“Is this the first time you’ve seen him?” Evangeline asked.
“Yes, ma’am, but I heard some talk about him in the village.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think Mr. Stone knows much about farming. He was raised in London.”
“Fine by me,” Molly said. “I’ve no interest in marrying a farmer. I know the life and I’d just as soon avoid it.”
Evangeline laughed. “Good grief, listen to you. You haven’t even met Mr. Stone and already you’re talking about marriage.”
“A girl has to think about such matters when she’s still young enough to have some choice, miss. Wait too long and suddenly you’re all alone in the world.”
“Yes, I know.”
Molly was horrified. “I beg your pardon, miss. I never meant to say that you’re too old to marry—that is, you’re not a spinster, Miss Ames.”
“It’s all right, Molly. We both know that’s exactly what I am. In London women who reach my age and are still single rarely marry, not unless they have some money.”
“It’s no different here in the country. The farm goes to my brothers so I must make my own plans and they don’t include becoming a farmer’s wife. I am going to open a tea shop here in Little Dixby. It will be a very elegant shop with cakes and sandwiches that will be much finer than the poor-quality food Mrs. Collins serves in her tea shop. There will be lemonade and ices in the summer. With so many visitors coming to view and sketch the ruins these days, I know I could make it work.”
Evangeline pondered her response. The last thing she wanted to do was quash Molly’s dreams. Opening a tea shop would cost money and it was obvious that the Gillinghams did not have a great deal of it. But Molly had spirit and energy and intelligence. With luck, those attributes would prove to be sufficient to achieve her goals.
“That sounds like a fine plan,” she said.
“Thank you, miss.” Molly turned back to the view of the drive. “Look, that must be Mrs. Hampton. Very impressive, isn’t she?”
Evangeline studied the woman Stone was assisting down from the carriage. Florence Hampton was tall for a woman. She carried herself with the authority and bearing of a ship’s captain. A small gray velvet hat trimmed with white feathers was perched atop a tightly coiled chignon of silvered hair. She wore a fashionable dark gray carriage gown and gray leather walking boots. In one gray-gloved hand she gripped a silver-handled walking stick.
Evangeline started to turn away from the window. “I must go downstairs to greet her.”
“Wait, miss, someone else is getting out of the carriage,” Molly said.
Evangeline paused in the doorway. “Mrs. Hampton probably brought her personal maid. I’m not surprised. That’s one of the reasons I thought it best to open up this entire floor.”
“That is no maid, miss. It’s another fine lady. Will you look at that pink and green gown? It’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen.”
“What on earth?”
Evangeline hurried back to the window. She looked down and saw an attractive young blonde who looked to be nineteen or twenty stepping down from the carriage.
“You’re right,” Evangeline said. “Definitely not a maid.”
“Look, there comes the lady’s maid.”
The last person to step down from the carriage was unmistakably in service. She was middle-aged and clearly experienced. She immediately took charge and began issuing instructions to Stone and the driver, who set about unloading the luggage.
“That makes three new people we shall have to feed,” Molly said. “I’d best see about ordering more salmon. We’ll be needing another two dozen eggs as well.”
“Something tells me that Mr. Sebastian is in for a surprise,” Evangeline said. “I’m quite certain he was not expecting anyone except his aunt. I’d better alert him.”
She hurried down the back stairs because they were the closest to the library. But she was too late to warn Lucas of the change in his plans. She arrived in the doorway of the library just in time to see him greet the visitors.
“What the blazes is going on here?” he asked. His voice was stone cold. “I sent for you, Aunt Florence. I did not intend for you to arrive with Beth and your staff.”
“Lovely to see you again, too, Lucas,” Florence said. “To clarify, I did not bring my entire staff, just Rose. You could not possibly expect me to travel without her.”
Florence had the sharp, stern face of a hawk and a voice to match. A formidable woman, Evangeline thought.
“Why are you here, Beth?” Lucas demanded. “You’re supposed to be in London selecting a husband.”
“I have made my decision,” Beth said coolly. “I wish to marry Mr. Charles Rushton. When I told Mama, she declared him unsuitable. I have therefore decided that I shall not marry anyone at all.”
Elizabeth Sebastian was an attractive young woman, Evangeline mused, and one endowed with a strong will reminiscent of her much older brother. It would be interesting to see how Lucas dealt with her.
“Rushton?” Lucas scowled. “Is that the archaeologist? The one who studies dead languages and has no money?”
“Mr. Rushton is a very brilliant gentleman,” Beth said. “Furthermore, he comes from an eminently respectable family. On the one occasion that you had a conversation with him, you commented afterward that he seemed quite intelligent and well read.”
“What of it? You know your mother as well as I do. Intelligence and respectability are not enough. She is right to be concerned about Rushton’s finances. They are almost nonexistent.”
“Charles doesn’t need money,” Beth declared.
“How convenient for him,” Lucas said far too politely.
“I will have enough to support both of us. Mama says that I am entitled to a generous portion of the family money when I marry.”
Florence snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous, Beth. You cannot marry a penniless man like Rushton. You are an heiress. Your mother has every right to be wary of fortune hunters.”
An angry flush stained Beth’s cheeks. “Charles is not a fortune hunter.”
“You can’t be certain of that,” Florence said. She caught sight of Evangeline in the doorway. Her expression tightened in disapproval. “We will have this conversation some other time, not in front of the servants.”
Evangeline decided that was her cue. She glanced back over her shoulder at Molly who was hovering directly behind her. “Tea, Molly. A large pot.”
“Yes, miss.” Molly hurried off in the direction of the kitchen.
Evangeline moved into the room. “Good afternoon, ladies.”
Florence and Beth looked at her.
“You must be the housekeeper,” Florence said. “You seem rather young for the position, but I suppose my nephew did not have much choice out here in the country. Never mind. My maid, Rose, will tell you my requirements. But I’ll warn you now that I am most particular about breakfast. I want it served in my bedroom at precisely eight o’clock. I trust you have coffee? I never drink tea in the mornings.”
Thirteen
I do apologize, again, for the misunderstanding, Miss Ames,” Beth said.
Evangeline laughed. “No need. I was wearing an old dress, a dirt-stained apron and a cap and I was wielding a duster. Your aunt’s conclusion was perfectly logical.”
They were sitting together on the small terrace overlooking the vine-draped gazebo and the black water pond. Florence and her maid, Rose, had vanished upstairs. Lucas had retreated to the library.
“I must say you are being very gracious about it,” Beth said. “Lucas, I fear, did not see the humor in the situation. He was furious because we had insulted you.”
“I assure you, I was not insulted.”
“I’m relieved to hear that but I suspect Lucas will be fuming about the incident for some time.”
Lucas had been surprisingly annoyed by the small case of mistaken identity, Evangeline reflected.
“Your brother has a number of pressi
ng issues to deal with,” she said. “He is a trifle short-tempered at the moment.”
“Which is so unlike him,” Beth commented.
Evangeline blinked and then took another look at Beth. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“Heavens no. I assure you, my brother is the most even-tempered man in the world. He can occasionally be very cool and reserved. He is also inclined to be stubborn and inflexible. But he rarely displays the edge of a temper. I can’t recall the last time he actually looked and acted as irritated as he appears to be today.”
“I’m afraid you and your aunt have overset his plans. He did not expect three new arrivals this afternoon.”
“I insisted upon accompanying Aunt Florence and one can hardly blame her for bringing Rose,” Beth said. “We were not at all sure what to expect in the way of staff here. We had no notion of what was going on. Lucas’s telegram was terribly cryptic, which is absolutely typical of him. Something about needing a chaperone for a lady who would be staying at Crystal Gardens. It was quite mysterious and rather intriguing since the family was unaware that Lucas had any romantic attachment at all at the moment.”
Alarm and something that might have been panic jolted through Evangeline. It was amusing to be mistaken for the housekeeper. It was another matter entirely to be mistaken for a potential bride.
“Heavens, is that what you and your aunt concluded?” she gasped. “That Lucas sent for Mrs. Hampton because he was romantically involved with me and wanted to protect my reputation?”
“It was the obvious conclusion,” Beth said. She frowned. “Oh, dear, I’ve gone and ruined the surprise, haven’t I? I do apologize yet again.”
“You traveled here on the train with Mr. Stone. Didn’t he explain things?”
Beth chuckled. “Stone rarely speaks to anyone except Lucas, and when he does engage in conversation he employs very short sentences, I assure you. In any event, he rode in the second-class car. Aunt Florence and I were in first class. We didn’t even see him until we arrived in Little Dixby.”
“I see. In that case I must tell you—”
“It was something of a shock, of course.”
“What was a shock?”
“Learning that Lucas had developed a serious interest in a lady at long last. Until now he has shown no indication that he is even considering marriage.”
“Beth, please, if I may interrupt—”
“He enjoys female companionship. Tony and I are certain of that much. But his liaisons have always been conducted in the most discreet manner imaginable. Generally speaking he favors independent widows who have even less interest in marriage than he does. Of course, we all knew that sooner or later he probably would marry.”
“I understand.” In spite of herself, Evangeline felt a definite sinking of her spirits. Naturally Lucas would someday wed. She was acquainted with the facts of life as they pertained to a gentleman in Lucas’s world. “A man in your brother’s position is expected to marry for the sake of the family name.”
“Yes, although in Lucas’s case, it is not, strictly speaking, a necessity. There is my twin brother, after all. We both recently turned nineteen. I think Mama had begun to hope that Lucas would choose not to marry, in which case the responsibility for carrying on the family name and overseeing the fortune would eventually fall to Tony. She would have liked that outcome very much. Indeed, it is her fondest dream.”
“I see.”
Beth’s brows came together in a delicate frown. “My mother and Lucas have never enjoyed a cordial relationship, I’m sorry to say. They tolerate each other but that is all. Lucas was fifteen years old when his mother died. His father remarried almost immediately, of course.”
“That is what most widowers do,” Evangeline said. “Society expects it of them.” The only reason her father had not remarried after her mother’s death was he had been too busy with his inventions in his basement laboratory to notice that his wife of seventeen years was gone.
“Mama was barely eighteen at the time of her marriage,” Beth explained, “only three years older than Lucas. I’m sure it must have been awkward for both of them. In addition, Lucas’s psychical nature was just beginning to manifest itself. She confided in me that, as a young bride, she was quite frightened of him. He still makes her uneasy. Mama does not believe in the existence of the paranormal, you see. Even after all these years, I think she still suspects that Lucas is delusional and possibly quite dangerous.”
“Good grief,” Evangeline said. She paused. “I gather that you do not have a problem with your brother’s talent?”
“No, not at all.” Beth moved one hand in a graceful wave. “I find it fascinating. So does Tony. We have begged Lucas to allow us to study and test his psychical powers but he refuses. He has always been very generous and indulgent with us. Indeed, he was more of a father to Tony and me than our own father, who died when we were three years old. But on the matter of submitting to scientific experiments, Lucas has always stood firm.”
Evangeline considered the problem briefly and shook her head. “I’m not sure it would even be possible to conduct tests on his talent. How does one prove the existence of paranormal energy? There are no instruments that can detect it.”
“Not yet, but Tony is working on the problem. He and I are both very interested in the paranormal because of our relationship to Lucas. We would like to try some experiments if only to prove that his talents are genuine.”
“What good would that do?”
Beth leaned forward in an earnest manner. “Tony and I think that if we can prove Lucas’s abilities are real and that the paranormal is normal, so to speak, he would not have to conceal his talent from the world.”
“I see.”
Beth looked back toward the vine-covered house, making sure that no one was about to intrude on them. She lowered her voice. “Between you and me, I’m sure Lucas’s talent explains why it has taken him so long to find himself a wife.”
“Indeed?”
“Mama agrees with me but for different reasons. It is my theory that Lucas has never been fortunate enough to find a woman who could accept him and his talent. Mama, however, is convinced that respectable, well-bred ladies are afraid of him, even though they don’t know why. She says their intuition warns them of what she insists on calling his eccentric nature and it makes them uneasy.”
“I suspect that you and your mother are both right,” Evangeline said, trying for a diplomatic approach. “Paranormal talents are not well understood.”
“Yes, exactly, that is what Tony and I have been saying for years.” Beth’s face lit with enthusiasm. “How long have you been acquainted with my brother?”
“Only a few days,” Evangeline admitted. “But I am aware that he possesses a very powerful gift.”
“He does not think of it as a gift, I assure you.” Beth’s mouth tightened. “Nor does anyone else in the family.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Lucas is not the first man in the Sebastian family to exhibit a strong psychical talent.” Beth grimaced. “There are those who believe that the bloodline is somehow tainted by the paranormal, but they don’t call it that, of course.”
Evangeline tightened her fingers around the arm of her chair. “They call it madness.”
“Yes. Take Uncle Chester, for example.” Beth waved a hand to indicate the ominous gardens. “Mama and just about everyone else who knows about his experiments here at the Gardens are convinced that he was quite mad and that in the end he was the victim of his own creations.”
“Are you aware,” Evangeline said carefully, “that your brother believes that your uncle might have been murdered?”
“No, really?” Beth’s elegant brows shot up. “That explains why he is staying here at the Gardens. Tony and I did wonder about that. But it makes perfect sense now.”
“What do you mean?” Evangeline asked, wary now.
“When it comes to a sudden death, Lucas would naturally be inclined t
o assume the worst, at least until proven otherwise. It is his nature.”
Evangeline frowned. “Yes, of course, because of his work for the police.”
“Aha, so he has told you about that, has he?” Beth looked pleased. “How interesting. Wait until I inform Tony.”
“Why do you find it so odd that Lucas mentioned his consulting work to me?”
Beth gave her a knowing look. “Because he tells very few people about it. Almost no one outside the family is aware that he consults on crimes of murder, let alone that he employs his talent when he does so. But I had a feeling that he might have told you.”
“Why?”
“There is something about the way you and Lucas are when the two of you are in the same room together.” Beth made another vague motion with one hand. “Some sort of awareness that only you and he share. It is as if you are communicating with each other in a silent, secret code. Sorry. I can’t explain it. I just knew that Lucas had very likely told you about his police investigations. It is one of his most closely guarded secrets.”
“I see.” Evangeline smiled. “Perhaps you have some psychical talent yourself.”
Beth laughed. “I wish that were true. Sadly, neither Tony nor I have displayed any hint of paranormal ability.” She grew more serious again. “I do not know how Lucas can bring himself to do what he does. It is hard on him, I am certain of it. But when his acquaintance at Scotland Yard summons him, he always responds.”
“Perhaps it is something he feels he must do,” Evangeline said, choosing her words with care.
“I think that you are right. The crimes he is asked to investigate are almost always the most dreadful of murders. Mama says normal, respectable people do not get involved in such affairs. She has always feared that if Lucas’s fascination with terrible crimes becomes known outside the family, it will prove a terrible embarrassment. She is afraid that Tony and I might no longer be received in polite society. Ha. As if Tony and I care a jot about the social world.”