Page 54 of With Good Grace
‘Of course.’ Sarah nodded. ‘I perfectly understand.’
Jake and Olivia stood. The ladies embraced for a second time and Olivia assured Sarah that she would let her know the moment there was news of Tom.
They returned to the street, where Parker awaited them.
‘What’s to do below stairs?’ Jake asked. ‘Travel in the coach with us and tell us what you learned.’
‘The Granvilles are in dire financial straits,’ Parker said, ‘but I expect you worked that much out for yourself, given the neglected state of the house. The cook tells me Molly was a spry little thing below stairs, full of herself and a man she’d met who was going to see her set for life. That was just before the Granvilles went to Italy.’
‘The name of the man?’ Olivia asked, sitting forward expectantly.
‘Molly never said and Mrs Dale didn’t bother to ask. She said the girl had her head permanently in the clouds, convinced there was something special about her and that some dashing young man would come along and sweep her off her feet. Mrs Dale described her as pretty enough but nothing out of the ordinary.’ Parker nodded. ‘I’d have to agree with that. But apparently she was never without a young man and came back from her afternoons off glowing from within.’ Parker harrumphed. ‘That was Mrs Dale’s description.’
‘So much for her criticism ofmyconduct,’ Olivia muttered, almost to herself.
‘How did she feel when Mrs Granville closed up the house and recommended Molly to Olivia?’ Jake asked.
‘Oh, now that’s the interesting part. According to Mrs Dale, Molly knew of her mistress’s friendship with Mrs Grantley and that you were looking for new staff,’ Parker said, addressing the last part of that comment to Olivia. ‘It was she who suggested to Mrs Granville that a situation with Mrs Grantley might suit her and asked for a recommendation.’
‘Did she indeed!’ It was Jake’s turn to sit forward. ‘That rather implies that the mysterious man who was going to guarantee her future was Sir Hubert and he encouraged Molly to take the position within your household, Olivia, acting as his spy.’
‘Please tell me that is not so!’ she cried. ‘I cannot bear to think that my every movement, all my activities, were reported back to Hubert.’ She shuddered and lifted her chin. ‘As though my conduct is any business of his.’
Jake covered her hand with his and sent her a reassuring smile. ‘If she did report back to Sir Hubert, he must know that you are far from defenceless and that he will need to get past me if he wishes to get to you.’
‘Even so.’
‘It sounds as though Molly has an ambitious side to her character that she kept well hidden behind a façade of prim disapproval,’ Jake said. ‘If she was waiting for a suave gentleman to sweep her off her feet, Sir Hubert would have had little trouble convincing her that he was her knight in shining armour.’
‘Then why the curate?’ Olivia asked.
Parker shrugged. ‘A smokescreen? Or perhaps Sir Hubert told her to disapprove of your friendship with his lordship in the hope that it would wane.’
‘Possibly,’ Jake replied. ‘Or perhaps he just wanted you to be feel uncomfortable, Olivia.’
‘He succeeded.’
‘If Molly was working under the misguided assumption that Sir Hubert was about to whisk her away,’ Parker said pensively, ‘why wait so long to look for those letters?’
‘Marcus’s boxes were stored in a locked attic,’ Olivia replied. ‘She could not have got into it if she wanted to because even when I was not at home, there were other servants there who would call her to account.’ Olivia lifted one shoulder. ‘It is possible, I suppose, that she searched the library but we know that thanks to Green the letters were safely tucked away elsewhere.’
‘We shall just have to find Sir Hubert and Molly and ask them ourselves,’ Jake asserted. ‘I should not be surprised to find him living in that warehouse. I wonder why Lady Grantley did not mention his involvement in that venture.’
‘Perhaps she didn’t know,’ Parker replied, shrugging. ‘Seems to me the cove likes to play his cards close to his chest. We know that he’s proud so he probably didn’t want to tell the world that he was dipping his toe into the world of commerce; at least not until he made a success of it.’
‘Which would explain why he preferred to remain in the background while Granville trawled Italy for clients,’ Jake added.
‘So what now?’ Olivia asked, sighing.
‘Now we wait.’
‘Oh, but I thought—’
‘I know it is the last thing you want to hear, Olivia,’ Jake said, his raised hand to cut off her objection. ‘Passivity does not sit well with you at the best of times.’ He sent her a slow, somnolent smile that implied he was referring to their activities in the bedchamber. Despite her sick apprehension for her son’s safety, Olivia’s treacherous body responded to his flirtatious challenge with a violent tremor. ‘But I am convinced that we will hear from whoever has Tom sooner rather than later.’
‘Won’t they imagine that we have involved the police?’ Parker asked.
‘I doubt that,’ Jake replied. ‘Molly knows how ardently Olivia loves her son, how protective of his interests she is. She would never knowingly place him in danger, so it is a calculated risk they would most likely take.’
