Page 60 of Snowy and the Seven Doves
Miss Trent asked, “Will you allow us to move Mr. Rahat and Lord Snowden to the same floor as you, Lady Charmain?”
“Yes,” Margaret said. “Please put Lord Snowden into the room next to mine, and I suggest Rahat could have the room next door.”
When Miss Trent was gone, Margaret took a deep breath. “I am going to have to interview all the servants, am I not? And try to find out how deep the rot goes. Will the pair of you help me?”
In the end, they found four other people—two parlor maids, one footman, and one cook’s assistant—who had been passing information to Hungerford-Fox, on instructions from Margaret’s aunt. The footmen disclosed that Lord Hungerford-Fox had sometimes come with a nameless friend who, for the last few days, had met the footman on his own.
The description was that of Richard Snowden.
*
After the interviews,Margaret spoke to the assembled servants, and was magnificent. “I am going to tell them what is at stake,” she said, and she was right.
She made a thrilling tale of it. The child abandoned in the slums and rescued by a passerby. The frightened mother, suspicious of her second husband, begging the Good Samaritan to keep the child safe. The passing of the years, and with it, the title holder, the child’s grandfather.
“A few weeks ago, the man you know as Mr. White was told the truth of his origins and is now waiting for the House of Lords to decide his right to be declared the true Lord Snowden.”
There were nods and murmurs. This news was already a matter of gossip. But Margaret’s next words brought gasps. “Since he placed his evidence before the House of Lords, there have been three attempts on his life. An attempt to strangle him, one to stab him with a pin dipped in poison, and last night, a shooting.”
When the exclamations died down, Margaret said, “You have probably also heard that I am betrothed to Lord Snowden.” She put her hand on Snowy’s arm. “ThisLord Snowden; the true one. Some of you may believe, as Mrs. Markham did, that I was promised to Lord Hungerford-Fox. That is what Lord Hungerford-Fox said, but he lied. He cozened me into believing him a suitor six years ago, when I was a girl, but only so he could persuade my father into paying him a large sum of money to go away. As soon as I saw him back again, I knew he was up to his old tricks.”
“That is why you have brought in guards?” said Mr. Bowen. “Because of Lord Hungerford-Fox?”
Snowy raised his eyebrows, and Margaret read the message and nodded.
He stepped forward and they all looked at him, eyes wide. “Hungerford-Fox is in custody, because the person who made the attempt to poison me claims to have done so with poison he supplied and on his orders. However, Hungerford-Fox received both poison and the idea of doing away with me from my stepfather, Richard Snowden.”
He moved his gaze over them all, waiting until they had time to absorb that piece of truth. “I have brought in guards, and am staying here myself, because Snowden has shown he will kill to win the viscountcy. As my wife, Lady Charmain’s first son will not only be heir to the Charmain earldom, but to the Snowden viscountcy.”
He leaned forward. “I will protect my betrothed and her household, but I cannot know where danger might come from or who might be at risk. With Lady Charmain’s agreement, I am offering everyone who remains in service an increase in wages, proportionate to your position. Mr. Bowen has the amounts for the menservants, and Cook, who has agreed to be acting housekeeper until Lady Charmain can make another appointment, has those for the women.”
As if they had rehearsed it, Margaret took over. “This raise will be permanent. However, if you do not wish to remain in a house that may be attacked, you may leave without penalty, with a letter of recommendation and your wages paid to the end of the month.”
Snowy’s turn: “Provided you have not broken your mistress’s confidence by gossiping outside of this house, or by spying on your mistress and her actions. Should we discover you have betrayed Lady Charmain—”
“Or Lord Snowden,” Margaret interjected.
“Or me,” he conceded, “you will be dismissed without notice and without recommendation.”
“Take an hour to think about whether you have a future here,” Margaret said, “then tell Mr. Bowen or Cook whether you are remaining. Thank you, Bowen, that will be all.”
After that, they went out in the barouche, with Pauline and Miss Trent on the facing seat and Frank up behind with one of the footmen, who had fervently declared his loyalty before Bowen had even had a chance to leave the drawing room. Rahat had stayed reluctantly behind, though he insisted he was recovered enough to resume his duties.
First, they visited the Duke of Winshire, where Margaret and Pauline were scooped up by Lady Sutton and taken upstairs to visit with the duchess. Miss Trent followed behind the ladies, as silent and inconspicuous as a shadow.
In a locked but clean and tidy room in the cellar, Hungerford-Fox was demanding to be released or taken before a magistrate.
“Snowden killed the man who carried out his first attempt to murder me,” Snowy warned him.
Hungerford-Fox sneered. “You would not understand. Gentlemen treat one another with honor, and Snowden is a gentleman.”
The duke’s smile was almost a smirk. “Since this piece of slime has rescinded his previous confession, Lord Snowden,” he said, “The magistrate says we cannot keep him. In his words, the evidence of a loose woman is no evidence at all.”
Hungerford-Fox looked triumphant.
The duke took no notice of him, continuing, “I suggest we comply with his request and let him go. We can always have him arrested again later. If he survives. It is not on our heads if the false viscount kills him.”
“I shall have you arrested for kidnapping,” Hungerford-Fox threatened.
