Page 45 of The Ambiguous Enigma of the Hunted Lady
“How did you find it?” Kenneth asked.
“This is your business?” Leah responded, handing back the papers.
“Not all of it.” Kenneth offered a defense. “But yes, this is a large portion of it.”
“Fascinating.” Leah whispered, lingering on a fleeting thought.
“What is?” Kenneth looked perplexed.
“The stories.” Leah turned back to face him. “I found them fascinating, truly.”
“You did?”
“Yes, they were so real, far more so than anything I have ever read.”
“Well I should hope so.” Kenneth snorted a chuckle. “Else we would have fraud about. So, you mean to say that you found it truthful?”
“Well, yes.” Leah said.
“How can you be sure?”
“How can you not be?”
“Believe me, I am convinced such as yourself, but what can I say is the reasoning behind the decision? It must have weight, you see.”
“What are you asking me?”
“What is it that makes you so sure the tales are truthful?”
“It is the way they are told.” Leah explained. “You see, if someone is lying, they will go to great lengths to accomplish their lie. They will invest the smallest and most insignificant of details, because they feel that it will make the story more complete.”
“Doesn't it?” Kenneth looked a bit lost.
“It's the opposite.” Leah grinned; she enjoyed the feeling of explaining the world to someone like Kenneth.Or was it that she just enjoyed talking to him in particular?She could not be sure.
“A true story is about what someone feels, not what time it was or how many men were above deck, what have you. You see it time and time again in these accounts: people are scared, their memories are raw, everything is all tumbled up. That's how you know it's real.” she concluded.
Kenneth looked at her with a face of amazement.
“You can see the world in a way I have never chanced to glimpse.” he finally said.
“What does that mean?” Leah was taken aback. There was a look in his eyes that betrayed his conflicted emotions.
“Will you walk with me? When you are able?”
“Walk? To where?”What is he on about?
“When you are well enough, that is, and I do not know, perhaps through the gardens? Anywhere you please for all I am knowledgeable.” He was flustered again, blushing up.
“I would enjoy that.” Leah smiled, feeling her heart give a light flutter that went against her schemes of stealing away to France with a sizable amount of this mansion's wealth.
“Good!” Kenneth seemed quick to make his getaway, rushing for the door in an embarrassed stumble. “I will send for Dr. Fowler to attend you as soon as he is able!” and he slammed shut the door in a hurry.
Chapter 13
Dr. Fowler was in a terrible state when he received the Duke of Worthington's letter. He had been dreading his return to the Worthington estate ever since his encounter with the street rat that held his social life hostage. He knew that he had to return, eventually, but that day was still some ways away and for the moment at least he could put it out of his mind.
But this piece of paper before him, which had arrived just before noon, had shattered whatever false semblance of peace of mind he had established.
