“By damn, but that must be helpful.” Julian puzzled over the sadness that briefly swept over Leo’s face.
“It is, but it is also a curse in its own way. We all lie, do we not? I have come to accept that; can even see that it is necessary at times. Due to the work I do for our government, king and country, I have also become very proficient in the art of lying. As a small, sickly, homely child, however—”
“You, sir, were never a homely child.”
Leo nodded in silent thanks for the compliment, but continued, “I was, if only because I was so sickly, and we all know that what one looks like as a child does not always carry through to an adult. Add to that a mother who found such gifts increasingly alarming and, let us just say, it was difficult. On the other hand, I can know when a woman’s beauty is more false than true, more artifice than nature,” Leo drawled and smiled.
“That is a gift many men would like to have.” Julian sighed, thinking of all the grief such a gift might have saved him.
“Unless, of course, it tells you that the woman who is telling you what a great lover you are is lying through her pretty teeth.”
“God forbid. Did that—no, forget I asked.”
“I will. Back to the matter at hand. I believe your aunt and cousins need not worry us. If it is your uncle’s plan to rid himself of his wife once he is the earl, then she is safe unless you and Nigel die. The title and estates would not go to the sons of your sisters?”
Julian slowly shook his head. “No, it follows only through the males. Since my father is dead, if Nigel and I die without issue, that leaves no male in my father’s line, so it jumps over to my uncle and his line. After that there are only cousins, some quite distant. Arthur is the first Kenwood in written memory who has not bred a son, only daughters.”
“Which might mean the man would then look for a new wife.”
“Only if he cares about passing down the heritage to a son. These papers imply that he is only interested in the wealth of the estates and titles.” Julian rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “By what I can see written here, once Nigel and I are gone, Arthur will try even harder to wring every coin he can out of the estate. Whoever comes after him will find little of value left.”
“And that is why we now make plans to try and put some very strong restraints on him.”
“That we can do, and now I can even see how. What might not be so easy is how to prove that he and Beatrice tried to kill my son and me. You have little here and none of it would hold up very well against my uncle’s skill with words or deception, nor against the connections he has made over the years. Not friends, but confederates, and some unwilling ones.”
“Ah, blackmail.” Leo nodded. “I did learn that he is very skilled at discovering those secrets one wishes well buried and wields them well. I have extracted a few from his grasp, but the sort of threat he holds over some of the men, and women, is not one easily fixed or uncovered.”
Julian stared at Leo in surprise. “How do you know he has secrets he can use?”
“I work for the Home Office, if you recall.” Leopold grinned. “The men I work for are very good at ferreting out secrets, and they do not like anyone to be able to get a tight grip on one of the people they use. I gained a lot of my information on your uncle through my work for them. Not all of his gains are from your pockets. We suspect he sold information to the Americans and is now offering his services to the French.”
For a moment Julian felt strongly inclined to succumb again, but he fought off the light-headed feeling brought on by the extreme shock of learning a traitor had tainted the Kenwood bloodlines. His line was well dotted with rogues, debauchers, pirates, and a host of other not so proud figures, but never a traitor. The Kenwoods had all been loyal to England. They might have fought on opposite sides in the wars over who would rule Her, cheated Her, stolen from Her, and criticized Her, but none had ever betrayed Her to an enemy. There had been an unbroken line of loyalty to country in the Kenwood family right from the raw beginnings of the family. Julian did not want to think that his uncle had stepped over that line, broken it, and brought such deep dishonor to the family name.
“Are you certain?” he asked Leo.
“As certain as we can be without the hard proof that could put the man on the gallows,” replied Leopold. “The Home Office feels that if we can hang him for other crimes, such as killing you—”
“But at the end of this game, if we win, I will not be dead.”
“Nay, but others are, and the many attempts upon your life are enough to hang the man or banish him from the country. The men I work for would prefer a more final end to this, however.”
“So would I. If Arthur was still alive at the end of this, I would always feel as if I had a knife at my back.”
“As would I.”
“Do you think my uncle contributed much to the loss of the Colonies?”
“Nay. We never could have won that war, and a lot of us knew it from the first warnings in the air. Everything from the impossible logistics of supplying men, even getting our forces over there, to the vastness of the land, the tenacity of the people, worked against us. Some like to blame the French for the loss, but their aid to the rebels was not enough to credit them with the victory and, personally, I think it demeans all the Colonials who fought and died for what they believed in. Again, we would have lost that battle anyway. I thought it a mistake from the very beginning.”
“In truth, so did I. That does not ease the bite of shame that comes from knowing my uncle was a traitor, however.”
“I did not think it would. I just wanted to pontificate.” Leo shared a brief grin with Julian but quickly grew serious again. “Your uncle’s treachery against England does not need to become common knowledge.”
“There is comfort in that. How many know that Arthur might be a traitor?”
“Very few, and they are utterly trustworthy. If the problem were solved in some other way, they would destroy all of their records concerning your uncle’s traitorous activities. They do not want to stain the good name of Kenwood. Your father was well loved and greatly respected, as was your grandfather.”
Julian nodded and slumped against the pillows. He was exhausted and he knew some of it was because of the shock he had suffered over the news that his uncle was a traitor. Leopold might have said that there was not enough hard proof to hang Arthur for that crime, but the men at the Home Office would not even be hinting at it if they were not certain. They were just waiting to find enough to convince the courts since they knew they would need a lot of proof to convict a Kenwood of treason.
“If Arthur is decried as a traitor, it will destroy my aunt. Not only does she come from a long line of honorable military men, but she will lose everything, and the stain of it will cling to her daughters far longer than it will to any of the rest of us.”
“Which is why the Home Office hopes that his crimes against his own country never come to light. Your aunt is well liked and her family’s service to the country highly respected. Indeed, a number of my superiors’ wives are amongst her very good friends.” Leopold smiled faintly. “One or two share most news with their wives, respecting their intelligence and their integrity, and it was made very clear that your aunt and her daughters did not deserve to suffer for Arthur’s crimes. Trust me in this, even though efforts are being made to uncover the full truth about his traitorous activities, it is mostly to cut away his contacts and leave him unable to continue to betray the country. The hope is strong that some other way will be found to be rid of the man, and soon.”
“Do your superiors know that I am alive?”
“My direct superior and his own