“What have I gotten myself into?” she murmured as she pried them up. She couldn’t see inside the hole, but when she reached in, she felt the telltale bindings and let her breath go. “Thank God.”
She was just climbing to her feet when she heard someone at the front door. A moment later, she saw a light. Whoever it was had a candle. She didn’t want to be caught with the ledgers for fear they’d be taken from her, but there was no time to put them back.
Chapter 14
“Mrs. Tate! What are you doing here?”
Her neighbor nearly fainted. “Good Lord, child. Ye gave this old woman a start, that ye did. Why ye sneakin’ around in the dark? An’ where’s Geordie?”
Rachel tucked the ledgers under her arm. “He’s at Blackmoor Hall. Fortunately, he loves it there.”
“And you? Do you like it too?”
For the most part, she did. She just wasn’t as optimistic about the path it had put her on. “It keeps a roof over my head.”
Eyes alight with curiosity, her neighbor’s gaze shifted from the hole in the floor to what Rachel was carrying. “What ye got there?”
“Ledgers, for the shop. I… I shouldn’t have left them behind. I need them to create the financial statements necessary to sell the business.”
“Someone else is goin’ ter come in an’ run the shop?”
Feeling guilty for the lie, she gave a noncommittal shrug. “I hope so. If not, I’ll have to sell the inventory, and the earl will have to lease the building to someone else.”
“Ye’ve seen this.” She lifted her candle higher and motioned around them.
“Of course.”
“They ransacked the shop too. Did a lot more damage there.”
Rachel hated the thought of that. The shop had been her sanctuary for so many years, maybe even more so than this house, considering all the faraway places she’d visited via the books she’d read there. “How? There’s a sturdy lock on the door. I saw it.”
“On both doors,” she volunteered. “They broke a window.”
“When?”
“Only a day or two after ye left—as soon as they knew ye were gone. I tried to keep an eye on the place, but the buggers came at night. One morning, I noticed that the door was busted and walked in to find the damage.” She heaved a sigh. “I would’ve sent word of it, but I didn’t want to put any more on yer poor shoulders, not when there was nothin’ that could be done. Do ye have any idea what they were lookin’ for?”
“I can only guess it was Collingood, Thornick, Greenley and Henderson bent on revenge. The miners aren’t very happy with me, as you know—those four in particular.”
“I ’eard there was a misunderstandin’ in the mine.”
Rachel didn’t correct her, didn’t tell her that “misunderstanding” was clearly an attack. It wouldn’t change anything. Why split her loyalties?
“An’ what’s ’appening with you must be a misunderstandin’, too,” she was saying. “That’s what I keep tellin’ myself—and them. I’ve told my own sons not to believe a single word. I’ve known ye since ye were born; ye’ve always been a good girl.”
Homesick for the way things used to be, Rachel smiled. “Thank you for that.”
A pained expression settled on her round face. “It’s not true, is it? What they say about… about you and Lord Druridge?”
Rachel wished she could deny it, but she couldn’t. Maybe she wasn’t technically the earl’s mistress, but she had been compromised, and ever since then her thoughts, where he was concerned, had been impure—far from what an innocent maid should be daydreaming about. “Yes.”
“I can… I can understand a young girl gettin’ bowled over by the attentions of such a… a remarkable man. But ye know ’e’ll set ye aside eventually, Rachel. Ye ’ave to know that.”
Everyone felt inclined to warn her. Warnings weren’t necessary, however. No one understood the perils of her situation better than she did. “I do know, Mrs. Tate. But nothing has been simple since Mum died.”
“Child, ye can come live with me if—”
“And have the whole village turn on you too? No. I won’t hear of it. Geordie has a good position. I’ll remain grateful for that and fare as best I can.” Feeling pressure to reach Elspeth’s so she could begin the long walk to her new home, she shifted the ledgers so she could give her neighbor a hug. “Thank you for all you have done for me and my family. Someday I hope to repay you. But for now… I must go.”
She started to slip past, but Mrs. Tate caught her arm. “There’s one more thing.”
Rachel waited.
“I can’t tell ye who did this. Like I said, I didn’t find it until the followin’ mornin’. But Rulon, my oldest, mentioned something curious to me.”
“Curious?”
“Involving the earl’s cousin and Jonas Cutberth. You know Jonas—”
“I do,” she said, although she wished she didn’t. He could’ve stood up for her, could’ve minimized the negative reaction that had essentially expelled her from her home, from all of Creswell. Instead, he’d treated her with as much disdain as anyone else, acted as if she’d never done anything for the miners or their cause. “What was so curious?”
“He thinks they’re up to something… secretive, says they’ve been acting strange of late.”
The edges of the books cut into her bicep, she gripped them so tightly. “In what way?”
“They’re always having private conversations, he said, ones where they clam up as soon as they realize someone else is around.”
What could that be about?
Rachel had no idea, but this was further proof that she should be leary of Cutberth. “Thank you,” she said, her smile tight, and stepped out.
Elspeth refused to see Rachel, refused to so much as accept her letter. Rachel was so shocked that she could only gape at the girl who came to the small antechamber at the back door to give her word. She might’ve expected such a snub from any of the other villagers, but Elspeth? How could Elspeth judge her?
“Did she say why?” she asked as she stared at the envelope that had been thrust back into her hands.
The girl wouldn’t quite meet her gaze. “I’m afraid she’s very busy.”