Madhouse Bride 3

 

Chapter 3

 

Julian returned to his own house with hope and satisfaction, and took the papers, jewellery, and some cash up to Anne.

“These are all yours,” he said. “But I would like to go through the papers with you.”

“Oh, Julian! Jilkins did like you, then. I hid my key to the safe, but at my aunt and uncle’s house; I was afraid of them checking my things, and I pushed it down into the soil of the nerines in the conservatory.  It was November when he died, and I saw the nerines, and they gladdened my heart.”

“So, it’s almost a year since he died, it is almost October. You will be eighteen when?”

“January 8^th,” said Anne.

“Well, I shall say that I was waiting until you were almost 18 and out of school before finalising plans,” said Julian.

Anne giggled.

“Why don’t you tell them you want to speak about the wedding? They’ll think you fell in love with their daughter, Clarinda, who is a few years older than me. She’s blonde,” she added. “She used to kick over the pail of water I had when scrubbing floors, or kick me in the belly as I was kneeling down, especially when I was…” she blushed.

“On your courses? I know about them,” assured Julian.

“Yes,” said Anne. “She is on the shelf because most men who would be eligible have heard of her.”

“Clarinda Denver! Of course!” said Julian. “The woman whose voice shatters glass and stuns small creatures with its volume and pitch.”

“You’ve met her,” said Anne.

“Not directly, but I have been to a ball where she was present,” Julian admitted. “And someone questioned her about her cousin, and she had a tantrum about how her father’s sister had married some French layabout, who did not even bother to work for his living in the land that gave him succour, and he produced a mongrel daughter who was nothing more than a French whore.” He scowled. “Had I known then….”

“But you did not,” said Anne. “Really, a layabout? My father worked very hard building up a financial investment business, which is still being run, I suppose, by his partner, Abram Jakes. And if he was a layabout, why is Uncle Thomas so keen on getting hold of my fortune?  I am glad you brought this paperwork, it proves that my trustees are Mr. Jakes and Mr. Endicott, the solicitor.”

“I shall go and see them,” said Julian. “Unless they are crooks, I shall not have to use the clause giving me control of your money on the betrothal, but I want to talk to them both. Preferably together.”

“Do you have a town house?” asked Anne.

“Yes, I do.”

“Perhaps you should invite them there for dinner and a discussion in concern for your betrothed wife,” said Anne. “And if they are on our side, Mr. Endicott might draft a better betrothal and prenuptial agreement for me to sign.”

“I will send out invitations and a letter to the servants in the town house, and meet with them tomorrow,” said Julian.

Anne giggled.

“You expect people to come to a peremptory call, whatever they may have arranged,” she said.

“Yes,” said Julian. “And most people do.”

He wrote three letters, and sent off a stable boy.

 

The papers from the safe gave a better idea of Anne’s legal finances, and Julian whistled at how well Bonnet had done with his original stake in finance.

The stable boy returned late, with a letters for Julian.

My lord,

I do not know what interest you may have in the estate of the late Henri Bonnet, but I find your rather brusque summons to be discourteous. I will attend, at some inconvenience, because I still have a duty of care to Miss Anne Bonnet, and I want to know what you are up to.

Phil^p Endicott, solicitor.

“Sounds like an honest man,” said Julian. The other letter ran,

My lord,

I do not recall ever having undertaken investments on your behalf, and I have no record of Henri doing so either. I am not accustomed to being ordered around like some junior clerk, but you may be assured that my curiosity is sufficiently piqued that I will hear what you have to say. I will put up with no double-dealing or shams so be warned.

Abram Jakes.

“Sounds like another honest man,” said Julian.

 

oOoOo

 

Julian drove into town, taking Robbie as a man he knew to be loyal, and let himself into the town house, a tall Palladian building overlooking the square where he resided. He headed for the servants’ domain first to see how the cook was managing.

The cook was waxing loud on the unreasonableness of an employer giving him only overnight warning of a dinner party, however small, and that his lordship would have to make do with what he had been able to get.

“His lordship thinks you are doing very well,” said Julian.

The cook jumped.

“M… my lord!” he spluttered.

“Carry on; I knew I could trust you to pull of something doubtless impossible for any lesser chef,” said Julian.

The mixture of scaring the cook and praising him should make him produce an excellent meal.

It was to be an early dinner, and Julian chafed at wasting hours until an evening meal, but it served better than seeing each in his own office.

Both men duly arrived, and Julian had them ushered into the library, a room where he felt comfortable.

“What’s all this about?” demanded Jakes.

“Gentlemen,” said Julian. “I want to discuss whether either of you is complicit in the attempted fraud being perpetrated on Miss Anne Bonnet by her uncle and aunt, and whether they have managed to talk you into giving them any of her money.”

“Only her allowance and the fees of the very expensive school she is attending,” said Endicott.

Julian stood up, his face a mask of rage, and he slammed his hand down on his desk.

“How dare you lie to me?” he demanded. “How can you condone a young girl being drugged, ill-treated, kicked, and then committed to a lunatic asylum for the confusion caused by the drugs, and call it an ‘exclusive school?’ is that the euphemism you chose, or Thomas Denver?”

“What the devil are you talking about? Mr. Denver said that the girl is in a finishing school in Switzerland,” said Endicott. “What is this about a lunatic asylum?”

“Bugger me!” burst out Jakes, “That’s what that fellow meant when he said Denver had found a way around her trust! What do you know about it and how?”

“A few nights ago, I found a young girl breaking out of an asylum. I considered her speech to show her to be as sane as anyone, and she described tactics to drive her to irrationality, as well as drugging, which closely mirrored tactics used on me, when I inherited my title as a minor,” said Julian. “I have made an offer of marriage to Miss Bonnet to protect her, but I want to make sure her loathsome uncle cannot touch her money.” He smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. “I have a letter from Anne to both of you, authorising me to act on her behalf,” he said, handing letters Anne had written to each of them.

“Aye, this is Anne Bonnet’s style all right, as well as her handwriting,” said Jakes.

“But… but… that means that they lied to me!” said Endicott.

“Strange as it may seem, crooks and villains do lie,” said Julian.

“You are sarcastic,” said Endicott.

“Why, yes, so I am,” said Julian.

“I will cease payment forthwith!” cried Endicott.

“You will not,” said Julian. “I want them caught in a trap where their perfidy is shown; where they are as embarrassed as a young girl tricked and drugged into taking off her clothes in front of a vicar and other upright citizens, as a final act to justify the Denvers in having some quack of a doctor declare her insane and place her in a private asylum.”

“Are you sure it was their actions?” asked Endicott.

“Anne told me that she was pampered for a week or so, then awoke after a bitter cup of hot chocolate with a ragged dress, in a garret, and told she was the maid of all work, and had always been the maid of all work, and should not make up such wicked fantasies nor call the master and mistress ‘uncle’ or ‘aunt.’ Her cousin would kick over the bucket where she was scrubbing, and kick her in the belly as well. And if that has jeopardised the succession when I marry her, I don’t care, I intend to take care of her,” snarled Julian. “And this pattern was repeated more than once.”

“Dear me! I cannot see Anne making such things up,” said Endicott. “I was told nothing of this; I would, assuredly, have insisted on the opinion of another doctor.”

“That’s why you weren’t told,” said Julian. “But that lie is a potential weakness.”

“They might claim embarrassment, to tell such a lie,” said Endicott.

“Yes, but the asylum is not going to cost as much as an expensive finishing school in Switzerland,” said Julian.

“I just pay the shares of Henri’s half of our company into Miss Bonnet’s account,” said Abram Jakes. “I was going to ask her, when she left school, after her eighteenth birthday, whether she felt that her father had taught her enough about investment to be an active part of the firm, unorthodox, but I would not wish to block anyone as brilliant as Henri just for being a woman; or whether she wished to sell out her half share to me.”

“I’ll discuss that with her,” said Julian. “In any event, I shall be investing with you, unless your profits have dropped significantly since the loss of Henri Bonnet.”

“We are very healthy, financially,” said Jakes.

“Good. Send me some information,” said Julian. “Mr. Endicott, Anne and I came up with a document of betrothal and prenuptial agreement for me to use as leverage against the Denvers.”

“Show me,” said Endicott.

Julian did. Mr. Endicott pursed his lips.

“It would do, I suppose,” he said. “But some of the drafting is deficient in legal terminology. It would be better worded thus…” he took a piece of writing paper from the desk and rapidly drafted a document so stiff with legal language that Julian almost applauded.

“Of course, as Henri is dead, I could not possibly draw up a document of this kind, because Henri could not possibly sign it. Though, I suppose, he might have easily done so without my knowledge, and on parchment with a good black ink; oak gall ink or India ink will do and not be at all anomalous. But I could not do it myself, dear me, no. But if I see Henri’s signature I am sure I could authenticate it; this one seems perfectly authentic.”

“You old fox,” said Julian, appreciatively.

“Dinner is served,” said the butler, coming in.

“Excellent,” said Julian. “My cook is put out with me for demanding a meal at short notice, but I have every faith in his genius to pull it off.”

Later, as Abram Jakes rather furtively mopped up gravy with a piece of bread and butter, he joked,

“I wonder what your cook would produce if not hurried!”

“Too many fancy kickshaws that give me indigestion,” said Julian. “I’d rather have a good honest gravy than a fancy sauce.”

“I’m with you on that score, my lord,” said Endicott.

“Me too,” said Jakes. “Please pass him my appreciation and thanks for an excellent meal.”

“I agree,” said Endicott.

Julian smiled. That should please the man, and keep him on his toes.

They had discussed Anne’s predicament further, and were ready to act as Julian needed.

He decided to drive back into the country as it was early, and this time he noted the position of the asylum from which Anne had escaped so that he could specify its address.

 

Anne was waiting for him, in a dressing-gown, and reading a book.

“Are they on our side?” she asked.

“They are,” said Julian. “Indeed, Mr. Endicott produced a document with better wording than the betrothal document we worked out, whilst stating that of course he could not produce such a document when one of the signators was dead, but that he could recognise an authentic signature on an older document which was found, like the one I showed him. With your efforts, m’dear.”

“Splendid!” said Anne.

“I called him an old fox, which he correctly took as a compliment,” said Julian. “I’ll write that out tonight so you can sign it first thing; we need the ink to be dry before I beard your uncle in his den.”

“I’ll sit up so I can sign it,” said Anne. “I might snore a little, but I will wake up quickly at need.”

“Ah, well, if you are certain, I shall do so,” said Julian.  “Not finding it too irksome being confined to the nursery complex?”

“Believe me, it’s spacious heaven compared to the asylum,” said Anne. “And there is a delightful balcony, which may be barred off to stop any enterprising infant from escaping, but it is a touch of fresh air.”

“What a good, patient girl you are,” said Julian. “I am sorry that you are confined at all.”

“It helps that it is coming up to winter,” said Anne. “It would be very hard in spring, and everything beckoning to me to go outside. I was imprisoned in that place in spring, and… and I wanted to kill myself at first.”

“My poor dear,” said Julian. “At least they did not do any of the experimental treatments I have heard of.”

“Oh, but they were going to, Julian!” cried Anne. “If… if I did not sign a will leaving everything to my uncle, I was to be given ‘treatments;’ and the doctor described them, baths in icy water, and shocks from Voltaic batteries. He… he showed me on my hand and suggested that… that attachments in more… intimate places would be… countering hysteria. It’s why I decided I had to escape, even with winter coming on, because I was in fear of whether I would survive until spring. I knew as soon as I signed, I would be signing my death warrant.”

“I will do my best to see that this false doctor suffers,” said Julian. “I will protect you from now on; you have nothing more to fear.”