Part 27 (1/2)
”Can't say, my lady.” The tangles worked out, Tiggle began stroking from her crown down to the ends of her hair.
George sighed in pleasure.
”But he hasn't gone too far away, now, has he?” the maid pointed out.
”Mmm.” George tilted her head so Tiggle could do that side.
”He wants to go-you've said so yourself, my lady- but he hasn't.” Tiggle started on the other side, brus.h.i.+ng gently from the temple. ”Stands to reason, then, that maybe he can't.”
”You're speaking in riddles and I'm too tired to understand.”
”I'm just saying maybe he can't leave you, my lady.” Tiggle set down the brush with a thump and began braiding her hair.
”A lot of good that does me if he can't bring himself to face me, either.” George frowned in the mirror.
”I think he'll be back.” The maid tied a ribbon at the end of George's braid and leaned over her shoulder to meet her eyes in the mirror. ”And when he comes, you'll be needing to tell him, if you don't mind my saying so, my lady.”
George blushed. She had hoped Tiggle wouldn't notice, but she should have realized the maid kept track of everything. ”There's no way of knowing yet.”
”Aye, there is. And you being so regular like . . .”
Tiggle gave her an old-fas.h.i.+oned look. ”Good night, my lady.”
She left the room.
George sighed and dropped her head into her hands. Tiggle had better be right about Harry. Because if he waited too long to return, there would be no need to tell him she was expecting.
He'd see it.
Chapter Seventeen.
”Aye?” The wizened face peeped out the door crack.
Harry looked down. The old woman's head didn't come to his breastbone. The hump on her back bent her until she had to peer sideways and up to see her caller.”Good morning, Mistress Humboldt. My name is Harry Pye. I'd like to talk with you.”
”Best come in, then, hadn't you, young man?” The tiny figure smiled at Harry's left ear and opened the door wider. Only then, in the light let in by the open door, did he see the cataracts that clouded the old woman's blue eyes.
”Thank you, ma'am.”
Bennet and Will were there before him. They sat by a smoldering fire, the only light in the dim room. Will was munching on a scone and eyeing another on a tray.
”Late, aren't you?” Bennet was more alert than he'd been five hours before. He looked quite pleased to have got the first dig in.
”Some of us have to travel by back lanes.”
Harry helped Mistress Humboldt lower herself into a fan-backed chair piled with knitted pillows. A calico cat padded over, meowing. It leaped into the old lady's lap and purred loudly even before she started stroking its back.
”Have a scone, Mr. Pye. And if you don't mind, you can help yourself to tea.” Mistress Humboldt's voice was thin and whistling. ”Now. What have you lads come to talk to me about that you must do it in secret?”
Harry's mouth twitched. The old woman's eyes might be fading, but her mind surely wasn't. ”Lord Granville and his enemies.”
Mistress Humboldt smiled sweetly. ”Have you got all day, then, young man? For if I was to list everyone who ever had a grudge against that lord, I'd still be talking tomorrow morning.”
Bennet laughed.
”You're quite right, ma'am,” Harry said. ”But what I'm after is the person poisoning the sheep. Who has such hatred of Granville that they'd want to do these crimes?”
The old woman c.o.c.ked her head and stared at the fire for a moment, the only sound in the room the purring of the cat and Will eating his scone.
”As it happens,” she said slowly, ”I've been thinking on these sheep killings myself.” She pursed her lips. ”Bad things they are and evil because while it hurts the farmer, it merely bothers Lord Granville. Seems to me that what you really should be asking, young man, is who has the heart to do this.” Mistress Humboldt took a sip of tea.
Bennet started to speak. Harry shook his head.
”It takes a hard heart to not care that others are hurt along the way to getting at the lord.” Mistress Humboldt tapped a shaking finger on her knee to punctuate her point.
”A hard heart and a brave one as well. Lord Granville is the law and the fist in this county, and whoever goes against him is gambling their very life.”
”Who fits your description, Nanny?” Bennet leaned forward impatiently.
”I can think of two men that answer, at least in parts.” She wrinkled her brow. ”But neither are quite right.” She raised her teacup to her lips with a wavering hand.
Bennet s.h.i.+fted in his chair, jiggled one leg up and down, and sighed.
Harry leaned forward in his own chair and selected a scone.
Bennet shot him an incredulous glare.
Harry raised his eyebrows as he bit into the scone.
”d.i.c.k Crumb,” the old woman said, and Harry lowered the scone. ”A while back, his sister, Janie, the one who's weak in the head, was seduced by the lord. A terrible thing, preying on that child-woman.” The corners of Mistress Humboldt's mouth crumpled in a frown. ”And d.i.c.k, when he found out, why, he nearly lost his head. Said he'd have killed him had it been any man but the lord. Would have, too.”
Harry frowned. d.i.c.k hadn't said he'd threatened Granville's life, but then what man would? Surely that by itself . . .
Mistress Humboldt held out her cup, and Bennet silently poured tea for her and placed the cup back in her hand.
”But,” she continued, ”d.i.c.k isn't a mean man. Hard, yes, but not hard-hearted. As for the other man-Mistress Humboldt looked in Bennet's direction-”perhaps it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.”
Bennet seemed bewildered. ”What sleeping dogs?”
Will stopped eating. He looked between Bennet and the old woman. d.a.m.n. Harry had a feeling he knew what Mistress Humboldt was getting at. Perhaps it would be better to leave it alone.
Bennet caught some of Harry's unease. He leaned forward tensely, his elbows on his knees, both heels tapping now. ”Tell us.”
”Thomas.”
s.h.i.+t. Harry looked away.