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Chapter 31
The shouting came from the entrance of the home and Mary and Sarah rushed out from the room and down the stairs. The voice was desperate and pleading, calling out for Charlotte and arguing with the housekeeper who was trying to send the man away.
But as they reached the final flight of stairs, Mary came to find none other than the blacksmith standing there, pleading with the housekeeper.
“Please! I must speak with her!” he shouted. His face was red with passion and his hands clenched together in a prayer.
“I cannot allow you. Now please, leave here at once,” the housekeeper said in an even, but uncomfortable tone. Mary was impressed by her composure, given the situation.
“Charlotte! Charlotte!” the blacksmith yelled, his booming voice echoing through the home.
Sarah looked at Mary with the strangest expression. She was shocked, to be sure, but Mary could see the brightness in Sarah’s eyes that she had seen in Lady Beatrice’s. Sarah found this gentleman to be quite attractive and was surprised by his manly appearance. It was clear to Mary that this was a man who could have chosen from amongst many different women and Mary wondered why he had chosen a woman who had abandoned him so callously as Charlotte had done.
But there was only a moment to notice this as Lady Rachel and Charlotte came rushing out from the parlour to see what was happening, just as Mary’s father came from his study with a furious glare in his eyes.
“What is the meaning of this?” Mary’s father asked, looking at the blacksmith with disgust. He looked between the blacksmith and Charlotte, as if he already understood, despite the weeks of denying that there could be any truth to Mary’s claims about her stepsister.
“Charlotte!” the blacksmith exclaimed, ignoring Mary’s father entirely. Rather than acknowledge him, the blacksmith simply fell at Charlotte’s feet.
There was a stunned silence that descended on the foyer, but Mary saw the tears in Charlotte’s eyes. It was clear that she had not been prepared for such a visit, but seeing her gentleman again was more than she could reasonably be expected to handle. Her emotions were overflowing, to the extent that her body was nearly shaking. The blacksmith held her hands as he knelt before her, pressing her hands to his face.
“Please…” Charlotte whispered to him in despair. Her single word begged him to leave her, but Mary could see that even Charlotte didn’t want him to. She was saying it only because she had no other choice. She said it as though she was utterly broken inside and knew not what else to do.
“What is the meaning of this?” Mary’s father demanded once more. “Who are you? Who is this man? Charlotte! How dare you allow him to touch you like this? What is going on here? Will someone please explain to me?”
Mary watched, helplessly, as her father stormed over and gently pushed Charlotte away, trying to break the contact of this man with his stepdaughter.
“Who are you?” he asked again in a fury.
“Oh, Henry, who do you think he is?” Lady Rachel asked, sarcastically. “This is the man that your daughter has hired to destroy the reputation of my dear Charlotte.
This is the man that Mary wants us to believe is having some sort of dalliance with my girl and we both know that such an idea is utterly ridiculous. Please, you must not let her fool you. She is a wicked girl and has set this up to convince us of her innocence.”
Mary’s father glared at Lady Rachel. His doubts were, at last, evident. Mary was sure that he would finally make the right decision, that he would finally see that everything Mary had said was true.
“I have the most horrid feeling that none of this is as you would have me believe. Now, Rachel, you must tell me the truth. What have you been hiding from me?” he asked.
“Nothing! It is your wicked daughter who arranged for this. She is the one who wanted to ruin my dear girl’s reputation,” Lady Rachel insisted.
“That is a lie!” the blacksmith shouted, quickly rising to his feet and looming over Lady Rachel, who stood as a statue with every bit as much coldness.
Charlotte cowered, allowing the confrontation to happen as she was clearly torn. But Mary was frozen as well, not knowing what to do. If she spoke up, it would only give her stepmother more excuses to blame her.
It was evident that Mary’s father was finally seeing with his own eyes that there had been more happening than he’d realised. Mary knew in her heart that this could be the moment she had longed for. This could be the day when she found her true freedom.
“Hush. We all know that Mary arranged for you to do this. She probably had her little friend there deal with you while Mary was kept inside. Miss Lambton is clearly a bad influence and she is only contributing to Mary’s improper conduct. Henry, I do believe the girls must cease their communication,” Lady Rachel said.
“Do you?” Mary’s father asked in a hard tone.
He took a step back, no longer standing in the way of the blacksmith and Charlotte. Mary was surprised at how quickly her father had understood the game that was being played. After all this time, he had chosen ignorance in the hopes that he could rely on his wife.
He had chosen Lady Rachel over his own daughter. He had been careless with Mary, not thinking her important enough to invest his time and energy into.
But now, he was beginning to understand. Now, he was seeing that he was lost for having trusted his wife. She had done them all more harm than good. She had even ruined the happiness of her own daughter. And Mary could see all those thoughts on her father’s face as he worked through them, trying to see it all clearly.
With her father out of the way, the blacksmith fell before Charlotte once more, taking her hands again. He looked up at her with pleading eyes and she could barely meet his gaze for how she wept.
“Please, Charlotte. Please! I love you. I love you more than anything in all this world. I know you love me, too. I know you only put me through this because your mother forced you to. I understand why you went along with her demands. But I beg of you with all my heart to tell them the truth. Tell them that we are in love,” he pleaded.
