The Girl Underground

Chapter 14: The Admirable and the Foolish

         Chapter 14: The Admirable and the Foolish

New Orleans, Louisiana, 1850

"So... Did the Magistrate find out about Abigail's affair?"

Dorsey nodded. "He did."

"How?"

"Just as I told you," Dorsey smiled softly to himself. "He was pointed in the right direction."

Ronald shook his head. "And to think... All this time his eldest daughter was not even his, and Abigail knew. Did she ever find out that it was Malia watching her in the woods?"

"That's for the story to tell."

Ronald had no idea what that meant, but he didn't press it. "Was Malia the only one that knew about Abigail?"

Dorsey turned to look out the window. "Well, unfortunately, rather, there was another."

"Really?" Ronald leaned forward. "Who was it?"

Dorsey sighed and sat back in his seat, tapping his finger on his knee. "Me."

XXX

Lanfore, Hertfordshire, 1823

Abigail Quincy was fuming, but she refused to lose her temper with John. She knew that was what he was expecting; she had to find a way to play it by her rules.

Was it a mistake to tell John to look in the shed? She should have known that it would have look suspicious on her part. The men were right in assuming that she herself would never just in the woods, and the shed wasn't common knowledge. John was the Magistrate, and a shrewd man to boot. If she wanted to play underhanded tricks, she had to careful. She was too desperate to get rid of Arthur, it was starting to show.

That night in the woods was dangerous. Abigail knew someone had seem them, she only wished she knew who it was so she could make them stay silent. Who else would wander about the woods that late at night? Certainly no proper lady or gentleman unless, like her, they had a secret agenda. But then how was she to know?

Perhaps it had been a mere trick and there had been no one there. Perhaps she was just being paranoid but then again, perhaps not.

What if it had been Cromwell? That foul man had it in for her, she just knew it. If Abigail could have it her way, she would have had the man drawn and quartered in full view of the market and be done with it. But if it had been him witnessing her falling out with Arthur in the woods, she was done for.

If it was him, tosh! Who else could it be? Who else would follow her? She and Arthur and met in that spot in the woods because no one else ventured there ever! It was secluded. Someone would have to have a reason to go there, like they did, so he must have followed her.

That foul, foul, loathsome man! How was she going to talk herself out of this one? She knew he would come back to interrogate her, now that he had a great deal of something to question her on. And he would tell John, she just knew he would. She had to find something-anything! -on him first before he could.

Or, perhaps just cut the problem off at the source...

Yes... Yes, that is what I have to do. I have to do this... I do!

She had to get rid of Cromwell.

It sounded mad, she knew, but since there was no questioning that it had been him in the woods, what else could she do? She had to protect her family and, most importantly, herself. No one could know her sins from the past, even if there was living, breathing proof of it in her child. And if John found out about that, it would kill him. He loved his daughters, they were his whole world.