Just before Hannish gave him the check, he smiled. "I have decided to expose your treachery anyway. I sent a letter to several of my friends and have advised them not to secure your services in the future. I also notified Scotland Yard. Good day, Mr. Graham." Hannish left the room, nodded to the hotel manager and walked out the front door.
Mr. Goodwin, a man with shorter legs than he, had to run to catch up. "Did you really notify Scotland Yard?"
Hannish stopped and grinned. "Nay, but he's a good two weeks to worry about it before his ship lands in England."
The bank manager laughed. "Remind me not to cross you, Mr. MacGreagor."
Hannish tipped his hat and went to see how many packages his sister needed him to carry.
*
With Olivia, George Graham, Charlotte and Charles Whitfield no longer a problem…they hoped life at Marblestone Mansion would begin to settle down. It was a very large home, with too few servants and far too many things arriving each day to see anyone idle for long.
Millie was a lady's maid without a lady to tend, so she gladly took on some of the second floor housecleaning duties. Anything was better than the duchess. The elders, Donnel and Blanka, could fully enjoy their servant's day room, now that Olivia was not there to complain, and both believed the high Colorado altitude helped with many of their ailments. No one expected either of them to work very hard. McKenna required little, so Sassy helped Sarah too. The five of them would simply have to do and everyone, including the men, helped carry laundry to the clothesline and kept the third floor clean.
With their pay in hand now, Jessie and Millie were excited to see the town seamstress and order new clothes. Soon, Jessie could turn her worn-out clothing into rags. Halen went with them, and they enjoyed a whole day of shopping, leaving enough sandwich makings to keep those at home happy. A few days later, they returned to town for the final fittings.
Meanwhile, everyone tried to agree on a new name for the puppy. It wasn't easy since the Scots thought the Americans had terribly odd names for dogs, such as Spot and Pooch. Likewise, the Americans thought the more formal names, like Berkeley and Ballard given to dogs in Scotland, ridiculous. One thing was for certain, everywhere Hannish went, the dog followed; that is, unless he was hungry and then cook Halen was his favorite.
Abigail wasted no time repeating every word McKenna told her about the failed marriage of poor Hannish MacGreagor, and invitations to this function or that soon began to arrive. Hannish decided it was not yet time for him to make public appearances, although he did agree to take McKenna to the next ball. He simply did not want to endure condolences and McKenna agreed. She sent their regrets and passed their excuses to Abigail, who was happy to explain it to the rest of the town. Telephones, it seems, had changed the speed of gossip forever.