“They are indeed.”
“Well, then, you have my consent. Now off with the two of you. Please give Mr. Standish my best wishes and thank him for me as well.”
“Would ye care tae join us, Mrs. Brown?”
“Nay, My Lord, I have much to do here, but I thank you for the invitation. Upon your return, we will be certain to have tea awaiting you both.”
“That is most kind o’ ye. We will nae be gone long.”
Arthur carried the basket in one arm and gave his other to Cleo. Together they left the Wallace residence and walked arm in arm toward the university.
“I showed Father’s letter to Mrs. McGrath.”
“Aye? And what did she have tae say about it? Did she have any notion as to what yer father meant by,‘For the Moon sets and rises in your hair?’
Cleo shook her head. “Nay, she did not say that she did. I believe that it was an emotionally overwhelming moment for her. I believe that it has been that way for my Aunt Caroline too, even though I have not shown or told her anything about what Father left me.”
“Perhaps she would know something. It might be worth the risk tae ask her? She seemed much more open tae the possibility o’ life beyond what she wishes it tae be this morn, more than she was before anyway.”
“I do not know. I am not certain that burdening her with everything that we have uncovered, without having any solid answers, is the right thing to do. It does not help that, no matter what she has tried to do, Father’s grave is still among the criminals and the damned. She has been to speak with the minister no less than three times in the last week alone.”
“I wish that there was something that I could do. One would think that being a nobleman would give one special privileges in these matters, but sadly, it does not. As much as I respect people with a strong sense o’ faith, in this particular case, the minister is wrong.”
“You have been an invaluable support to me and my family. Short of God or the Prince Regent stepping in, neither of which is likely, things will remain as they are.”
“I am sorry, lass, but I will continue tae pray for a miracle. If we catch yer faither’s killer, the minister will have nae choice but tae place yer faither with yer maither.”
“I sincerely hope so, for anything else is simply unfathomable.”
“We will do all in our power tae make it so.”
The two of them walked in companionable silence until they reach the university building where Mr. Standish did most of his work. They stepped through the door and walked to the end of the hall and down a flight of stairs to where they knew he kept his own small office. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, they were immediately caught up in a crowd of onlookers, university officials, and constables.
Stopping a young man who scurried past, Arthur asked, “What has happened?” His face was an odd green hue and Cleo was fairly certain that the boy was about to expel the contents of his stomach.
“Virgil Standish is dead. He killed himself.” Unable to hold it in a moment longer, the lad raced past them and up the stairs with a most pitiful whimpering sound.
“What?” Cleo couldn’t believe her ears. “This cannot be…” Images of her father’s dead body lying upon the floor in a pool of his own blood flashed through her mind. “This cannot be so!”
Arthur pulled Cleo into his arms, not caring who was watching. Cleo began to shake uncontrollably, her mind and body going into a state of shock. It was too soon after her father’s death to be facing such a thing as what loomed on the other side of the crowd before them. “Let me take ye from this place, return ye tae yer home, then I will return tae learn what I can o’ what has happened.”
“Nay,” Cleo shook her head. “Go, now, before they take the body away. It is the same man who killed my father, I know it. I can feel it in my bones. The constables will not do anything to clear poor Mr. Standish’s reputation of such falsehoods, so we must.”
Arthur nodded in understanding. “Will ye be able tae wait here for a moment without me?”
“Yes,” Cleo nodded her head. “I will be here.” Arthur gave her one last squeeze in reassurance, then turned to wade through the crowd.
Once Arthur was out of earshot, she muttered, “Assuming no one murders me in the meantime.
Two students walked past, murmuring to each other about what they had just seen. “There was blood everywhere. Poor Mr. Standish, shooting himself in the head like that. What was he thinking?” The student shook his head in disbelief. “It is the same as what happened to Professor Wallace. How can two such men as Wallace and Standish do such a despicable act? If men like that are capable of killing themselves, then how do the rest of us stand a chance? May God, have mercy upon us all.”
Cleo stared after the men, fighting the urge to run after them and ask them everything they knew about her father. Instead, she remained still. To put anyone else in danger by association with her family would be irresponsible.May God have mercy upon us all, indeed, for I have a feeling that we are going to need all of the help that we can get.
Chapter 26
Arthur waded through the crowd to find himself standing over the bloody corpse of Mr. Virgil Standish. He stopped in his tracks, his breath drawing in sharply at the site. The smell of copper lingered in the air, landing on the tongue in a slight bitter twang. Arthur knew, once a person gets a whiff of the metallic smell of congealed blood, one never forgets.
“Och, Standish,” Arthur murmured bending down to inspect the head wound.
