A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem - Manda Collins Page 0,89
Kate asked, unable to stop herself. “She was married to Sebastian Philbrick?”
He turned cold eyes toward her, and she felt a chill run through her body. “Yes, she was married to that scoundrel. Much good it did her.”
“What do you mean?” Still, Eversham kept that calm tone.
“I mean that she got nothing out of it but a pair of brats who killed her coming into this world and did nothing but cause me misery until the day they left here.”
Well, that was plain speaking, Kate thought.
“They were twins?” Kate wanted him to say their names.
“A boy and a girl. Emily for my wife and Sebastian after his fool father. She lived long enough for that.”
“Why did you dislike Sebastian Philbrick so much?” Kate couldn’t help but ask. The vitriol seemed outsized if it was only because the man had had the temerity to want to marry Hale’s daughter against his wishes.
“Because he was a seducer. The man was known far and wide for his womanizing and bad behavior. Not at all the sort of God-fearing man for a daughter of mine.”
“But he did marry her, did he not? That doesn’t seem to be the act of a man without scruples.” Eversham’s tone was mild, but he may as well have shouted it because Hale took the words as an insult.
“He stole her away like a thief in the night. He may have married her—I saw the marriage lines myself—but he abandoned her here not a few months later and left for the Continent without a backward glance.”
“I was given to understand you told the village she didn’t marry him.” Kate tried but didn’t quite manage to ape Eversham’s calm manner.
“And what right have you to say anything?” the old man demanded, turning his venom on Kate. “I don’t like having my business talked about by strangers, and that’s what comes of letting a woman get involved in men’s affairs.”
“I’d watch myself if I were you, Vicar,” Eversham said softly. There was a menace in his tone, and Kate watched as Hale realized his mistake.
“Sorry,” he mumbled in a chastened tone so different from the strident one he’d used a moment ago.
“But is it true?” Eversham’s voice was firm, betraying a little of his frustration. “Did you lie to the village about whether your daughter had been married to Philbrick?”
“I didn’t tell those busybodies anything,” Hale snapped, his anger getting the better of him again. “It was none of their affair. I wasn’t going to proudly declare my daughter had run away with a whoring poet. And when he abandoned her here, I just let them believe what they wanted.”
Kate shook her head. “Surely the twins told them the truth of who their father was once they were old enough?”
Then she remembered what the innkeeper’s wife had told them: the way he’d put it about that Delia was mad and believed herself to be married when it wasn’t actually true. What was to stop him from lying to his own grandchildren as well?
“You never told them,” she said baldly.
“It wouldn’t have done them any good. It wasn’t as if he was a father to be proud of.”
“What happened when they found out?”
Kate turned a surprised gaze on Eversham.
“They left.” Hale scowled. “The girl, Emily, was poking her nose where it didn’t belong and found her mother’s marriage lines.”
Eversham asked, “Do you know where they’ve gone?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Hale said firmly. “There was nothing of their mother in them.”
It was ironic that he faulted Delia’s children for not being enough like her, when Hale hadn’t cared for her in the least when she’d been alive.
“How long ago was this?” Eversham asked.
“Last July,” Hale said.
Kate’s heart stopped. The first Commandments killing had been in August.
“Did they have something to do with the killing of that man Green in Lewiston?” For the first time, Hale’s voice wavered. Whether it was because he feared for his own safety or if his grandchildren had been involved, Kate couldn’t guess.
“I don’t know,” Eversham told him, rising to his feet. “But if your relationship with them was as rancorous as you say, you might wish to ensure you keep your doors locked. It sounds as if you’ve not endeared yourself to them.”
Kate slipped her arm through his and allowed Eversham to lead her from the house, Hale staring silently after them.
* * *
As if by mutual agreement, they didn’t talk about the interview with Reverend Hale until they were safely alone in the private