Page 74 of The Curse of Penryth Hall
“Ruan?”
A pang of annoyance crossed her features that a wiser person might have construed as jealousy. Scrawled out in capital letters across her face. “Yes, yourPellar. Once he let Enys know that he suspected poison, the constable brought half his men back into town. There are three or four still wandering about the house somewhere. At least I think they are. I haven’t seen a one in ages.”
I stepped back toward the settee, wrapping my fingers around the crystal glass. “Is she going to be all right?”
Tamsyn shrugged and flicked open a cigarette case, toying with the paper. “Depends on what you mean byall right. She’s with child again. I didn’t know that until Mrs. Penrose told me this morning. Apparently she was several months along. Couldscarcely feed Edward’s bastard, and then to have a second…” Tamsyn shuddered visibly, snapping the enameled case shut and tossing it carelessly onto the table beside the decanter.
I winced at the clatter.
She poured herself another glass of brandy, hands shaking. This wasn’t like her. Not at all.
Tamsyn lit a cigarette, taking a drag and slowly blowing out the smoke. “I hear she’d gone to your Mr. Kivell a few weeks ago asking for some herbs to rid herself of it. But he wouldn’t help her, the fiend. Mrs. Penrose said he’d told her that she was too far along for him to help safely, and she’d have to see a real doctor for that sort of intervention, and you know how unlikely that would be—even for someone with our means. He’d been mixing up some sort of tea for her to prevent the condition in the first place… But either she wasn’t drinking it, or it didn’t work.”
“How do you even know all this?”
She shrugged, tapping the ashes off her cigarette into the bottom of an empty rocks glass. “Mrs. Penrose. The woman knows everything. But she spends a lot of time down at the Smythe place. I think she feels guilty for what Edward did and it’s her way of making amends.”
Nellie’s hollowed cheeks appeared in my mind. Her hungry child. The anger flashing in her eyes when she spoke of Edward. I didn’t want to hear anymore. I set my crystal glass, brandy undrunk, on the table between us. “I’m glad he went to her, then.”
Tamsyn shot to her feet, pacing around the room. Her pale-pink dress swished as she walked. Something was wrong. And I sensed it was more than Nellie Smythe’s fate that bothered her.
“Why didn’t they send for Dr. Heinrich?” After all, he had been staying at the Hind and Hare, which was only a handfulof minutes away. It would have been far faster to fetch him than to send all the way up the cliffs for Ruan in the middle of the night.
“Doctors cost money, goose. But it doesn’t matter. Your Mr. Kivell seems to have saved the day.”
That was the second time she’d said that and it grated. “He’s not my anything.”
She waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever he is, he managed to pull both Nellie and the babe back from the grave.” Tamsyn picked up my untouched glass of brandy and began drinking it too. Her eyes cloudy.
“Was it Edward’s?”
“How would I know?” Tamsyn snapped. “Does it even matter who it belongs to if it’s another mouth to feed? Regardless, I’ve decided to offer her a position here at the house once she’s recovered enough. It’s a strange arrangement, I give you that, but the guilt is intolerable. She wouldn’t be in this predicament were it not for that monster I’d married. Besides, her son has every right to be here. More than mine, truthfully. The thought she might have died and I’ve spent the last few years trying to pretend her situation was none of my affair when I had the power to do something.” She frowned deeply at the thought.
“And what of Mrs. Penrose…?”
“She’s staying with her for now, but will be back and forth until Nellie’s in the pink of health. And Mrs. Martin is to keep watch over me to make sure I haven’t been piskie-led.” Tamsyn laughed at her own little joke, then grew grave again. “I’ll have the whole Smythe family under my roof before long. But I’ve been thinking on it all morning and as it’s my money anyway, perhaps I could do some good with what’s left of my wretched life after all.”
The last part was said with a bitterness I didn’t recognize.A hardness just below the surface of her skin that appeared every now and then. Edward did that to her, and I’d never forgive him for it. It turned the girl I knew into a woman I could scarcely comprehend. One capable of… anything. That nagging voice whispered again in my ear.Do you truly know her?This new creature was one of Edward’s making. My hands grew damp at the thought.
“What is it, darling?”
I picked up my still-untouched glass of brandy, hand shaking a bit as I took a sip, and sat down beside her, letting the heady liquid fill my senses.
I shook my head. “Nothing…”
“You’re troubled. Come eat something.” She nudged the plate of pasties toward me. I glanced at them for a moment, taking one in hand. I didn’t want it. But she was right, I probably ought to eat something.
“I’m not. At least not particularly. I’ve just been trying to decide what the vicar could be blackmailing Edward over. Ruan and I were going to question him yesterday afternoon but he was in London. Now with Nellie taking ill, it’ll likely be days before we get the chance to corner him.”
She sucked her teeth, evidently placated by my answer. “Jori. It’s the only thing I can think of. He must have discovered that the boy isn’t Edward’s.” Her answer was simple, and yet I’d already ruled it out. It wastoosimple. And not a good enough reason for murder.Unless she was the one to do the killing.My mouth grew dry. What if Edward hadn’t been so accepting of the child as everyone was to believe? Appearances were often deceiving, and Edward was a master at deception.
I bit my lower lip, toying with the flaky crust of the pasty, letting a crumb fall to my skirt.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She nudged me with her elbow. “Eat, Ruby.You’re making a mess of your food. Mrs. Penrose had them sent up from the village a little while ago. She’d be very put out with you if she knew you picked it apart instead of eating it.”
I laughed at that, struggling to shake off the growing sense of dread. Mrs. Penrosewouldprobably be very cross. An outcome I would not abide, so I lifted it and took a bite. Bits of heavily spiced lamb, potatoes, and parsnips on the inside, all in a hot-water crust. I wiped my lips with the back of my hand and swallowed. “I thought you hated parsnips.”
