The next morning, he sent word to Hollidge to write the lawyerly letter to Fairclough mentioning the sworn testimony of Miss Janey, and then Adam took a hansom cab to Paddington station for the trip to Stonely Grange.
Chapter Twenty-One
Alice felt calmer as soon as she saw the station, even better when she was able to hire a cab from it to her home. Unlike the last time she arrived at Stonely Grange, she didn’t come over the hill on foot, exhausted. Instead, she came in a hired carriage with Jillian by her side.
However, she still held on to the old prevailing fear. Coming face-to-face with Gerald and having him make the same serious threat regarding a murder charge had rocked her to her core. And this time, he thought he could add her husband’s wealth to his vengeful plan.
She would not allow him to taint the pure love she had with Adam. Thus, she was eternally grateful when the safe haven appeared before her at the end of the drive.
“Sweet Mary!” Alice exclaimed when she saw the Grange. Nothing about it looked the least bit dilapidated. Every pane of glass was intact, and if she could believe her eyes, there was a fresh coat of gleaming white paint around the casings. Moreover, the yellow stone of its sturdy walls had been scrubbed to a warm sunny gold.
As she got closer, she could see curtains alongside the windows, no longer blank and unwelcoming. There were nofence pieces down or gates hanging askew. The air of shabbiness had been lifted.
How had the unpaid staff done such a thing?
And when she entered, her mouth dropped open. The change to the interior was even more astounding. In the foyer, there was a hall stand. A mirror and sconces once more hung upon the wall.
“It’s all lovely, my lady,” Jillian said.
Alice could only nod, wandering into the drawing room. Instead of a cavernous space, there was now a sofa upon a plush carpet, as well as a small table with a pillar-base oil lamp perched upon it. Its cheerful ruby glass top would glow beautifully when lit. And as she’d seen from outside, floor-to-ceiling curtains hung at the two front windows and the two side ones as well, ready to keep out the inky black, autumn chill at night.
“It’s a tad spartan for a country home,” her maid said. “Not that I’ve been in many, but I’ve seen a few in my service, like the Diamonds’ place in Derby.”
Again, Alice nodded. Jillian could not possibly appreciate the astounding difference. While still minimally decorated, it was far beyond what it had been in both comfort and charm.
She passed the dining room on her way to the kitchen, glimpsing in and laughing to herself. While it now had a chandelier, curtains, and sconces, the table was the same home-hewn one she’d eaten at months earlier, and the mismatched chairs were also the same.
Jillian laughed. “That’s the oddest grand dining room I’ve ever laid eyes on, my lady. What sort of place have you brought me to?”
After tapping on the kitchen door, Alice entered. Mrs. Georgie’s eyes were like saucers.
“Look who’s here!” she exclaimed, jumping up from her kitchen stool. Jenny also rose to her feet with a startled smile.
Within minutes, however, after Mrs. Georgie had hugged Alice ferociously and been introduced to Jillian, the cook began to scold her.
“You abandoned your new husband? Are you mad?”
“I didn’t abandon him,” Alice insisted, her fingers twisting in the cloth of her skirts. “I came here to save him from having to deal with Lord Fairclough.”
“The one who isn’t dead?” Mrs. Georgie asked.
“Yes, that one. But please, before you berate me any further, tell me about the miracle that has taken place here at the Grange.”
The cook’s smile was as broad as the moon. “Lord Diamond has done it all,” she said. “Well, I don’t mean he came and swept and washed and painted, mind you, but he sent along the blunt so we could do as needed. A right good man, that husband of yours.”
“And the furniture?” she asked.
“Enough blunt for that, too. Told me in a letter to buy a few things, but I didn’t want to pick out much since he said he would bring you back in the spring to furnish it all as you wished.”
Then Mrs. Georgie frowned. “And here you are, thanking him by fleeing your new life. What if he doesn’t come after you?”
“I don’t want him to come after me,” Alice insisted.Did she?If he did, he would drag her back to London, and Gerald would continue his demands.
She would have to go back, eventually. After all, she was a wife with an amorous husband, one whom she adored beyond anything. But how else could she keep her former brother-in-law at bay?
Jillian and Jenny listened to every word with interest, and Alice wished she’d sent the younger women out. Even more so when Mrs. Georgie continued to berate her.
“You are a foolish one, m’lady, and I say that with affection. Naturally, you want Lord Diamond to come after you. And if I know him, and I like to think I am as good a judge of character as anyone else, then he will. He’s probably worried sick over you.”
