The Sins of the Fathers

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ellington Manor

Meadvale

Surrey

"She says you are improving fast, you know?" Hugh Blackstone commented, holding the leash taut, leading his wife expertly around a fountain in the Osborne's rose garden. He was getting quite good at it, putting on a show for Miss Bryant, who he often saw observing him from afar when he was with Caroline. "Maybe I should get Diane one of these? It would probably help her next assessment?"

"If it pleases you...Sir?" Caroline murmured, concentrating on her gait, and managing the swirl of her cloak in the light breeze, feeling the collar as he led her on. She had to admit that it was becoming automatic to respond to the leash, but she still hated it, and resented Hugh making light of it.

"Well, it might? I don't know what they are covering in this course that she is on...but this is pretty harmless...and very conspicuous? It is worth thinking about, Caroline?"

"You certainly seem to enjoy exercising me...Sir?"

"Good grief...how many more times? Outside, we can talk freely without any risk of being overheard...and this sort of time is best for me...I am working here, you know?" Blackstone complained, still feeling that her attitude left a lot to be desired. His furious outburst by the river ought to have taught her that there were more important things to worry about than her pampered routine. He knew that she was unhappy and suffering various indignities at the hands of the formidable Miss Bryant, but she was not actually being tortured, beyond one little punishment, and it would not last forever. Half of him wished he could tell her their other big news, because then she might understand why he was so angry. But he had decided not to, just in case. He was not only dealing with the systematic abuse of nuns, which would clearly have been bad enough on its own, but also getting his aching head around the idea that the release of Hycanil had been delayed by up to three years. He knew that he was going to have to talk to Montague in due course, along with Noddy Slade, once Richard Montague had delivered Fletcher's obtuse message. And he was not looking forward to it. Sean Fletcher did not want them to deliver the actual message, because if Montague reacted badly, having two more people who knew his secrets right under his nose might put them in danger. He did not want to involve Caroline in all of that, just in case. "And you are learning a big lesson here...this...or a version of this...is how you would be living if I had not protected you...and Diane? Millions of women live like this all the time?"

"I am so eternally grateful for your selflessness, Sir." Caroline said from behind her thick mantle, exquisitely dressed as she always was in red silk with a matching cloak. Miss Bryant was still using a neck corset and a back brace to improve her posture, and her corset was laced so tight that she had to fight for breath if she exerted herself.

"I don't deserve this...passive insolence? I am still talking to Caris...and I can get more out of her at night, without Osborne there...and it's hardly easy listening...I can promise you that...but she will be gone soon." He sighed, pulling her along with him, starting to head back up to the house. "And then we could have Imogen in residence...or her girls...or one of our other friends? The information I've been getting out of Caris will hopefully help Noddy build a case for her release...don't you understand that, Caroline?"

Harrison Slade stood on the terrace, watching his old friend leading his wife back, trying not to commit the sight to memory, because he did not want to get involved in whatever they were going through. He had enough problems. Like Blackstone, he was waiting for the arrival of Montague's son, and although they had only risked brief conversations with the Prof, they knew what was at stake. You did not have to be a genius to work out the possible outcomes and none of them were pretty. His major concern was not himself. He had nothing left to lose anymore. Even if they found any of his family in the Order, and they had not so far, he could not get to them, not quickly enough to make any difference. So, if the Reformist government closed ranks and cracked down, he would just have to sit down and let it pass. That, or buy a pitchfork and a lantern and go hunt down a few monsters.