighter than Frankie’s. ‘You should be very, very careful about these accusations, Fletcher.’
