An Inconvenient Trilogy (57 page)

Chapter 21

The following few days passed in a haze for the occupants of Home Farm. Laura was buried at the local church, not too far away from the cottage that she had so looked forward to living in. Lord and Lady Halkyn arranged to leave, once Charlotte was sure that Frederica would be cared for.

Lord Halkyn approached Alfred the day before their departure. “I need to arrange for the money I was to give to Laura, to be passed onto yourself,” he said, watching with amusement at Alfred’s stiffening posture at his words.

“I don’t need your money, I can provide for the child,” Alfred snapped in response.

“Maybe, maybe not, I’m not really interested, but my wife wants to know that the child is well provided for,” Lord Halkyn responded.

“She will be,” Alfred almost snarled. “I promised Laura and I will do right by her memory and the baby.”

Lord Halkyn sighed. Being decent really was still a struggle for him, but he had to respond to the young man before him with some sensitivity. “Alfred, this is not a slur on your ability to provide for the child, we just want to help.”

“There is no need,” Alfred responded belligerently.

“There is every need,” Lord Halkyn said. “Do you realise what a debt I owe to Laura?” he asked. “Ultimately, it has cost her life, but yet I have gained a wife, who people keep telling me has been the making of me.”

“She has been,” Alfred responded gruffly.

Lord Halkyn’s eyebrow twitched with amusement. “If not for your commitment to the child, we would take her in as one of our own, that is how seriously I am treating this.”

Alfred looked surprised and shocked at the statement and looked about to speak, but before he could, Lord Halkyn continued.

“The least we can do is ensure she has the best schooling and a dowry that will secure her future, and although you are being honourable and decent, don’t spoil the effect by also being a fool,” Lord Halkyn finished.

“And I thought you were being nice,” Alfred said, amused.

“I find if I am consistently nice, it makes me feel nauseous,” came the quick reply. “So, can I reassure my wife that you will accept the funds to ensure that the child secures a good marriage when she is of age?”

“Yes,” Alfred replied. He would care for Frederica as he had promised, but part of that care was to provide a decent future for her and he could not provide the dowry that Lord and Lady Halkyn would be able to.

“Good,” Lord Halkyn replied.

Any further conversation was prevented by the entrance of Smithson, who informed the gentlemen that a Mr Frost had called and asked to speak to Alfred.

“Well, well, it looks like Corless may not be as good as he thought he was,” Lord Halkyn said. “Show the man in Smithson,” he commanded.

Alfred refrained from reminding the Lord that Corless had probably killed at least four women, it was pointless trying to make someone so far removed from his own background understand the real impact that Corless’s actions had. Ultimately he decided it was easier to save his breath.

Mr Frost was led into the drawing room, along with another officer, a Mr Henshaw. Introductions were made, before Mr Frost explained the reason for the visit.

“We have a traitor in our midst,” Mr Frost said.

“Corless,” Alfred said dully.

Mr Frost looked at the young man and noticed the haunted look in his expression, the black rings underneath his eyes and in his usual quick way, made a fair assessment of the situation. “We are too late?” he asked Alfred.

“Yes,” Alfred said. “He visited us a few days ago.”

“Damn it! I’m sorry Alfred, we thought we would catch him before he reached here,” Mr Frost said, frustration and anger showing on his face. “The woman?”

“Laura is dead,” Alfred said dully.

“Corless?” Mr Frost snapped, not angry with Alfred, but with himself at the decisions he had made.

“He’s gone, escaped on the day he killed her,” Lord Halkyn said. “We were working on the principle that he and you had no idea we knew who he was, so we could catch up with him at any point.”

“I’m hoping that is still the case my Lord,” Mr Frost responded. “I had suspected that something wasn’t right, information seemed to be falling into the wrong hands. When you left, Alfred, I looked into things and events didn’t add up quite as they should have done. It wasn’t very long before I had to acknowledge that someone within the team was connected, although initially I had no idea who that person could be. Once I realised there was a leak though, it wasn’t hard to work out who,” he said.

“As I was here protecting Laura, for all the good I did, I’m sure it wasn’t,” Alfred responded.

“Yes, if the rotten egg was you, we would never have heard about Laura in the first place,” Mr Frost acknowledged. “There was only Corless who had any real dealings with the case, apart from yourself. I had to make sure it was him though, as I couldn’t accuse him of falsehood without being sure of my facts first. Unfortunately, by the time I was sure, I had received your letter.”

“And he had seen it, which led him straight to us,” Alfred finished.

“I guessed as much and set out immediately, but it looks as if he saw it a lot sooner than I anticipated. I am truly sorry that we didn’t arrive in time,” Mr Frost said again.

“He was determined to finish the job,” Alfred acknowledged.

“But we can finish him,” Mr Frost said, already standing to leave. “We shan’t delay any longer. If we return immediately, we have a chance of finding him before he realises we are on to him. I shall await your return to London when you are ready.”

“I was going to write to you,” Alfred said. “I won’t be returning to my employment, or to the city.”

Mr Frost held out his hand. “I had wished for better for you Alfred. You are a fine officer, but I didn’t want you to return, that life is no good for a fine young man such as yourself. I had hoped that you would find a better life here. I am sorry it has not worked out that way.”

Alfred flushed a little, it was obvious that his employer had some suspicions about his relationship with Laura. “I am sorry too,” he responded gruffly, shaking the hand offered.

“I wish you all the very best,” Mr Frost said. “I shall let you know when we have charged Corless, don’t doubt that he will receive justice for what he has done. Gentlemen,” he finished with a bow and left the room.

*

Alfred had kept away from Frederica’s room. He could not bear to look at the child in the first few days after Laura had died, in case she reminded him of her mother. He did not think that his mind could cope with seeing Laura’s likeness without being able to reach her.

A wet nurse had been employed to feed the child, once her mother was no longer alive and between the maid, the wet nurse, Martha and Charlotte, the baby suffered no neglect.

The evening after Lord and Lady Halkyn had left Home Farm, Alfred restlessly walked the hallways of the house. He could not settle and did not know why. Time and again, he found himself outside the nursery, but unable to open the door and walk in.

As he stood once more on the threshold, he was startled when the young maid opened the door on him. She was as equally surprised. “Oh sir, I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting you,” she apologised moving out of Alfred’s way. “I’m just going to the kitchen, do you need me sir?”

“No,” Alfred responded. “I was about to visit the child,” he said, a little unsure of what to say.

“Oh good, I hope you don’t mind, but I have a few things I’d like to do, but I don’t like leaving her for too long. Would you be happy to stay until I returned? The wet nurse has left a list of things for me to arrange before she returns,” the young maid explained.

Alfred felt a little panicked about being asked to stay on his own in the room with a baby and some of his fear must have shown on his face as the maid smiled in reassurance. “Oh don’t worry sir, she’s a good little thing, doesn’t wake until she needs feeding, not a spot of bother at all.”

“Fine,” Alfred said gruffly and moved into the room.

The maid left the door a little ajar and Alfred was alone. He approached the cradle slowly, not wanting to be the cause of waking the baby after such praise from the maid.

The child was fast asleep, one hand scrunched into a fist near her face, as if she was in the process of shaking it at someone. Alfred smiled a little, just like her fiery mother then.

Her hair was dark, not red as he had expected, so he was not struck by Laura’s likeness. It still did not ease the tightness in his chest that increased as he continued to stand over her, his mind racing at the ‘what ifs’ that would now never be answered.

A sound at the door, disturbed him and he looked up, expecting to see the maid returning, but was surprised to see Martha coming quietly into the room. She smiled slightly at him and moved to the opposite side of the cradle.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Martha asked, knowing that this was the first time that Alfred had seen the child since Laura’s death.

“Yes,” he responded quietly.

“Alfred, I am so sorry that I couldn’t do more to save Laura,” Martha said, quiet enough not to wake the child, but Alfred heard the sob in her voice.

He looked at the woman who had become a friend over the weeks that they had lived together. “We are all sorry that we could not do more Martha,” he responded.

“She was so happy about having her own home,” Martha said, wiping her eyes.

“Yes, I know,” Alfred said. A home that he knew she wanted to share with him, he thought bitterly at his stupidity.

“She would have spoiled Frederica,” Martha smiled at the child. “She told me that having her was everything she had ever wanted.”

“I suppose it came of having no family of her own,” Alfred responded.

“That and who the father was,” Martha said tentatively. It was not her place to interfere, but she thought that she owed it to Laura to make sure that Alfred was under no doubt about his relationship with the baby. It was too important after everything that had happened.

Alfred glanced sharply at Martha. He wanted to walk out of the room, his heart was pounding so much, but he stayed rooted to the spot. “How do you know that she told you the truth?” he asked.

“Laura didn’t lie,” Martha said, in her quiet, but firm way. “She had no reason to. Frederica was the only child she ever had, you know.”

Alfred nodded his head. Laura had never said as much, but he knew from her behaviour that she had never had another child. If she had, he was sure that she would have found a way to keep it.

Martha flushed a little at what she was going to say, she was not used to being so bold, let alone so bold in front of a gentleman. “She once told me that there were ways that the women in her profession could prevent babies. I don’t know the details, but it must be true, or they would be constantly with child.”

“I suppose so,” Alfred responded, but he had winced at the thought of Laura with other men.

“The Baron had moved her into looking after the younger girls long before she made the decision to have the baby,” Martha continued, telling Alfred something that he already knew. “But when she had the opportunity of the one chance of being with the man she cared about, she took the opportunity that would give her the thing she wanted from the man she loved.”

“Martha, stop,” Alfred said, his voice cracking.

“You do know that Frederica is your child, don’t you?” Martha persisted.

“She shouted it at me once,” Alfred admitted, “but I didn’t believe her. Well that’s not exactly true,” Alfred acknowledged. “After she gave birth, she said that we would talk about it, but it is too late now,” he said.  

“She told me,” Martha admitted. “Well, I guessed and she confirmed it. She said that she’d told you and you didn’t believe her, but please believe what she told you,” she insisted.

“What difference does it make now?” Alfred responded dejectedly.

“It makes a huge difference to Frederica,” Martha said. “Alfred, she is your child, there is no doubt that Laura was telling the truth. You need to accept that you are the father of this little girl and tell the world that she is yours. She needs to feel secure as she grows, believe me. I have seen the damage that can be done when a child feels as if the parent is disappointed in her,” Martha said, referring to the hurt that she had seen in her employer, Lady Dunham, due to the fact that her father had wanted a boy.

“She is more likely to be disappointed in me,” Alfred said. “I have no idea what to do with a child, Martha.”

Martha sensed the panic in his voice and reached over to squeeze his arm. “No parent knows what to do when it is their first child. You will have the support around you which you require, all you need to do is to love her and accept her, and the rest you will work out together.”

Martha reached over and scooped up the baby into her arms and walked around the cradle. Alfred looked alarmed, but did not pull away when she handed him the child. “Frederica, it’s time to meet your Papa,” Martha said softly, letting go of the baby when she was sure Alfred held her securely.

Alfred stood stiffly, almost afraid to breathe, as the child snuggled to get comfortable once more. He seemed to relax slightly when he rocked her gently and she settled into sleep once more.