Mrs. Jeffries & the Silent Knight by Emily Brightwell (black female authors .TXT) 📕

Witherspoon was beginning to understand. “You mean

that while Sir George was alive, they couldn’t marry. Didn’t

he think Mr. Brent was a suitable husband for his daughter?”

Fiona laughed harshly. “Oh, Sir George had no objection

to the marriage, he liked Raleigh well enough, but he refused to give Lucinda a dowry or a settlement. Lucinda was furious when Sir George told her he wouldn’t fund her

dowry.”

“How do you know this?” Witherspoon asked.

“I heard them quarreling,” she replied. “It happened

when I first arrived. Raleigh had gone upstairs to freshen

up, but I needed to send a quick note to my housekeeper in

London. I wanted to borrow some paper from the Sir

George’s study, so I went down the hall, but before I could

go inside, I heard the two of them arguing. Lucinda was

shouting at Sir George that he was ruining her life and her

one chance at happiness. He shouted back that he didn’t

care. I’d never heard her talk that way to her father before,

that’s how I know she was furious. But he wouldn’t budge.

He was quite cruel. He said to her, “ ‘Look, old girl, you’re

simply too old for such nonsense.’ ” She giggled maliciously.

“She was, you know. No matter how hard she tries to

pretend, she’s well into her forties, and she looks every day

of it.”

*

*

*

Mrs. Jeffries and the Silent Knight

79

Mrs. Goodge handed her guest a cup of freshly made coffee.

“I’m glad you could come, it’s been such a long time since

we’ve seen each other, Hilda.”

“It has been a long time.” Hilda Bradford bobbed her

gray head in agreement. She was a few years younger than

the cook, but as she was a housekeeper and not a cook, her

frame was a good deal thinner than her companion’s. “I

heard from Ida Leahcock that you’re now working for a police detective. Do you like it here?”

“Indeed, I do. He’s a very nice master, he treats me and

the other servants like human beings, not slaves. The wages

are much better, too, and the work is easier. I don’t have to

do those awful eight-course dinners anymore. How about

you? Are you still keeping house for Lord Grimethorpe?”

Hilda made a face. “Yes, and he’s still a stingy old sod,

too. But it’s not for much longer. I’m joining my daughter

in America next spring, so I suppose I can put up with him

for a few more months”

“Then I’m glad I sent you that note. America’s a long

way off, and I’d have felt bad if I’d not seen you before you

left. You and I worked together a long time.”

Hilda laughed. “That we did, and we had a few chuckles

along the way. What’s it like working for your detective?

Do you ever hear about his cases?”

“Oh, yes, he’s investigating this one from down in

Richmond.”

“You mean Sir George Braxton?” Hilda helped herself to

one of Mrs. Goodge’s buns.

“That’s right.”

“I’ve seen the fellow. He’d been to Grimethorpe’s for supper a time or two. He wasn’t a particularly well-liked person. Even amongst his own kind.”

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Goodge leaned forward eagerly.

80

Emily Brightwell

“He was a miserly sort,” she replied. “He gave those

daughters of his a pittance for an allowance, and he practically starved his household.” She took a quick sip of coffee.

“He may have been a baronet, but he couldn’t keep servants.

These days, people won’t put up with bein’ poorly fed and

worked like plough horses. Not only that, but I’ve heard his

youngest daughter is just like him. She can pinch a penny so

tight the copper curdles. Mind you, I also heard she does

have a way of making money grow.”

“I don’t understand,” Mrs. Goodge said. “How can she

make money grow?”

“Investments,” Hilda replied. “She’s been handling all

the family money for years now. It saved Sir George having

to pay fees for financial services. You ought to have heard

Lord Grimethorpe ranting and raving when he heard about

it.” She grinned. “He’d just paid out some huge fees to his

brokers for some Brazilian bonds that were no good, so he

was looking for something to shout about. Mind you, the

girl’s done a good job. Unlike a lot of aristocratic families,

the Braxtons have got a bit of money. That annoys Lord

Grimethorpe as well. His family are a pack of fools, money

goes through their hands like water.”

Mrs. Goodge shook her head in amazement. “That’s really strange, isn’t it? Back in our day, no woman would dream of handling money, and now the daughter of a

baronet is acting as a financial manager!”

“Good for her, I say,” Hilda said stoutly.

“What about Sir George’s other children?” Mrs. Goodge

asked. The nice thing about Hilda was she loved to gossip

so much she never thought it odd that others were equally

curious.

“He’s got two other daughters, and they’re odd ducks as

well,” she continued. “The middle one supposedly likes to

Mrs. Jeffries and the Silent Knight

81

travel so much that she hired herself out as a companion a

couple of years back so she could go to Italy. Have you ever

heard of such a thing? Scandalous it was, but they say the

old man didn’t care, that he had a good laugh over it and

told the girl to enjoy herself. Not that any of them are girls,

they’re all in their forties, if they’re a day.”

“What about the eldest daughter?” Mrs. Goodge asked.

Hilda peered thoughtfully toward the window. “The

only gossip I’ve ever heard about Lucinda Braxton is that

she’s got a foul temper. I expect she inherited that from her

father as well.”

“Those no-good pole cats,” Luty Belle Crookshank muttered

darkly as she crept up the back stairs and down the corridor

toward her bedroom. “Think they can tuck me away and

leave me out just because of a piddlin’ little sniffle, well, I’ll

show them.” She coughed harshly, a deep nasty one that

seemed to well out of the pit of her belly and take every

ounce of strength she had just to stay on her feet.

“Madam, what on earth are you doing?” Hatchet came up

behind her. “You know you’re not supposed to be out of bed.”

She had to wait a moment to catch her breathe. “I’m fine,”

she whispered as she struggled to breathe. “I just got tired of

laying there and wanted to stretch my joints a little.”

He