Love Engineered (14 page)

She hoped that once he knew the truth – with evidence – that he would at least believe her and think a little better of her, but she knew that even if that happened he didn't think her suitable as a marriage partner. Her father was wrong: she couldn't marry any single man she chose.

She could write a letter explaining everything. She would take more care over it and explain fully and in every detail. She went to her escritoire and pulled out some paper and started to write a few lines, but the words wouldn't flow. She sat back and rubbed her head. She would have to ensure he would read the letter, if she could finish it. If he knew it was from her, he might toss it into the fire unopened. She would have to take him the letter and make him promise to read it. But that would mean she would have to see his disapproval again. Oh, it was all too vexing.

She could send Lord Philip to explain. He would speak for her, she was certain he would. He could explain everything on her behalf and in an unemotional way. Or she could do a combination and have Lord Philip take the letter and make him read it.

Many hours were spent with these thoughts whirling in her mind. She didn't sleep much, though she was exhausted. In the end, she resolved on a different course of action, and one she decided would be the best.

. . .

Charles went straight home after his interview with Louise. Now that she had been spoken to, it only remained for him to speak to Jane.

His arrival home at such an early hour was an unexpected delight to the female members of the family, although it took a minute for him to persuade them that he wasn't in ill health.

“Mother, would you leave the room? I must speak to Jane in private.”

“I cannot see what you have to speak to her about without me knowing. We have no secrets.”

“No, but you will find out soon enough. It concerns Miss Thomas.”

A thought flooded Mrs Lucas's mind, of course, an engagement had already been formed and he wished to break the news to Jane first because she was her dear friend.

“Very well,” she said, and ushered herself out of the room, giving a sly look at Jane as she did.

Jane looked concerned. “Charles, is Louise ill?” she asked.

“No, she is quite well I believe,” he stated. “I have been to speak with her.” He stood by the fireplace, one hand in his waistcoat pocket.

“What about?”

“Yesterday I learned some extremely grave things about her from Mr Risinger and I have told her that she is to break her friendship with you and not to see you again. She agreed to it, and now I'm telling you: you're not to see her again.”

Jane sat motionless, then gave a small laugh. “You're in jest, surely.”

“No.”

“What did Mr Risinger say?”

He explained their conversation in full and then his most recent discussion with Miss Thomas. “When I mentioned the child, she denied it of course. But she was shocked that I had found out. Jane, I wouldn't ask you to do this without great reason.”

“I do not believe you and I do not believe Mr Risinger. A child! I simply do not reckon it, and I shall see my friend as much as I please. I shall speak to her without you telling me whether I can or not. How dare you tell me I can't see her? I will do as I wish.”

Charles stood incredulous.

“You will not see her again, Jane. She has a tarnished reputation and I will not stand by and see yours ruined through association with her.”

“Her reputation? I have never heard anything of the sort about her. In fact all I ever hear about her is kindness, gentility and purity. Yes, purity. You should not scoff. She is a little eccentric, and her only fault seems to me to be that she is lonely and in need of honest friends who like her for herself and not her wealth. It seems to be only Mr Risinger who has this information. I really do believe he is untruthful. I thought there was something odd about him when I met him. I don't like him, and I can't see how you do.”

“Your judgment is clouded by your opinion of Miss Thomas.”

“So is yours!”

Neither seemed to be able to back down and they stood and stared at each other for some moments. “Look Jane, I'm not doing this because I want to, but since father died you have been my responsibility and I take it with the utmost seriousness. I realise that I'm not here all the time to watch over you, that work takes me away a great deal, and I'm sorry for it. But I'm adamant on this Jane. You will not see Miss Thomas again.”

“And I'm adamant that I shall!”

“Jane . . .” but before he could say anything else she fled the room and left her brother in exasperated solitude.

Jane slammed the front door as she left. In full defiance of her brother, she walked quickly to Louise's house. She arrived and was shown into the hallway straight away.

“I'm afraid Miss Thomas is out,” the servant told her in a bland tone.

Jane rather suspected that this wasn't the truth, but she wasn't about to search the rooms herself.

She sighed. “Very well. Will you pass on a message to her?”

“Certainly.”

“Tell her that I'm sorry for whatever my stupid brother has said to her and that he is not going to stop me seeing her.”

“Yes miss.”

“And tell her I'll call back tomorrow morning.”

“Miss Thomas is leaving tomorrow for France.”

“France?”

“Yes miss.”

“Well, tell her that I wish to see her before she leaves.”

When Jane arrived home, Charles had gone back to his offices. She recounted the whole sorry argument to her sympathetic mother, who agreed that Louise was beyond doubt a most worthy, virtuous friend and both Charles and Mr Risinger were greatly in error and had used her ill. They then spent hours speculating on why Mr Risinger would make up such stories.

Mrs Lucas was particularly upset at the news of the argument between her son and Miss Thomas. Indeed it was a great let down. She had great plans for the match, although unspoken of to either of her offspring, and she despaired that Charles would ever meet another so worthy, so wealthy and so well-connected. She admitted to herself, however, that Louise's wealth was merely an additional inducement alongside the excellent personal qualities she exhibited. She hoped that all this would quickly blow over and that in time everyone would be friends again.

Two days later and Charles was about to leave for work, when his mother came rushing into the study.

“There is a lawyer here to see you. His name is Mr Russell.” Mrs Lucas handed him the card and Charles examined it.

“Did he state his business?”

“No – he just said that he wished to speak to you privately.”

Charles sighed. He had planned to get to work early; he had much to do.

“Very well, show him in.”

Mrs Lucas disappeared and a few moments later she showed the man in.

Mr Russell was well past middle age, his shoulders stooped. Charles rather wondered why he hadn't retired to the country to enjoy his dotage. He held a large brown leather satchel in one hand, and shook Charles's hand with the other.

“Forgive me this early call, Mr Lucas, but I have come on behalf of my client – Miss Louise Thomas.”

“Miss Thomas?” Charles frowned. What would she of all people be doing sending her lawyer? Then he remembered all that William Risinger had told him. She was probably warning him or threatening him in some way.

He sat down and bid Mr Russell to do the same. When he heard what she wanted, he wanted to be seated. He was ready for a fight.

Mr Russell placed his satchel on the desk and pulled out a large pile of papers. He then delved into his inside jacket pocket and carefully put on his thin silver-coloured spectacles.

“Yes, Miss Thomas wrote to me and asked me to visit you at my earliest convenience. Of course, what with her being one of my prestigious clients, I came immediately.”

“Of course,” Charles muttered.

Mr Russell sorted the papers onto the desk into separate piles, then looked up at Charles.

“Firstly, she asked me to give you this letter, and make sure you read it.”

It was sealed with wax. Charles opened it.

Mr Lucas,

I beg your pardon first for insisting that you read this letter and secondly for anything that I did to offend you the other day. You are the very last person I would wish to displease. I will not, however, apologise for the feelings I expressed yesterday, nor shall I ever mention them again should we ever accidentally meet. You need not fear on that score, I shall do as you wish and stay away from your family.

I have asked my lawyer, Mr Russell, to speak to you on my behalf regarding Mr Risinger. When we spoke, it seemed he had told you a great number of lies. I wish for you to know the truth. With the evidence before you, I hope you will see him for the man he really is.

Louise Thomas

Charles's eyebrows rose. He hadn't expected this. He had thought she would do the same to him as she had done to Risinger – threaten and intimidate him. He looked up at Mr Russell. “Did Miss Thomas tell you what was in the letter?”

“No. She simply asked me to explain a few things to you. She didn't tell me why I was to explain them.” He gave a small laugh. “Of course, it's none of my business why she wants me to do this. I'm paid to carry out her wishes, not to gossip.”

“Then please go ahead.”

Mr Russell took off his spectacles and took a deep breath. “Very well. I'll start at the beginning. I believe you went to school with Mr William Risinger and you know him quite well?”

“Yes.”

“How much do you know of his late father?”

“Nothing much.”

“Then I'll explain. Mr Frederick Risinger was a close friend to Miss Thomas's father. Frederick was a frequent visitor to Glazebrook throughout his life and he and Sir Robert remained friends all their days. Frederick was in the Merchant Navy, and although an officer, never rose above the very basic rank. He was away at sea for much of the time and whilst away asked Sir Robert to watch over his son.

“Sir Robert did this whenever he could, and such was their friendship that Sir Robert paid the boy’s school fees, firstly at a school in Plymouth. This place he attended before he went to the same school as you.”

“A generous man then,” Charles, said thinking back. This wasn't the picture Risinger had painted of Miss Thomas's father.

“Indeed. However, his duty to watch over William Risinger reached further. Sir Robert was called to the school several times to attend to William, his father being away at sea. Then later, Frederick died. The final time Sir Thomas went there, Willian Risinger was expelled.”

“Expelled?”

“Yes. He had been the ringleader of group extorting money from other students. There were other misdemeanours: theft and damage of school property. However, things came to a head when one poor child almost died through punishment for non-payment. William Risinger was given an ultimatum: if he got into trouble again at his new school – the same establishment you attended – he would be sent to the workhouse.”

“Are you sure this is what happened?”

“Yes, of course. I have Sir Robert's journal as testament – it's all in there. Besides, I remember it myself. I have, after all, been the Thomas family lawyer nearly all my working life.” Mr Russell handed Charles a thick leather journal. “The pages relevant to Mr Risinger have been marked out, as you can see.”

Charles looked it over. “I wonder why Miss Thomas keeps the journal with you, and not at home?” he commented. He didn't expect an answer, but Mr Russell was eager to speak.

“She has had the contents copied by scribes. That is the original. I believe she reads it when she feels the need to be closer to her father.”

Charles turned to the first marked page. His eyes ran over the details. It was dated 1834. He and Risinger would have been thirteen.

Risinger’s criminal past had never been known to him until now. From the journal entry, he was lucky not to have been at the first school. He remembered William arriving at school, but he had told everyone he had changed to be nearer relatives.

He snapped the journal shut. “Forgive me, but crimes committed by a child mean nothing unless the adult has also fallen into such behaviour.”

Mr Russell gave a curt nod. “Indeed. In fact, despite these grave mistakes, William remained obedient to the masters at his new school. His somewhat criminal activities put behind him, he appeared to have turned over a new leaf. Sir Robert was glad of it.

“Nothing happened with William Risinger for the rest of his days at school, and now I must move to the time when Sir Robert died.”

“Go ahead.” From what Risinger had told him, this would be the interesting part.

“Miss Thomas knew of her father's wish to help Mr Risinger and decided to continue to provide for his education. By this time he was a full year into his studies at Oxford. She visited him there to tell him of this, and the two soon became friends.

“After Mr Risinger left Oxford and started in trade, their friendship deepened and they were like brother and sister. He helped her with her business matters and advised her whenever she asked. She trusted him. You may have noticed that Miss Thomas is somewhat solitary? Some might even call her . . . lonely.”

Charles remembered that Jane had used the same words. “Yes, I suppose she could be described that way.”

“She was delighted to have Mr Risinger as a trusted friend and when he turned 25, she decided as a last gesture to the memory of her father to help him in one final way. She had me draw up a contract stipulating that should he ever marry, he would receive in Sir Robert's name the sum of five thousand pounds. Another generous gesture, wouldn't you agree?”

“Undoubtedly,” Charles said in a low murmur. He couldn't say much else. This was very different to the story Risinger had told him.

“Now is the interesting part of the story. Miss Thomas told him of the gift and she saw little of him for six months.”

“Why stay away so long?”

“Exactly! He told Miss Thomas business kept him away, but the blackguard was up to no good. One night, about eight months after her promise of the money, she was visited by a young woman who used to be in her service. She had married the landlord of an inn many miles away from Glazebrook. This woman told Miss Thomas that on the previous night, Mr Risinger had been in her inn talking furtively with a few other men about how he had advised her to invest in many underhand schemes and that he was leading up to getting me to invest a considerable sum of money. He wanted to take as much money from her as possible, in order to lead to her downfall and even force her to sell her ancestral home.”