Remember Then

III. Locks and Doors

"I am utterly serious! They surprised me!" Nicholas was saying to his younger brother, Ralph, over the noise of the card games surrounding them at Grey's. He turned to Samuel Theobald, Ralph's friend from Adam's School for Young Gentlemen. "They did take me by surprise."

Samuel frowned. "And you had no idea at all? You are the lord of the estate for God's sake!"

Nicholas opened his eyes to answer but Ralph was faster to take the opportunity to make a mockery out of him by saying, "He is often taken by surprise by his servants. Your bloody sister has pretended to be his valet for months, Samuel, and he did not even feel an ounce of suspicion. How do you expect him to know what happens between his own butler and the chambermaid?" Ralph sneered at Nicholas. "You make a habit of knowing things upon the sound of wedding bells, brother."

Nicholas gritted his teeth at the reminder of how Samuel's sister, Maxine Theobald, who was now his brother Maxwell's wife, had fooled him for months on end, pretending to be a man—and his own valet! "I did see she was an odd sort to be a valet," he tried in grave and weak attempt to defend himself.

Ralph and Samuel merely scoffed as they reached for their drinks.

"And how did you respond to them?" Ralph asked.

"Who?"

"Your bloody butler and the chambermaid!"

"Ah, yes," he uttered with a shrug. "Of course I allowed the marriage. Oscar is a very tight man, too tight for his own good. And Molly seems to be a good influence. He smiled at me for the first time a fortnight ago, of course I said yes!"

"Maxine did share her excitement about the butler and the chambermaid months before," said Samuel. "She is friends with both, I remember."

"Of course," Nicholas said, "for your sister has the propensity to be at the wrong places in most cases—first in my own household pretending to be a valet and then at Rock'oles to grab her husband."

Samuel narrowed his eyes. "Maxwell was in Rock'oles?"

"To help with an important matter, no women," Nicholas quickly supplied. Maxwell had suffered enough with Samuel and his older brother when Maxwell went off to Tiny Town and married their sister. There was no need to inflict more damage on the poor man.

Samuel nodded but his eyes still held a glint of suspicion. As a writer for the Town Herald, the man's mind could very well be compared to the gossip section—complicated and utterly mysterious.

"By the by, Samuel," Ralph said, changing the topic for he was the only man in the table who would not wish for Samuel to be curious about the help Nicholas was talking about, "Your recent article about the Town Leaders caused quite an uproar."

"Yes," Nicholas agreed, "Ever since that marvelous article you wrote about Maxine, you have gotten bolder with your writing."

"You ought to be careful, my friend," Ralph said before Samuel could open his mouth in protest. "You cannot ken what a statesman might be inclined to do if you ruin their reputation, even if it was about a servant beating. A law protecting servants is yet to be passed and your loud rhetoric on the Herald might cause more trouble. Your pen can only protect you from afar."

Samuel sighed and shook his head. "And who do you expect to speak for the people? Who do you suspect ought to tell them of the unwanted events these Leaders are causing? And it is not just the Leaders I was attacking but the many other gentries who think themselves too high that they can beat their servants to death over a spilled fifty-year-old brandy! Who would tell the people of such atrocious acts? They all purchase the Herald for the gossip—gossip! One must feel great alarm when the people start to care less for politics and human error!"