AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty
Letty jumped over the stile that separated the Perrin estate from Rose Manor. She straightened her gown, and walked with her back straight, trying to look like she belonged. She decided to start with the abandoned orangery where she’d once tried to spend the night. Perhaps there would be clues there of the men who were speaking of killing the Duke.
She looked around for any lurking gardeners but the place seemed deserted. She bent down, sweeping a hand along the floor, trying to determine how thick the layer of dust was. That way she could gauge when the last time was that someone had walked in here.
There was a cleared patch near a large vase and she remembered that that was the spot where she’d sat.
“That means the voices were coming from…” she looked around the room, trying to recall exactly where the voices had come from. “There!” she crowed in triumph before walking towards the spot.
She looked around keenly for anything, a footprint, a dropped piece of thread, anything. There was nothing. She sighed in disappointment, straightening up and then startled when she found a man standing not six feet away, staring fixedly at her.
“Er, forgive me. I dropped my er…handkerchief here earlier. I was hoping to get it back.”
The man just blinked at her and didn’t say a word. She stood frozen, waiting to see what he would do. But he just looked back at her without speaking.
“Er, good day?”
“Good day to you, ma’am.” His voice was flattened as if he had not quite learned to speak properly. Letty realized he might be simple. She took a step closer towards him.
“I apologize for disturbing you.”
“You didn’t disturb me, ma’am. You disturbed the ground.”
She looked down at where she’d swept away some dust with her hands. “That’s true. Erm…do you live here?”
“No ma’am. This is the greenhouse.”
She almost laughed but restrained herself. “I meant do you live here, on this property?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh. And…do you spend much time in here?”
“Sister says I should stay here till ‘tis time for bed.”
“Sister?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Letty tried to think of a simple way to find out who ‘sister’ might be. “Where is sister now?”
“I don’t know, ma’am. She went in the carriage.”
“In the carriage…” Letty bit her lip thoughtfully.
Could he mean Lady Perrin?
“What is your name?”
“I’m not allowed to say.”
“You’re not allowed? Why not?”
“I’m not to talk to strangers.”
“Well…I’m no stranger. My name is…Genevieve. See now I’ve told you my name, please do tell me yours.”
“Your name’s not Genevieve.”
