Page 21 of The Last Debutante
Mamie pushed a tot of whisky across the table to Daria. “Drink it. For your nerves. It’s Irish, superior to anything you will find here.”
Jamie Campbell slammed his fist on the table at that remark.
Daria ignored the whisky. “I don’t quite understand, Mamie. Were you defending yourself, or was it an accident? And how does one shoot a man by accident? That is to say, why were you pointing a gun at him? If he announced who he was, if he stated his business, would you not have lowered your gun?”
Mamie tossed back the whisky as if she were quite practiced at it.
“I think your grandmamma does no’ care to be questioned,” Campbell scoffed.
“Myname,Mr. Campbell, is Mrs. Frances Moss,” Mamie said sternly.
“Will you still deny, Mrs. Moss, that you have made Hamish Campbell’s acquaintance, then?”
“She has admitted shooting you by mistake—must you badger her about this ridiculous accusation of stealing?” Daria asked angrily.
But Jamie Campbell ignored her, keeping his gaze steady on Mamie.
“Well...” Mamie’s voice trailed off as if she had more to say.
Daria’s heart began to pound. She couldn’t have possibly taken one thousand pounds. “Well? Wellwhat?”
“It is possible that I have made his acquaintance,” Mamie said uncertainly.
“Aha!” Mr. Campbell said triumphantly, jabbing his arm in the air and instantly grimacing in pain, doubling over his injured side.
“Youknowhim?” Daria cried.
“I wouldn’t say that Iknowhim, no,” Mamie said. “But I might have met him. At the pony races, perhaps. But more to the point, I most certainly didnotswindle one thousand pounds from him.” She snorted as if that were preposterous, apparently missing the irony that since she had been untruthful about everything else, it was impossible to believe her now.
Daria dared not look at Campbell as she rose up from her chair. She drew Mamie up from hers, held her by the arms, and looked into her blue eyes. “Have you received any money from him, Mamie?”
Mamie gave Campbell a sidelong glance, but Daria gave her a gentle shake. “Mamie? Have you accepted any money from Mr. Hamish?”
“Mr. Campbell. Hamish Campbell,” Jamie Campbell said behind her.
Mamie’s lashes fluttered and she looked down. “He might have given me a gift—”
“Bloodyhell!” Jamie Campbell exploded, and brought his fist down on the table again, rattling the bottle and the whisky glasses. “Woman, I am of a mind to drag you to Edinburra on a charge of thievery!”
Daria’s hands fell from her grandmother’s arms. She couldn’t think, her mind suddenly a blank slate. She couldn’tbreathe. She put her hand to her throat; fear was welling up in her, choking her. Something was horribly wrong with her grandmother. Mamie had heretofore been scrupulously honest. How could it have come to this? And what of her parents? How would she ever explain this to them?
Daria instinctively stepped back, away from the woman she had loved with all her heart, her mind racing. She looked at Jamie Campbell, who, to his credit, looked at her with a bit of sympathy. Her only hope for Mamie was to appeal to him for forgiveness, for help. But if Mamie had stolenone thousand pounds... the amount stunned her. What hope did she have that she would not be caught and prosecuted for thievery, just as Jamie Campbell had said?
Daria desperately tried to think.
“Where is my horse?” Jamie Campbell asked quietly.
“Quite safe,” Mamie said. “I’ve a paddock nearby, and he’s been properly fed.”
“My dog as well?”
Mamie frowned. “He has a ham bone as large as he is. I think he has fared well enough.”
That washisdog? Daria suddenly marched to the door and threw it open. The dog was sitting patiently beside the door. “Come,” she said, gesturing inside. The dog cocked his head to one side.
“Trobhad!”Campbell called, and the dog rushed inside, his tail wagging furiously, his nose sniffing his master and his wounds.
Jamie Campbell put his hand on the dog, stroking his head, and turned a cold gaze to Mamie. “I will no’ allow you to walk free from this, Mrs. Moss.”
