Jane and the Stillroom Maid by Stephanie Barron Read Free Book Online Page B

enquired searchingly.
    “Emphatically not. He was at great pains to underline that the young man—as we then believed Deceased to be—was foreign to him.”
    “I confess I am surprised to hear it. George Hemming has served as Charles Danforth’s solicitor for many years, and old Mr. Danforth before him; he must be familiar with every person attached to Penfolds Hall.”
    Sir James’s intelligence must be such as to astonish. If Michael Tivey had known the girl at a glance, then George Hemming could not be excused by the fact of men’s clothes and a fearful mutilation. His every action must now be weighed in light of this deceit. I glanced at my cousin, but Mr. Cooper’s countenance revealed nothing of anxiety.
    “Has the wretched girl any family?” he asked the Justice.
    “Yes, indeed. Once Tivey had put a name to the corpse, Tess Arnold’s mother besieged the Snake and Hind with a demand for the girl’s body, and no amount of explanation on Tivey’s part—no mention of inquests or the mysteries of the Law—would satisfy her. She was required to be physically restrained, and uttered all manner of abuse.”
    “How dreadful!” I replied. “But it is to be expected, perhaps, that a mother should wish to see her child in such a circumstance. Her distress does not bear thinking of.”
    “Mrs. Arnold is blind,” Sir James returned succinctly, “and has seen nothing for a score of years. I rather think her object in display was to make as much trouble as possible for all concerned. You may imagine how the townsfolk relished the scene. I was very nearly struck down this evening in my passage through the streets, with cries of ‘Murderer!’ and ‘Vengeance against the Dark Brotherhood!’”
    My cousin looked all his indignation. “We shall believe ourselves in France by and by, if order is not established. When I consider what Sir George Mumps, my noble patron, would say—”
    “Could Mrs. Arnold offer an account of the girl’s movements, Sir James?” I broke in hastily. “Could she explain her daughter’s extraordinary mode of dress?”
    Sir James replied in the negative. “Betty Arnold knew little of Tess’s life at the Great House. The woman lives with her younger daughter in a tenant cottage, while Tess shared a bed with two other maids in the servants’ wing of Penfolds Hall.”
    “Did the other maids observe the girl’s direction Monday night? Could they name, perhaps, the owner of her borrowed feathers?”
    Sir James paused in the act of replying, and eyed me dubiously; and only then did I recollect that a Justice should never share his knowledge before an Inquest, particularly with a person so wholly unconnected to the neighbourhood as myself.
    “Pray forgive me,” I managed. “My interest borders on the unseemly. It is only that having discovered the poor girl, I am naturally anxious—”
    “I do understand. But I must beg you to await the Coroner’s panel.”
    “When is it to meet?” Mr. Cooper enquired.
    “Thursday morning—and it cannot be too soon for my liking,” Sir James said frankly. “Tivey made no effort to conceal the extent of the girl’s wounds; and the mood of the townspeople is grown quite ugly. The savagery of her end has given rise to fear and speculation; both will work a hideous change in the quietest folk. All manner of accusation and rumour fly about.”
    “A good deal of it must concern ourselves,” I observed. “Though I assure you we know little of Freemasonry, we are nonetheless strangers in the neighbourhood, and must consequently draw every eye.”
    “Nonsense!” my cousin cried; but his colour had heightened unhealthily.
    “I fear you view the matter only too clearly, Miss Austen,” the Justice replied. “It is to your benefit that Mr. George Hemming—a local man of some consequence—was of your party, but suspicions will remain. The corpse was found at such a remove from the gentlemen’s position on the riverbank, and a good deal of time