Page 126 of A Much Maligned Miss

“I was stood on the pavement, waiting for him, when…when a carriage drew up,” she continued, feeling sick at heart. She did not want to confess what came next. “Mama was inside and—and Sidney Price.”

“Who is Sidney Price?” he interrupted swiftly.

“Do you remember my mother’s personal maid, Goring? I think you met her once.”

He nodded. “She brought along your mother’s smelling salts that night.”

“Well, it turns out Sidney Price is her cousin. I overheard them conspiring in the shrubbery that morning we left on the mail coach. Do you remember my mentioning it?”

He frowned. “Yes,” he said shortly. “I do.”

“Well, he compelled me to get in their carriage and then—”

“Compelled you?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“He seized hold of me and forced me inside. I lost my hat and cloak in the struggle. I heard Reg shout and knew he had seen, but we pulled away before he could help me.”

Gervaise did not speak for a moment. “Continue,” he said softly.

Caroline pressed her hands together in her lap. “Mama was…different. Frightening. She—”

“Take a sip of brandy,” Gervaise recommended.

She took a quick swallow of her drink and felt its warming effect as she struggled for words. “I suppose she was no longer pretending. Pretending to be gentle and mild, I mean. It was like the veneer was gone, stripped away, exposing what lay underneath it.”

“And that had always been ugly,” Gervaise murmured.

“Yes. But on top of that, she was unkempt and—and she looked and smelled unwashed,” Caroline continued with difficulty. “I did not even recognize her at first.” He made no sound, merely waited for her to find the words. “She—she confessed to things, quite matter-of-factly. That I had to die. That I should have died that day she drugged me, the day you came to dinner.”

She glanced across at Gervaise and saw he was sitting still as a statue. “That she always intended that Edgar should inherit my fortune. Sidney Price was supposed to kill me that day,” she admitted. “I was drugged and sent down to the pergola, but in that strange state of mind, I wandered off…”

Gervaise sat forward in his seat. “That vision you had…” he said suddenly.

“Was not a vision at all,” she confirmed. “It was Sophy, our maid. She was wearing my old bonnet and the green shawl I always kept by the kitchen door. She must have nipped out into the garden for a moment and…and…”

“Price attacked her by mistake,” Gervaise said harshly, then he was up and out of his seat, pulling Caroline into his arms. “Oh, my darling,” he uttered against her hair. “My poor darling.”

She let him comfort her in silence for a while, the only sound in the room the crackle of logs. When he finally slackened his hold, he drew her to his sofa instead of letting her return to her own. “Come sit here beside me,” he said, drawing her down onto the seat, and keeping hold of her hand. “Does your brother know your mother came to London?” he asked quietly.

“No,” she quickly replied. “Edgar knew nothing about it. Mama made her way to London by stealth while Goring told everyone she lay on her sickbed and would see no one. Instead, she and Price lay in wait for Edgar to arrive in London with the Farises. Then they followed him to The Citadel and discovered my whereabouts.” She frowned. “I wonder how Lord Faris discovered us there.”

“It would not have been hard for Jeremy,” Gervaise answered absently, as though his mind were on other things. “He knows all my friends and I had been broadcasting freely about the opening of the club.”

She nodded comprehendingly. “Of course.”

Gervaise’s expression turned grim again, and his hand tightened around hers. “You do realize,” he said, “that if you had not run away with me that next morning…”

Caroline gave a brief nod, and Gervaise released her hand, springing up off the sofa and taking a few steps toward the fire, before swinging back around. “I can’t believe I’ve been so fucking stupid,” he burst out. “You told me you had seen a dead body that day in the garden and I never listened to a single word of it!” He raked a hand through his black hair, disordering it considerably.

Caroline’s mouth dropped open. “But I told you it was a vision, not a real body.”

“I should have seen past that,” he said impatiently. “Your mind was disordered from the drug. You told me all about Goring and the man in the shrubbery, you even told me about the damned solicitor’s letter, and I never put any of it together!”

“But how could you? I did not reason any of it out myself…”