Six days passed in the same routine. I was trying to remain untouched, detached, but it was increasingly harder as Jack watched me with a look of deep hurt in his eyes; as if my pain was in some way his fault. With each member of my team, it was the same. They had heard of my disappointment, and they hurt for me. When one hurt, we all hurt, but I did not want them to take on my pain. I wanted them to help me destroy Levitas, so that I could leave the Phantoms behind for good.
There had been no more Levitas meetings, and I was close to deciding to spend time with Nicholas Mansfield so that I could know when the meetings were to be held. That, or capture Guinevere and force her, by whatever means that I could create—and I was an exceptionally creative person—to tell me all.
One pitfall to my plan to leave the Phantoms was money. Being that I was not to be married, my fortune was tied up until I was twenty-five. Six years. My mother could not marry Richard, so unless Jack or I married, we would be destitute, forced to sell the house, move some place smaller, and possibly remain Phantoms so we could continue to receive our small stipend. The answer arrived six days after Andrew had abandoned me.
A deep voice came from the open front door, and I looked up to see Mr. Hobbs, my mother’s man of business, enter the house.
He was a short, plump man with a balding head and his brown suit too small. He shook hands with Jack, and they congenially came into the library. I tried to smile at him, but failed horribly, having not smiled in six days.
As Mr. Hobbs greeted Mother, Jack stood next to me, but did not touch me, and for that I was grateful.
“Mrs. Martin, I come with good news.” Mr. Hobbs opened his leather case that he was clutching in his hands and withdrew a stack of papers. Those he handed to her.
Mother looked from Mr. Hobbs’ smiling face to the papers and started to read. When she reached the second page, she suddenly looked up, and Mr. Hobbs chuckled with glee.
“Is this God’s honest truth?” Mother asked, in a whispered voice.
“Indeed it is Mrs. Martin. I am pleased to be able to inform you that you are again an excessively wealthy woman.”
The room was completely silent as we stared at Mr. Hobbs.
“How is this possible?” Mother demanded after a full minute.
“If you will turn to the next page, you will see where Captain Carter and Captain Townsend wish to buy your ships from you.”
Ships? I looked at Jack, who was equally confused. Mother cast us an uneasy look, then turned her attention back to Mr. Hobbs.
“I thought the ships were lost,” Mother murmured, almost reverently.
Mr. Hobbs smiled, his fat cheeks puffing out even more. “So too did I until last week. You will remember that I had to go to Baltimore, and while I was there, who should I chance to meet but Captain Carter. His story is intriguing.”
“One moment,” Jack said. “What are these ships you speak of? My mother does not own any ships.”
Mr. Hobbs shifted uncomfortably while Mother straightened the papers in her hands without looking at us.
“It is true that I own two ships. They were a wedding gift to your father and I from a family friend.”
A wedding gift? If she had two ships, why then were we so poor when we first arrived in America?
“You may remember the Lutania. It is the ship that we came to this country aboard.”
Jack took a step back. Neither of our parents ever once spoke to us about owning ships. “Where are these ships now?” Jack asked.
“On their way to Charleston in the Carolinas. The ships are merchant ships, and your mother had the fortitude to secure captains to become privateers during the war. We had thought that the British had captured them, as we had heard nothing from the captains in three years.”
“Where were these captains in the last three years?” I asked.
“After the captains made it through the blockade successfully, other merchants heard of it and commissioned the captains to sail their goods for them. The captains, being men of honor, have finally returned from a successful time at the helm.
“Together, we went over the account books of how the goods sold and the list of how shares were divvied. The captains split their shares with Mrs. Martin. You shall see the total sum, if you will look upon the last page. With the selling of the ships, which I have acted for Mrs. Martin in agreeing, knowing her financial situation, the total is rather substantial.”
Jack and I both moved to stand behind Mother’s chair as she shuffled through the stack of papers. She pulled out the last paper, and we all read until we reached the total. I let out a gasp in astonishment. Mother opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came forth.
As if he could see our doubt, Mr. Hobbs said, “The profit comes roughly to eighty thousand—”
A cry escaped me, from where I knew not. All of our financial issues were at an end. My mother need never marry; I need never marry if I did not wish to, and Jack could do whatever he wanted. Jack started to chuckle which turned into a loud laugh springing from deep within. He leaned over the chair and planted a kiss on my mother’s cheek.
“I did not think that you would be averse, so Captain Carter has bought the Queen’s Reward and Captain Townsend the Lutania.”
My mother nodded and stood, taking the papers to Jack’s desk. She pulled the quill toward her and signed the deeds.
“There is one final matter. I have heard from Mr. Hamilton’s man, and the settlement that he is prepared to make is most generous. He will settle upon your children, on the terms that they remain living in this house with your current servants.”
My joy melted like butter in a hot pan over a large fire. Not only were Richard’s terms highly improper, but degrading, as well. That he would put such a stipulation upon my mother did not surprise me, but that my mother would appear so calm was what angered me more than Richard’s debase actions.
“Surely all this talk of settlements is premature as they have not set a date,” I said, with more calm than I felt.
Mr. Hobbs said nothing as he tucked the signed papers into his satchel and stood, looking uncomfortable. Mother walked with him into the foyer.
I faced Jack, who was pacing before the fireplace. “Do you believe this will alter mama’s decision about Richard?”
“You may be sure of it,” Jack said with grim assurance.
Mother reentered the room at that moment, exclaiming, “What a day this is.”
My eyes dropped to my clasped hands as the pain that had been pushed away during Mr. Hobbs’ visit was again claiming the center of my thoughts.
“I have informed Hobbs that I want the entire sum received to be settled on my children.”
My eyes shot up. “Why? With that sum of money, you could live comfortably for the rest of your life. You need never marry anyone.”
Mother shook her head. “I am marrying Richard; he will provide for me.” Without another word, she left the room.
“What say you now?” I demanded of Jack.
“I believe that she has some deeper motive that she is concealing from us.”
He could be right, but I was not so convinced. There was something to be said about companionship. I felt it as I was sure that my mother did, as well.
“You do understand what this means, do you not?” I asked. “As soon as word spreads that we have gained an even larger sum than people believe us to have, they will circle like vultures. The light will shine even brighter upon our family, and our every move will be noted,” I explained as I paced the room. It was not good. Eventually, someone was bound to discover who we truly were.
“Bess, not all men are vultures and out to hurt you. Madison is a scoundrel, but the man for you is out there.”
“Indeed, Jack? And would you say the same about Guinevere?” I snapped at him. Jack looked down at his boots, and I was instantly contrite. “Forgive me, Jack. I did not mean to snap. It has been a trying week.”
“It is about to become more so,” said Arnaud from the door. “There i
s trouble afoot and no mistake.”
“What is it?” I asked, moving forward.
“There are some riots on the lower end. The markets are turning people away, saying they do not have the stores to meet the demands.”
Dear Lord. That was what I had feared would happen if the weather did not change. Every day we awoke to frost, and the sun had lost its luster. In the mornings, ice covered the ground. He had told me that the ice was as thick as a windowpane on the morning after the fourth. Snows in the northern states, as well as the destruction of most crops from the cold and ice, there was not enough food to meet the demands. The change in our fortune came at the most opportune moment, or else we would have been in some serious difficulty.
“Keep your eyes and ears open, and should it become worse or spread toward us, alert us at once.” Arnaud agreed and left us alone.
We spent some time talking about what we should do to help the less fortunate, and nearly an hour passed before we were interrupted by my mother entering the room followed by Richard.
“My children, I have a mixture of news. Richard says that the city is positively in decline. Riots of all things have broken out over coal, which is becoming short in supply, and people are coming loose at the seams. It is no longer safe for us to remain in the city, so Richard has procured a house in the country for us to live in until September when he and I shall marry.”
For a full moment, I could not speak. I looked from one to the other, each smiling, happily oblivious to what those words had done to me. It was early July, and my mother was planning to marry Richard in September, two short months away. My mother was still speaking, but her voice sounded like the chirping of a bird.
“Richard is such a dear. Do you know that he commissioned Mrs. Lamont to help him find a house that I would like? She has seen to all the decor, choosing what Richard assures me that I will love.”
Jack and I looked at one another. So that was why Hannah was meeting with Richard. I did not want to delve too deep into why Hannah was doing favors for Richard. Instead, my mind moved to Guinevere. Why was she imitating Hannah’s voice? Did she want the other members to believe that she was Hannah? Did her duplicity know no bounds? The more I thought about her, the more I realized she was like Richard.
“Richard and I will live in Baltimore after the wedding, until he can turn over the running of his company to his assistants.” I felt sick. Completely. When she said she wanted me to have my trunks packed and ready to depart on the morrow, I wanted to throw something, but there was nothing to be done.
By evening, Mother was in over anxious, having her trunks packed to move to the country house, afraid that important articles would be left behind, seeing to the covering of the furniture in the drawing room.
I was not at all pleased about leaving, and I even told Jack so. “I want to remain in town with you, Jack.”
“You know that is impossible,” Jack said. I did know it, and it made me furious. “I do not trust Richard or that house,” Jack went on, “and if you were to stay with me, whatever suspicions Richard may have would be confirmed. Allow me to handle the situation here until his suspicions prove ungrounded.”
Slowly, I agreed, though it was not what I wanted.
The following day Jack escorted us into the country. The house that Richard had secured lay but a mile from Stark Manor. Coincidence? I did not believe in coincidence.
The house was a lovely, two-story brick dwelling with a double, door entrance that lead into a spacious foyer. A staircase rose to the right which my mother and Mrs. Beaumont went up to inspect the rest of the house. I had a moment alone with Jack.
“Did you see how close we are to the manor?”
“Do you want me to move out here with you? All you need do is ask,” Jack replied, as if he thought I was worried.
“That is not necessary, but thank you for the offer.” I did not want Jack to know that I was worried. The truth of the matter was that I felt like I was dangling over the edge of a precipice with Richard sawing away my only support.
Chapter 25