Charlotte House Affair 01 - My Particular Friend

that she would deliver no further letters and would not venture from her home and would at all times be attended. We also retrieved the new letter she had delivered to the Ashbys. ‘There’s no need to continue stirring the pot,’ Charlotte said.
    We returned as the clock struck five and Mrs Fitzhugh retired claiming she was fagged by the night’s events, but Charlotte and I remained awake, the result of the copious amounts of coffee that followed our brandy. We sat quietly in the drawing-room while the rest of the house continued the business of the new day.
    ‘How did you know?’ I asked.
    ‘Eh? How did I know what?’
    ‘That she would be delivering a letter to-night … last night.’
    ‘Just a guess. Mr Hickham returns to Bath and there is a ball. It seemed reasonable those happenings might spur another letter. And when I further learned that Miss Winslowe had a cousin her age in attendance last night, it made it plain.’
    ‘How so?’
    Charlotte sighed. ‘I had begun to suspect Miss Winslowe was the author but I was unsure how she stayed
au courant
because she was not out in society. Once I learnt of the cousin, I knew that she had seen Mr Hickham’s return. And the proximity of her home to that of the Ashbys made it seem likely that she would attempt to place a letter that very night. Although I was unsure if we would catch Miss Winslowe or the cousin in the act.’
    ‘And you knew all along that the letter writer did not wish Miss Ashby ill?’
    ‘Almost from the first. There was the reluctance to write an actual accusation and the delivery to only those persons who would support Miss Ashby and her family.’
    ‘Did you suspect Mr Hickham’s villainy?’
    ‘No, that came as a surprise. How could I have suspected him capable of such a crime? And he certainly gave me no indication that he knew anything of the matter, and yet we now know he was in receipt of a letter.’
    I finally decided to broach the topic I had been avoiding since our return.
    ‘You have a plan, Charlotte?’
    She sighed heavily at my words and sank into her chair. ‘God help me, Jane, I do not.’
    ‘Do not deceive me. You have a plan.’
    ‘I would move heaven and earth so that she may see some justice done. I had a thought, but it would be cruel hard.’
    ‘You mean to reveal to Mr Hickham—if he remains unaware—that she is the author of the letters.’
    She straightened and said, ‘Jane, that is an abominable suggestion.’
    ‘And yet you are thinking it.’
    She sat silently for a full minute while she played with the correspondence on the side table and I listened to the downstairs help cleaning the entrance hall. Finally she answered, ‘I am thinking it. How else can we hope to find some measure of justice unless we can prompt Mr Hickham to act openly against her? He has to be seen to act.’
    ‘I agree.’
    ‘Jane, you really do surprise me. You would risk her safety?’
    ‘She risks it herself. She is not afraid. Could you not feel it? She saw what she must do to protect another and she did it as best she could figure. That took courage that I fear I could never summon.’
    ‘You’re right, of course. Not to the latter, but the former.’ She smiled faintly. ‘Oh, Jane, I am sorry that I have led you into this. It does not all end in marriage and happiness.’
    ‘You have nothing to apologize for, Charlotte. This sad story brings it all into perspective, doesn’t it? What are my sad tales in comparison to this? A man, a very rich and powerful man, takes what he wants and there is nothing to be done.’
    Charlotte gave no reply and I saw that she was no longer listening to me and was instead looking at one of the papers she had taken from the side table and was smiling.
    ‘Perhaps something can be done after all.’ She stood and took the paper to her writing desk and made a mark with her pen and then brought the paper to me. It was the bill from the Assembly Room that listed the season’s entertainment and I saw she had circled the next night’s ball, a themed event.
    ‘I’m sorry, Charlotte, but how does this help us?’
    ‘We need the proper venue to persuade Mr Hickham to act without putting our client in danger and I think this fits the bill,’ she said. Then the smile left her face. ‘Unfortunately, I must ask you to summon that courage you so admire in Miss Winslowe.’
    ‘Of course,’ I said readily.
    ‘Stout Jane,’ she said, without a hint of a smile, which unnerved me. She