The Duke’s Guests Laughed as the Maid Fell Into the Lake — She Said, “I’ll Remember Every Face”
Chapter 11
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Clara opened her mouth. Every word of the letter was screaming inside her. She wanted to pull it out of her pocket and put it in his hands, but she could not. Not yet. A letter with two initials on it—E.V.—found by a housemaid in a locked room: Lord Vane would laugh. He would say she wrote it herself. And the moment he found out who she was, she would be finished. She needed more. She needed proof nobody could deny."No reason, Your Grace," she said. "I only wondered."The Duke nodded and left. Clara stood alone in the dusty study with her hand pressed flat against her apron pocket, feeling the paper underneath.She did not know that someone else had been standing in the hallway the whole time. Lady Cordelia's maid, a sharp-eyed girl named Bess, had seen the Duke go into the study. She had seen him stay there with the housemaid for nearly half an hour, and she had seen him come out with a look on his face she had never seen before.She ran straight to her mistress.That evening, while the household was at dinner, the servants' staircase was empty. Every maid and footman in the house was busy carrying plates and pouring wine. Nobody saw Lady Cordelia slip up the narrow steps to the attic where the housemaids slept.She found Clara's bed at the end of the row: a thin mattress, a gray blanket, a small wooden box with a few poor belongings inside. Cordelia wrinkled her nose in disgust. Then she reached into the pocket of her silk gown and took out something that glittered in the dim light.It was the Ravensworth diamond brooch. It had belonged to the Duke's family for 200 years. The Dowager Duchess wore it only on the most special occasions; it was worth more than the whole village of Ravensworth. That afternoon, Cordelia had asked the Dowager if she might try it on to see how it would look with her wedding dress. The old woman had let her, and Cordelia had simply never given it back.She lifted the corner of Clara's thin pillow and pushed the brooch deep underneath. Then she smoothed the pillow flat, straightened the blanket, and smiled."Let's see Thomas defend you now," she whispered.Clara did not sleep with the letter under her pillow. Something told her not to. Before dawn, while the other maids were still snoring in the attic, she crept down to the stables in her bare feet. Bramble lifted her old gray head and gave a soft little sound of welcome."Hush, my girl," Clara whispered. "I need you to keep a secret for me."In the corner of Bramble's stall, there was a loose board in the wall. Clara knew it was loose because 15 years ago, her father had shown it to her; it was where he kept his pipe and tobacco hidden from the head coachman. She pulled the board back. The little hollow behind it was still there, full of dust and cobwebs. She wrapped the old Duke's letter in a clean handkerchief and pushed it deep inside. Then she pressed the board back into place.