The Soldier's Poisoned Heart

He pushed the door open and looked inside. No one had noticed him open the door, so he stood in the doorway and watched his guests eating for a moment. Henry, he noticed, was not there. That struck him as odd.

Further, John Paul had no appetite to speak of. He slipped into a chair and let sleep come over him.

He woke to the sound of the clock chiming the hour; it was quite late indeed, if he heard correctly. Perhaps nine o'clock. He saw no one in the room with him; they must have seen him sleeping and decided to let him rest quietly. Indeed, he heard nothing at all. The house had an eerie stillness about it.

His mind was immediately set alight by this, and he felt on-edge. Six new guests, four servants, a rambunctious nephew…there should have been some sort of noise, but even as he strained his ears he heard nothing.

Then, very softly, he heard voices. He couldn't place the first one he heard speaking, but the volume was slowly rising, as if they were becoming agitated, and then he recognized the second. A woman's voice. Was Lydia here?

He pushed himself up from the chair and walked across the room. The colonel was surprised to find that even just walking across the room was an exhausting affair. He knew they must not have been far; he pressed his ear against the first room he came to. It wasn't that one. He lingered there a moment to rest, and then moved on to the next.

He was certainly moving in the right direction; the voices were clearer, and he could almost hear what they were saying. He heard his own name more than once, from both parties, and it spurred him on to keep moving even as the blood pounded in his ears.

And then he saw the door; it was open, only a crack, but he looked inside. There was Lydia; she was positively radiant, he thought. She was flushed and looked excited by something. Then he saw Henry. As his heart pounded hard, he heard Lydia speak, though she turned away from the door as she said it.

"You don't think he'll make it, then?"

Henry stepped up behind her and pulled her into his arms, pressing his face into her neck.

"I'm afraid he may not," he said, softly.

Suddenly, he realized, everything was becoming clear. They must have been in it together from the beginning, or she had seduced Henry away. He could feel the anger rising in his chest, a hot boiling feeling, and he pushed the door open. Lydia turned and saw him as the world went dark.

Chapter 20

Lydia was sitting, looking down over John Paul when he woke. He scowled at her, but said nothing.

"John Paul," she said, breathless. "You're awake."

"What time is it?"

"A bit past eleven, I think."

"And you're still here?"

She looked at him and pressed her lips together.

"Why are you acting like this?"

"You know why," John Paul answered. Lydia closed her eyes and her fiance's anger exploded. "What on earth were you thinking?"

"I was worried about you."

"So you had my nephew poisoning me?"

Lydia looked at him hard for a moment.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"You know full well what I'm talking about. Your brother—"

"My brother," Lydia cut off, "has done nothing at all to you, or to your precious, lecherous Henry!"

"Were you aware that I lent him eight hundred pounds?"

Lydia thought about that a moment before answering. "That might not have been wise. You shouldn't be too badly hurt by it, though, should you? I don't think Simon would press anyone for money that would put them in the poorhouse."

"—and knowing that he'll never pay it back, he's been poisoning me. Using you to poison me. To clear his debt."