Raven (Gentlemen of the Order 2)

She spoke with an air of detachment, as if updating him on the local gossip.

“I recall Archer being an impatient man with burning ambition. But then he was a little older than Jessica if memory serves me right.”

“Yes. He was twenty-two when my father made the announcement that was to ruin all our lives.”

Finlay inhaled a sharp breath. If he hoped to help with her dilemma, he had to focus on Jessica and not on their misfortune.

“Your father loved you dearly and could not have foreseen how events would unfold.”

“No, I’m thankful he is no longer here to see how dreadful things have become.”

Finlay snatched his glass. He swallowed a mouthful of brandy and welcomed the burn. “What happened after your father insisted on a lengthy betrothal?”

Sophia sighed. “I shall spare you every crude detail. Mr Archer’s impatience got the better of him and he seduced Maud. Jessica found them writhing in Maud’s attic room. She fled in a blind panic, tripped and tumbled—” Her voice broke, cracking like the poor girl’s bones hitting the boards.

An internal war raged.

Despite Sophia’s distress, he could not pull her into an embrace.

“I presume Archer thought himself in love with Maud,” he said in the measured tone he used when distancing himself from clients. “Why else would he marry her?” He was desperate to ask about Jessica’s health but wanted to delay the onset of Sophia’s tears.

“Guilt. He married Maud out of guilt.”

Finlay decided not to mention that gentlemen often took advantage of the hired help. His colleague’s last case involved a similar situation. No one would have expected Archer to marry the girl, though Finlay would have flogged the profligate had he been at home.

“So, Archer married Maud as a form of reparation?” he said.

“No. He married Maud to protect Jessica.”

“Forgive me. I’m confused.”

“J-Jessica hit her head in the fall and has not been of sound mind since.” Sophia blinked back tears.

Damn it!

Focus on the case.

“Not of sound mind?” He was keen to know who made the diagnosis, keen to judge the situation for himself. “Is that why a doctor visits weekly?” Sophia spent an inordinate amount of time in town. She would not leave Jessica were it not safe to do so.

“It’s a rather unusual condition. Sometimes she seems like the happy girl of old. Other times it’s as if she is possessed by a wickedness that makes her as devious as the devil. Then she behaves as if she were ten and I find her scrumping in the orchard, or paddling her feet in the moat.”

“To summarise, she is unpredictable.”

“So unpredictable I can no longer sleep peacefully at night.”

Finlay had experience with afflictions of the mind but would judge Jessica’s condition without prejudice. Prevalent men in society needed little evidence of strange behaviour to commit a woman to an asylum. No doubt it was the reason Jessica lived in the heart of an eerie wood, far from the nearest coaching inn, far from town and prying eyes.

“And she has been like this since the accident?” he said.

Sophia nodded and then bowed her head. She clutched her hands so tightly in her lap her knuckles were white. He imagined slipping his hand over hers and giving a squeeze of reassurance. Words of comfort would naturally fall from his lips, promises he shouldn’t make, vows he couldn’t keep.

“In the beginning, we assumed her distress stemmed from witnessing Mr Archer in the … in the act,” she continued. “Father thought the nightmares would pass. We hired Dr Goodwin, and Jessica seemed to make some progress. But one evening while out walking, she disappeared. We found her in Godstow, making an exhibition of herself at The Trout Inn. That’s when Mr Archer and Maud married. Maud pretended she was Jessica to appease the villagers. Whispers of witchery were already spreading like wildfire.”

A log suddenly shifted, the fire crackling and hissing in protest.

Sophia gasped and brought her clasped her hands to her breast. “Goodness, I fear my nerves are frayed.”

The knots in his stomach returned. He couldn’t soothe her, not in the way she needed. “Godstow must be fifty miles from here. I hear Dr Goodwin still makes regular visits. Is it not a long way to come?”