The House of Beardsley

Chapter Thirty-five

After Beth told me her true identity, we decided on two things first.

The first thing was that we would keep the knowledge only to us girls—and Rudy. When Beth mentioned Rachel Mondeschein, I realized an important factor we, as well as Silas, overlooked: the fact that R.M. might be a woman. I told Rudy, and his reaction was much like mine, although he understood what I meant without having me spell it out.

The second thing we decided was that Beth was not to leave yet. If she left, she would most likely never get the chance to return. And there was the possibility she might one day like to tell her brother, and half-brothers, about her identity, and let them know about the female relatives they never knew they had.

"My suggestion," Rudy said one night after we went into the shoe-shining room for our nightly talk, Beth with us, "is that you support Master Tobias with his plan to make Master Eugene the next heir."

We met up almost all of February talking about Beth's family situation and how the search for her was going, snatching Phillip's newspaper whenever we could. It was March, and the cold air was finally warmer and we started wearing our thinner coats again.

"Yes," I joined in. "Master Eugene wants to create a house where women can come into the house of Beardsley, and even live there, and not only for us live-in maids." I tried to make sound as appealing as possible, but Beth looked disinterested. She looked disinterested in the fate of the Beardsley manor in general, as well as the competition to be heir.

"Furthermore, I heard the rest of the masters support him too. And the valets, of course, excluding Phillip. Mister Kupka is also neutral, but he does not oppose us," Rudy added.

"But Eugene is crippled," Beth finally said nonchalantly, frowning. "Will it really work?"

"It will." I said it so surely even she was surprised, then a bit intrigued.

"Hmm."

"But first off, to help Master Eugene, we need your help," I said.

It had been a month, and me and Tobias had visited all three of the men we suspected of no avail. Two of them barely knew Adam Beardsley, and the author only recently changed his pen-name into R.M.

"Me? What is it?" Beth asked.

"We need to see Lady Rachel Mondeschein," I said. "Tobias did some researching on her, and found out she's a noblewoman from Germany. We can't find where she's currently staying, nor a reason to talk to her."

"Oh." Beth rolled her eyes. "That old hag is obsessed with her privacy, so she doesn't stay in the Clarke estate, which is now overrun with Scotland Yard."

Scotland Yard? Even they were involved?

"I can't believe they actually found my journals and read them," Beth went on.

"Well, if they didn't, then I'd be disappointed in them," Rudy said, shaking his head. Beth pouted, puffing up her cheeks extravagantly.

"I'm really good at hiding things, and even myself! When I was young I used to scare all the house servants into thinking I ran away when I would be hiding in the house!"

"Why would you do such a thing?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"I like to wreck havoc. It's fun," she replied casually.

Those poor servants.

"Anyways, back then I had such nice dresses and pretty items," Beth continued, "and I had long hair like Shuyan and Rhiannon and I would curl them and braid them—but then one day I realized how much of a hassle it was and chopped it off."