Page 42 of Miss Morton and the Missing Heir (A Miss Morton Mystery #4)

“Maybe the earl wished his son to be married and decided Hetty was the perfect candidate,” Caroline said. “She was in his employ and was hardly likely to say no.”

“Perhaps it was even more personal to him, lass.”

Caroline blinked at her. “Are you suggesting the baby might have been the earl’s ?”

“Why not? His involvement would make perfect sense, if so.”

“But he was devoted to my grandmother. He chose not to remarry after her death, even though he only had one living son, my father.”

“Devoted or not, gentlemen still have needs, and female staff have always been fair game,” Mrs. Frogerton said matter-of-factly. “And if he did have only the one son, perhaps planting another heir in the family tree made sense to him at the time. You did say he was a remarkably clever man.”

“I …” Caroline shook her head. “I cannot …”

Mrs. Frogerton allowed her to stumble into silence before she continued.

“What if the earl knew that one of the reasons William kept him at arm’s length was because of his chosen religion? When the earl discovered Hetty was pregnant and that she, too, was of the popish faith, he might see a match made in heaven, so to speak.”

“But why would Hetty and William agree to such a marriage?” Caroline asked.

“Perhaps the old earl offered Hetty a dowry? Remember, she had no hope of the earl marrying her, and she’d be viewed with contempt if she had a child out of wedlock,” Mrs. Frogerton speculated.

“You might see such a payment in the family books. Didn’t Miss Smith mention that William bought the house from the estate on the occasion of his marriage?

Maybe the earl gifted it to him as a thank you. ”

“I hate to say it, ma’am, because I’ve always had tremendous respect for my grandfather, but I cannot see any other reasons for his behavior other than those you have stated.” Caroline sighed. “He must have arranged a marriage for them in London, or else all his plans would come to naught.”

“If he did, then surely one of the churches you contacted will have the details,” Mrs. Frogerton said.

“But if that is the case, and the marriage is totally legal and above board, why on earth would Mr. Scutton be willing to plot to murder his sister because of it?”

“Maybe Mary discovered there was no record of the marriage in Epping and didn’t know her parents had been married legally in London. Mr. Scutton might have considered even that knowledge too much of a risk.”

Caroline groaned. “I wish Inspector Ross was here to listen to all our theories. He is very good at ascertaining what is pertinent to his investigations and what is not.”

“You could always write to him with your observations, Caroline,” Mrs. Frogerton suggested.

“I’m not sure if I should intrude on him when his brother has just died,” Caroline said. “I’m sure he is dealing with quite a lot.”

“We could mention it at the funeral,” Mrs. Frogerton said. “Or would that be considered vulgar?”

“If Inspector Ross asked us what was going on, I think it would be perfectly acceptable to answer his question,” Caroline said. “As long as we did so discreetly.”

“Then perhaps we should wait until we hear back from those churches,” Mrs. Frogerton observed.

“I think that is an excellent idea, ma’am,” Caroline said. “The Scuttons weren’t invited to Lord Richard’s funeral, so they will not be able to overhear any of our conversations.”

“And they will be leaving permanently for Morton House in the next few days, which means we won’t have to encounter them here, either,” Mrs. Frogerton reminded her. “I never thought I’d be so pleased to see guests depart.”

“They don’t deserve your attention, ma’am, and they have abused your hospitality. I wish Mr. Potkins had never introduced them to us in the first place. But now that I have offended them by refusing to marry Thomas, hopefully they will leave me alone.”

“They’d certainly leave you alone if we could prove Mr. Scutton should not inherit the earldom,” Mrs. Frogerton said.

“That’s true, ma’am,” Caroline agreed. “I’ll write and ask Mr. Castle if Coutts has my grandfather’s personal diary. If he did organize the whole affair to suit himself, I should imagine he would have written about it.”

“Of course, if the Scuttons were married in the Church of England, it doesn’t matter who Thomas’s father was,” Mrs. Frogerton pointed out. “He is legally a Scutton and the heir to an earldom, and maybe he has nothing to do with the Brighams at all.”

“Then why was he meeting George Brigham yesterday?” Caroline asked. “He cannot expect us to believe he was merely passing the time of day with a man who stood by while his sister was being stabbed to death.”

“Perhaps he is being blackmailed.”

“By the Brighams?” Caroline asked. “For what reason?”

“If I knew that, Caroline, I’d march straight over to Inspector Ross and tell him.” Mrs. Frogerton huffed. “It would be so much simpler if we could just ask Mr. and Mrs. Scutton what on earth they are playing at.”

“I doubt you’d get a convincing answer from either of them, ma’am. They are set on winning the earldom and will allow nothing to get in their way.”

Mrs. Frogerton reached down to pat her dogs. “Well, I hope one of those churches provides an answer for us very soon. Otherwise, I might just blurt out a question to Mr. Scutton over breakfast tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it, ma’am.” Caroline pictured the scene and shuddered. “We already know that anyone who questions Mr. Scutton’s rights meets an untimely end.”

“I doubt he’d murder me over the breakfast table, lass.” Mrs. Frogerton rose to her feet. “Shall we take the dogs out for a walk? I feel the need to clear my head.”