Page 23 of The Hollow of Fear
“You are probably not familiar with employment agencies for domestic service,” Lady Avery went on. “But we always pass along what we know—if the master of a house takes advantage of the maids, or if the mistress works them too much and docks wages unfairly.
“We warn mothers of young ladies, or young ladies themselves, if we think they can handle such intelligence, when we know certain alarming things about young men they might consider marrying. Sometimes they marry them anyway, because they refuse to believe us or because their parents exert undue pressure. But we do what we can.
“Anyway, our point is, we try to prevent or expose injustice. Often we can’t speak aloud—the culprits hold too unassailable a position or the consequences are too adverse, should it be found out who had passed on the information. But we do speak quietly, and we do inform as many people as possible, especially those who must brush up against their spheres of influence.”
Livia stared at Lady Avery. She had never thought of the women as being in any wayhelpful. To anyone. She wasn’t sure she believed Lady Avery, who admitted that she’d made up the bit about the “great indiscretion.” Might this not be another gambit to make sure Livia didn’t say anything about their having gone into every guest room at Stern Hollow?
The next moment a huge premonition slammed into her. “And what, exactly, is this injustice you are so interested in just now?”
“I mentioned that we spoke to the servants,” said Lady Somersby. “They are a loyal lot, down to the scullery maids, and didn’t consider it our business to ask after their master and mistress. But we both received the impression that while they are reluctant to say anything, they are as puzzled about Lady Ingram’s departure as we are.
“Neither of the coachmen drove her to a railway station. No one in the house, in fact, saw her on the night of her birthday ball, after about half past midnight or quarter to one. The children and their governess aren’t here right now, but we learned that even the children didn’t get to say good-bye to her. The entire household, with a few exceptions, was ordered back to Stern Hollow the very next day, while Lord Ingram himself took the children to the seaside—neither of which had been in the plans earlier.”
“Plans always change,” countered Livia, even as her stomach once again twisted with dread. “And wasn’t it said that it was a sudden collapse? They had a houseful of guests. Given Lady Ingram’s private nature, wouldn’t it be like her to leave, since she must, with as little noise and drama as possible?”
The ladies did not escalate the debate. Livia was beginning to wonder whether her argument carried more weight than she thought it did, when Lady Avery said, “This is our first visit to Stern Hollow. I take it, Miss Holmes, that the same is true for you?”
“That is correct,” Livia answered warily.
“What do you think of the estate?”
Their path turned and the house came back into view, quite close now, serene and lovely, nestled in its sweet green dell. “I find it enchanting.”
“Wefind it a little chilling.”
Livia’s fingertips tingled with alarm. They were about to speak of Lady Ingram again.
“There is no imprint of Lady Ingram upon this place,” Lady Avery continued. “Not at all. We spoke to all the senior servants, the majordomo, the butler, the housekeeper, the chef, the head gardener, et cetera, et cetera. It would seem that any and all alteration or improvement originated with Lord Ingram. Your room, for example, had been redecorated to his specification within the past year or so. The nursery. The library. The addition of certain fruit trees to the walled garden. It has all been Lord Ingram. It was as if—”
“As if Lady Ingram has no interest in houses or gardens,” said Livia heatedly. “Such women do exist.”
Charlotte was one. She appreciated a beautiful house, but she wouldn’t lift a finger to help make one. And any interest she had in horticulture was tied directly to whether the species in question could be made into a good pudding.
“I don’t doubt the existence of such women. But that is a terribly innocent interpretation on your part, Miss Holmes. Lord Ingram could very well have forbidden any input from his wife with regard to her own home.”
“That is a preposterous statement to put forward, Lady Avery. Lady Ingram has one of the largest allowances in Society. And her husband has thrown a lavish ball to celebrate her birthday every year, even after he learned that she married him only for his money. He has been more than generous to her at every turn and does not have it in his character to practice such meanness.”
“Being generous to his wife and undertaking extravagant gestures are choices that reflect well onhim. They reflect especially well on him when it is believed that she does not deserve either. But think back to their rupture. I have investigated it, and everything rests on the word of one then new under-housemaid, who told the other servants, who in turn passed on the gossip to servants they knew in other households. The story filtered upward to the ears of their masters and mistresses, and eventually a picture emerged that was wholly uncomplimentary to Lady Ingram.”
Livia threw up her hands. “Because thetruthwas wholly uncomplimentary to Lady Ingram.”
“We will allow for that possibility. But then you must also allow for the possibility that the truth might not be as complimentary to Lord Ingram: Hecouldhave orchestrated what the public was allowed to learn, in order to tilt the narrative heavily in his favor, and then practiced intimidation at home to isolate his wife and cow her into silence.”
This was ludicrous. “No one could have cowed Lady Ingram into silence.”
“Appearances are often deceiving,” said Lady Somersby, who until now had been happy to let her sister do all the talking. “You should trust us on this, Miss Holmes. It has been our vocation in life to see beneath the surface. Women who appear perfectly happy sometimes live in fear of their lives. And men who give every impression in public of kindness and amiability can be monsters in private.”
“And you believe Lord Ingram—Lord Ingram—to be such a man?”
“No one is above suspicion on such matters, because in private no one is entirely what they seem in public.”
But wouldn’tCharlottehave known if he was a monster? Wouldn’t she have honed in on all the clues?
Then again, as remarkable as Charlotte was, she was still only human. He was her faithful friend; his wife remained barely an acquaintance. Would her opinion have been swayed, as Livia’s most certainly would have been, by that unspoken hostility on Lady Ingram’s part?
“Only last night you were telling me, Lady Somersby, that Lady Ingram might have run away from home. Now you portray her as a prisoner in her own marriage.”
“Both are possible. We searched the manor not to look through anyone’sthings but to see whether she might have left behind some clues to her fate.”
