Rushbrooke End (Book 4)

Chapter 2

"Luckily for us, I've never met a bad idea I did not immediately embrace like the dearest of friends."

― Jennifer Lynn Barnes, All In

The next day dawned bright and cold, frost creating whorls and loops on all the windows. It had snowed again and Cole Hall looked like something off a Christmas card. Even Lilly, as jaded and cynical as she was, had to admit how lovely it was.

"Freezing though," she remarked to her family, reaching for a piece of toast

The nine residents of Cole Hall were sat at the round breakfast table, Sir Edgar reading the paper, a bit of fried egg hanging from his moustache that no one had brought his attention to. Isabella was insisting to her mother that she was feeling all right and that her mother was imagining things again.

"Lilly dear, Helen, Alice and I were going to visit Rushbrooke End. The previous owner has just passed away and his son is now in residence. We were going to visit him, would you like to come?" Isabella asked, ignoring her mother's protests about the chill.

"Must I?" Lilly looked at Richard for help. He only nodded and gave her a cool look.

"Yes, Lilly, it would be advisable for you to meet him." Richard replied, buttering some bread and she sighed dramatically.

"Well, if I must."

Truth be told, Lilly had always been intrigued by Rushbrooke End. Compared to Cole Hall's sprawling grandeur, Rushbrooke had seemed dark and a little forbidding with it's ivy covered walls and gothic façade. She had never met the late owner or his son. All she knew was that his wife and daughter had perished under mysterious circumstances years previously. The late Earl of Tavistock had been somewhat of a hermit and it was rumoured his son had gone abroad for his education, studying in France and Germany and even staying in the wild and never fully mapped marshes and bogs of East Anglia. The  Grimshaws, (also a delicious and mysterious name) had been quite and closeted and even their closest neighbours, the Tiffanys, knew very little about them.

So it was with disguised joy and trepidation that Lilly set off with her sisters and extended family.

It was a crisp, cool day and Lilly as grateful for her thick cloak and warm boots. It was a twenty minute walk just to get off Cole Hall's property and onto Rushbrooke End's. The whole time Alice and Isabella spoke about weddings and such while Helen and Lilly walked silently, both lost in thought, thought Lilly very much doubted Helen's thoughts could be very deep, judging by the vacant look on her face.

Despite herself Lilly could not help but wonder whether or not the new Earl would be a handsome, mysterious bachelor. She chided herself for it but secretly enjoyed fantasizing a scenario in which the brilliant, levelheaded Earl would be instantly taken with her. She pushed those thoughts away however as soon as they came within sight of the dark mansion that stood ominously on the horizon.

They had been walking through ankle deep snow up until now and it was a relief to get onto the path which had been cleared and trodden down. It was easy going and a few minutes later Isabella had reached up to bell and rung it. A few moments later and the door was opened by a thin, placid looking butler who raised an eyebrow at the gaggle of women at the door.

"Yes, may I help you?" He asked in a rich voice with a hint of an accent that may have been Welsh.

"Good morning, I am the Viscountess Cutforth, daughter of the Marquess Hamilton. These are my sisters-in-law and my sister. We are here to see Lord Grimshaw, is he in?" Isabella smiled sweetly.