Before Eleanor could reply, Adrian appeared in the doorway. He had evidently heard the last words, for he crossed the room, sat on the floor without regard for his fine trousers, and held out his hand. Thomas looked at him, frightened of another adult's anger, then moved close enough to let his uncle rest a palm on his shoulder. Adrian apologized for not listening sooner, not as an Earl defending his reputation but as an uncle speaking to a boy who needed him.
“I should have asked what you were trying to tell me,” he said. “I should have listened when you could not find the words.”
Thomas placed the broken horse in his uncle's hand. “Will you fix him?”
“Yes,” Adrian answered, his voice thick. “We will fix what we can, Thomas. And when something cannot be fixed, I will not pretend it was never broken.”
Fenwick left Greymere under formal suspension two days later. He maintained that the account discrepancies were mistakes made by deceased clerks, that William Finch had acted without authorization, and that Margaret had misunderstood documents she was never meant to see. Through his solicitor he also claimed Eleanor had influenced Thomas into supporting an invented story. Eleanor felt the old dread rising when she heard this, because once again a powerful man was trying to make her family responsible for his own actions.
But this time documents were preserved and witnesses had been heard before the accusations could take root. Adrian's independent solicitor compared the estate ledgers with the bank's registers, obtained the original trust deed from the county's enrollment records, and traced the alleged grain shipments to a warehouse that had never stored the quantities listed. A former clerk, dismissed by Fenwick years earlier, came forward with copies of letters instructing him to leave the recipients' names blank until the steward supplied them. When the clerk was asked why he had remained silent, he said he had feared losing the only employment supporting his mother and sisters.
There was no dramatic trial the following morning. There were weeks of statements, questions, and documents carried between York and the county magistrates. The winter deepened while the investigation continued, and Eleanor watched the worry in the faces of the bridge tenants who had learned never to trust an official promise until it was honored. Adrian responded by ordering the coal deliveries restored immediately and paid for them from his personal income while the trust accounts remained under review.
He also wrote to every household that had received an eviction notice. The letters acknowledged that the notices had been issued without proper examination of the land's trust conditions and had been withdrawn pending lawful review. It was a quieter act than confronting Fenwick in the hall, but Mrs. Marsh wept when Eleanor read hers aloud. For the first time in months, she could put a kettle on the fire without wondering whether someone would arrive to carry her furniture outside.