Page 15 of The Remarkable Myth of a Nameless Lady
“Maybe battles of a different sort,” Tom said, with a knowing smirk. “In the last half hour you have given me fair little to go on as to just what you find so annoying. The books will fall under my purview if you prefer it. Did you not bring me here to act as your personal steward? I am more than a valet for your wardrobe. Though heaven only knows you can use the help.”
“You can remove your eyes from my cravat. I have had quite enough criticism in that regard for one day,” Jacob said sourly. “I swear, Tom, I allow you too much familiarity.”
“It will be hard to break myself of the habit, though I expect I can no longer refer to you as my Captain.” “Shall I call you Your Grace?” Tom asked.
Jacob scowled. “When you refer to me at all, you devil. You deliberately go out of the way to avoid any title you can while we talk, treating as us equals.”
“Need I remind you, we are not that dissimilar in social standing, the only true difference being that your father managed to leave you both title and estate and mine managed to lose his fortune at the gaming tables before his death.” Tom replied with a certain equanimity of one who had long grown used to his situation.
“It was your cousin that inherited the title, was it not? It seemed a strange choice.” Jacob said, eying his friend with a hint of speculation. “I have long wondered how it was that came about.”
“I should keep the secret just that I might have something to hold over you,” Tom said and snickered. “It is not truly anything glamourous. For whatever reason, my father was positive that I was not his offspring, though he never came out and accused my poor mother in so many words. Though he made it all quite clear in his actions.”
Jacob’s eyes widened. “And here I thought my own family situation was complicated. It explains much, though. Your father still saw fit for you to be educated properly.”
That had, in fact, been a point of many hours of discussion aboard ship during the long quiet periods where they lay waiting for one thing or another. Jacob had been fascinated to find that the man assigned as his steward had attended the same schools he had, only a few years behind him. It was part of what made Tom an excellent man to send into difficult situations.
Jacob leaned back in his chair, staring thoughtfully into the distance, not seeing Tom or even the room around him, but instead the village he’d passed through on the way to Ravencliff. “Do you remember that time off the coast of France, the little port…I forget the name now. The one where the wharf was nearly hidden in that little bay?”
“I know the one,” Tom said, leaning forward in his own chair, resting his elbows upon the knees. He named the town, his French flawless. “That one, you mean?”
“I do. I sent you ashore to reconnoiter the situation. I swear you had the villagers fairly well convinced you were one of their own. You have that gift about you, that allows you to blend in.”
“I have a gift for languages. The rest is a lot of what the Irish call blarney, I believe,” Tom said with a look of sharp interest. “You have a similar mission in mind?”
“Possibly.” Jacob got to his feet and used a poker to bring the fire up again, to take the chill off the room while he thought how to word his request. “You are as of yet an unknown entity. Other than a few among the guests who know your true nature, this is no one within this household that knows your position here. It puts us in a unique position of perhaps being able to collect some information.”
It was Tom’s turn to be surprised. “You think your brother has been less than forthcoming about the estate?”
“I am sure he has, but that is not what concerns me right now. There was an incident when I arrived here that I have not been able to see to. A man, the father of one of the maids here, actually, rather questioned my authority very publicly, stopping just short of calling me out entirely.” Jacob added another piece of wood to the fire though it didn’t need it. “I want to know more about him.”
“Why not just ask the maid? Or is it…like that? Or…not?” It was Tom’s turn to scramble to his feet, namely because Jacob had whirled on him. “Good God, Captain, I am entirely unarmed!”
Jacob lowered the poker, staring at it in surprise for he had raised it without thinking, using it much as he would his rapier. “My apologies, Tom. I am unsure what came over me.”
“I would say it was more of a ‘who’ than a ‘what’ but given your reaction on my last statement of the sort, I think I will keep my opinions to myself henceforth,” Tom muttered, his face pale.
“I barely know the girl,” Jacob said, hanging the poker with the rest of the fireplace tools. “It is the father that concerns me. I have let too much time pass in dillydallying about the estate when I should have offered retribution for the slight, but at the time it seemed there was little I could do. He had not broken any law, nor do I truly have authority there.”
“As a Duke, I should think you have quite a bit of pull within the village,” Tom pointed out, shifting a trifle uneasily as Jacob again paced the room.
“I am not entirely sure that I do,” Jacob answered, a touch more honestly than he would have otherwise. “Besides, of what could I accuse the man? He as much as defied me outright without coming out and saying the words. There was a group with him, an unsavory lot who cared little that he heaped abuse on the girl—”
Tom perked up at this. “What girl? Do you mean the maid? Oh ho, the plot thickens!”
Jacob shot him a look. “I have told you it has nothing whatsoever to do with the girl, but with her father. There was something in the encounter that has been bothering me. I would be interested to see what you could find out. They have no fondness for the British here. But whether or not they harbor conspiracies, I do now know.”
“Irish, eh? It might be good to slip in from another point of entry altogether. The port itself, perhaps?” Tom’s face took on a thoughtful expression. “If you give me leave to handle this in my own way without interference, I might be able to. It might take some time, though. A few days at best. Especially if I have no idea what it is I am looking for.”
Jacob stopped at the window, though it was impossible to see out now that it was dark, with the fire behind him. “Take the time you need. So long as no one sees you leave the manor. I want utmost secrecy on this.”
Tom frowned a little. “You truly think there is something more to this than some drunken lout making statements emboldened by ale?”
“I wish I knew.” Jacob grimaced. “Something there felt odd. Had it only been the rudeness of the encounter, I might have left it at that. I would have been tempted to have the man brought up on charges and to make an example of him, but for one thing.”
“And what is that?”
Jacob turned and met Tom’s gaze solemnly. “His daughter started to work here the very next day.”
