CHAPTER 12: A FRIEND FROM RICHMOND
The following morning Eleanor received a visitor she had not expected to see again.
Catherine Bellamy stepped down from a hired carriage and demanded that Vane carry her bags inside.
Catherine had been Eleanor’s closest friend before marriage, and her father owned a modest bookshop in Richmond.
She wore a travel-stained blue dress and carried a hat with one feather bent by the wind.
Eleanor hurried to the steps and embraced her before the servants could announce her.
Catherine said she had come because a letter from Eleanor had reached her father the previous week.
Eleanor insisted she had sent no such letter.
Catherine brought out a folded page and showed it to her.
The handwriting resembled Eleanor’s, but the message claimed she was lonely, frightened, and uncertain whether she could trust her own judgment.
It asked Catherine to visit only if she could keep the journey secret from Richard.
Eleanor recognized several phrases from conversations she had held with Ada.
Somebody had listened closely enough to turn her private fear into a convincing appeal.
Catherine asked whether Eleanor had really written none of it.
Eleanor said the letter was forged.
Catherine’s face tightened with anger.
She said she had nearly dismissed it because the wording seemed unlike her friend’s earlier letters.
What troubled her most was a sentence asking her to bring a particular book from the Richmond shop.
The title was A Survey of the James River Counties.
Catherine had brought the book because she assumed Eleanor wanted something familiar to read.
Daniel had mentioned the forged survey only days earlier.
Eleanor realized that the anonymous writer might have arranged Catherine’s arrival to deliver a specific document without attracting suspicion.
She asked Catherine whether anyone had handled the book since she purchased it.
Catherine said a gentleman named Marsh had come to the shop asking whether the volume was available.
He had seemed disappointed when Catherine’s father told him it was already reserved.
Later that afternoon, a stranger had followed Catherine through the market.
She had noticed him again near the carriage station.
Eleanor asked for the book and examined its binding.
One section of the spine appeared thicker than the rest.
She remembered that her mother used to hide keepsakes beneath the cloth lining of old family books.
She pressed the edge of the binding and felt a folded object beneath the leather.
Catherine produced a small knife from her travel case.
Eleanor opened the seam carefully and recovered a thin packet wrapped in waxed cloth.
Inside lay a copy of the original boundary measurements made by Benjamin Rusk.
The packet also contained a short note signed with the letter M.
The writer said the copy would be delivered to the only person in the Whitmore household who had not yet been paid to lie.
Eleanor stared at the sentence.
She had spent four years believing nobody trusted her with serious responsibilities.
Someone she did not know had entrusted her with evidence powerful enough to threaten Richard’s fortune.
Catherine asked what the measurements meant.
Eleanor explained the disputed land without revealing every name involved.
Catherine listened,
then asked why Eleanor had not left the ranch years earlier.
Eleanor answered that she had not known where she could go without becoming dependent upon another man.
Catherine said her father’s bookshop had a room above it.
The room was small, and winter drafts came through the window, but its door could be locked from the inside.
Eleanor nearly laughed at the simple promise.
She said she might need that room sooner than Catherine expected.
Before they could speak further, a servant announced that Marsh wished to welcome Catherine.
Catherine slipped the packet into her sleeve.
Eleanor closed the damaged book and placed it prominently on the table.
When Marsh entered, he noticed the book immediately.
He asked whether Catherine had enjoyed the journey.
Catherine answered that the roads were muddy but passable.
Marsh said he regretted the unnecessary trouble caused by Eleanor’s nervous condition.
Catherine looked directly at him and said her friend had seemed entirely sensible since her arrival.
Marsh’s face reddened.
He warned that impressions formed during a short visit could be misleading.
Catherine replied that a stranger’s opinion did not outweigh ten years of friendship.
Eleanor felt the room change around her.
For the first time, someone had challenged Marsh without fear of losing employment or family property.
It was a small victory, but Eleanor knew it would have consequences.
