Amelia would not crumble.
Hugh closed his eyes. “You’re correct, Aunt. This is Amelia Lambert. We are working together. But I tell you this only because I know I can trust you with our lives.”
“Of course!” Lady Kemble leaned back in the chair. “And poor Letty? What is all this about? She does not need the two of you plaguing her.”
“We had no choice, Aunt. This is a serious matter. But I do have connections that might be able to help Lady Twyford if I know what it is she’s being blackmailed over. A secret lover or–”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She unfolded her arms, the chair creaking as she sighed. “I myself was sworn to abject secrecy over this, yet I can see it is important…” A sniff and that finger was speared out once more. “But I want your solemn promise this goes no further. Both of you.”
They both nodded.
Lady Kemble garnered a long breath and gazed to the window. “Dearest Letty, you should know, was the diamond amongst us Dashing Debutantes. The diamond of the Season. Not just a beauty but kind and gentle too. Her parents had a marquess lined up for her. Then, on the third day of September, she departed with a maid to Lock & Co. for a new hat.” The lady’s eyes closed. “The story was that a dog ran into the road, two carriage horses were startled and charged onto the pavement. Letty was knocked down and her maid, Sarah… Sarah was killed outright.”
Amelia brought curled fingers to her lips. “How awful,” she whispered.
“That poor maid,” murmured Hugh.
“Yes. Sarah had but sixteen years to her name.” Lady Kemble fumbled for a handkerchief within her sleeve. “Then as for Lettyherself, she was gravely hurt and rendered insensate as her head had struck the kerb, causing a deep gash. We all feared…” She dabbed an eye. “But then, thank the heavens, on the third day she awoke. All seemed well. She recovered and appeared right as an adamant, but then…” A hand lifted to her brow. “There was a dinner to celebrate Letty’s return to society. The marquess, myself, her parents and a few others attended. She was quietly listening to the conversation, when… I do not know how it started but all of a sudden, her chair crashed and Letty was…upon the floor, her body shaking, limbs contorting, spine arching like some wild creature. She had no control and, oh, I was so scared for her. We all were. Letty’s mother slapped her and…” Lady Kemble wiped at her eyes. “We got her to a couch, held her and little by little, it lessened but…” She stared up. “In time, it became clear the accident had provoked some form of falling sickness and poor Letty, it was awful. Her life fell apart within those months that followed. She was prodded and poked by quacks, the marquess and his parents refused the marriage, citing she was mad, and her own parents… They were ready to send her to an asylum, believing Letty was now possessed by evil spirits.”
Amelia put her head in her hands, felt wracked with remorse for upsetting the lady last night. She had read of such conditions, knew many were sent to an asylum as they were deemed to be a danger. “What happened, Lady Kemble?”
“Edmund happened, that’s what. He’d been dotty about her from day one of the Season but was a mere fourth son of a viscount. A handsome fellow and Letty enjoyed his company but knew naught could come of it as her family would never approve of such a low match. But he… Well, he just swept in and saved the day.” She leaned forward. “He came to me as her friend and said that with my compliance also, he could end any talk of the matter. I know not how he accomplished it but all the dinnerguests who’d witnessed the events that night were compelled to silence, including the marquess. Her parents moved to the coast, and Edmund and Letty were married with all haste.”
Hugh whistled softly beneath his breath. “I wondered why he was so guarded of her.”
Lady Kemble snorted. “Edmund worships the ground she walks on. And she him. He whisked her off to the country in the hope the air would help her and to an extent, I believe it has. She prefers the peace and is less fearful of witnesses to her illness there, but she misses the theatre and her friends. Episodes of her sickness are rarer now, but she is…delicate still and easily distressed.”
Amelia looked to her toes.
“Forgive us, Aunt.” Hugh paused for some moments as his aunt nodded. He tapped his fingers on the sofa. “So I suppose should it become known that a high-up official in the Home Office is married to a lady many believe should be in an asylum…”
“Just so.” Lady Kemble grimaced. “And that is where this heinous blackmail comes in. A year past, Letty received a note. It claimed to know of her condition and demanded she meet alone with a certain Mr Roberts. This fiend convinced her that Edmund would lose his job, that his peers would believe him mad also, for why else would he marry a woman possessed by spirits? How the reprobate found out about her condition, I do not know, but after all Edmund had done for her over the years, Letty decided to pay for this Roberts’ silence. Still pays for his silence.” She shook her head. “Indeed, it is one of the reasons she has come to London more often of late.”
“Damn it all, the poor lady,” murmured Hugh, digging hands into his hair. “This investigation of ours just goes around in circles.”
“Perhaps it would help,” Lady Kemble whispered, “if you could tell me what it is you are investigating?”
With a sigh, Hugh rolled his shoulders and Amelia could see the struggle within him – to protect his aunt from the danger that any involvement in their work could cause her but also a yearning to unburden his soul and find justice for Phoebe’s father.
“I believe,” said Amelia, placing a gentle hand to Hugh’s arm, “that Lady Kemble’s knowledge of the past can only be of assistance to us.”
He exhaled. And laid his hand over hers. “I told you, Aunt, that Phoebe’s father had died in suspicious circumstances, which were then hushed up by the Home Office, but… Ross was murdered. I am sure of it.”
Lady Kemble closed her eyes and nodded. “My poor, poor Phoebe.”
“We believe this Roberts had a hand in it. He is also somehow obtaining information from the Home Office and I could not go to Sir Edmund with any of this because…”
“You suspected Letty?” Her chin dropped. “I can understand that. But I can also tell you that Edmund says not a word of his work to her. Never has done. To protect her and because of her fragility.” She peeled off her purple gloves. “So who else could this Roberts be obtaining the information from?”
Silence fell, only punctured by the light step of a maid in the hallway and a dull rattle of cartwheels in the Square.
“I…” Hugh hooked a boot on knee and Amelia turned to him.
“Yes?”
“It’s just…” He breathed deep. “Aunt, you say Sir Edmund worships the ground Lady Twyford walks on, would do anything at all for her?”
“Of course. Always has.”
