A Noble Cause

XXVI - Best Self

Twenty-six: Best Self

My dear boy,

I wished to tell you this in person first — and indeed I shall as soon as I am free —, but I did not want to deprive you from the news. It would greatly vex me to have you find out from another source, should you ever have done so. I have decided to properly denounce your father, who was arrested for the murder of Abigail two days after you and I last talked, when I returned to London. I will come to Malmesbury as soon as I can to clarify the situation and answer all the questions I am certain you have, but, as of right now, I must settle the issues regarding the divorce and his arrest to make sure he stays for good and rightfully pays for his crimes.

The police are currently looking for the doctor, who, they believe, will help our case. Either way, I do believe that reason may at last reign supreme and your father may conduct one last act of decency and plead guilty. Until then, I will keep you informed of anything that might happen.

Lovingly,

Your mother.

Samuel finished reading the letter with a weight in his heart. He had had a most difficult time killing off the image of his dear and loving father from his mind and replacing it with the monster he truly was. He hoped he would never have to face him again in his life, which would help with it, he imagined, but now his plan had been torn to shreds just like the image of Hans in his mind, as testifying was sure to be a reality. Nonetheless, after the initial flux of emotions passed, he reasoned and through it he grew sure that this had been the best decision his mother could have possibly taken. He would gladly go down to London — or up to Edinburgh — to testify against him if it meant he would, as his mother so rightly put it, "pay for his crimes" and Lord he had committed quite a few of them. Law was not Samuel's speciality, and its application on a noble has never been ipsis litteris, but he knew it would, inevitably, end up bad for his father.

He rose from his chair in his study and walked downstairs to the main hall. Arlene had just cleaned the living room and the smell of the new rose scent she bought last time she went to town came from the room and filled his nostrils in a most pleasurable way. By the time he walked downstairs, she was taking the dust off the furniture in the main hall; his gaze met hers and he wished her good afternoon.

"Good afternoon, my lord," she said. "Have you liked the new scent?" she took the liberty of asking. The impact of her action could quickly be seen in her cheeks, as they grew a shade warmer.

Samuel's hawk eye noticed it and comforted her with a smile.

"I did, very much. Thank you, Arlene."

She smiled, and the otherwise warm shades were now hot, even bordering boiling. She could not keep her emotions contained when she was near him and, though she would very much like to, she also liked it when Samuel reacted to it, as he had just done. To say she was in love with him would require more context and time than the mere gaze-meeting, compliment-giving routine they had had for a few months, but to deny the passion in it would be plain stupidity. Yet, both were well within their rights — and duties — not to act on it.

The house had been more quiet than usual in the past few days after Isaac had set things right with Egbert. They day after he talked with Egbert, he asked for a few days off so he could settle things properly, which Samuel had no issue in granting, and they decided to go on a little "escapade" in the countryside, in which their only concern (and entertainment) was each other's company. They both agreed that any decisions that should certainly be taken to decide on their future would be done better if they were in what Isaac called "neutral ground"; that is, away from Malmesbury, even though they would, eventually, come back to it.