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By Root 1129 0

of sandwiches and a pot of tea. Well, I was hungry and thirsty from the journey so I ate and drank it all, but I think there must have been something in the tea because I went straight off to sleep and woke up not knowing where I was or what day it was. The fat devil came back sometime in the day or night with some other gentlemen and a clerk taking notes. He kept asking me the same questions about that night and the baby. Was I sure I remembered right? Might I have been mistaken? Had I been paid by anybody to say the baby died? I think he might have come back several times over, asking me the same questions, and he made me so confused that in the end I didn’t know what I remembered and what he’d put into my head. And I had such a thirst on me all the time, they kept bringing me tea and I had to drink it, but I’m sure they were putting things in it. Either I was asleep or it was questions, questions, questions all over again. So I started pouring the tea out of the window and drinking washing water from the pitcher instead, and my head cleared and I knew I had to get away from him.’

I turned away, not wanting her to see my tears. It could so nearly have been otherwise – my father landing safely at Dover and meeting me with rescued Maudie in tow. Only, in his light-hearted way, he never guessed the lengths they’d go to in getting her back. Quite unintentionally, he’d made things worse for her by giving Kilkeel another weapon to use against her.

‘So he brought you here to tell anybody who asked that the baby had lived?’ Daniel said.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘And you’re quite certain that the baby did not live?’

‘As certain as the daylight, sir. And I’ll say that to anybody now my mind’s clear again. Even if they do put me in prison or kill me for it, I can’t go on any longer.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Daniel caught my eye and nodded towards the door.

‘You are a woman of spirit, Mrs Martley. Would you excuse us, we must leave you for a while.’

‘Will the fat devil come and find me?’

‘Miss Lane won’t be far away,’ Daniel said reassuringly. ‘She might even be able to find you a pot of tea and something to eat.’

He and I went down together to the landing outside the maids’ dormitory.

‘Do you believe her?’ I asked him.

‘I do, poor woman. I can see why your father decided to help her. I only wish he’d told us about it.’

So did I, but I couldn’t afford to think about it now.

‘Lord Kilkeel’s guilty of a crime, isn’t he? He knows who killed my father and he’s done nothing about it.’

‘I’m no lawyer, Liberty, but I think what she’s told us makes him at least an accomplice to murder.’

‘Then what do we do?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not even sure that conversation she overheard would amount to proof in a court of law.’

‘If we were to go to a magistrate …’ I said.

‘In his own county?’

‘In London, perhaps.’

‘The word of a bereaved daughter, a musician and a woman who would probably be dismissed as mad, against a lord who also happens to be a lawyer? I believe they’d laugh at us.’

‘Then what can we do? Isn’t there some way of facing him and making him name the man who killed my father?’

‘I could challenge him, I suppose.’ Even in the half-dark of the landing I could see Daniel’s face turning red when he realised the bitterness of his joke.

‘Libby, I’m sorry.’

‘There has to be a way. Even if they laugh at us, I must at least try telling somebody.’

‘Then we must ride this horse as far as it will take us. It occurs to me that there’s one gap in the evidence we might fill.’

‘What?’

‘Getting Mrs Martley to identify Lord Kilkeel as her milord. Is there any way of giving her a sight of him in our presence without his seeing her?’

‘But why? It’s perfectly obvious. I know he’s the same man who tried to kidnap me in Calais, and I saw him with his travelling coach at the livery stables, at a time when she must have been under the floorboards.’

‘Be patient with me, Libby. I’m trying to think like a lawyer for once. If we could show her Kilkeel and hear her say that he’s her man, it might close one loophole.’

I was still unconvinced, but