CHAPTER 16: THE TABLE OF FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
Dinner began with a silence so deliberate that Eleanor could hear rainwater dripping from the eaves.
Richard had invited Marsh and Vane to the table, while Catherine sat beside Eleanor with her hands folded in her lap.
The servants carried roasted vegetables and bread, then withdrew before Richard spoke.
He asked Catherine whether the bookshop in Richmond remained profitable.
Catherine answered that her father earned a modest living and had never needed to threaten anyone to collect his accounts.
Marsh cleared his throat and complimented the cook.
Richard ignored him.
He said some families survived only because other families were willing to assume their burdens.
Eleanor recognized the familiar criticism of her father.
She asked whether Richard intended to spend the evening discussing debts belonging to a dead man.
Richard said debts were not erased simply because people preferred to forget them.
Eleanor asked whether that principle applied to the debts the Whitmore estate owed its neighbors.
Vane stared at his plate.
Marsh asked what she meant.
Eleanor mentioned families who believed they had paid loans twice and others who had lost access to the southern creek.
Richard asked where she had heard those accusations.
She answered that people who lived near Willow Creek talked about the ranch more honestly than people who dined inside it.
Richard warned her against gossip.
Catherine said records could settle disputes that gossip could not.
Richard turned toward her and suggested she return to Richmond before becoming involved in private business.
Catherine replied that she intended to depart when Eleanor no longer needed her company.
Marsh spoke about the importance of keeping domestic disagreements separate from financial affairs.
Eleanor asked whether he had advised Lydia Whitmore in the same manner.
Richard pushed back his chair.
For one moment Eleanor thought he might shout.
Instead, he said he had been patient with her confusion for several days.
He instructed Marsh to prepare a medical consultation for the following morning.
Eleanor said she would choose her own physician if she required one.
Richard replied that her recent behavior suggested she might not be the best judge of her condition.
Catherine put down her fork and asked whether he intended to restrain his wife.
Richard said he intended to protect her from malicious influences.
Eleanor asked him to identify those influences by name.
Richard looked directly at her and named Daniel Hayes.
He said the blacksmith had been seen entering her bedroom during his absence.
Eleanor acknowledged that Daniel had inspected a faulty iron fitting in the presence of a housekeeper nearby.
Richard asked why the door had been blocked with furniture.
She answered that someone had been trying to open it during the night.
Marsh suggested that anxiety could produce mistaken impressions.
Eleanor asked whether anxiety could also place an unfamiliar key beneath her mattress.
Vane’s hand moved toward his coat pocket.
Richard noticed the movement and told him to remain seated.
Eleanor continued speaking before anyone could interrupt her.
She said she had found evidence that the room’s fittings allowed someone with a special key to enter without warning.
Richard asked whether she had damaged the property while searching.
She said Daniel had examined the mechanism without damaging it.
Richard called for the head servant and ordered Daniel dismissed immediately.
Eleanor stood.
She told Richard that the wages owed to Daniel remained a debt regardless of his dismissal.
Richard smiled bitterly and said he had never imagined she cared so deeply about the blacksmith’s wages.
Eleanor replied that fairness did not require affection.
She added that a man who could not answer a question about a lock should not distract everyone by inventing a romance.
Catherine rose beside her.
Together they left the dining room before the final course was served.
In the corridor Catherine gripped Eleanor’s hand and admitted that she had been frightened.
Eleanor said she was frightened too.
Her voice shook only after the dining-room doors closed behind them.
