lap,” Bree directed.
I narrowed my eyes at her, knowing this was a ploy to get me properly back into bed, but the added sight of a thick hunk of yellow cheese and a dish of toffee pudding convinced me it would be worth it.
Once Bree had me settled and I had stuffed my mouth full of buttered bread, she crossed the room to potter about, straightening items that didn’t need to be straightened. She was limping a bit, the old injury to her leg troubling her as it did when the weather grew damp. After I’d sated my hunger with a few bites of food, I slowed down to survey my tray more closely. Not finding what I’d hoped for, I decided to ask for it.
“Are there any messages for me?”
“Nay, m’lady.” Bree turned to clasp her hands before her. “Though Mr. Gage asked me to tell ye he’d be back before dinner.”
“He’s gone out?” I asked in surprise, my gaze straying toward the blustering snow outside the window.
She nodded. “To the brewery.”
I frowned. He must be making inquiries about Colum Brunton. Yet his note was not the one I’d been expecting, but one from Alana. Surely she and Philip had already set off for Blakelaw House. If she’d come to see me, as Gage said he would ask her to do, and I’d been asleep, then I would have thought she would leave me a message of some kind, even if it was brief.
But perhaps she hadn’t come. Alana could hold a grudge as long as anyone I knew. She and Philip were sadly alike in that. During the year and a half I’d spent living with them, I’d learned to tiptoe about the house when either of them were in a stony sulk. Truth be told, had they not been so unfashionable as to share a bedchamber, I wondered if they would still be so happily married. Being forced to lie in such close proximity to each other each night made them address the unspoken things between them either in words or deeds.
I felt a tightening in my stomach at the possibility my sister had elected to depart without responding to my request that she come see me. It threatened to squash my appetite. Picking up the wedge of cheese, I ripped off a large hunk and popped it in my mouth defiantly, welcoming its sharp bite. If she chose to reject the olive branch I’d extended, that was her fault, not mine. I had more pressing things to occupy my mind with than her self-righteousness.
“I’m sure he’ll take care, m’lady,” Bree assured me.
I glanced at her in startlement, and then realized that my face must have betrayed my internal struggle. “Yes, I’m sure you’re right,” I replied as I swallowed, choosing not to correct her.
I swirled my spoon through the thick soup, deciding it would be best to change the subject. “What of you? Have you made any progress locating anyone who witnessed Lord Helmswick leaving the castle on December seventh?”
She seemed oddly reluctant to reply, and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.
“I have, m’lady. I told Mr. Gage aboot it as he was leavin’.”
When she didn’t elaborate, I grew impatient. “And?”
She inhaled a quick breath. “There’s a footman. Says he was on duty the mornin’ Lord Helmswick left.”
“So he saw Helmswick depart with his own two eyes?”
She nodded. “Says he closed the carriage door behind him and raised the step.”
I sat back to consider this information, frustrated by her continued agitation as she shifted from foot to foot. I eyed her resignedly. “Is there more? Or are you honestly afraid I’ll leap from this bed and stride downstairs, demanding to speak with this footman?”
She had the grace to flush as I laid out the absurdity of the worries she clearly harbored.
I shook my head, returning to my meal. “You should know better than to think me so contrary and foolish.”
“I beg yer pardon, m’lady.” She rocked back on her heels. “But ye do seem to find yerself in rather a lot o’ scrapes.”
One near tumble down the stairs and suddenly I was in danger at every turn. I fought the urge to lash out as I had done with Alana. They were merely concerned. I should focus on that, and the fact that they cared enough to express that concern. At least, that’s what Gage would counsel.
Exhaling a long breath of exasperation, I returned to the matter of the footman. “Mr. Gage can speak with this footman