Page 30 of Her Impeccable Scoundrel
“No, alas, or I might have been tempted to stay. Second son, you know? As it is, my brother’s wife inherited a large estate in Virginia, so he went to make his fortune there.”
“You have a fine property here.”
“Yes. I have improvements in mind, but I’ve had to go slowly. My father and brother bumped heads quite a lot over the management, and I’m sure Father and I would have disagreed as well. Father’s unfortunate illness has resolved that issue, and as there’s no entail, the property will be mine after he passes.” He smiled ruefully. “That is perhaps too much information upon first meeting, my lord, though it is common enough knowledge among our neighbors and will answer your questions before you can find a diplomatic way to formulate them.”
Graeme couldn’t help laughing. He liked Jarrow’s straightforwardness. The tale had piqued his curiosity.
“Thank you, Jarrow. I confess, I know a bit about agricultural trade, but I have much to learn about estate management. I may need to call on your expertise. I’ve yet to meet with my land steward.”
“Stockwell is a good man. His son has done a fine job of managing Bluebelle Lodge as well.”
That was welcome news about Stockwell, confirming what Blythe had told him, and quite unexpected news about the son.
Before Graeme could comment, a tea tray arrived with an assortment of cakes and biscuits and Jarrow had the footman serve them.
Jarrow’s servants, the ones he’d seen so far, were a good thirty years younger than those serving at Risley Manor.
“How do you find Risley Manor?” Jarrow asked when the footman had departed.
“Old.” He shook his head and laughed ruefully. “I was just thinking to myself that neither Risley Manor nor Chilcombe House has more than one or two servants under the age of fifty.”
One could imagine why that could be true of the females, but the male servants also?
Jarrow frowned and studied the biscuits, suddenly quiet.
“Did you know the late Lord Chilcombe?” Graeme asked, hoping to draw out information.
“I was at school and then went off to the army before he took up residence at Risley Manor. I met him and Lady Chilcombe once at a local celebration after Toulouse when I was home on leave.”
“Ten years ago.”
“Yes. How is Lady Chilcombe?” Jarrow asked, a spark of curiosity in his eyes. “I’d heard she’d left the area after the earl’s death to stay with friends.”
“Yes, for a time. But she’s been residing in London most recently. She accompanied me to Risley Manor along with an older friend of hers, Lady Hermione Gravelstone, a relation of Lord Loughton.”
Jarrow fixed him with a serious look. “So, you’ve called upon the local magistrate even before meeting with Stockwell.”
Graeme placed his saucer and cup on the table. “Yes. You can imagine this is not just a social call, Jarrow. This matter of the supposedly lost will disinheriting Lady Chilcombe is of great concern. The matter of who holds title to Bluebelle Lodge as well. Lord Diddenton sought me out and suggested I speak to you.”
Jarrow sat taller and steepled his fingers. “To speak to me, or to my father?”
“He seems the sort of man who would know that your father is ill, and that you’ve replaced him. He told me he had you search Risley Manor for the will.”
“That was certainly my father he was speaking of. It was just before he fell ill. In any case, there is no way you may communicate with Father. He has not been able to speak since his stroke.”
“Did he leave notes about the matter? Is there a coroner’s report?”
“No inquest was held. Lord Chilcombe was ill with a lung fever in the days before he died. The physician’s reported cause of death was accepted.” Jarrow pressed his lips together as if deciding whether to share something unsavory. “There were, however, notes. Speculation that the earl may have been poisoned, and who might have done it.”
“Poisoned by whom?”
“Father’s list included the name of the earl’s, er, personal nurse, as well as the names of those involved with preparing and serving his food. Others were his valet, though the man had unexpectedly left his service a month earlier, too long a time for a poisoning, Father thought. His friend, Lord Vernon Falfield, had visited just before his demise. And… the list included Lady Chilcombe.”
His fingers tightened around his cup. “What do you think, Jarrow? Your honest opinion.”
Jarrow gave him a long look. “Every human life has value, and murder is a fearsome crime. Yet the punishment is fearsome as well. Ultimately, Father decided to not drag the name of the neighborhood’s titled family through the mud of an inquest.”
“But I ask again, what do you think?”
