Page 47 of A Duke Under Her Spell
“I do not believe he thought we would come up with so many men to fit into the wall. He seemed quite shocked when I encountered him as if he had believed himself to be beyond capture. When he attempted to run, he found himself confused by the sound of all the other footsteps around him and decided to charge me instead. He drove himself right into my knife. I am not certain whether it was intentional or not, but I couldn’t stop him.”
“Suicide by another’s knife?” Felix asked, frowning in confusion at such a notion. In spite of all the man had put them through, Felix was sad to see him come to such a pass. “What could possibly have driven the man to such an action? Who could he possibly fear so much that he would rather end his life on your blade than to be captured? The entire affair saddens me to no end.”
“I am sorry that you will not get your questions answered, Your Grace.”
“Yes, that is most unfortunate indeed. It will be difficult to rest assured that this is over when it most certainly seems to me that he was not working alone.”
“Could it be the actions of my father, Lord Enfield?” Marybeth’s voice asked from behind them. “He knew far more about me than he should have.”
“I do not think so, but one can never be sure,” Felix answered coming over to shield her from the grisly scene. “You should not be here, Marybeth. This is no place for a lady.”
“Then it is good that I am not a lady,” she retorted moving past him to examine the body. “I know this man,” she replied in surprise.
“How?” Felix stepped forward to stand beside her peering down into the former footman’s face.
“I have seen him in the forest near the croft and Blackleigh Castle. I always thought he was one of the estate’s men.”
“He was, but his duties never took him out that direction that I am aware of and it has been some time since he was employed here. How long ago did you last see him?”
“Around the time my grandmother passed away, before I came here.”
“And then the so-called hauntings began shortly after your arrival,” Felix remarked thoughtfully. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps this in some part has something to do with you, but I cannot fathom what a former footman of mine would have against you to behave in such a fashion. Perhaps it is a coincidence due to the location of the other end of the tunnel.”
“It could be, or it could be something to do with my father.”
“Well there is very little hope of ascertaining his true intent now. The dead seldom speak, I am afraid.” Felix instructed one of the groomsmen to go into town and fetch the magistrate.
“Shall I summon the undertaker as well, Your Grace?”
“Yes, perhaps that is best.”
The groomsman nodded and left immediately. Felix instructed that a small number of maids go throughout the house knocking on the walls to signal to the men that remained within to exit. One by one the men began to filter out of the walls taking in the grisly scene before them as they stepped around the bloody corpse upon the floor.
“Patrick, take two other men and find the place where you believe that the intruder met his end. As I said, we will need to remove a section of wall to show the magistrate that there was not foul play involved,” Felix ordered the man who had drug the former footman from the walls.
“Yes, Your Grace.” He was still pale from the encounter, but he was strong and walked away with his shoulders squared, ready to face whatever might come next.
“Do you truly believe Lord Enfield could be responsible for this, Your Grace?” Mr. Wheatly asked softly, entering the room from where he had stood and watched quietly in the hall. “Given his past history should we not tell the magistrate of Miss Wright’s suspicions?”
“We are not certain of anything yet, Mr. Wheatly. One must have solid evidence before one accuses a peer of the realm.”
“Yes, of course, Your Grace. Forgive my impertinence, I simply worry for the girl’s safety.”
“As do I.” Felix laid a reassuring hand on Mr. Wheatly’s shoulder. “We will keep her safe, Mr. Wheatly.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” The butler bowed and returned to his station at the door to the room. Felix was grateful to him for his efforts to protect the remainder of the staff from seeing such a grisly sight.
Some things are best left unseen unless one is absolutely required to do so.
Felix watched as Marybeth examined the body to ensure that he was indeed deceased. Once she was satisfied that he was dead she stood and stepped back away from the body. “There is nothing to be done for him now,” she murmured, wiping her hands clean with a wet cloth from the bowl brought to clean the man’s face. “We can clean the body and prepare it for burial once the magistrate has done his due diligence. I can help with that.”
“Thank you, Miss Wright,” Felix murmured. He longed to reach out and touch her, to offer her comfort from her worst fears, but as they were not alone, he could not do so without causing a scandal.She deserves better than that.He also feared that were her true parentage to get out that she would be the subject of even more censure than she already endured. He had no intentions of mentioning Lord Enfield to the magistrate if he could keep from it. Marybeth’s reputation did not need to be scarred further.
“I will go and inform your mother of the intruder’s demise. She will be saddened by the death, but relieved to have this time of fear and anxiety brought to an end,” Marybeth stated, turning away from the body upon the floor. Her face was solemn, her eyes portraying a myriad of emotions. Felix knew it was not her first corpse, but it was still an unnerving sight regardless of one’s intimacy with death.
“Shall I go with you?” he offered in case she did not wish to be alone.
“No, I will be fine. The danger has passed, and life must go on. You have more than enough to be getting on with here.” She gestured toward the dead man and all of the male servants that had emerged from the wall still waiting for orders.
