Lord Cavendish Returns (2 page)

“
One of us needs to go to Yorkshire to speak to Terrence,”
Sebastian sighed. He had hoped to spend several weeks with his
brothers and their children and didn’t relish any one of them being
away for several days while they undertook the journey, but there
were so many unanswered questions that he knew none of them would
settle until they had the answers.

“
Terrence isn’t likely to have mama’s letters,” Edward
countered.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and shook his head as he moved to
the stairs. “I know that, but he could have his mother’s diaries,
which may mention whether our mother and her baby were in
residence.”

“
I think that we need to keep this matter private for the time
being.” Dominic followed his brothers to the top of the stairs and
studied the hallway below. “We don’t know whether it is a scandal
that we need to keep hidden.”

He
nodded sadly to the maids waiting at the end of the hallway, and
sent one of them off to fetch the footmen to move the body down to
the cold rooms at the bottom of the house.

They
made their way to the study and helped themselves to liberal doses
of brandy before they each took a seat before the fire. They sat in
quiet contemplation for a long time; each lost to their own
memories of Mildred’s presence in their lives and her stunning
surprise.

In the
end, it was Sebastian who asked the question his brothers were
thinking.

“
Do we even bother to try to find him?” Sebastian sighed. “I
mean, it is so long ago now that the man has to be in his thirties.
If he was brought up as a tradesman, how is he going to adjust to
life as an Earl? He won’t have been raised to cope with the
responsibilities of running an estate, or a house like this, let
alone handle the benefits that having a title will
bring.”

“
I quite agree. He could be a wastrel or, even worse, in
prison. What do we do then? I mean, he is a relation and has
entailments. We have a duty to ensure that he is at least made
aware of what he is entitled to. But -,” Edward held a hand up when
Sebastian took a breath to speak, “but, we cannot risk the
reputation of the rest of the family by just walking up to anyone
and inviting them to become one of us,” he added with a
frown.

“
We have to find him and see what he is like. Then we will
have to decide whether we tell him or just walk away.”

“
Did Mildred ever mention the Earl of Hopswich
before?”

Dominic
shook his head. “It rings a faint bell but I cannot remember much.
I think it is from mother’s side of the family. We have to speak to
Johnson, and see what he says.”

“
One thing I want to know,” Edward sighed as he refilled his
brandy glass and lifted the decanter toward Dominic and Sebastian,
who both nodded. “Why hasn’t Harry Johnson told us about this
missing half-brother before now? I mean, with mama and papa in
their graves, why keep it a secret still? It just doesn’t make
sense.”

Dominic
had a strange feeling that trouble was brewing and almost groaned
in disbelief. He had thought that the days of the family having to
deal with mystery and strife were long gone. Unfortunately, it
appeared that Fate had other ideas.

One month later

Dominic
sat with Edward and Sebastian in the study of the house that seemed
to be as decrepit and aged as its owner, and watched Harry Johnson
senior settle his trembling frame into a high backed chair before
the fire. Although the man was in his early seventies, he had not
aged well and carried himself with an air of someone who was more
like a hundred years old.

Silence
settled over them as Harry Johnson gazed absently into the
fire.

Sebastian studied the man carefully and wondered if they
would get anything useful out of him. He seemed off in another
world somewhere and, although he hadn’t been rude to them, he
didn’t seem inclined toward friendliness either.

However,
they hadn’t called for a social chat. They had travelled to London
specifically to find out what Harry Johnson knew about their
half-brother. So far the only thing they had been able to discover
about their half-brother was that he had been born in Yorkshire,
and their cousin Terrence didn’t have any of his mother’s old
letters anymore because they had been lost in a house fire several
years earlier. There had been no mention of a baby, an affair or
anything untoward in either Mildred’s diaries, or their mother’s
personal papers. They knew because while the family had been
together, the men and their wives had spent hours trawling through
the copious amounts of personal papers, documents, diaries and
letters that had been carefully stored in the attics. It appeared
that any record of the birth had been carefully destroyed or hidden
in some secret place that they had yet to find.

Hungry
for information, Dominic had made arrangements to visit Harry
Johnson senior, who had served their family at the time of the
scandal.

“
Thank you for seeing us today, Harry,” Dominic sighed when he
couldn’t stand the silence a moment longer. “As I said in my
letter, our Aunt Mildred passed away recently. Unfortunately, she
told us something on her deathbed that has shaken us and left us
asking questions that only you can answer given that you were the
family’s solicitor at the time.”

“
I know what you are here to ask,” Harry said quietly.
“Mildred would know because she was Alice’s sister.” He suddenly
turned his calm gaze back to the men and looked each one in the
eye. “The child is mine.”

Stunned
silence settled over them.

“
Yours?”

Harry
Johnson sighed and nodded. “I was engaged by your father to work on
several legal matters pertaining to the estate. Unfortunately, your
father preferred to carouse around London, and remained in Mayfair
while I visited the estate on business. Your mother loved the
country, as I did, but felt incredibly lonely there by herself.
Things were not well with her marriage and, although she had you,
Dominic, she had no husband to guide and support her. It was a
difficult period in her life. At the time, because of your father’s
absence, I spent many hours in the study at Havistock Hall acting
as, well, a sort of man of business. Your mother and I grew very
close and spent many hours together.” He drew in a deep breath and
threw his shoulders back almost defiantly. “I make no apology for
falling in love with your mother. Alice was a delightful woman;
very pretty, with a rapier wit and a love of life that made me
smile. I adored her. She was very gentle and deserved to have a man
in her life who would appreciate her. I was considerably older than
she was, but that didn’t seem to matter to either of us. We never
planned to fall in love, and certainly never expected matters to
take the course they did. It was a shock to us both when she found
herself with child.”

“
You were married at the time,” Dominic said carefully. He
watched Harry Johnson study his fingers for a moment before he
nodded.

“
I was. Harry, my son by my wife, was about seventeen at the
time and was working at the London office, which left me able to
remain at your estate with your mother for several months. We fell
in love. It was a happy time for both of us.”

“
You didn’t support her when she found herself with child
though.” Dominic’s voice hardened. He tried to warn himself that he
wasn’t there at the time and should not judge, but he could not
relate to any man who would not stand by any woman he had a child
with.

“
I wasn’t given the choice. Your father knew the child wasn’t
his because he had been in London with his mistress. By the time he
got back to the estate, your mother and I had discussed the options
available to us. Unfortunately, even if we could have persuaded our
spouses to agree to divorces, we would have struggled to relocate
and start again. I would not have been able to work in London
because my reputation would have been in tatters. My son Harry; his
life would have been destroyed because he would have not been able
to take work in the legal field either, and your mother would have
faced censure and been shunned by the social circles she had grown
up in. She belonged in the country, in the house she had moved in
to when married your father. She had grown accustomed to Havistock
Hall and loved it here. Although she was happy to leave it so we
could be together, your father wouldn’t discuss a divorce and
refused to even think about a separation. As soon as he found out
about the baby, he closed everything up in London, got rid of his
mistress and moved back to Havistock Hall. Although he wasn’t too
scornful of your mother, they did have many rows and she was deeply
troubled, but there was little I could do to help her. I think that
your father would have ceased to employ my services if I hadn’t
been deeply involved in several difficult legal matters on behalf
of the estate. As it was, he refused to accept the child because it
wasn’t his and insisted that I make arrangements to deal with the
boy myself.”

“
So mama went away to Yorkshire to have the baby,” Edward
shook his head and studied the carpet for a moment. It was a
desperately sad situation and something that still haunted the man
seated opposite, if the tears in his eyes were anything to go
by.

“
I was forced to come back to London and carry on as though
nothing had happened. My letters to your mother went unanswered
and, although I continued to work for the family, the stress and
heartache of losing Alice and our boy affected my health. I have
never really been the same since; emotionally or physically. To
this day, gentleman, I bitterly regret having to walk away from
your mother. My marriage to my wife was never the same after I came
back to London. Although she didn’t know about the baby, she knew
that I was in love with someone else and I was just not able to be
the same around her. I still adore your mother, even though dear
Alice is no longer with us.”

“
Were you the one who made arrangements for the child to be
looked after?” Sebastian growled. He could only hope to God that
the child hadn’t been handed over to an orphanage or they would
have no chance of finding out where he ended up.

“
I did. He has had a good, middle-class life, and has been
raised to be a fine man of good standing. I have supported the boy
financially all of my life and have made sure that he has been
raised by a family who consider him one of them. He has brothers;
Angus, Joseph and Robert. The man who raised him, Bartholomew
Lawton, was a good friend of mine who returned from the war a
broken man. He struggled to find work because of his injuries, and
had three boys to support. When I asked if they would take the baby
if I provided them with a house and a steady income, they jumped at
the chance. He and his wife Agnes adored the boy, and looked after
him with so much love and affection. I have called in often over
the years, and spent many hours with Harper, although he never knew
that I am his father. Agnes and Bartholomew didn’t want me to tell
him and I could see no reason not to respect their wishes. It would
only have upset the boy and unsettled him.”

A sigh
of relief swept through the Cavendish brothers for a moment before
another wave of questions surfaced.

“
Where is he now?”

“
At the moment? I don’t know,” Harry replied sadly.

Sebastian groaned and shook his head at Dominic. “Is he still
alive?”

“
As far as I know. I certainly hope so. I have used my
contacts to keep track of him as much as possible over the years,
but he moved recently. He went into the army as soon as he was old
enough, and has served abroad for some time. He came back a few
years ago and has been working for a secret government organisation
called the Star Elite ever since, but his work takes him
everywhere. He has never married or settled down. The last I heard,
he was undercover somewhere but I cannot find out
where.”

Dominic
smiled. For the first time since Mildred had told them the news,
Dominic felt confident that they would get the information they
needed about Harper, and would soon be in a position to welcome him
into the family. He briefly wondered whether Sir Hugo was in
London, and shared a grin with his brothers.

“
We know about the Star Elite,” Edward murmured quietly. “We
had a cause to work with them a few years back.”

Harry
Johnson stood up and shuffled over to a bureau in the far corner of
the room. He dropped the lid and withdrew a sheaf of papers. “The
baby caused your parents many problems and nearly destroyed their
marriage altogether. It broke your mother’s heart to hand him over
to someone else to look after, but your father insisted that he
couldn’t be a part of her life. I have ensured that he has been
financially supported, and your mother ensured that a proportion of
her fortune was put aside for him. It was a hidden part of her will
which I was ordered to keep separate from all of you. A title
belonging to her part of the family was held by your uncle. Now,
what’s his name?” Harry stared thoughtfully into the fire for
several moments.

“
Lord Cavendish?” Edward suggested hopefully.

“
Earl of Hopswich. George Bromley, that’s it.”

“
George was mother’s uncle. He had the title of the Earl of
Hopswich?”