Thrown Out on Christmas Eve, She Took Shelter in an Empty House — Unaware the Duke Was Coming Home
Chapter 13
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"Anything," said Edmund. "What?"Mrs. Tibbs told him.The morning of the 30th was gray and still. By 9:00, there was not a seat left in the long room of the Lamb Inn; those who could not get in stood outside in the snow under the windows.Sir Henry Dalby sat at a table at the front with his clerk beside him. In front of the table, on a smaller table, lay a pair of tall silver candlesticks, tarnished almost black. Mr. Pike sat on the right in his good black coat with Jacob Moss at his elbow. Hannah sat on the left in her plain brown dress, with Mrs. Tibbs on one side and Sam on the other; she had her father's order book on her knee.Edmund came in last. The room went quiet when he entered. He looked for a moment at the front bench beside Hannah, where there was no room, and then he went and stood at the side of the room against the wall with his arms folded: not beside her, not in front of her—near. Hannah did not look at him, but Mrs. Tibbs, watching closely, saw her shoulders ease just a little.Sir Henry cleared his throat. "This is a hearing to determine whether Miss Hannah Lowe should be sent for trial at the Kendal Assizes on a charge of theft," he said. "Mr. Pike, you have made the complaint. Say your piece."Mr. Pike stood up. He had always spoken well. Miss Lowe, he said, was a desperate young woman with a sick child to feed; nobody could blame her for being tempted, but the candlesticks had been found in her trunk, and the law was the law."And as for the candle accounts, which His Grace has been so good as to question," said Mr. Pike with a little bow toward the wall where Edmund stood, "I have the receipts here, signed by Walter Lowe himself. Every one." He laid a thick bundle of papers on the magistrate's table. "If Miss Lowe's father chose to take the estate's money and not deliver the goods, that is a sad thing, and I am sorry to speak ill of the dead, but it is no fault of mine."There was a low sound in the room—an unhappy sound.Sir Henry looked at Hannah over his spectacles. "Miss Lowe, do you have counsel?""No, sir," said Hannah, standing up. "I'll speak for myself, if you'll allow it.""Go on, then."Hannah walked to the front of the room. She was pale, and her hands were holding her father's order book very tightly, but when she spoke, her voice carried to the back wall.