Abandoned to the Prodigal - Mary Lancaster Page 0,83

been avoiding. The Cornwells and the Ameses were his family by blood, but they barely knew each other. A few duty meetings when he had first come home, and when his father had died. And he had met some of them here, the few times he had been summoned to his grandfather. They were not friends, and they were not family in the way Juliet and her cousins clearly were.

To Dan’s family, he was the product of a scandalous marriage, a poor interloper threatening their chances of inheritance. Well, more than threatening now. Of course, his grandfather could, and probably would, change his mind again, but until then, Dan was everyone’s enemy.

Would they—would one of them—really try to be rid of him for good? Did they know or care what such a loss would do to Jenny? Could they really be so cruel and unfeeling and greedy?

In truth, he knew them as little as they knew him. Perhaps he should ask his mother… And scare the wits out of her? No. But neither could he sit and wait and do nothing. If Susan had been poisoned and a gunshot had almost torn his head instead of his hat, then he had to do something.

Still wide awake, he bent his mind to the problem, imagining and discarding several ideas before he found one that might just unmask a scoundrel. If such a being existed. If he didn’t, then Dan had lost nothing except a little time.

Gun, of course, would be devastated, but he could make it up to the dog later.

Accordingly, he stood up, much to Gun’s excitement, and went to dunk his face in the washbowl. After washing, shaving, and dressing, he picked up his battered hat, which was almost beyond mending as it was. He sighed and spoke to Gun.

“Wait here. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Dawn was breaking. This was the time he had used to set out toward Hornby to meet Juliet, being very careful not to think of it as an assignation. But that was no reason to assume she would be awake this morning. She had had two disturbed nights in a row. The girl deserved to sleep.

But he did want someone to keep an eye on the comings and goings from the house. And distract Gun from his absence.

He veered to the attic stairs and climbed. He could hear the servants moving and talking sleepily as he knocked on Susan’s door. Betty opened it almost at once, and he saw Juliet sitting awkwardly on the end of Susan’s bed, her back against the headboard. She was dressed now, but her eyes were closed. And Susan wasn’t moving.

“How is she?” he asked Betty quietly, aware from the corner of his eye that Juliet immediately sat up straight.

“Better, sir,” Betty said. “She’s sleeping, and the pains seem to have gone. Dr. Gorman says she almost died, but she should recover now. What a strange thing!”

“It is,” Dan agreed. He looked over to the bed. “Juliet? May I have a word?”

“You go, my lady,” Betty said. “I’ll stay with her a while, but I think she’s safe to leave alone now.”

Juliet nodded and walked across the room, brushing past Dan at the door. She walked downstairs in front of him, but from there, he diverted her to Myerly’s dusty library, which was largely unused and so never cleaned.

Carefully, he left the door open, to counter both his own temptation and any spread of gossip.

“What did the doctor say about Susan?” he asked abruptly.

“That she had eaten something she should not and that a mere surfeit of mushrooms or any overindulgence would not have caused such a reaction. He thought rat poison or some such must have got accidentally among whatever she’s eaten. Cook is outraged.”

“Rat poison?” he exclaimed, startled. He dragged his hand through his hair. “Look, I was thinking about what you said, and this has to be brought into the open before someone actually dies.”

She nodded eagerly. “So, I think.”

“Well, I have a plan. I’m going out, and I want you to tell everyone who will listen that I’m going via Patrick’s house, and from there to look at the boundary with Hornby land.”

“The river?”

“The river. You could mention a pleasant spot on this side where I could eat breakfast, just before the bridge.”

Her eyes widened. She even reached out to seize his arm before she checked herself. “You are setting yourself up to be murdered!”

“Not at all,” he said cheerfully. “In fact, I shall