Page 55 of Scars of a Passionate Revenge
Benedict stepped forward. “And perhaps, My Lady, while you are telling us what you have been playing at in your own home, you might like to tell us the truth about what happened to my father, all those years ago?”
Chapter 24
Dorothea sniffed and swiped a hand across her face. “You do not know what you are talking about, any of you,” she muttered.
“Well if that is the case, you may enlighten us,” the baron said firmly. “Trust me, it will be far better for you if the truth has come out before the law arrives. I have no doubt about that.” He exchanged a quick glance with Benedict, who could not tell whether he was speaking the truth when he mentioned the magistrates, or whether he was simply trying to force her to confess. Either way, his tactics seemed to be working.
Dorothea slumped down in a chair and looked up at Benedict. “Your father. Well, yes, I suppose that is as good a place as any to begin the story.”
She paused and chewed her lip. “No one knows about my past, you see. We were poor, growing up. Really poor. There was never enough food. Even though we had a title, and were seen as respectable, it was a daily struggle. And somehow, I managed to survive. And when I found you,” she glanced at the baron, “and persuaded you to marry me, I thought all my problems were solved. But there were debts, you see, in my family, and I could not figure out any other way to pay them.”
Benedict watched as she explained her history. He felt the tiniest pang of sympathy when she spoke of her early suffering, but his heart hardened as he prepared to hear the next part of the story. No matter how much he and his father had suffered, they had never stolen anything nor lied nor done anything to hurt anyone else. And he was sure, now, that Dorothea had been the cause of their troubles.
“Those horses, they were too good an opportunity to miss. I paid the groom to set the fire in the stables, then to say that Daniel had stolen the horses. Another man in my service took them and sold them, and they bought a handsome price.
But it was not enough. Nothing was ever enough. Once the debts were paid, I got greedy. I wanted all the things I had never had when I was a child, when I was a young debutante. So I bought them, on credit, and the debts built up again.”
The baron stared at her. “I do not understand why you would try to poison me, though! If you were struggling for money, all you had to do was ask me! I would have helped you.”
She sighed. “I was ashamed. And then I thought of the perfect solution. If you were ill, then you would not be able to interfere in the financial affairs of the estate. I would have control of all this.” She gestured around the room. “So I began to give you small doses of poison, just enough to make you so ill that you could not leave you room, but never enough to put you in any real danger.”
She paused for a moment and sniffed again. “But then… well, I suppose I got carried away, and I started to think about what would happen if you were not here at all.”
“I can bear it no longer!” the baron declared. “I will have you arrested, this instant, for attempted murder, as well as all the other terrible things you have done!”
Benedict had listened to her confession in total shock. Everything she said made perfect sense, and it meant that the baron was innocent, just as innocent as his father had been. Which meant that he and Alice could be together. But perhaps it was too late?
Dorothea was weeping again now. “Please, won’t you at least let me dress before you send me off to jail?” she wailed.
The baron sighed. “I suppose it makes no difference,” he said. “You may go to your room, so long as Lord Grant accompanies you and waits outside.”
Dorothea jumped up from her seat, crossed the room and threw open the door. She gasped in amazement at who she saw in the doorway. “Alice!”
Benedict heard Alice’s name and looked up in amazement. He rushed across the room to her side. “Alice, what are you doing here?”
“I have just got home from the house party,” she said. “I heard the rumpus and waited outside. I have overheard everything.” She turned to Dorothea. “Now I understand why you wanted me out of the way, so you could get away with your wicked plans without anyone else in the house to notice! I shall be glad to see the back of you, and your wicked ways!”
She turned to her father. “And Papa, I am so glad to see you up and about. Once this woman is gone from the house, I am sure your health will improve, and we shall live happily together again.”
The baron embraced her, and Benedict waited as patiently as he could for a chance to speak.
When it finally came, and Alice was staring at him with a look in her eyes that he could not quite identify, he said, “Alice, please forgive me for leaving so suddenly. I was so angry that you might think my father was guilty of the theft, but now I know that your father never betrayed him. He was innocent all along!” Benedict took a breath before continuing, his heart pounding in his chest. “I love you, Alice. We can be together, now, if you’ll have me?”
He stared at her, scarcely able to breathe as he waited for her response.
***
Alice could hardly believe what she was hearing and seeing. The truth about Dorothea was now finally out, but here was Benedict, declaring his love for her, as if he had not been plotting her ruin!
For the whole of her journey from Bath to home, she had thought of nothing but his betrayal, and the pain in her heart had not eased one bit. She felt a flare of anger as he stood in front of her now, declaring his love.
She reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out the letter he had written to the baron, and watched as his face went white.
“You plotted to ruin me, to avenge yourself on my father!” she cried. “How can I love you, when you planned to destroy my reputation for the sake of your own desire for revenge!”
Benedict held up his hands in protest. “Alice, you do not understand, I would not have gone through with it. I promise you.”
She shook her head. “I do not want to hear it, Benedict. The letter is the most awful thing I have ever read, and I cannot even bear to look at you.” She turned away from him, feeling her heart almost breaking.
