The Lady Eleanor had been in the process of packing for London. She asked Violet and Betsy to stay for supper as she wanted some time to better acquaint herself with Elizabeth's new husband. "And you say Kathleen is perfectly well, she suffered no ill effects from her treatment at Bailey's hands?"
Violet chuckled as he answered, "Unless she was not a force to be reckoned with before, as she definitely is one now." He shook his head in remembrance at the feisty Duchess, as Betsy nodded and smiled.
"It is truth, she was well when we saw her last, ordering everyone about and keeping all straight she was, she and Arianna were both well and happy." Betsy assured her.
"And Arianna found her betrothed," Lady Eleanor 'tsk, tsked', "Stubborn girl, I should have known she had a card up her sleeve. I know her better than to believe she would just lie down and comply with William's wishes."
Betsy looked down into her lap for a second. "I would say I am sorry for going along with her and not telling you," Betsy raised her eyes then rested her hand atop Violet's that rested on the table, "But I am not really sorry at all." She smiled truthfully at Eleanor to show she meant this with all her heart.
"Well, I can see that, my girl, as long as all ends well, I cannot hold a grudge. I do not think even my own brother will be angry with me any longer for letting you two get away." Eleanor had not taken his rantings to heart, she had known the Duke was just as worried and upset as she had been. She had forgiven him immediately for his blustering wrath.
As a matter of fact, he may even owe her an apology...... Eleanor smiled ruefully, it was not often the man apologized, it may do him some good to have to do so. She however, would not hold her breath to see if he would.
"Your Papa left something for you with me, I was not to give it to you until you came of age, or married, so I shall save it until you wed in the church, since that would make him happy." The Lady teased Betsy, as she knew the two were already wed.
"I would truly like to have whatever it is now, Lady Eleanor." Betsy tried very graciously to beg for whatever it was.
"I know you would, but you shan't, consider it my revenge for running away on my watch." Eleanor raised her brow and challenged Betsy to try again.
"Please?" Betsy wheedled as best she could, "I am sorry, I am sorry I caused you any worry, I am sorry I let My Lady talk me into helping her, I am sorry Arianna is so wilful and I am...."
"Enough, child, you will not win. I get to decide, and I have, you will wait." Eleanor knew it would mean more to Elizabeth if she waited. "I have not had the pleasure of inspecting your ring, may I?"
Betsy huffed her own displeasure, but knew when to quit as she held her hand out, fingers pointed down, so Eleanor could inspect her gold and amethyst ring.
"'Tis a lovely piece to be sure," Eleanor smiled at them both. "I will go with you."
Violet gaped at her and Betsy giggled.
This was the Eleanor she knew. She flew from one thought to another, and you just had to keep up with her.
"You will come to our wedding?" Violet needed to make sure he understood.
"Oh yes, that, of course, but I also mean now, I will come with you now, to London. You may make arrangements for me on your ship, I will need my own cabin and my trunks are already packed, is that not wonderful?" Her eyes were lit up with joy.
"Uhm, er, yes! Wonderful." Violet answered, as Betsy tried to contain her mirth.
Aye, this was her Eleanor. It was then that Betsy realized how much she had missed her. And that her Papa had not only left her something, but someone. Betsy rose and went to her Lady and bent down to hug her. "I missed you, My Lady. I surely did."
Eleanor peeked over Betsy's shoulder covertly at Violet.
Violet tried to figure out where he would put her, as Brutus and Marcus already slept with the men. He groaned as he thought he would have to give up his cabin he shared with his wife. Why had they not waited and stopped on their way back. The Lady would have been to London anyway, they could have found her there.
He smiled weakly at the two women.
Eleanor did all she could not to laugh aloud, as his thoughts had been revealed on his face. She gave him a purely innocent look, "Oh my, yes indeed, 'tis just absolutely wonderful!"
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Gwen was not happy about this hitch in her plans. Alfred was not conforming to her wishes. Damn weak men, were she a man, the deeds would have been done by now. At least one of them had to go, and soon. Marcus.
"We must come up with our own way to be rid of Marcus. You are still willing to help me?" Gwen wheedled an answer from Jude.
"I'm assuming we just need to figure out how we would like to go about it. Did you have any ideas?" Jude acted as nonchalantly as possible, as if he were used to discussing murder over supper every night as simple idle conversation.
"That is one of the reasons I asked you out here to hunt. I was thinking if you could establish a story that there were poachers on the grounds...." Gwen looked at him hopefully. "If you find signs of them while out roaming, or even to say you were shot at accidentally yourself, it would be that much more believable it could be that which killed him"
"I see, so we would be setting our trap, so to speak." Jude needed all the ammunition against this woman that he could get in the short time he had here.
"He will be the easiest to eliminate, do you not think?" Gwen spooned berries and cream into her small, pinched mouth.
"Well, yes, out of the three of them, Trent is at sea, the Marquess is not so easily accessible, and Marcus will be more so. When is he due back?"
"I can not be absolutely certain, he has always kept a precise schedule, yet this time he varied and departed early. I do not know if he will come back early also. He usually stays gone a fortnight however, so that will give us time to solidify the poacher premise."
Gwendolyn, if possible, pinched her face in even more, "I do believe it is our best line to follow, he spends much of his time out with his filthy animals. He is out in the woods quite often, and as you will see when you are out 'hunting', the woods are thick with bramble and bush."
"So it would be easy to mistake a man for a stag." Jude nodded, she would be pleased if she believed he thought her plan a good one.
Gwen's face lit up, "Exactly! Is it not perfect? I could be free within a fortnight! He will no doubt have to see to his livestock first thing when he returns," Gwen shivered with distaste, "The filthy creatures are all he cares about. Why you should hear the way he speaks to Alfred, he is kinder to those animals he tromps about the woods with, than the young man he believes to be his own son."
It was not true, yet Jude believing it may help him want to carry out the deed, and she wanted it done as soon as possible. Anything she could do to be free of Marcus and available to Jude whenever the mood struck, was worth trying.
"He is unkind to Alfred?" Jude raised a brow in feigned concern. Alfred did not act as if he were beaten down, and if he were, Jude saw it coming more from this shrew of a cousin of his. A woman could only hide her nastiness to a certain degree, and he had known this one long enough to know she definitely had it in her.
"Yes, it is most perplexing, it is almost as if Marcus knows Alfred is not his." Mayhap Jude thinking they would be found out would help too. It was not as if he gained anything by doing this, other than assuring her happiness and her willingness to make him happy as long as she was able.
Jude was crafty, educated, he held his own small title. He did not have to help her, the fact that he was willing to, however, made her love him all the more.
"I shall begin the hunt tomorrow, scouting about, what about mucking with the fence line? Making it look as if poachers have been using a site by which to enter and exit?" Jude thought details may keep her assured he was on her side.
"Whatever you think best, my love, I will just leave all the rest to you. I now have other things I would like to think about, such as you. 'Tis not often we get to spend a few days together, I would enjoy a picnic by the lake tomorrow if the weather permits. Will you be hungry after hunting? I could have a basket prepared." Gwen turned her charm towards him as he agreed a picnic sounded sublime, as she said, as long as the weather held.
She went on about having a fire going in the lodge and an afternoon in the sheets, as he nodded, and agreed, and wondered what his next move should be.
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"Nonsense, I will just bunk in with Timothy and Jonah, I wanted to spend time with those young men, this will give me the opportunity before we find out about their grandfather." Katherine was offering Brutus' cabin to the Lady Eleanor.
Violet looked at Betsy hopefully. Would she approve of the Lady being put in a cabin the size of their bedchamber alone?
"I am sure we can make it nice for her if you are very sure, Mama Katherine. We do not mind displacing ourselves to accommodate her. It is only for a night or two at the most." Betsy did her best to convince Katherine she could keep her cabin if she would like to.
Violet tried not to frown, he leaned back so he was out of Betsy's line of vision, giving his mother a pleading look.
Katherine laughed, "I do not mind at all, as I said, it gives me an opportunity I have been seeking. If we could make Timothy a comfortable pallet, I can cuddle with Jonah to sleep." Her smile spoke that this would not be a hardship. "He is just the sweetest thing, I just can not wait to see what my own grandchildren shall look like," She sighed at them, "Soon, perhaps?"
She lit up hopefully looking back and forth between the two. It was why she gave up her cabin, the more time spent alone together, the better chance she had of a grandbaby soon.
"Soon enough Mama, thank you, I will have the boys move your things in the morn and make way for the Lady." Violet stepped forward and kissed his mother's cheek, then turned and kissed his wife in a way that told her he was more than pleased she would still be sleeping with him.
She laughed him off and swatted him into leaving, they would not have had Eleanor aboard until the morrow anyway, "I plan to visit Eleanor's garden tomorrow and take flowers to my Papa, I shall cut a basketful and we can use them in that room." The ladies discussed ways they could brighten the dark, masculine cabin to better appeal to a Lady of the ton, as Eleanor was used to finer things.
Betsy had lived at many different levels, with Papa in a cottage, Lady Eleanor on an estate, in a manse of the Duke's and now aboard ships.
She found she liked them equally well, as long as she had good people around her, it did not matter to her where she resided, she had been happy as long as she had loved and been loved.
She did have to say, as of late, she felt her favorite had to be the ship where she currently resided. She knew Violet did not want to give up their cabin, yet the fact that he would have had it been necessary, made her think very kindly of him. Her mouth quirked into a smirk. Mayhap she would suggest a game of noddy before bed.
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Brutus spoke to the tavern owner about the rum and some crates of fine Spanish wine, and that would take care of that. Sam and Pete would deliver the goods this eve before retiring.
Brutus made his way back to the ship, finding that Violet had returned and he wanted to go down into the hold.
"Grab your ledgers, Brutus, 'tis time to pick out some gifts worthy of a King." Violet carried two lanterns, Marcus, Pete and Sam followed the two below decks to go through the booty they held.
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The boys were helping to clean the galley after all aboard ship had eaten supper.
Katherine and Betsy entered the galley to find Paulie on the serving side giving wee Jonah a bath.
"He poked at one too many fish teday, he did." Paulie grinned at the ladies, his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he had a dry linen on his lap.
Jonah played with his boat and let Paulie soap him a bit at a time.
Betsy asked the boys if she and Katherine could get mugs of the cider Eleanor had sent them back with. It had been immediately set to warm on the stove.
The boys were happily at their work, for when they finished they had cider and sweets Eleanor had also sent waiting for them.
"Thank you, Davey." Betsy handed Katherine her mug, they moved to the table to watch the old man and the young boy play happily in the warm water.
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"These are very fine wines, one or two bottles of these...." Violet was putting together a small ransom for his King. A fine Spanish saddle had been chosen and another crate had held tack, so a stunning bridle and reins accompanied that.
They were just levering the lid off of another crate when the ladies found them.
"What have you here?" Katherine asked, as she spied the fine pelts that only awaited the right eye and hands for what they could become.
"We knew you would like those. We had planned on letting you go through them and choose for yourself, and see if any is more worthy for the bootmaker." Brutus told her, as Violet had his head in a crate.
Katherine ran her hand over the soft leather, "'Tis very fine, what a boon this shall be."
"Violet stood up straight, "We are collecting gifts for the King, we have a very fine saddle and it's tack, wines, and we are searching through for more. If you see anything that might be good, we are taking suggestions." Violet blew a strand of hair off of his forehead. "I have taken much more than all of this from him in the past, so I would have the gifts we do give stand out in quality to be sure."
"How long do I have?" Katherine asked.
"Two days, mayhap longer, depending on when we leave tomorrow, and the weather." Violet skimmed his hair back off of his forehead, as it had come loose of it's tie.
"Two days, hmmmm, where is the saddle?" Katherine looked on the floor around the cargo.
"There, against the wall, Mama. The tack is there, also." Violet turned to continue going through the crates as Katherine squatted down and inspected the leather saddle, silver bridle and leather reins.
"I can do that." She nodded and went to the pelts, bringing a few back to the saddle to compare colors of hides. "Got it!" She grinned at Betsy, "I will have to see you later my dear, I have a mission."
She swept from the room and Betsy turned to the men, "What does she have?"
"Her part of the bribe." Marcus grinned as he thought of all the fine gifts he had received through the years. The King should be pleased, Katherine definitely knew what she was doing when it came to fine gifts.
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Love and Blessings my wonderful readers!