Scorned By Him, Cherished By His Brother novel · Chapter 8 of 24
Chapter 8: The Dead Man Returns
Nobody in the hall spoke.
The chairman of the Board sat down hard in his chair.
Henry walked the length of the room slowly, with the steward a step behind him carrying a wooden box.
Men stood back to let him pass.
He stopped three paces from Cordelia's chair.
She had risen, and her hand was at her throat.
"Henry," she said.
The tears came into her eyes at once, and they were lovely.
"Oh, my love. My love, they told me you were drowned. I have mourned you every day."
She reached for him.
Henry did not move, and her hand dropped.
"I know how you mourned," he said. "I had eleven bottles of it."
He nodded to the steward.
The steward set the box on the table and opened it.
Eleven brown bottles stood inside, each sealed with red wax and a twist of green thread.
"Every month since last spring, my wife's maid sent me a tonic with a label in Mrs. Barrington's hand," Henry said. "I grew weaker with every bottle, and I thought it was the sea in my lungs."
He picked one up.
"This one went to a rat, which died in an hour. This one went to a cat, and so did the next."
A footman at the back set down his tray.
"That is a lie," Cordelia said. "My husband is ill, gentlemen. He has been out of his mind with fever since the wreck. Look at him."
"Lady Barrington," the chairman said slowly. "Your own maid has just said..."
"She is lying to save her neck."
"I am not," the maid said, in a voice full of tears.
"Mrs. Barrington signs her bottles in blue thread with a double knot," said Henry. "Everyone at her father's warehouse knows it. These are all green, and every knot is single. Whoever tied them did not know her thread until yesterday."
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