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But he was already at the door. “I don’t care who yer are, miss. Fact is, I’m bein’ paid ter keep yer ‘ere until further orders. Yer won’t get far.” He nodded toward the open window, with its deadly plunge to the ground, then opened the door, brandishing the key to show her he was about to lock her in. “I dunno what ye’ve done ’n, like I said, I don’t care. I got a family ter look after, ‘n a few coins ter keep yer contained so that yer can answer fer what yer done ain’t a big deal ter me.” He smiled, not unpleasantly, but with a frightening vacancy and lack of empathy. “I’ll send me daughter up wiv a plate ‘o victuals ‘n a loaf ‘o bread. That’ll keep yer until I know what we’re ter do wiv yer.”
“Please, stop!” Kitty ran across the room, but he’d already closed the door firmly behind him and made no response when she banged loudly. “Who has ordered me to be detained here?”
When there was no answer, she ran to the window on the side opposite the river and saw him crossing a muddy courtyard where a few hens pecked at the ground. Even though she shouted through the window, he did not heed her as he mounted the steps to a ramshackle cottage where he was greeted at the door by a dirty-faced toddler before he went inside.
Chapter 26
“I know I married a tyrant, a blackmailer, a philanderer, and a gambler, but I didn’t know I’d married a fool!” Araminta made no secret of her disgust as she glared across the table at Debenham in what would probably be their last drink together.
Alone in the library, he’d just admitted to entertaining that fancy trollop whom she thought had been her friend, but whom she realized had set out to ruin them both.
Araminta drained her glass then slammed it upon the table. “So you have conveniently supplied in one little box every damning secret you ever had to hide. You have nowhere to go, and very soon you will be behind bars. You will be attainted. Your estate confiscated. You will hang, and I will be left with nothing. Not even a noble husband to mourn. Your son will be a penniless nobody, while I will be vilified, and your memory will be blackened forever more. That’s how it is, isn’t it, Debenham? There is no other way.”
He looked ashen, even in the soft candlelight. Vanquished. There was no other word for it.
Her rage was like a ribbon of white-hot fire chasing through her veins. “And all for the dubious delights of a common little actress. You allowed her into your bedchamber; you allowed her access to your secrets. And as a result of your stupidity, you will be known as a traitor. You will be attainted. Yes, let me say that word again! Attainted! All the lands and estates of a traitor are forever forfeited to the Crown. And the second consequence? Corruption of blood; an attainted person can neither inherit property, nor transmit it to his or her descendants. Do you have any ideas on how to save our skins?”
For the first time, it seemed he had no cutting words either.
“So you are simply preparing to die?”
He couldn’t look at her, and his voice shook. “I shan’t let them just take me without a fight.”
“So you’ll run away.”
He shrugged. “What else can I do?”
Araminta raised her eyes heavenward. “I always knew you were a coward, Debenham. After all, it’s the only way you got me to marry you. By coercing me, for you couldn’t have had me if I’d been allowed to make the decision for myself before you seduced me so thoroughly.”
The clock ticked loudly in the silence. Araminta was unmoved by the quaver in his voice. “I’ll be gone before the morning. You can take whatever valuables you can store away so that you and William won’t be completely destitute…” His voice cracked. “I shall miss the boy.”
“And me? Shall you miss me? For I certainly shan’t miss you, Debenham.”
To her surprise, her husband put his hand across the table and rested it upon hers, almost tenderly. “I will miss your fire and spirit.” He raised his eyes to hers. “I’ve always admired that.”
“Even while you’ve tried to vanquish it?”
“I’ve always enjoyed a challenge.”
“But now you can see there is nothing left for you. You’ve ruined yourself, and you’ve ruined your wife and son.”
A small sob escaped him. “If I didn’t have William, I wouldn’t care so much about what happens after I’m gone. But to think that my son will bear the stain of ignominy…that he will be denied what is due to him—the noble title of Debenham and the rich estates that go with it.”
Araminta drummed her fingers upon the table. There had to be a solution. Some way to salvage something of what Debenham had thrown away.
Time seemed to slip away before her very eyes, the hopelessness like a wave that threatened to wash her away.
“I have an idea, Debenham,” she said slowly, as the fire from the second brandy she’d just consumed rather rapidly spread a welcome warmth through her belly, infusing her with inspiration. She leaned closer to him, trembling as it gained a life of its own. “There is some risk to yourself, but I can’t see any other way.”
He didn’t respond. Hope had truly left him, but Araminta was on the cusp of it. She’d always managed to come up with a cunning plan, and this surely was her best yet. “You’re a strong swimmer and you can surely dodge a water wheel. Now here’s my plan which I’m the first to admit is not perfect. It’s just that I can’t see any other way of ensuring that William’s future and fortune remains intact.”
While the morning fire crackled in the grate, a sleep-deprived Silverton and a burning-with-enthusiasm Ralph Tunley focused their attention on the engraved pewter box that sat on the table in front of them.
Stephen Cranborne paced the room behind him, every now and again glancing across at the box, framed by the yellow curtains at his sash windows. “Without a doubt, gentlemen, we have what we need to put our man away for a very long time.”
Silverton wasn’t surprised at the lack of enthusiasm in Cranborne’s tone. What he was surprised at was the degree to which Cranborne’s activities had been documented by Debenham and used against him.
Stephen Cranborne straightened and ran his hand through his light brown hair. He looked older suddenly. And very cornered, as well he might.
