The Shadow in the Glass by JJA Harwood (any book recommendations txt) 📕

‘She was left in your care! You have a duty!’

‘A duty I can’t fulfil! You know the sacrifices we’ve had to make! If we can’t keep a footman, we certainly can’t afford to pay for her governess, or for her ballgowns, or whatever else it would take to make that drudge a lady!’

There was a slamming sound and a rattling of glass.

‘She is not a drudge.’

Eleanor blushed, and panicked. She couldn’t let them know she’d been listening. She pressed her cold fingers against her cheeks and knocked on the open door. Charles was flushed and angry, but he smoothed back his hair and smiled when she came in. His wine was still lapping at the edges of his glass. She faced Mr Pembroke, and fixed her eyes on a point above his head. If she looked into his face she would splinter, and something dreadful would ooze out through the cracks.

‘There’s a visitor for you in the drawing room, sir.’

Charles’s smile vanished. Mr Pembroke did not appear to notice.

‘A visitor? Who the Devil … hand over the card.’

Eleanor passed Mr Pembroke the visitor’s card, being careful not to touch him. He squinted at it. ‘Miss … Darling?’

Charles’s face brightened. ‘So soon! Father, you know I wrote to you about my fiancée—’

‘Yes, yes. Keen, isn’t she?’ He laughed, and Charles went scarlet.

Mr Pembroke took another drink. ‘Well, this’ll solve our other little problem.’ He turned back to Eleanor and forced a smile. ‘Ella, as a reward for being such a good girl we’ve a new position for you. Miss Darling will need a lady’s maid. You’re to stay with her at the Langham until the wedding. There. Won’t that be nice?’

He’d spoken to her in just the same way when he’d last given her a Christmas present. Only now, he was staring straight at her, a satisfied twist at the corner of his mouth. He was sending her away, like he’d sent away Leah, and clearing a path to Aoife.

Eleanor stumbled halfway through her curtsey. ‘Thank you, sir.’

‘Trot along down to the drawing room and introduce yourself, then. She’s waiting.’

Eleanor left, reeling. Confronting Mr Pembroke hadn’t done her any good. He wanted her out of the way and so he had removed her. There was no one standing between him and Aoife now except Daisy, but Aoife’s work took her all over the house when Daisy was confined to the kitchen. It would be so easy for him to corner Aoife in an upstairs corridor, where Daisy could not hear her over the clatter of pans …

You’re such a fresh little thing. You’re quite a child …

She had to get Aoife out.

The door clicked shut behind her.

‘Eleanor?’

Charles had followed her. Eleanor flushed. It had been so long since anyone called her by her real name without putting a sting in it. Her name sounded wonderful, coming from him.

‘I didn’t know,’ he said. ‘I thought when you didn’t answer my letters—’

Eleanor was suddenly aware of her too-short sleeves. She put her hands behind her back. ‘Begging your pardon, sir, but I haven’t received any letters from you.’

‘But …’ He glanced at the study door, a muscle flickering in his jaw. ‘You must excuse me, Eleanor. It seems my father and I have more business to discuss.’

Eleanor squeezed her hands tighter, desperate to keep her smile from showing. ‘I hope I haven’t caused trouble for you and the master, sir.’

Charles passed a hand over his face. When he took it away, his eyes were burning.

‘Would you be so good as to allow me ten minutes with my father, in private? Afterwards, if you would meet me outside the drawing room I should very much like to introduce you to Felicity.’

‘Of course, sir.’

‘And call me Charles, please.’

She shouldn’t. Housemaids did not call employers by their first names. Besides, she was afraid she’d stumble over her words if she opened her mouth.

Charles squared his shoulders and went into the study. He was so little like his father, Eleanor thought. His height seemed to be the only thing he had inherited from Mr Pembroke. The rest was all his mother – although surely Mrs Pembroke’s eyes had not been so blue.

Eleanor had gone five paces before the shouting started again. She sprinted towards the servants’ staircase and hurtled down to the kitchen, where Daisy was whisking an enormous bowl of cream and Aoife was trying to steal some.

‘I need to talk to both of you,’ Eleanor whispered. ‘Outside.’

They followed her into the garden. Greasy fog curled around their ankles and a fine layer of coal smuts clung to the plants in Mrs Banbury’s herb garden. Eleanor led them away from the door, where the clatter of horses’ hooves and cart wheels would stop their voices carrying down the stairs.

‘I’m being sent away – no, please, Aoife, don’t interrupt,’ she said, when Aoife’s mouth opened. ‘You need to listen. There isn’t going to be anyone to look after you here—’

‘She’s got me!’ Daisy snapped.

‘And how often do you get out of the kitchen?’ Eleanor shot back. ‘Aoife, you’re in danger. Mr Pembroke is coming for you next – no, don’t cry, please just listen. If he gets you alone, get him a drink from the decanters in the study. Make sure he finishes it. I’ve drugged them.’

Aoife stopped crying with a whimper. ‘But … but that’s …’

Daisy stared at her. ‘With what?’ she said, her voice loaded.

‘It’s laudanum,’ she hissed, ‘it won’t kill him! He’ll just get sleepy and you can slip away. And if anything goes wrong – do you remember that policeman, the tall one? He’s said he’ll help, if anything … happens.’

Aoife clutched at Eleanor’s hand. ‘You are coming back?’

‘Of course I am! It’s only until the wedding. You’ll be all right, until then?’

Daisy put an arm around Aoife’s waist. ‘’Course she will. She’s got me.’

Eleanor threw her arms around them both. ‘It won’t be long,’ she whispered, fighting to keep the tremor out of her voice. ‘I’ll be back