“Of course…”
Without a word, Frank relieved her of her bowl and basin. She would have protested, but her back ached from bending over the beds. He led her to the blue parlour, pausing only long enough to set down her supplies, then he held the door to the veranda open for her. Still, he did not speak until the door was shut and Jane seated in one of the cane rocking chairs. The sun had begun to set while she was indoors, and the clouds burnt red over the hazy green hills, which were spotted with flamboyants and century plants.
Frank leaned against the rail. Lit from behind by the sunset, he looked remarkably like Vincent. “I think we must make plans to hide Lord Verbury. Pridmore will tell in retaliation.”
She sighed heavily, knowing he was right. What was more, Pridmore would do everything in his power to get his hands on Louisa. Likely, he would make a direct appeal to Lord Verbury and promise silence in exchange for her and who knew what other considerations. Jane chewed her lower lip, thinking. Slowly, she said, “Your mother … she offered to make a deed of transfer for Louisa to Vincent. Do you think she would still be willing?”
“Yes, but that opens the forgery difficulties again.”
“I have been thinking on that, but tell me if I am wrong. If she forges papers for Louisa, then we can send her and Zachary to England with messages to friends of ours there. The forgery need only be good enough to get her on the ship and can be abandoned once they are in London. Once there, they will be able to secure help for us.”
“It will still take two months, at best, before any aid returns.”
“True. But if we are going to hide Verbury, then he will not be able to cause your family to be sold—that is something he can only do if he appears to be alive. If we keep him hidden, that leaves us only Pridmore to manage.”
Frank nodded slowly, considering it. While Jane could imagine the course of sending Louisa and Zachary to England, she did not have Frank and Vincent’s experience in imagining all the ways in which Lord Verbury could twist and turn their actions against them. It was both fortunate and not that Frank had long practise in it.
“Verbury will still have Sir Ronald and others in his pocket.”
“Am I wrong that that is only a difficulty if he knows that Zachary and Louisa have left? So long as he thinks he is being hidden for his own safety, then he will have no cause to deploy Sir Ronald against us. Indeed, he might even have Sir Ronald act on our behalf if we can convince him that it is for his own good.”
“If I can speak with my mother privately, I will ask her to try to influence him. The challenge is bringing his lordship around to accepting the need to be hidden … or, rather, more hidden.”
“And where to put him.”
Slowly, Frank said, “When my wife and I married, he presented us with a small house. We added rooms on for the children, and it is quite comfortable. My youngest daughters are still at home, and he was fond of them before the stroke.”
“And Louisa is supposedly sleeping in the room next to ours in order to be at my constant beck and call, so she will not be missed at your house.”
“Zachary’s absence will be harder to hide. But possible.”
They stared over the plantation. Even through the glass doors, the moans of the injured filtered out into the night. Jane had not heard Kate, who had screamed so horribly at the factory, in some time. She hoped that it was because Dr. Jones had relieved her pain and not due to darker reasons.
Frank crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “I wish I could be confident that Louisa would not tell him of our plans.”
“But … if she understands what is at stake?” Jane sighed, understanding that Frank still had not told her about Pridmore. “You have to tell her.”
“She will not believe it.” Frank straightened his cuffs, though they were flecked with blood. “She thinks Lord Verbury is her saviour.”
Jane had no skill or practise at the conniving and scheming that seemed the Hamilton way. The worst that her family had prepared her for was dealing with an invalid.
A sudden thought occurred to Jane as three disparate pieces came together and she sat straight up in her rocking chair. She was good at soothing invalids. Frank had once said that people talked in front of him, forgetting that a servant could even hear them. And, thirdly, Miss Sarah had said that their dinner had been, in part, so his lordship could see Jane—or, more likely, the baby. “What if she heard it from him?”
Frank grimaced at the thought. “How?”
“I can take Louisa with me when I tell Lord Verbury about Pridmore being fired and our plans to hide him.”