Page 27 of A Lady's Heart Deceived
Putting his hand into his coat pocket, Piers took out the last letter Maggie had written to him. In it, she had noted Robert’s full name and the city of Coventry as being his place of birth, but nothing else.
He handed it to the deacon, who screwed up his nose at the paucity of information.
“Would you have any idea as to how old Robert Taylor was when he passed away?” he asked.
Piers frowned as he racked his brain trying to recall the date Maggie had penned in her notes. He hadn’t made much of an effort to remember those sorts of details. He didn’t want to think too much about Captain Taylor at all.
Was he born in 1790? I think that was what Maggie had written in her notes.
He couldn’t be certain, but then again, Maggie had also not been sure of Robert’s year of birth.A guess would have to suffice.
“I am assuming he was aged somewhere in his mid-twenties—thirty at the oldest. He was a captain, and most men are not at that rank in their younger years.”
He was only guessing that would be the case, but they had to start somewhere.
The deacon nodded. “That brings the number of books we have to search down to a manageable number. Let’s start with the yearbook of seventeen ninety; that would have made the man you seek twenty-five when he died. If we don’t find anything in that book, we can always go back further.”
“Good idea. I think his fiancée thought Captain Taylor had been born around that time, but she wasn’t certain.”
In a city the size of Coventry, there had to be a good number of births every year.
This might take quite some time.
Piers was keen to find some answers to Maggie’s many questions. If it took all day, then so be it. To be able to give her at least some verified information would be well worth his effort.
It had been such a long time since he had held any tangible control over his own life that Piers was genuinely excited at the prospect of thumbing through dusty old books. Of successfully hunting down a clue.
The deacon retrieved a large blue leather-bound book from a nearby shelf and, pushing aside a pile of the papers, set it on the table in the middle of the room.
That looks like my desk at the Horse Guards.
To Piers’s surprise, the book wasn’t that thick. His hopes stirred at the prospect of this search not being too big a task.If I can get through this quickly, I might be able to grab a bite to eat on the way home.
“Now, let us see. Baptisms for the year of our Lord, seventeen ninety,” said the deacon. He thumbed through a number of pages. “Here we are.”
He ran his finger down the length of the page, then shook his head. “No. No Robert Taylor for that year. He may, in fact, have already been born at that time, as not all parents bring their children for baptism straight away. Not like they used to in the old days. It is not uncommon for us to see children of six months and older now being brought to the font.”
“Does that mean he could be in the records for the following year?” replied Piers.
The deacon sighed. “Or not at all. There is a slow movement away from the Church of England. You would be surprised how many people don’t go to the service on Sunday morning. Folks use the time to rest from their labors.”
Piers didn’t want to consider that awkward option. If Robert had been an army officer, there was every chance he came from a respectable family. One which went to church every week. And one which also had their children baptized in a timely fashion.
The deacon retrieved a second book from the shelves. “This is the book for seventeen ninety-one. He may be in here.”
He flipped through the book, then bent and examined one of the pages. “This looks promising.” The deacon tapped his finger on a spot two thirds of the way down the page.
Piers stirred from his musings and glanced at the place where the deacon was pointing.
Robert Eustace Taylor. Son of Thomas and Alice.
Abode. 84 Little Park Street, Coventry
His breath caught sharp. Robert had really existed.
Damn.
He’d been secretly hoping that Robert had been a false name, adopted by a lying knave who would forever remain an unsolved mystery. Shame over his conflicted emotions welled up inside Piers.
