My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies #2)(59)

“Yes,” Alexander said, stiffening his spine. “I do not think this is a good situation for her.”

“I see,” Mr. Rochester said. “In that case, get out.”

“What?” Mr. Blackwood said.

“You may remove yourself from Thornfield at once. You obviously know nothing of our life here, and appreciate it even less. As master of the house, I kindly request you to vacate the premises. And please take your cousins with you.”

Jane stood speechless for a few moments. Her feelings for Rochester were strong, and yet she was not sure whose side she should be on.

“Jane?” Charlotte said.

Yes, it had indeed been a strange night. But Mr. Rochester had seen her. Had appreciated her. And Mr. Blackwood had no details and no proof of any wrongdoings. Her feelings were muddled, but her logic was sound. She turned her head away from Charlotte.

Mr. Blackwood bowed. “We will impose on your hospitality no longer.”

He stalked away, Charlotte following reluctantly.

And even though Jane felt justified in her actions, she couldn’t help but feel like an abandoned ship.





TWENTY-ONE


Alexander

Getting kicked out wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

The pros were that Alexander could finally put on his mask again (at last!), and . . . well, maybe that was it.

The list of cons was a little bigger.

Firstly, he’d obviously lost Miss Eyre.

Secondly (we love to follow firstlies with secondlies), Rochester. He was the murderer, Alexander was (mostly) certain of it. But he needed more proof than just the letter, and now he’d been removed from Thornfield and all the proof that might be hiding in there.

However, there was still Mr. Mason.

(That might count as a pro of getting thrown out, but it was really hard to say at this point. Alexander was quite conflicted about the whole thing.)

Mr. Mason definitely knew something about Rochester, and if Alexander could question him, all his suspicions about Rochester would be vindicated. But they’d gone to the doctor and Mason hadn’t been there. The rumor about town (which Miss Bront? had collected in all of five minutes, of course) was that Mason was returning home to the West Indies.

So that meant Alexander and the Bront?s needed to overtake Mason on the road, question him, and then they could all return to Thornfield and arrest Rochester. Surely, once it was known that Rochester was the most vile sort of villain, Miss Eyre would consider other job opportunities.

As the carriage bumped down the road—with Branwell narrating everything he saw out the window and Miss Bront? writing in her notebook—Alexander closed his eyes and turned his thoughts inward.

The letter burned a hole in his pocket. It was somewhat alarming. What did save the Society and bring this travesty to an end mean? And what about the mysterious “AW” they wanted to do something about? That could be Arthur Wellesley.

But Wellington would never do anything to harm the Society. He was a war hero. Why, Beethoven had composed a fifteen-minute piece in commemoration. (Called “Wellington’s Victory.” Look it up.) So what did it mean if his father wanted to do something about the leader of the Society?

Surely his father hadn’t betrayed them.

“You’re brooding,” Miss Bront? commented. She watched him, glasses raised, and tapped her pencil against her notebook. A frown turned her mouth downward.

“I don’t brood. I was just closing my eyes. I didn’t sleep last night.”

“I know brooding when I see it, Mr. Blackwood. Don’t deny it.”

“Go home, Miss Bront?.”

She snorted.

But he didn’t want her to go home. She was smart and thoughtful and truly had all the makings of a proper Society agent. (Arguably, that was the highest praise Alexander knew how to give.) He was glad for her presence and her level head.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to persuade Jane to our cause,” she said after a few moments.

“It isn’t your fault. Rochester is to blame.”

It was Rochester who was the real problem in all this. Whatever the letter had meant about problems in the Society—Rochester was probably to blame for those, too.

“I know,” Miss Bront? said, “but I promised I could do it and I haven’t. I intend to make up for the failure, however. And it’s not really a failure. It’s a temporary setback.” She scribbled something in her notebook and muttered, “Temporary setback.” Then she looked up at him again. “Attitude is everything. We can’t call it a failure, because it’s not.”

Alexander wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t have the energy to argue with her. He just wanted to catch up to Mason as quickly as possible and find out what the man knew about Rochester.

The group began only a few hours behind Mason, but a storm forced them to drive slowly the first day, so they missed him in Nottingham. A broken wheel delayed them the second day, so they missed him in Leicester. And one of the horses threw a shoe on the third day, so they missed him in Northampton. Alexander was afraid someone would come down with dysentery (wait, that’s a different story), so they took a train the rest of the way to London.

From the train station, they went straight to the West India docks, where he left the Bront? siblings near a pub with all their luggage while he inquired about ship schedules.