[Previously: Cedric is healing well enough that Lavinia decides it wouldn't hurt for him to take a stroll outside while the sun is out and the weather is nice. While they are in the rose garden the Squire stops by to inform Cedric that some of the men of the area have decided to put together a citizen army. After the Squire leaves Lavinia tells Cedric that it's time they were going back inside but he pleads for a little more time in the sunshine.]
Lavinia wavered. He was paler than normal for him, but it was certainly not the deathly pallor from a couple of days earlier. "A little longer then, but," she wagged an admonitory finger in his direction, "you must sit down!"
He grinned and hastily obeyed, then sat on the bench with such a look of studied innocence that she was obliged to laugh. Shaking her head at him, she joined him on the bench. "You do not fool me, monsieur. I know you for what you are. What did the Squire call you? Ah, yes! A 'vaarment,' n'est-ce pas? That sounds very bad indeed!"
"Not at all, m'dear! In fact," he stated airily, "it's a compliment, a very English compliment."
"Vraiment? Dans ce cas, I will call your uncle a 'vaarment' when next I see him."
Cedric laughed aloud at that, and then had to put a hand to his side when a twinge caught him unawares. "I beg you will not do that, ma chérie. Although, I would give a monkey to see his face if you did."
Lavinia's expression suddenly hardened. "Me, I would give this monkey to see his face if I demanded to know why he tried to rob my Papa and me as we journeyed to Kentham."
"We don't know for certain that he planned that robbery, my love," Cedric replied, his tone, in response to her indignation, much more sober. "It's true that I believe he has encouraged these thieves and highwaymen to roam free about the district, and is somehow receiving payment from them for the privilege, but I have never been able to prove that he guides their every move. Those men who tried to rob you and your father may have been three who just saw an opportunity and took it."
"But Jacques told me that you sometimes receive warnings about the crimes ...?"
"That's true, sometimes we hear rumours--a careless remark in a pub, or something overheard in the street. Those aren't always accurate, however. Many nights I have just ridden out and patrolled the roads, listening for pistol fire or cries for help, and been grateful whenever I've been able to catch those cowards in the act. It has often been more of a gamble than a science, you see."
She was silent for a moment, digesting this latest information. "Why does he do it, Cedric? It cannot be for the money, I think. He has so much already!"
"Ah, Lavinia, it is difficult for you or me to comprehend the depth of the greed which consumes a man like my uncle. He does not do these things for the money alone, I agree, but he does revel in wealth and all that it can provide: expensive clothes, rich friends and privilege. I also think he enjoys the discomfiture of others; even the pain of others. Moreover, he delights in pulling the wool over people's eyes--playing at being the Earl of Kentham when, in actual fact, he is a criminal himself."
"Did you hear a rumour that our coach was to be robbed?"
"Non, but I knew you and your father were coming to Kentham and I had planned to watch over your carriage to see that you both arrived safely. However, that evening my uncle objected when I told him I was unwell, and nearly refused his permission for me to retire to my room. That is why I was almost too late with my rescue. Not that," he added with a wicked gleam in his eye, "you weren't doing quite well without me, my love. I doubt not that the disgraceful Horace curses, even now, every time he sits down."
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it lightly, smiling at her blushes and giggles. "You were magnificent that night, Lavinia."
"Merci, monsieur. So were you," she added, somewhat shyly, remembering all that had passed between them during their first meeting.
"I never thought, when I set out that night, that I would be meeting the woman of my dreams."
"Nor did I believe, when I left France, that I could ever be truly happy again."
They moved closer and shared a tender, sweet kiss. If only, Lavinia thought, they didn't have to wait to be together. The fear of what might happen, once Lucius returned to Kentham, resurfaced and she involuntarily clasped Cedric's hand more tightly.
"What is it, mon coeur!" Cedric asked worriedly, as he broke off the kiss. "You are trembling!" Then he noticed tears on her lashes and he put his arm around her, drawing her into the shelter of his embrace.
"I am sorry, mon chéri," she murmured into his shoulder. "I did not mean to be silly." She wiped her eyes and lifted a resolute face to his. "It is only that life of late, for me, has been so uncertain and ... and I want to believe that we will be together some day, but .... Then I think about how evil Lucius is, and the fear, it comes. I wish ... I wish that it was possible to set a trap for him!"
"So do I, my love." Cedric tilted his head forward and kissed her brow, smiling a bit at the wistfulness of her expression, but his voice held sincerity only, not levity, as he responded to her. "So do I. We have been trying for months to prove his guilt. Every time I have captured another criminal, I have tried to learn if he knew my uncle, but without success. Jacques once had the idea to follow Simms, my uncle's valet, because we believed he might be carrying information about possible victims to the thieves."
"What happened?" Lavinia, wide-eyed now with the telling of this story was sitting up again and reaching for Cedric's hand once more.
"Nothing, fortunately," Cedric replied, rather inexplicably to Lavinia's way of thinking.
"Pardon?"
"Simms must have suspected that someone was following him, because he doubled back on Jacques, who just narrowly missed being discovered. Simms is exceedingly devoted to my uncle, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that he would do anything for him, inclusive of murder. Jacques might have been killed! After that, we didn't try to follow him anymore."
"Mon Dieu!" Lavinia's heart was in her throat. "And, if he had killed poor Jacques, you might have been next."
Cedric seemed to hesitate, then he nodded his head. "Oui, certainment! If Lucius suspected that I was the one who was interfering with his crimes, he would not have hesitated to bring about my death. But for me, I think, it would have been an ambush somewhere upon the farms, or on a deserted lane, as I went about my duties as steward. That way he could blame it on poachers, or some other unfortunate circumstance, and thereby keep his own hands clean. His public face is very important to my uncle the Earl, which is why he condemns highway robbery so publicly."
She watched his expression change as another thought occurred to him. "Actually," he continued, "I'm curious as to what he'll think about this citizen army the Squire is organising. What excuse will he give for not joining in?"
Lavinia cared little for the Earl's mental processes on most subjects and so was able to ignore Cedric's current musings. At the moment she had other concerns, and questions that she now recalled having wondered about before. "Cedric ...?"
"Hmmm?" He sounded a bit abstracted, as if his thoughts were far away.
"Why did you rob your uncle?"
That got his attention. "What?"
"He told me that the Masked Avenger had robbed him of money and a family ring. Why did you rob him?"
"Because the money he had with him was money he'd taken from the estate ... money that my grandfather had set aside for improvements and repairs."
She was beginning to understand. "Repairs to roofs, perhaps?"
He smiled for her quick understanding. Roofs, roads, hedgerows ... As Kentham's steward I had tried to explain this to my uncle, but he wouldn't listen. So, as the Masked Avenger, I took matters into my own hands."
"And," she said slowly, as if she were thinking through a problem, "that is why you did not want me to tell him about the roofs?"
"Exactly. I knew he took little interest in the estate, and would not have known about the roofs for those cottages, unless someone told him. In fact, his very disinterest in anything having to do with Kentham, and his frequent trips to London, have been a blessing in a way."
She was confused. "How ...?"
"Well, I was able to do many of the things that needed to be done, merely by seeming to agree with whatever he commanded, and then quietly going about doing what I knew was right. Also, after he fired several of my grandfather's older household servants there was no one to tell him that his nephew had not suffered from headaches for years."
The thought of Lucius' own selfishness being used to thwart him in such a manner made her laugh. She congratulated Cedric on his use of "strategy," which had him chuckling, too, then she bethought herself of the other part of her earlier question.
"And the ring?"
"Ah, yes ... the ring."
For the first time since she'd known him, he avoided her eye, and she was fearful--would her shining knight have a chink in his armour after all?
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[Author's note: help with French phrases-
n'est-ce pas? = is it not?
'vaarment'= actually, this isn't a French phrase but Lavinia's attempt to pronounce an English word with which she is unfamiliar, 'varmint'.
Vraiment? Dans ce cas = Truly? In that case ...]
[Author's note (2): help with slang terms-
Cedric says he would give a monkey to see his uncle's face if Lavinia ever called him a varmint. A 'monkey' is slang for 500 pounds, which back at that time would have a been a considerable amount of money. This was just an expression, though, like saying "you bet your life!"]
