Realm 05 - A Touch of Mercy (34 page)

Poley’s long silence had Aidan thinking the man had not heard him. Finally, the valet said, “I loved my sister. Beatrice was the only one to see me as a competent man. I was never very strong, and with my small stature, I could not aspire to be a footman. But Beatrice made certain my shortcomings did not set my feet on the path to failure. She managed to protect both Sophia and me from the world’s evils. When Lord Lexford bestowed a housekeeping position upon her, Beatrice convinced the late viscount to bring me along.” Like no housekeeping position of which Aidan was aware! Somehow, Aidan doubted Poley would recognize his eldest sister’s shortcomings.

“I worked diligently to prove myself worthy of your father’s trust. When Jonathan Rhodes took a liking to Sophia, Beatrice said we must divorce ourselves from a close relationship with our younger sister so Sophia might assume the role of the landed gentry. Beatrice even managed a dowry of a thousand pounds.”

Aidan assumed his father had provided the dowry. Likely as some form of blackmail. No woman of Mrs. Babcock’s background could rally such funds. He remained silent to permit the valet his confession, but it took every ounce of control Aidan could muster.

“Beatrice adored Lord Andrew.” Aidan bit his tongue to stop the words begging to escape his lips. “When your brother passed too early, Beatrice transferred her admiration to the child.”

Aidan asked, “Did you and Mrs. Babcock conspire to steal Master Aaron away?”

Poley protested, “Oh, no, my Lord! That was all Sophia’s doing!” The valet hesitated. “You injured Sophia in your scuffle. She came to Bea’s quarters afterwards. While you and the others saved the boy and Miss Purefoy, I drew attention away from the scene by going into the village. When everything was clear, Beatrice saw Sophia home. It was Rhodes’s idea that I should claim a bad tooth.”

“Did Mrs. Rhodes not realize she could not keep the boy from me?” Aidan said with a bit more terseness than he intended.

His valet blinked in surprise with the question–as if Aidan should have known the answer. “Sophia meant only to love her daughter’s child. Aaron has always called his grandmother, ‘Mama.’ She was quite distraught when she discovered Jonathan had sent the boy away.”

When the valet offered no more, Aidan ventured, “Did Mrs. Babcock wish to remove Miss Purefoy because of my attentions to the lady?”

Poley glanced to Aidan before saying, “If you marry, your son would displace Lord Andrew’s.”

Aidan’s fists clenched and unclenched. Those under his roof had meant to sabotage his happiness. How long had it been so? Had Mrs. Babcock prayed for Aidan’s early demise so no one would suspect her deceptions? Had the woman’s hopes switched to Aaron when Andrew had died so senselessly? What would have happened to the title if Aidan had met his death on the Continent before Andrew’s demise? Would Mrs. Babcock and Jonathan Rhodes have demanded the right to guide Aaron’s youth? It was not uncommon for trusted servants to tend to a child’s values and care while solicitors and men of business saw to a young heir’s finances. Would the viscountcy have survived their exploitation?

*

He and Swenton had accompanied Squire Holton to Rhodes Hall. Jonathan Rhodes greeted them with a bit of caution. “How kind of you to make a social call. Please sit. I will send for refreshments.”

Although generally an easy-going man, when it came to his position as the local magistrate, Holton took his responsibilities seriously. “Refreshments will not be necessary, Rhodes. We have come on a matter of great importance.”

Rhodes folded his hands across his lap. “How may I be of service, Holton?”

Aidan examined Rhodes’s countenance carefully. The man’s voice might display his congeniality, but the slant of his shoulder and the twitch of his left eye said Susan’s father had something to hide.

Holton pulled notes from his pocket. With Aidan and Swenton’s guidance, the magistrate had question Mr. Poley for over an hour regarding the man’s belief that his youngest sister poisoned the elder of the siblings. “We have come on a complaint regarding an early morning visit by Mr. Poley and Mrs. Babcock.”

“Why would two of the viscount’s servants call upon my household unless Lord Lexford had sent them on an errand?” Rhodes took the offensive.

Aidan would have ordinarily pitied the man, but not under these circumstances. A smart opponent knew when to attack and when to hold his ground. “I assure you, Father Rhodes, I would never disturb
your
household.”
Not the way your wife has disturbed mine
, he thought.

“What are you saying?” Rhodes demanded indignantly before the accusations arrived. Perhaps Rhodes was wilier than Aidan had first anticipated.

Aidan smiled with a smirk. “We are well aware of the relationship between my servants and Mrs. Rhodes, as well as the reason for the Poleys’ call upon your household this morning.”

Rhodes did not respond for many minutes. Surprisingly, Susan’s father dropped his head in defeat. “I have spoken to you previously regarding Sophia’s health,” he said quietly.

Holton asked, “Did Mrs. Rhodes serve her siblings tea this morning?”

Rhodes looked up quickly. “Why would you ask?”

“On her return to Lexington Arms, Mrs. Babcock collapsed,” Swenton explained. “The lady has passed.”

Rhodes was on his feet immediately. “You are saying Sophia purposely killed her sister!” he exclaimed. “Mrs. Rhodes does not possess the guile to execute such a foul act. I have never heard of anything so foolish. My wife is barely knowledgeable of my existence.”

Holton offered professional comfort. “It is a charge of grave importance, Rhodes. The village physician assures me there is no doubt Mrs. Babcock was given arsenic. Whether it was enough to bring about her demise is the question. Despite your objection, as the local magistrate, I must speak to Mrs. Rhodes. I would prefer to do so in the comfort of your home rather than to transport your wife to the nearest gaol. Yet, either way, I mean to meet my duty.”

Rhodes quickly assessed the situation. He begrudgingly rang for a servant to escort Holton to Mrs. Rhodes’s sitting room and dispatched a maid to her mistress’s quarters to inform Sophia Rhodes of the magistrate’s presence. With Holton’s exit, the man turned his anger upon Aidan. “I suppose the squire’s sudden interest in my wife is at your hand. You mean to ruin my wife the way your father and brother ruined Susan.” Rhodes pointed an angry finger at Aidan. “God! I wish never to have known the Kimbolts!” Aidan could say the same of the Rhodeses. Rhodes’s venom grew. “You Kimbolts are all of the same ilk. A path of destruction wherever you go.”

It was Aidan’s turn to rant. “I had thought upon coming to Rhodes End to conceal part of what I know of your family’s deceptions to protect the memory of those who have gone before, but I assure you, Father Rhodes, I want the bloody truth for a change!”

Rhodes’s countenance flushed in anger. “I suppose Poley told you of Arlen Kimbolt’s interest in Susan. That brother of Sophia’s could never keep his mouth tight. So, you mean to know it all do you.” Rhodes paced in agitation. “Well, I tell you, it was none of my doing. It was Beatrice’s idea. The seduction. The title. It was Beatrice’s passion. She meant for one of her family to marry into the aristocracy. My wealth meant nothing without a title, and whatever Beatrice Babcock set as her goal became an absolute truth.”

Aidan was thankful still to be seated for the air had rushed from his lungs. Rhodes unknowingly had opened the door to his family’s deepest secrets. Aidan shot a quick glance to the baron. He hoped he did not appear as bewildered as Swenton. He cleared his throat before saying what he prayed would make sense to Rhodes, “My father’s attentions drove Susan to destruction.”

“My darling girl never recovered,” Rhodes sobbed. The man dejectedly returned to the chair he had vacated earlier. “Susan loved you, Kimbolt, but when you left, she had no one to protect her.”

Aidan wanted to remind Rhodes it was a father’s occupation to protect his only child. Instead, Aidan said softly, “I wanted to make Susan happy.” Yet, he no longer believed he had loved Susan, not in the manner in which he had once thought. “I meant to marry your daughter, but arrangements were made for my service instead.”

“Bea still held influence over your father. Arlen Kimbolt had no choice but to continue the lie he had perpetrated upon the neighborhood. A second son is meant for the military.” Aidan’s earlier fears of Mrs. Babcock having wished for his death resurfaced.

Rhodes closed his eyes before his tale continued. “I should have put a stop to Beatrice’s and Sophia’s grand schemes, but I have never been able to deny my wife anything she desires.” A long pause followed, and Aidan felt sympathy for Rhodes’s plight. Susan’s father was a very weak man. “Bea came to the viscount’s house before your father married Lady Cassandra. I knew nothing of the Poleys at the time, but from Sophia, I have learned how Beatrice thought Arlen Kimbolt meant to end his engagement to Lady Cassandra and to marry Bea in your mother’s place. Bea was with child when Arlen pronounced his vows to Lady Cassandra. The viscount brought his bride to her new house and placed his mistress beside her. According to Sophia, it nearly destroyed Beatrice not to have the title.”

He thought of how his father’s self-centered behavior could have easily destroyed Lady Cassandra Morrison, as well. Aidan sat spellbound. He wished to stop Rhodes’s confession, but he knew this moment had been the one for which he had craved all his life.

“Arlen had a lusty appetite, and Beatrice kept him from Lady Cassandra’s bed by presenting the viscount with a son. Your poor mother knew several losses early on, and Beatrice seized her opportunity to make her son the next viscount.”

Aidan felt the anger again. His father had permitted another woman to rob Aidan’s mother of her rightful role as Viscountess Lexford and him his position as Arlen Kimbolt’s heir. “Your mother was berated for her inability to produce an heir and made to accept the changeover; Andrew’s birth was proclaimed as the legitimate one. The neighborhood thought it odd how Lady Lexford had shown no signs of being enciente before the birth, but no one would speak out against the viscount.” Aidan shook with anger and misplaced guilt. His mother had been too young to withstand the viscount’s manipulations, but her actions nearly stripped him of his birthright.

Rhodes paused again. This time he opened his eyes. The pain of the story had already taken a toll upon the man’s countenance. “Lexford adored the boy; but soon his eye left Beatrice, and he took up with a woman in London. While the viscount saw to his Parliamentary duties, Bea attempted to keep Lady Lexford in line. However, Cassandra Morrison was stronger than Beatrice had anticipated. Lady Lexford visited her family’s estate for an extended stay and returned to Cheshire with a new resolve. Your mother had matured, and she fought for her husband’s attentions. Lady Cassandra was more graceful and more beautiful than Beatrice Babcock could ever hope to be, and soon Kimbolt had fallen madly in love with his wife. It was late coming, but men also mature, and they learn what is important in a marriage,” Rhodes reasoned. The connection between Lord and Lady Lexford, which Susan’s father described, was what Aidan had observed in his childhood.

“With a renewal of Lexford’s commitment to his wife, Lady Lexford delivered forth Aylene and later you, my Lord. Beatrice was forced to watch her hopes dwindle. However, Andrew had been proclaimed the rightful heir, and no one knew how to change what had been set in motion. Arlen changed his will to give you the bulk of his fortune and all of his unentailed lands, leaving Andrew little more than the title.” Aidan wondered how Rhodes had been made privy to such intimate details of his father’s will. Surely, Arlen Kimbolt had not told his former mistress what he had planned. He could not imagine his father being so naïve. Perhaps, the housekeeper had used her position to steal away his father’s secrets.

“Shortly after your father’s changing of his will, Arlen returned to London for important Parliamentary business. In his absence, first Aylene and then Lady Lexford turned ill and passed.” Rhodes turned his gaze upon Aidan. “Do you realize you escaped something more dangerous than a contagious disease when you were returned to your studies?”

Aidan’s voice was heavy. “What are you implying, Rhodes?”

“Think upon it. Why would both mother and daughter succumb to the disease and so quickly?”

Aidan’s composure wilted. He shot a pleading glance to Swenton, and thankfully, the baron understood. “Although it is not likely much can be done after all these years, but I will ask the squire to investigate the circumstances of Lady Cassandra’s death in more detail. For now, perhaps, Rhodes, you will graciously return to your story of Lady Susan Lexford.”

Aidan’s shoulders remained tense, and he could not swallow properly, but he listened with all his being. Rhodes’s voice had taken on the tones of an elderly man. “When you showed an interest in Susan, I was most pleased to have my daughter so properly engaged, but Beatrice solicited Sophia’s assistance for her own revenge against the late viscount. My sister in marriage had discovered how poor the former Lord Lexford had left Andrew, and she meant to reclaim her son’s position. She would not have you placed above Andrew. In Beatrice’s opinion, there was still time for Viscount Lexford to draw up another will. With Sophia’s influence, Susan was convinced to change her affection from you to Andrew. The joining would serve two purposes: a Poley would finally marry into the aristocracy, and the situation would place Andrew in Arlen Kimbolt’s good graces if your brother produced a child quickly.”