Into Chaos Hurled (Book 2)

Fifteen - The Mind of a Madman

Charlotte

The Duke virtually disappeared off the face of the earth after the garden party. Petey recounted the entire thing to us, even including what Grace had told him. Papa seemed ready to sack Alexander on the spot, but Mama stopped him with the argument that Alexander could not have possibly known what repercussions his actions would have. Neither would he have foreseen this.

     'Odd that the Duke is the only one that holds all the cards, isn't it?' said Papa, when Petey was finished. His arms were crossed and his expression stormy. 'And he manipulates any one of them when he sees fit.'

     'I do admit that is unsettling,' Mama said, giving me a sideways look that was almost tentative. 'But in light of what Grace said, we cannot exactly break off the courtship.'

     'So it's appearances you're after, is it?' Papa's voice was a growl.

     'No, no, it's just...' Mama sighed in the way that said she dealt with this all the time. 'There is an old saying that says we must keep our friends close but our enemies closer. It is the mistake we made with Huntley, and it is perhaps what allowed him to nearly succeed.'

     Papa's face did a strange thing, twisting into a knot and then releasing. 'Emma...' 

     'Just listen to me for a moment, Christopher,' Mama said, holding her hand up. 'We do not know if the Duke is our enemy or not, but he may be a link to someone whose intentions are clearer. And the only way to find out for sure is to keep his friendship.'

     'His relationship, more like,' said Petey, only loud enough for me to hear. I swatted his arm.

     'Still, I think it may be beneficial to pay him a call, to see what his view of the matter is.' Mama raised her voice over Papa's protests after that statement. 'Not a blatant interrogation, you see. It could scare him and he'd run off and hide. We will simply mask it as a social visit.'

     'Emma, it could be dangerous,' Papa said in a warning tone.

     'And were we not walking into the heart of it with Huntley?' Mama raised an eyebrow.

     Papa grunted in answer.

     We were off to Tonbridge early the next day. It was quite a long drive, but Stanley was up for it, as it turned out. He'd grown up around Tonbridge, he told us en route, in Hildenborough. Perhaps it was convenient that he did, because he knew a few shortcuts that got us there within the afternoon.

     When we arrived, the only hard part was finding the Duke's manor. It was out of town a ways, down a long curving road lined with tall hedgerows and surrounded by a wrought-iron fence as far as we could see in either direction. But as we drove up to the gates, we knew something was amiss. One of them was broken, hanging by one hinge.

     'What on earth...?' Mama sat forward and peered up at it as we inched through the undamaged half. 

     'Somethin' bad's happened here, milady,' said Stanley, sounding edgy and a bit frightened. Mama motioned him forward anyway, and with great reluctance, he obeyed.

     The house appeared around the fourth bend in the road, but it was nothing like I'd been expecting. It was made of a dark umber-coloured stone, and would have been venerable-looking had it not been for the numerous broken-in windows and a general air of neglect hanging over it. Stanley stopped in the circular driveway and turned the engine off.

     'Sure you want to do this, milady?'

     'We've come this far, Stanley, might as well see what's happened,' Mama said, and although her manner was resolute, I saw a flash of fear in her eyes.