be a man who followed her here from her home. He is jealous because she chose Thomas over him. It is this man who is now enraged because she won't leave you, my son. He wants her dead. He is deranged. Ask her, my son, who this man is.'
Thomas said, 'Meggie, who is this man?'
'I haven't seen him, Thomas. If he had followed me, surely I would have seen him. Also, wouldn't a stranger stick out like a Stonehenge boulder around here? No, it can't be him.'
'She is mocking me, and I won't have it.'
'Forgive me, ma'am,' Meggie said, 'you're right. That wasn't well done of me. However, there is no man.'
'Humph. What about this Jeremy Stanton-Greville who plays whist very well but had rotten cards, just as I did last night?'
'No, ma'am. It isn't Jeremy. He's quite in love with his wife.'
Thomas felt positively mellow at that.
'Aunt Libby,' Thomas said, 'why do you think someone is trying to kill Meggie?'
'Madeleine is the one,' Libby said with a voice filled with spite, 'but she's torn about it. She doesn't want to be replaced, particularly by a little twit like Meggie, who's always laughing, and is young and beautiful. However, she also wants you to have an heir. She is betwixt and between. Perhaps Meggie is still alive because Madeleine is uncertain about what she really wants.'
'You witch!' Madeleine yelled, leaping up from her chair. 'You betraying cow! I want you to leave Pendragon this very instant, your murdering son with you! You called me a pernicious tart, and now this! Out, out, I say!'
'Actually,' Libby said, 'I called you a pernicious
'This,' Thomas said to his wife, an eyebrow elevated upward a good inch, 'isn't turning out to be quite what I expected.'
Tysen Sherbrooke held up a beautiful hand and said in his deep compelling vicar's voice that brought immediate silence, all eyes now on him, 'I think it could be very helpful, Thomas. I would like as well to hear what everyone has to say. Lord Kipper, why do you think someone is trying to kill my daughter?'
Lord Kipper walked to the fireplace, where he leaned his shoulders against the mantel. He looked immaculate in his riding clothes, those black riding boots of his so shiny he could see his face. He looked as calm as the sea at dawn, and utterly beautiful. He said, 'I believe it to be someone who perhaps despises Thomas, someone who wishes him ill, someone who knows that if he kills Thomas, he will be discovered, thus he is trying to kill Thomas's wife, in order to have Thomas blamed for it. That is the most likely. Perhaps it is revenge this man wants. Even though he is very young, Thomas has certainly made enemies, inevitable since he is ruthless and successful, particularly in his shipping endeavors.'
Tysen said, 'Can you think of anyone in your business dealings who would wish you ill, Thomas? Who would hurt my daughter rather than you? As punishment or revenge?'
'No,' Thomas said.
Tysen turned to William, who was standing still as a stick of furniture against the far wall, obviously wanting to go unnoticed. He said, 'What do you think, William?'
'I don't know, sir. But I do believe that it must have something to do with Jenny's disappearance. Don't you think?'
'It seems likely,' Tysen said slowly, 'since everything is happening at the same time.'
'Perhaps this someone,' William said, more forcefully now, the worry plain on his face, 'didn't want Thomas to marry, but since he did, now he's trying to get rid of Meggie. In my case, he doesn't want me to marry either, thus he's taken Jenny away. But who would want both Thomas and me not to be married?'
'That,' Thomas, said, giving his half-brother a look of respect, 'is a very good question.'
'I agree with William,' Meggie said, and that set both Madeleine and Libby off. 'Someone wants two unmarried men in the house. But why?'
'Perhaps the two mothers,' William said, and took three more steps away from his own mother. Predictably, voices went up, tempers rose and tangled, a teacup smashed to the floor.
Once again Tysen said in a voice of honey and iron, 'That is quite enough. Thomas has given us a lot to consider. I suggest we do just that.' He paused a moment, looked briefly at his son-in-law, and said, 'One of the persons in this room is very deeply involved in this. I wonder which one of you it is.'
There were dark mutterings.
The party broke up quickly after that.
Chapter 34
THAT NIGHT MEGGIE'S shoulder hurt, to be expected Dr. Pritchart had assured her, but still Thomas was worried. But he didn't say anything, simply poured a tincture of laudanum in some barley water and handed it to her. He didn't move until she'd emptied the glass.
He held her until she eased into sleep.
It was very late, dark clouds obscuring the quarter moon that cast a watery light through the window when the cloth slammed down over his mouth. It took him only an instant to realize that it wasn't a dream. He lurched up, ready to fight, but something struck him hard on the head and he slumped back. The cloth was back, covering his nose and mouth. He was aware, on some level, that he was breathing in a sickeningly sweet odor that seemed to fill his lungs, that snaked to his belly, and that odor, even more than the blow, sent him deeper and deeper until he knew no more.
Meggie felt heavy, as if her body weighed more than one of the boulders on the Pendragon beach and someone was sitting on top of it. She didn't think she could move. She wanted to move. She managed to lift a hand, moan, and then her eyes flew open.
She felt light-headed and dizzy, a bitter taste in her mouth. At first she thought she was simply waking up in her own bed. She quickly realized she was wrong.
She didn't want to open her eyes, but she did, finally, and looked up into a man's face. At first she didn't recognize him. Then she said slowly, 'The last time I saw you, you were lying on your kitchen floor, blood on your head and flour all over your apron.'
'Ye're right smart, yer ladyship. Aye, the Grakers got me, now didn't they?'
'You're Bernard Leach of the Hangman's Noose at St. Agnes.'
'Good memory in yer smart head. I remember thinking how purty ye were, and all fresh and innocent since ye'd been married jest the day before.'
'We were going to stay at your inn. But it was deserted, just one lit candle in a front room. Thomas and I discovered your wife murdered, hanged. There was no one else there, just you, lying unconscious on the kitchen floor. It was the Grakers who did it, you said, then and you said it again. Then the next day you disappeared and so did the stable lad. Thomas and I remained with Squire Billings, but we couldn't find out anything more. Why are you here? Where are we?'
'Aye, it was the Grakers what brought ye here,' Bernard said, and laughed, deep in his throat, and that laugh led quickly to a cough, a nasty watery cough that made Maggie's insides crawl.
'Them Grakers-bothersome little pixies, the lot of them. Don't they travel a lot, eh?' And he laughed some more. He started to cough again, stopped his laughter fast.
He looked even skinnier than he had before, his gray hair even more tufted and grizzled, so dirty and lank with oil it was matted to his head. He wasn't wearing a huge white apron now, but rough homespun that bagged on him. He wiped his hand over his mouth, trying to catch his breath, and Meggie saw a streak of blood on his palm. She said, 'You're sick, Mr. Leach.'
'Aye, that's as may be, but at least I'm not dead, not like ye will be, my little lady. It shouldn't o' been high tide, but it was. Then ye should o' broke yer back when ye hit the water. Bloody hell, that bullet should have laid ye out, but it didn't, now did it? Yer too lucky by far, ye are. Funny how I never considered high tide. A mistake, sure enough. Aye, I should have shot ye right through yer heart, but I didn't manage it. Nothing went right. Nothing seems to be going right for me these days. It's a right puzzle.'
'My husband has known you all his life. Why would you wish to harm him by killing me?'
