Page 9 of Secrets of Capell Manor
“Words like bastard,” Kaylyn said.
“And whore,” Luella added. With her hand cupped around her mouth, she whispered, “And ass!”
Kaylyn began to add to the list. “Turd…”
“Bloody whoreson…”
“Girls! That is enough!” Rosalind interjected. “Oh, what must Sir Devlin think of you!”
“Did you see Lord Edmond anymore after that night when he was yelling?”
Both girls said they hadn’t.
“That’s all the questions I have for you both at this time,” he said, his shoulders slumped and his brow pinched. He looked between each girl and then shook his head slightly.
“Kaylyn, Luella, return to the kitchen and help Marta. I will be there shortly to fetch Ridley when Sir Devlin is ready. He looks as if he may need a little break from questioning.”
The girls rose from the table, and Kaylyn left the room.
But Luella ran to Sir Devlin and gave him a quick hug. She looked at him with her big brown eyes and said seriously, “Lord Edmond scared me.” She paused, and then said, “Every day.”
Devlin’s arms hung limply at his sides at first, but then he managed to give the little girl a small squeeze. Luella ran to the kitchen.
“I’ve questioned killers for hire, traitors, and hardened warriors, and I feel that none of my past experiences prepared me well enough to question those two!”
Rosalind nodded in understanding. “The girls are very… imaginative and, shall I say, spirited. But they simply had no information to give, Sir Devlin. To be honest, I sheltered the girls from Lord Edmond as much as possible. They had very little contact with him, But what Kaylyn said is very true, unfortunately. Lord Edmond indulged in drinking too much on more days than not. He was always cruel, but when he wasdrunk, his mood was quite dangerous. I never wanted the girls to witness or, worse, be the focus of his anger.”
“You didn’t birth either child, did you? Kaylyn is eight, so you would have been too young. Who were their parents? Are they Lord Edmond’s bastards?”
Chapter Three
Lady Rosalind moved from the table and sat in her rocking chair by the great fireplace. She picked up her mending basket and pulled out a pair of gray woolen stockings with holes in the feet. From the basket, she procured two knitting needles and a ball of woolen yarn. She inhaled a deep breath.
“My parents died in a carriage accident when I was ten years old. My mother had no family, and Lord Edmond was my father’s only surviving relation, so the king awarded Uncle Edmond guardianship over me. When I came to live here, I was scared and alone, and it didn’t take much time for me to realize that Lord Edmond held no affection for me at all. Rather, he was only interested in the modest monthly stipend he received from monies collected from my father’s estate.”
As Devlin listened, he related to Rosalind’s story, which in some ways was much like his own.
“Marta and Benton immediately took me in and loved me as much as any parent would. Years ago, before my uncle ran off all the servants, Marta had help in the kitchen; a young girl named Agnes. She was about thirteen or fourteen years old. From nearly day one, we were inseparable. I had always wanted a sister.”
Devlin noticed a slight smile on Rosalind’s face as she reminisced. She dropped a stitch in her knitting and didn’t continue until she had picked it back up on her knitting needle.
“A few years later, Agnes married a young man who lived nearby, but she continued to work here in the manor. It wasn’t long before Kaylyn was born, and then little Luella four years later. Agnes was so happy upon finding herself pregnant again. She was blessed with Kaylyn but didn’t want her growing up as an only child.”
“It seems you were all a happy family,” Devlin said.
“We were. But Lord Edmond’s drinking got worse, and Agnes caught his eye. His unwanted advances became commonplace, and one day, her husband, Tom, walked into the kitchen and Agnes was trying to ward off Edmond’s unwelcome attention.”
“I understand this didn’t end well?” Devlin inquired and tears welled up in Rosalind’s eyes. She worked another stitch into the foot of the stocking in her hand.
“No, not at all. An altercation broke out, and Edmond was left bloodied on the kitchen floor. Tom fled, knowing that he would be punished and jailed, and he was never seen again.”
Devlin still waited patiently for the answer to his question.
“I know what you are thinking. But the girls were Tom’s, Sir Devlin. No question about that.”
“So where is Agnes now?”
Did Edmond have her tucked away somewhere? Did he have her jailed?
