“I don’t know.” Val scanned the bucolic view. “But the scaffold to hold the old chimney stones was built on Friday, and the slates were tight then. Anybody with any powers of observation could see the next step in the task was to pile the fieldstone up on the scaffolding. They loosened the slates, knowing the load on them would increase dramatically as soon as work on the chimney began.”
“Causing the slates to fall and the piled rock to come down with them.” Darius blew out a breath. “Nasty, nasty business.”
“Dangerous.” Val straightened to stand on the peak of the roof. “I’m wondering if we should send Day and Phil back to the professor.”
“They won’t want to go,” Darius said, pursing his lips. “Why don’t you send a note along to Belmont, and he can make the decision. It’s possible Hancock was mistaken and the slates were looser than he thought. It’s also possible this was an isolated incident of mischief by children who could not foresee the dire consequences.”
“I might be overreacting,” Val allowed. “You don’t think so; neither do I.”
“So what now?”
“We take precautions.” Val gave Darius a hand up. “Not the least of which should be a guard here on weekends when the place is deserted.”
“I can stay here. Or we can take turns, or you can hire somebody.”
“I appreciate your willingness to remain, but whoever stays here alone will be at risk and I can’t ask that of you. The locals will be less inclined to hurt one of their own.”
“We can argue about this all week.” Darius began a careful progress toward the ladder. “Right now it appears your neighbor is coming to see what’s amiss.” He nodded in the direction of the wood, and Val saw Ellen emerging from the trees into the yard below.
“God almighty.” Val followed Dare toward the ladder. “And what if she’d been coming to call fifteen minutes ago? Let’s go down. I’d rather she hear it from us, and I’d rather she see for herself we’re unharmed.”
Val presented the situation to Ellen as a mishap with no real harm resulting, but his words were for the benefit of their audience. When he had her to himself, he’d explain the matter more completely and hopefully talk her into staying with the Belmonts until the manor house was restored. Not that he wanted her several miles distant… But he would be visiting on weekends at Candlewick.
Religiously, if she bided there.
Ellen was unwilling to impede the afternoon’s work further with her fretting, but she was determined to grill Val thoroughly about the “slight mishap” when they were next private. She’d taken the lane rather than the bridle path to her property, and thus she approached her cottage from the front. As a consequence, she spied for the first time the little pot of pennyroyal on her front steps.
As she yanked the plant from its pot and tossed it on her compost heap, outrage warred with panic. The plant’s presence suggested to her just who might have caused the slates to fall from Valentine Windham’s roof.
Surely she was jumping to an unwarranted conclusion. Not even Freddy would be so stupid as to create havoc like that and leave his damned pennyroyal on her front step like a calling card.
Or would he?
“I notice Mrs. FitzEngle does a brisk business.” Val peered at his mug of summer ale as if it held the answers to imponderable mysteries. “Is she really so dependent on her sales? The property seems prosperous, at least her little corner of it.”
“If you want to know about your tenants’ finances,” Rafe, the bartender and coproprietor of The Tired Rooster said, “you’d best be looking in on Mr. Cheatham. He was the late baron’s solicitor, up in Great Weldon. He’d likely know who’s up to date on the rents, since he handles the banking for most around this part of the shire.”
“Cheatham. Good to know.” Val watched for a moment as Rafe, apron tied over his potbelly, continued to scrub at the gleaming wood.
“I’ll tell you something else good to know.” Rafe’s rag stopped its polishing of the scarred bar. “Them Bragdolls are hard workers, make no mistake, but they work your home farm, and I don’t think they quite have Mrs. Fitz’s permission to do that.”
“Mrs. Fitz?” Val raised an eyebrow and let the silence grow.
“Cheatham comes in for his pint now and again. I know how to keep my mouth shut, contrary to what you might think. Talk to Cheatham.”
“Believe I will,” Val said, finishing his ale. “Save me an entire fruit pie, and I don’t care what you charge me for it.”
“A whole entire pie.” Rafe nodded, good cheer abruptly wreathing his cherubic countenance. “For growing boys and strappin’ lads.”
Val walked out of the tavern into the hurly-burly of a small town on a pretty market day, trying to puzzle out what Rafe had been telling him. Clearly, a visit to Cheatham was in order, but Rafe had almost admitted Ellen had some sort of claim on the land as well.
“I see your goods are disappearing quickly,” Val remarked as he approached Ellen’s wagon where it was parked on the green. “Can you take a break? I’ll have Rafe pull you a lady’s pint.”
“We can manage,” Dayton volunteered. “Can’t we, Phil?”
“We’ll guard your flowers with our lives,” Phil assured her. “Now that Sir Dewey has fortified us with raspberry scones.”
“Sir Dewey?” Val asked.
“John Dewey Fanning. He’s over there.” Ellen gestured with her chin. “Playing chess with Tilden between Rafe’s interruptions. Why?”
“He might have served with my oldest brother. You’ll introduce us?”
“I can.” Though she did not sound enthusiastic about it.
By the time they retrieved a pint for Ellen, Sir Dewey was alone at the chessboard.
“Valentine Windham.” Val introduced himself, though in all propriety, Ellen or even Tilden should have made the introductions. “At your service and overdue to make your acquaintance. I believe we are neighbors.”
Sir Dewey’s smile took in both Val and Ellen. “My good fortune, then. Axel Belmont warned me the Markham place was being refurbished. Here.” Sir Dewey appropriated a spare chair and set it down between the other two. “Shall we sit while you tell me how your progress fares at the Markham estate?”
Fanning was probably five years Val’s senior, tall, blond, and a little weathered, which made his blue eyes look brilliant. He was genial enough, but beneath his country-squire manners, he had a certain watchful reserve, even when he turned to address Ellen.
“Your late husband would have been pleased to see the progress on the estate, I believe.” In the beat of silence following Sir Dewey’s pronouncement, Ellen wasn’t quick enough to hide her surprise from Val.
“You knew my late husband?”
“His term at university overlapped my cousin Denham’s by a year, and Denham and I are very cordial, as were Denham and the baron. By the time I returned from India, Baron Roxbury had gone to his reward. I am remiss for not calling on you.” He shifted his gaze to Val. “Heard you had a bit of mishap on Monday.”
“If you gentlemen will excuse me.” Ellen smiled at them briefly before passing Val her half-empty mug. “I see the boys are in need of assistance and will return to my post.”
“You are fortunate in your immediate neighbors,” Sir Dewey remarked as both men rose to watch Ellen’s retreat. “She’s as pretty as the flowers she grows.”
“Gallantly said,” Val allowed, resuming his seat. “Though I gather you hadn’t previously mentioned her marriage to Roxbury.”
Sir Dewey continued to watch Ellen across the way. “Had she indicated she wanted it acknowledged, I might have taken that for a social overture, but she hasn’t.”
Val watched her as well. “You knew Roxbury?”