Page 36 of Honor Unbound

“I think Cook put it in the pantry. The very back of the pantry.” The distaste on the poor woman’s face had been palpable when I’d presented her with the tin.

Burton extracted himself from the bench seat and went to retrieve the canned food. He came back and placed it on the table.

“How does one get into it?” I peered at the can. It seemed to be made of one piece of metal, with a single seam running up the back.

Burton rummaged about in a couple drawers and came back with a knife. He dug the tip of the blade into the top and pounded the heel of his palm onto it, piercing the tin. He peeled the lid back.

Marie and I leaned forward. The brown slop inside must have been a stew of some sort, but not one that I could identify. When the odor hit me, I drew back. “I think not.”

Burton retrieved three spoons and passed them around. “Where’s your sense of adventure, Lady Mary?”

I have a grand sense of adventure.” My spine stiffened. “What I don’t have is an iron stomach.” I was all for trying new things but that didn’t necessarily include strange foodstuffs.

Marie dug her spoon into the tin, raised it to her mouth, and took a small bite.

She immediately spit it out onto the floor, her tongue working against her lips, trying to expel all of the substance. “No.”

Southey raised his head, considered us, then went back to his bone.

“That was disgusting, Marie. A lady’s companion, or even a maid, doesn’t spit her food out, unless done discreetly into a napkin.” I shook my head. I wondered if the girl even wanted to improve her station.

“I dare you to try it without spitting it out.” She pushed the tin my way.

I drew my shoulders back. “All right. Easily done.” Even if it was the foulest thing I’d ever put in my mouth, I would swallow it down with dignity. I was a lady. I’d been trained to accept the most unpleasant things with a smile on my face.

I dipped my spoon into the stew, hoped that brown lump was a bit of beef, and placed it in my mouth.

Marie and Burton watched me avidly.

I slowly chewed the bite and swallowed it down, dabbing my mouth with my napkin. “Cook has a secure job for a while.”

Burton grinned and dug in himself. After eating his bite, he shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”

Marie wrinkled her nose. “Where?”

“In the army.” He dug his spoon into the tin again. “Our rations were foul enough to have us running for the front line.”

Marie stiffened.

Burton put down his spoon. “I apologize. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine.” The girl forced a smile. “Let’s get back to the task at hand. We need to speak with Mr. Hicks’s wife.”

“Marie….”

I kicked Burton under the table and shook my head at him. He needed to learn when to leave well enough alone. And a woman thinking about her dead brother wasn’t in the right state of mind to appreciate a man’s wooing. “Which leaves Miss Rogerson and the brother-in-law, George Platt. Peg said she was working that night. She also said she’d never been to Trent’s house, which seems to be a lie if that handkerchief you got from the Trent house is hers.”

“There can’t be that many people with those initials,” Burton said.

“If it was her handkerchief, we also don’t know when it was left behind in that cushion,” Marie said, her voice subdued. Shescratched at a mark on the table. “The footman says the study is only cleaned once a week.”

“It’s a good thing Mrs. Trent wasn’t at home to find Peg’s handkerchief,” Burton said.

I stared up at the ceiling. “Unless Peg wanted it to be found. A bit of revenge against her stingy lover by stirring up trouble in his marriage.”

“And if that didn’t work, would she progress to violence?” Burton frowned. “I have a difficult time envisioning a woman overcoming Trent physically to kill him.”

“Unless she had help.” There had been that doorman at The Red Chemise. Another one of her customers might also have been convinced to accompany her to Trent’s home.