“It’s not obvious to me! Oh, Katherine, I fear you’ve made too hasty a judgment about Garth.”
Katherine frowned. Had she made a mistake? Had she misjudged Garth? She sighed. “I don’t know what to think now. It was just the intimate way he said her name, as if she were a natural part of his life. I accused him of being just like his father in his deceit.”
“Oh, Katherine, you didn’t!” May-Jewel shook her head. “You don’t know anything about men, do you?”
“You make it sound as if men were a subject to be learned at school.”
“Well, it is almost like that. You must learn how to handle them and that most of them are only little boys who have grown taller.”
Katherine stared at the ground in silence and wondered how she could repair her hot tempered words to Garth. Would she ever get over her suspicious mind when it came to men?
May-Jewel, too, became silent. She remembered the last time that she was here, it was with Alex. She recalled all that they had said to each other. Then something caught at her. Something he had said began to nag at her. But as many times as she repeated their conversation to herself, whatever it was wouldn’t form out of the mist of memory. She couldn’t bring it to the surface and finally gave up trying.
The afternoon sun grew hot, and the women retreated to the manor. As they reached the top of the stairs heading for their rooms, they watched as Charles received a messenger at the door and was handed an envelope.
“I wonder who that’s from.” Katherine whispered.
May-Jewel answered, “Let’s find out.”
They descended the steps and followed Charles as he made his way to the office at the end of the great hall. Upon entering, the old servant left the door ajar. Peeking in, they spied Alex sitting at a paper-covered desk.
“This be fer ye,” Charles said and handed Alex the envelope.
Alex noted the seal, a frown creasing his forehead. He tore the envelope open.
The women watched his frown deepen as he read the correspondence.
Suddenly he jumped up, knocking the chair over as he stood. “He can’t do this!” he yelled. “I won’t let him!”
As Charles stepped behind him to right the chair, the women saw him scan the document.
Alex, grabbing the letter from the servants view, charged from the room, barely missing the women, and ran up the west wing stairway to his chamber.
Entering the room, Katherine confronted Charles. “What was that all about?”
“And don’t tell us you don’t know,” May-Jewel added. “We saw you reading the letter.”
A grin crossed his wizen mouth. “’Tis from the solicitor, somethin’ aboot the partnership an’ Mister Fleming.” Nodding to them, Charles left the room.
“Oooh, that’s one letter I’d like to have a look at,” May-Jewel whispered.
“Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Tonight while Alex is at dinner, I’m going to hunt for that letter.”
“But what if he takes his meal in his room? And if that letter made him that mad, I’ll bet anything that he will put it where no one can see it for it can’t have been good news.”
“But tonight, May-Jewel, you’ll beg his attention and invite him to dine with you.”
“I’ll do no such thing!” She declared stamping her foot. “He’s an unpardonable philanderer! And I don’t want to be left alone with him.” She stopped speaking, not wanting to reveal what had transpired when Alex had almost seduced her, for she knew her sister was very keen on proving his lechery.
Katherine gave her a puzzled look but didn’t demand an explanation. Instead a resigning sigh escaped Katherine. “I suppose then that we shall just have to watch his room, to wait for him to leave, and then search for the letter together.”
May-Jewel nodded.
Stationing themselves in the shadowy doorway atop the stairs, they waited for more than an hour for Alex to finally leave his chamber. From their position, they watched as he descended the stairs and exited the manor.
“Good. If he’s headed into town, we’ll have plenty of time to search,” Katherine whispered.
“Well, let’s hurry. I don’t like doing this,” May-Jewel admitted as they entered Alex’s room.
The curtains had been pulled, but the sun released only a stingy amount of light into Alex’s neat and orderly bed chamber. Silently and systematically the women explored until Katherine came upon a string of prayer beads hanging on a hook in the wardrobe.
“My word, all isn’t what it seems to be with Alexander Fleming,” she exclaimed, holding up the beads for her sister to see. “Now I think I understand his motives. He’s a Papist!”
May-Jewel looked at her and questioned, “And that’s not good?”
“I should say not! This is a Rosary, and it reveals that Alex’s greed may not be personal, that he could want the estate and the shipping lines for reasons other than what we thought, perhaps to help finance the resurgence of the Papistry in Scotland.”
The idea that Alex was dedicated to a cause, any cause, impressed May-Jewel. She had suppressed all thoughts of him since his attempted apology. Now she found herself coming to his defense. “Those prayer beads could have belonged to Robbie or to any one of his guests. It’s silly to assume that they belong to Alex just because he’s using these quarters.”
“You might be right,” Katherine slowly replied, placing the beads back on the hook. “In any case, you can bet I’m going to watch him more closely from now on. I don’t mind losing my inheritance to Garth, but not to some cause I don’t understand nor believe in.”
Their continued search revealed nothing of the letter nor anything else of importance.
“I don’t know where else to look,” May-Jewel admitted.
Before Katherine replied, the door
