Page 77 of The Rebellious Lady and the Phantom Lord
“We were told,” Gilly continued, “that you were an intimate friend of the Lethingtons?—”
“Aye, so I was,” the doctor interrupted. “Maida-that is, Mrs. Lethington, and her children visited me often enough they might well have been my own family.”
“Then surely you could tell us where we could locate?—”
Dr. Glencoe shook his head, cutting Gilly off again. “I am afraid that is impossible.” He sighed and looked at Phaedra. She noticed that his eyes were a deep brown and rather kindly, although the age-carved lines in the flesh beneath made him look very tired.
“It is a most generous impulse on your part, Miss Fitzhurst,” he said. “But I fear there are no more Lethingtons to receive your gift.”
“But-but,” Phaedra said, speaking up for the first time since entering the cottage. “I understood that the mother, and the younger brother, Jason, yet lived.”
“Aye, I pray that the lad does still live, but not in these parts. He and Maida set sail for Canada many years ago.” The doctor bowed his head for a moment, shading his eyes with his hand. “I’ve heard only once from the boy. He wrote to inform me that his mother had not survived the crossing.”
It was obvious that their questions were stirring long-buried griefs inside the old man, and Phaedra hated doing so. She exchanged a wretched glance with Gilly and sensed he was thinking the same thing. But Canada had been the destination ofthe real Armande de LeCroix, a fact far too strange to be merely coincidence.
“And Jason never wrote you again?” Gilly asked the doctor.
“No, nary another word.”
“Sure and that’s too bad,” Gilly said. “I fear my sister will be disappointed, having worked out all sorts of romantic imaginings. We had heard naught but praise of how handsome this Jason is.” He added with seeming casualness, “Dark hair and striking blue eyes, isn’t that what they said, Phaedra?”
Phaedra nodded, realizing what Gilly was hinting at. She prayed that the doctor would tell her that Jason was short and blond, but her hopes were dashed when he confirmed, “All the Lethingtons were dark-haired. Though I would have to say Jason was not as handsome as our poor Jamey was.”
The old man seemed to unbend completely. He sank down in an armchair opposite them, his eyes misting over as he stared at the figurines. “I daresay you think me a doddering old fool to hear me talk as though they had been my own sons. But for a brief time after their father died, they might have been.”
“You helped Maida Lethington look after her fatherless little ones, did you?” Gilly asked.
A wry smile tipped the doctor’s lips. “Fatherless mayhap, but scarcely little. When Daniel Lethington was carried off by the fever, James was grown to manhood, and Jason nearly so. And Miss Julianna, she was nigh a lady. But Daniel asked me on his deathbed, as his oldest friend, to look out for his family- especially James, who was a bit much for his mother.”
The doctor’s shoulders sagged. “He was a restless young man, of such dark moods and with such a quick temper. I never understood him. I very much fear that Jason was my favorite. He was a quiet lad who shared my own fondness for books.
“James was ever hankering after adventure, longing to set sail upon the first ship that came to port.” The doctor shook hishead, as though still mystified by James’s vagaries after all these years. “He never was content to be working at the china shop. Daniel finally gave up trying to make a merchant of him and sent the boy up to Oxford.”
“Oxford?” Gilly echoed. “That’s a bit unusual for a chinamaker’s son.”
Glencoe shrugged. “Oh, Daniel had the money. And the lad was certainly clever enough.”
Phaedra stirred restlessly in her seat, recalling Lord Arthur Danby’s drunken insistence that he remembered Armande from their university days. Reluctantly, she asked, “And Jason- did his father send him there, too?”
“No, but he frequently visited his brother.” Dr. Glencoe’s cheeks puffed with indignation. “I never approved. Oxford is the perfect place for young men to learn the finer points of drinking, gaming, and wenching. James was already wild enough. I didn’t like the notion of young Jason being dragged into bad company the likes of Arthur Danby and Lord Ewan Grantham.”
Phaedra faltered. “Then-then that’s how Ewan-I mean Lord Grantham became acquainted with Julianna. Through her brothers.”
“No, at least not then. That unfortunate introduction came later, after their father was dead.” Glencoe’s eyes darkened at the memory. “James was forced to take on the responsibility of the shop and as head of the family. A very poor job he made of it, too. I frequently tried to warn Maida that the lad was not suited to such duties, but she looked upon James with all a mother’s indulgence and saw none of his faults.”
The elderly doctor relented somewhat, saying grudgingly, “I suppose James tried, but he had no head for business, and the shop began to fail. He was trying to collect on some bad debts when his path crossed with Grantham’s again.”
“Then James thought to clap up a match between his old friend and his sister, did he?” Gilly filled in. He had been squirming for some time, clearly growing impatient for the doctor to reach the significant part of the story.
But Glencoe looked deeply offended by Gilly’s suggestion. “No, indeed. James had more regard for his sister than to wish to see her wed to a rascally jackanapes like Lord Ewan. And if you add to that the fact that Ewan’s father, Lord Carleton, was the most depraved creature living, I believe James would have locked his sister up before seeing her marry into such a family.”
“But I had heard Julianna and Lord Ewan were in love,” Phaedra said.
“Love.” The doctor snorted. “Infatuation more like-a most tragic infatuation as matters went. For you see, Carleton Grantham was also against the match and he?—”
The doctor broke off, a quiver of pain running along his withered jaw. A murmur of pity rose to Phaedra’s lips. She was about to assure the old man he needn’t say any more, when he continued, the memory seeming fairly wrung from him.
“When Carleton found out that Ewan and Julianna were planning to elope, the black-hearted devil abducted and ravished her.”
