Page 85 of Forgotten No More

Ellie shrugged. “No doctor has ever come round. He did not trust any medicine man. Years ago he would visit an apothecary in town and bring home powder he mixed into his bourbon before bed each night. He said it helped with the pain.”

“Pain from what exactly?” Harold asked.

Ellie shrugged. “I do not know and cannot say I care.”

Suddenly, the conversation moved in an utterly uncomfortable direction for him. Ruby must have felt his unease, for she changed the subject. “And now he is lying in his bed with the possibility of his valet finding him?”

“Do you think me that foolish?” Ellie countered. “I pulled the blankets over his head and drew the heavy drapes about his bed. Not even his valet would chance the wrath of the Marquis of Drake by awaking him.”

Ellie’s confession didn’t put Harold at ease. From the look on Ruby’s face and the way she gripped her cup again, her own apprehension was clear. “What are we going to do next?”

“We?” her sister asked.

“Yes, we. He was my father as much as yours, and I fully intend to stand beside you through this.”

Chapter 33

Ruby was well-versed in the burial process, having handled her father’s—Sir St. Augustin’s—funeral when her mother withdrew into herself. Immediately following her meeting with Ellie, she began making a mental list of all that must be done in preparation: notifying the marquis’ solicitor, enlisting a funeral furnisher, flowers, arranging transport to his family burial plot… The list went on and on.

She and Ellie should be sharing a time of mourning, finding solace in one another. Instead, Ellie stared at her wide-eyed, and Ruby realized if she didn’t take control of the situation, no one else would.

“Do you know who Drake’s solicitor was?” Ruby asked the simplest question she could think of. When her sister continued to stare, mouth closed, Ruby tried another question. “Where is the marquis’ family home?”

“Yorkshire…I think.”

“Have you not been there?” Harold asked.

“Of course not—and neither has he in the last decade. Maybe his valet will know.”

Ruby’s head pounded as a severe headache started. Massaging her temple, she looked to Harold for assistance.

“I’ll retrieve your Peers of the Realm guide from your desk. I believe I saw it there not too long ago.”

Surveying her private space, he opened a drawer and returned with the book. Ruby now had little doubt that he’d made himself familiar with her personal desk on at least one previous occasion.

“Thank you.” She’d wondered for some time if he’d indeed looked through her personal papers before. Now, her suspicions proved true. She set the realization aside as of little consequence for the moment. “Now Ellie, did Drake ever mention any other family? Or possibly a close friend?”

Her sister huffed. “I tried my best to avoid any contact with him.”

“No one ever came to visit?” Harold regained his seat next to Ellie.

“He only left the townhouse for his regular evening, once a week at White’s. Other than that, he hasn’t attended any social functions, holiday parties, or country entertainments since I was very young.”

Even though Ellie had lived with the marquis most of her life, she knew him little better than Ruby, who’d never actually made the man’s acquaintance. The thought was depressing. If it weren’t for Ellie, would anyone have noticed Drake’s passing?

“Well, I am positive that Lord Haversham has a trusted funeral furnisher and may also have insight into who handled our father’s business transactions.”

Ellie straightened. “Why do we need a funeral furnisher?”

“To properly handle his burial, of course.”

“We can’t shove him into a pine box and ship him to Yorkshire on the next public coach?”

Laughter erupted.

Ruby suppressed a giggle, knowing the time for laughing was not now, and eyed Harold sternly. If he saw the mirth in her upturned lips, he didn’t acknowledge it.

“What?” He stopped long enough to ask before chuckling again. “I am sorry, but Lady Ellie only said exactly what we were all thinking.”