Chapter 12

The door opened. Agatha Gaunt walked in, gray-faced, with Nan Bellow holding her arm. At dawn, while the house slept, Amelia had gone to the housekeeper's room with a letter Nan had watched Silas seal and leave on his desk for the morning post—addressed to his lawyer in Bath, describing Mrs. Gaunt as an unstable woman who had been secretly drugging the girl without his knowledge. He had been preparing to hang her for his crime from the very start. Mrs. Gaunt had read it, and something in her had broken."He told me to do it," she said now in a cracked voice, not looking at anyone. "Seven years ago, he told me how much and when. He paid me a pound a week. Last night, he told me to double the dose once the girl was in Bristol."Silas laughed loudly. "This is absurd! A madwoman and a hysterical girl! Pruitt, arrest my niece! She's clearly lost her mind. Have her taken to her room and locked in!"The magistrate hesitated, glanced at the £300 he owed, and took a step forward.The library doors swung open.Lucien Harkort walked in. He was still in the torn gray livery, mud on his boots, a bloody bandage around his forearm where the whip had cut him. In his arms, wrapped in a blanket and wide awake, was Kit.Behind him came a tall, white-haired gentleman in a riding coat: Lord Ashby, the Lord Lieutenant of the county, whom Ambrose Pike, on Lucien's sealed orders, had slipped out to fetch while Silas slept.Silas Crowther turned the color of old candle wax. Basil backed out of the doorway and was simply gone.Lucien set Kit down gently in the nearest chair. Then he reached into his pocket, took out a heavy gold signet ring bearing the arms of Calderwood, and slid it onto his finger in front of everyone."Good morning, Sir Silas," he said quietly. "I'm afraid I'm not drowned. And I'm afraid I'm not a footman."Mr. Pruitt sat down very suddenly in the nearest chair. Pike stood up for the first time all morning, straightened his borrowed coat, and bowed deeply to the man in livery. "Your Grace."Lord Ashby picked up the doctor's letter and the late Lord Hartwell's letter from the table and read them one after the other. Then he looked at Silas Crowther the way a man looks at something on the bottom of his boot."Sir Silas, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of your ward, Catherine Hartwell, for fraud against her estate, and for conspiracy. Your guardianship of both children is revoked as of this moment." He turned to Pruitt. "And you, sir, will explain to me later why you were so very eager to witness this signature."Silas finally broke. He lunged toward Amelia, his face twisted with rage. "You ungrateful little—"Lucien stepped between them before he had taken two steps. He didn't raise a hand; he didn't need to. Silas looked up into the Duke's face and stopped as if he had walked into a wall.

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