Chapter Forty
Freddie arrived home late as usual the following night.As he entered through the rear garden, the sight that greeted him had him swearing in frustration.Eve had ignored his instructions.
“Bloody woman.How am I supposed to protect you?”he muttered.
The golden glow of flames from the fireplace could be seen through the upper windows of the kitchen.Eve had arrived early and built up the fire awaiting his return.He opened the door, words of rebuke ready on his lips.
“I thought we agreed you would wait until I sent word on Thursday,” he said.
“And a warm hello to you too,” came the sardonic reply.
He turned to see Thomas seated at the kitchen table.By his feet lay Zeus, fast asleep.Freddie scowled.He had never managed to get Zeus to sit quietly for him.
The smile on his brother’s lips made Freddie immediately forgive Thomas yet another first.
“Ah, brother mine.I was wondering when you would make it home.I have been keeping your pup company for several hours.Still keeping late hours at the soup kitchen?”asked Thomas.
“You know about St John’s?”replied Freddie.
Thomas handed him a letter.It bore the mark of the Duke of Strathmore.“This arrived late last week at home.It tells of your good charitable deeds, among other news.”
Freddie hesitated.“What other news?”
Thomas rose from the table and pulled his brother into a heartfelt embrace.“The letter said enough for me to be able to put two and two together.I cannot begin to tell you how terrible I felt when I heard you had got mixed up with the Bachelor Board.I should have warned you about them.I failed you.I am relieved beyond words that you did better than I in escaping from their vile sexual abuse,” said Thomas.
Freddie pulled out of his brother’s hug and stared at Thomas.Thomas was tall and strong; it would take a lot to bring him down.
Thomas nodded at the unspoken question.“I wasn’t always a big lad.There were members of the Bachelor Board in residence at Oxford.I needed some extra tutelage to pass a particularly hard exam in my final year.One of the professors offered to help me.I went to his study night after night to work with him.The night after I had sat the exam, he asked me to share a celebratory drink with him in his private chambers.I, being a naïve fool, trusted him.The next thing I knew I was lying semi-naked on a couch and he was climbing off me.”
Freddie began to shake, and he feared he would be sick.“I don’t know what to say.I had no idea,” he stammered.
“I have never told a soul until this night.Not even Cecily knows.I love my wife and I couldn’t bear to have her see me as anything but a strong and capable man.It took me a long time to understand rape is not so much about sex.It is about power and control.”
Freddie had a sudden vision of his brother being alone and scared.It had been hard enough for him to confess his own narrow escape; he doubted he could have told anyone if the drugs had rendered him unconscious and he too had become another victim.Staring at his brother, he finally understood the true power that the Bachelor Board held.It wasn’t money or influence; it was silence.
“I have been in London for the past few days, staying at Mivart’s Hotel.Father read the duke’s letter but he still doesn’t quite understand exactly what it means.I don’t plan to tell him the worst of it—that is your business.Though, from the rumors swirling around the city, it won’t be long before he does comprehend, and you may be forced to have a difficult private conversation with him,” said Thomas.
The first public arrests of members of the board had been made late the previous day.While Freddie and Eve had been together at Rosemount House, the authorities had raided more than a dozen homes in the central London area.The military had been dispatched to a number of country estates.The downfall of a dangerous secret society had begun.
Zeus stirred from under the table and lumbered out into the kitchen proper.He settled into a long stretch of his limbs before loping over to where Freddie stood.His master gave him a playful scratch behind the ear.“Good boy, Zeus.”
“Glad to hear you changed that poor animal’s name.I take it the foolish moniker you gave him was part of the game,” said Thomas.He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, then handed them to Freddie.“It might be a little late in giving these to you, I see from the damage upstairs you have not been able to keep that beast from the rest of the house.Father will have to take responsibility for that oversight.Though you might want to have repairs made before he and Mama next venture to town, you are still not exactly popular at home.”
Freddie gave a weak smile.He had a matter of a handful of coins in his possession.The only way his mother’s cushions were going to be repaired would be if he took up needle and thread himself.His domestic skills started and ended with food.
“Be a good lad and make me a coffee, and then come and tell me what else has been happening in your life, Frederick.”
Freddie snorted with laughter.Thomas had an uncanny ability to take on their father’s voice and mannerisms.“Yes, Papa.”He chuckled.
Over a cup of hot coffee and some of Freddie’s pasties, the brothers settled down at the table.
“I am hoping you will be pleased to hear Eve and I have become reacquainted.She understands all of what happened with the Bachelor Board, including the incident with the drugged wine,” said Freddie.
Thomas raised an eyebrow.Sexual assault of men was not something most women were even aware of in London high society.Especially not unwed, young women.
“If she was ever going to consider forgiving me and taking me back, I had to tell her everything.She is the one who suggested I go to William Saunders about Osmont Firebrace.That is when I discovered the Bachelor Board posed a threat to the crown.”
“And will Eve, have you?”asked Thomas.
