I hid a sigh. She was young, Sebastian was young, she was pretty, he was handsome. It was inevitable that the two should be attracted to one another.
Before I could answer, I heard Rutledge's unmistakable tread in the hall, his growl as he dismissed a servant. He tramped into the study and halted, his glare resting first on me, then his daughter. "What is this, Belinda? What are you doing here?"
"Miss Rutledge was looking for you," I extemporized. "She assumed you here. I told her you would be along any moment."
Rutledge did not soften. "Yes? Well, then, girl, what do you want?"
Belinda, pale and shaking, said, "I wish to go into Sudbury and visit Miss Pettigrew."
"Eh?" Rutledge scowled and hesitated as though trying to think of a reason he didn't want her out of his sight. Then he grunted. "Take Pringle with you." Pringle was one of the housemaids, a dour, forty-year-old woman I'd seen determinedly dogging Belinda's footsteps.
Belinda looked dismayed, but she curtseyed and retreated from the room as rapidly as she could.
Rutledge growled. "Ladies can keep nothing in their heads but shopping and gossip."
I knew he wronged her, but I said nothing. I had learned early on that I should not bring up the subject of Rutledge's private life. Rutledge curtailed any interest in his family with blunt, scornful requests to keep my questions to myself.
Rutledge settled himself behind his desk and began to sort through papers that I had already sorted. It occurred to me, as I watched him, that Sebastian had been taken to the constable's house in Sudbury. I'd seen the anguish on Belinda's face, and she had just obtained her father's permission to go to Sudbury. I had a feeling that she would neglect to request Pringle to accompany her.
"Do you need me on the moment?" I asked Rutledge.
He looked up, brows high. "Why?"
"I have a few errands I must run. And letters to post. Including yours."
"Everyone is in such a hurry," Rutledge said. "If Middleton had minded his job, he'd not have got himself murdered."
I doubted that Middleton had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I did not say so. I did not thank Rutledge, either. I simply took my leave.
I caught up with Belinda Rutledge when she left the gates to the school's drive and entered the road to Sudbury. As I'd speculated, she did not have Pringle with her, but another of the housemaids, a young woman who looked much more biddable. It was raining. Belinda carried a wide umbrella and wore pattens, shoes with high metal frames that would keep her feet out of the mud.
I had hurried across the grounds to meet her, and my boots were already well caked with mud. "Miss Rutledge," I called.
She turned. She looked alarmed, but she stopped.
"Miss Rutledge," I began at once, "do not try to see Sebastian."
Her look turned panicked. "My father sent you."
I shook my head, water dripping from the ends of my hair. "I have not discussed this with your father. But you must promise me not to visit him. It can do neither of you any good."
"I know he did not kill Mr. Middleton!" Belinda wailed. "They will lock Sebastian in a room for something he did not do. He cannot bear to be locked indoors." Her voice became rapid, pleading. "They will treat him cruelly, because he is Romany."
"But if you attempt to see him, Miss Rutledge, you will give yourself away."
Belinda stopped, confusion in her eyes. "He so fears being kept indoors, Captain. It is torment to him."
I remembered the panic on Sebastian's face when the men had dragged him away. "I also find it difficult to believe that Sebastian killed the groom," I told her. "But you must fix on the purpose of staying well away from him. You can only hurt him if you reveal that you care for his well-being."
Tears darkened her eyes. "How can that be? That caring for someone can hurt them?"
I knew better than she ever would how that could be. But I was twice her age and knew my words would not change her mind. "I will go to Sudbury and inquire after him," I said. "I will see that he is not poorly treated."
Her eyes took on a light of hope. I hid a sigh. I did not want to become her champion. I did not know whether I could succeed in making it clear that Sebastian was not a murderer. The Roma were the enemies of rural people. They stole horses, chickens, and other livestock, and possibly, children. Why should they not murder as well?
"I would be ever grateful to you, Captain Lacey," Belinda said with too much admiration.
"I will see what I can do. Go back home and stay there. I will let you know what I have done."
"When?" she asked. "You can get messages to me through Bridgett-
"
I held up my hand. "I will let you know. You must trust me and say nothing."
She nodded. I thought I understood some of Rutledge's exasperation. Belinda was not stupid, but she was young and romantic. Her father's secretary sending her secret correspondence via a maid would be the height of foolishness. I could be dismissed, or worse, and I hated to think what Rutledge would do to Belinda.
I would not like to see her hurt, but I hoped that when the infatuation between her and Sebastian ended, it would bring her back down to earth.
I said good-bye, touched my hat, and went to fetch a horse to take me to Sudbury.
Chapter Three
The village of Sudbury lay on a stretch of the canal between Hungerford and Froxfield. The canal and the school had made tiny Sudbury important. Bargemen and parents of Sudbury boys frequented its public houses and inns, and tutors and pupils walked its lanes. The High Street retained much charm of the Tudor age. The half-timbered and stone houses were rather crumbling, but for historians, it was a fine place to stroll and contemplate old England.
I left my horse in the yard at the tavern and approached the constable's house at the end of the High Street. A cat sat square in the middle of the cobbles before the house, washing its face. I bade it a polite good morning.
My knock was answered by a large woman in, of all things, a fine lawn dress with short sleeves. The sleeves cut into the folds of her plump arms, ballooning her skin. She wore a stiff white cap with tapes that were soiled and worn. She regarded me with a wary eye, her lips pursed. She was an unbecoming woman, and I do not mean she was plain. I could see a prettiness that time had marred only a little, but her demeanor had been soured by belligerence.
"What is it?" she snapped.
I removed my rain-drenched hat and made her a polite bow. "Good morning. I am Captain Lacey. I would like to speak to the Romany, Sebastian, if I may."
She folded her arms. "And why would you be wanting to do that?"
"Sebastian was employed by the school, as am I," I said. "Naturally, I am interested in his well-being."
She cast me a questioning gaze, as though wondering why I should bother. "A filthy Romany woman already tried to see him. I sent her on her way."
I wondered who the Romany woman might be-mother, sister, lover? I said nothing, only waited while the woman assessed that I was not Romany but a gentleman.
"You come from the school?" she asked, still doubtful.
"I am secretary to the headmaster."
This seemed to impress her. She opened the door wider. "Mr. Rutledge is a fine gentleman."
I had my own opinion about that.
The woman led me through a low-ceilinged, flagstone hall and out into a courtyard. At the back of this lay a low stone building. It might have been a cheese house were this the abode of a dairy farmer. At one time it probably had been. Now it was used as a makeshift jail.
The plump woman unlocked and opened the door. Sebastian sat on a stone bench in the back of a tiny room lit only by a small, high-set window. I had to stoop to enter, and once inside, I could not straighten to my full six-foot height. Sebastian was as tall as I. He started to stand up, but I gestured him to remain seated.