Chapter One
Dunnam Park, Sussex, October 1820
“Calm down, Ada, before you swoon.” Miss Lydia Lovell gripped the girl by the upper arms. The maid had forgotten how to breathe, forgotten she needed to close her mouth before speaking. “Look at me, count to five and then begin again.”
Lydia drew Ada farther into the hall, away from the closed drawing room door. Arabella would have her ear pressed to the wood, listening for snippets of information to manipulate into something malicious.
“Is it about my gown for the assembly tonight?” Lydia continued, trying to ferret out the facts. “Did you hang it too close to the fire again?”
Lydia welcomed any excuse to miss the public gathering. With any luck, the dress was ruined beyond repair.
“N-no, miss.”
“Then what has you shaking like the farmer’s rickety old cart?” She’d never seen the maid so terrified.
Ada sucked in a breath, nodded and blinked repeatedly. “S-Seth … he went to Cuckfield.” She paused and sniffed. “Seth went to Cuckfield.”
“Yes, we know where Seth went.” Lydia tried to remain composed, but it grew increasingly more difficult by the minute. “And we know why he went there.”
“He went to get supplies from Mr Granger,” Ada said without gasping. “That’s when … oh, Lord. That’s when he saw him, miss.”
“Saw whom, Ada? Whom did Seth see?” Now Lydia had taken to repeating herself.
The maid’s body shook. She squeezed her eyes shut until they were as thin as her drawn lips. “He saw the … the devil, miss, that’s who.”
The devil?
Lydia swallowed a frustrated sigh. Seth would feel the sharp edge of her tongue for frightening the maid again. The groom enjoyed teasing Ada. She was as innocent of mind as she was of heart, and Lydia loved her for it.
“Perhaps you misheard.” Lydia rubbed Ada’s arms in soothing strokes. “Seth often speaks in jest.”
Ada’s eyes shot open. She glanced behind as if sensing the demon. “No, miss. Seth saw him as clear as day—a huge, hulking beast.” Ada raised her arms and stood on tiptoes to demonstrate the grotesque size of the monster. “Taller than the Reverend Wyatt when he’s standing in the pulpit.”
Convinced Ada had exaggerated the details, the only hope Lydia had of calming the poor girl was to find Seth and discover the truth herself.
“Did Seth say where he saw this devil?” Lydia would have a little more information before tackling the groom.
“In The Wild Boar, miss.”
This time, Lydia could not suppress a sigh. “Drinking in the coaching inn?”
Ada nodded.
“So, the devil rises to wreak havoc and misery on the people of Cuckfield but only after he’s stopped to sample the ale?”
“Perhaps he was thirsty, miss. Seth said his eyes were hot coals of evil. A raging fire that could turn a man to ash with one glare.”
Yes, he must be parched after spending an eternity in hell. And how was it Seth happened into the inn when he had errands to run?