“This is Ruth’s, is it not? So, if you indeed did not poison her tea, then I should be able to drink this, without any harm coming my way. Right?” He lifted the cup, staring at his mother as he placed his lips around the rim. She grew pale as the liquid hit his lips. Suddenly, he felt the movement of air as her hand flew toward him, hitting the cup right out of his hand. It flew across the table, landing on a stack of sandwiches.
Lady Caster jumped back in horror and his father rose.
“What was in the tea, Judith?” He demanded his face red as a poppy.
His mother’s nostrils flared as she rose to her full height, shoulders back. She was a picture of pride and confidence.
“Belladonna. It was belladonna. And it is too late to save her. As for my going to the gaol. I think not. I am the wife of a peer. I will not be convicted of any crime. Any of my fellow ladies will understand that I did what I had to in order to keep you for making a terrible mistake. Their husbands will understand also. And in time, so will you.”
Lady Caster threw her napkin down on the table.
“It is not too late, by no means. I know a bit about plants, and I can tell you, we can save Lady Ruth yet. I require charcoal.”
“I have some!” Lady Sophia called out from the other room, having overheard it all. She and Lady Caster hastened out of the room, toward the young woman’s chamber, leaving Kenneth and his father alone with his mother.
The Duchess rolled her eyes. “Why can you not just let it be? Marry Lady Sophia, as you were supposed to. Really Kenneth. You left me no other choice.”
His father glared at her. The disgust Kenneth felt inside displayed on his face.
“Tell me this, Judith. Who else was involved in this grand design of yours? We know you tricked Lady Sophia into helping you, the hapless, naïve girl that she is. Was Lawrence your ally as well until you framed him?”
“Lord Cragshade was innocent all along,” a woman said. Kenneth was surprised to see their maid, Molly standing at the door.
“Molly, go and tend to your duties.”
The woman shook her head, clutching a feather duster between her hands.
“I can’t, Your Grace. It will all come out now anyhow. My Lord, your cousin was innocent. He was framed. He never cut the saddle strap. He did not push her down the stairs, either. It was I. I did it. On orders of Her Grace.”
“Ah, Molly. You always were a gabster. What are you doing, implicating yourself?” The Duchess turned as she rolled her eyes. “A simpleton.”
“My involvement will be revealed now that Her Grace’s scheme has been uncovered. I know well that I will be blamed, just as Lord Cragshade was, although he was innocent.”
“What of Lady Sophia,” the Duke of Twilightfare called to the maid from the adjoining room. To Kenneth’s relief, Molly shook her head.
“She did not know of the attempts on her sister’s life. She truly believed it to be Lord Cragshade’s doing. She was only involved in the spilling of the wine, and the patch box. She regretted doing it, I know. Do not blame her. She’s just a young girl, influenced by others.” The maid looked at Kenneth’s mother, who glared at her servant.
Just then, Lady Caster returned with Sophia, the two carrying a cup.
“Rimbault!” His father called when Kenneth dashed back to Ruth’s side. “Have the constable summoned. And take Molly into custody. I will handle my wife myself.”
He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away under her loud protestations.
Even now as Ruth lays here so ill, she does not see what she’s done. She does not see she was wrong.
He assisted Ruth’s father in sitting her up while Lady Caster slowly administered the tincture. Lady Sophia stood by, dabbing Ruth’s mouth when some of the liquid spilled.
When all of it was administered, they sat back. “There is no more we can do for now,” Lady Caster said. “I shall go out and look for the physician and inform him what we have uncovered.”
She excused herself and departed the chamber. When they were alone, Ruth’s father looked at his youngest daughter. Recounting what he’d just learned, and he sighed.
“You really did not know anything of the attempt to push her down the stairs? Of the saddle?”
“Of course not. Molly is right. I was involved in breaking the patch box. I did not mean for it to shatter into so many pieces, I just meant for her to drop it and … break it a little. It was horrible of me, I know it. But I wanted to impress Her Grace. I wanted to make Ruth look a little clumsy, a little silly. That is all. I know it was wrong. But I truly believed Lord Cragshade was the one who pushed her down the stairs.”
“It seems my cousin was falsely imprisoned.”
Ruth gently moaned. Kenneth was seated behind her still so her head could rest on his chest. Her father and sister held her hands and when at last she opened her eyes, a few minutes after the administration of the tonic, she blinked at them.
