Dark Deeds and Dangerous Desires

Chapter IV

"Our deeds still travel with us from afar,

And what we have been makes us what we are." - George Eliot

After a few days of keeping to light chores, Rey found her ankle greatly improved. She could stand for longer periods without discomfort and had been glad to help Mrs. Kanata with her jam making. Jessie had taken ill with a breathing complaint that morning and Mr. Tooker had hired a carriage to take her home. It had been a shock for them to see a girl of scarcely nineteen fighting to draw breath. She had coughed so violently and clutched a handkerchief to her lips, which came away with specks of blood on it, leaving Rey afraid the young woman might die. Mrs. Kanata later explained Jessie had worked in one of Lord Snoke's mills from the age of six to sixteen. During that time, she had got fluff on her lungs from something called the cotton carding process. When the tangled mass of cotton fibres got brushed into straight strands, fine loose threads would fly off into the air and get inhaled by the workers. Some mill owners, such as Mr. Skywalker, paid out five or six hundred pounds for the installation of a large wheel to blow away the cotton fluff. Lord Snoke didn't see the profit in such a thing when sick workers could easily be replaced at a fraction of the cost.

Rey decided once her ankle was fully mended she would visit Jessie at home if the young woman remained too unwell to work. She lived in an area known as the Rebelton District with many of Snoke's mill workers and their families. Conditions were poor and the houses no better than slums, but it was the best they could afford. Hope Mills had its own separate housing community for the families who worked there. Mr. Skywalker had offered to give her a tour of the place once she could walk unaided again. Her thoughts drifted to Mr. Solo with anger as she imagined the harsh conditions he presided over at Killerton North. His downtrodden workers couldn't be blamed for their talk of strikes, or so Mrs. Kanata had heard from the local gossips.

"Thank God for a bountiful harvest," the old widow said as she stirred the pot of simmering berries. "There will be many hungry mouths to feed if there is a strike."

Rey hated the idea those who already had so little might soon have even less. "It makes my blood boil to think of his lordship, and the mill masters who do his bidding, living in luxury while those who break their backs and block their lungs for him go without," she seethed.

"Such is the way of the world, child," Mrs. Kanata let out a weary sigh, "But there are those who seek to change things for the better."

Mr. Skywalker and Mrs. Solo were first in her mind as being both philanthropic and enterprising people. "It's a shame Mr. Solo isn't one of them," Rey said her tone bitter.

Mrs. Kanata looked to be contemplating something in her sage-like way, her eyes appearing more than twice their size behind her thick glasses. "Don't judge him too harshly, child. All may not be as it seems."

Rey frowned with confusion, all she knew was he'd thrown his lot in with Lord Snoke instead of doing some good alongside his family. "How do you mean?" She inquired wondering what the old widow knew that no one else did.

Mrs. Kanata left the jam to simmer on the range and poured out two cups of tea. "Come, child, let us sit by the fire," she said cutting them each a large wedge of cherry cake. "I have a tale to tell you, and it may take some time."

The old woman settled into the wooden rocking chair as Rey took the stool by the hearth. She listened in rapt attention to the tale of Han Solo's exploits as a dashing sea captain, occasional smuggler, lucky gambler, and loveable scoundrel. Born and bred in America, he met and married his wife there. The Solo's only child had also been born and raised in Virginia until just after his tenth birthday when his mother decided the family should move to Killerton. Her brother had taken on the running of Hope Mills after the death of their estranged father but Leia had been bequeathed a half share. Luke Skywalker had declared it unlikely he would ever take a wife and named his nephew as his heir, which meant the boy would one day inherit the entirety of the family business. Han hadn't wanted to move to England, nor did he want his son to be the master of a cotton mill. Before his marriage and starting a family, he had lived a life on the ocean waves and, as much as he loved his wife and son, he had never been entirely at ease on land. In an effort to escape the dreary northern climate, Han sought to start his own small shipping business with his friend since childhood, the mostly mute, Mr. Chewy.

Mrs. Kanata got up to refill their tea cups before continuing, "Mr. Snoke, for he wasn't a lord then, returned from living abroad at around the same time as the Solos. He bought Dreadston Hall and set about rebuilding his empire in Darkshire. Snoke has been trying to get his hands back on Hope Mills for years. His numerous plots have been thwarted by Mr. Skywalker and Mrs. Solo's keen business sense, but he managed to take something even more precious from them. On the day of his death, Han and his son travelled to London on urgent business. When they returned to Hope Mills, the two of them engaged in a heated quarrel. Mr. Skywalker interceded just before Han fell to the ground clutching at his chest. Ben went to get the doctor but it was too late. By the time he returned, his father's heart had stopped and Han could not be revived. In her grief, his mother lashed out at her son, blaming him for his father's death. Ben refused to say what they'd quarrelled about or what business had taken them both to London that day. He packed up his belongings before his father's corpse was even cold and departed for Dreadston Hall. As to the reason for the dramatic shift in his loyalties, well, I have no proof only whispers. It is rumoured that Han Solo amassed sizeable debts due to failed speculations. His shipping company was in desperate need of capital, and he always did like to gamble. He had travelled to London twice in the months before his death. Lord Snoke also journeyed there often in those days to visit with his banker and to play the gaming tables. It is my suspicion that Snoke purchased the promissory notes for Han's debts and used them to blackmail his son. With his lordship's deep-seated hatred of the Skywalkers, formed when Ben's grandfather purchased Darkshire Mills from under him, which Luke later renamed Hope Mills, I suspect he wanted to deal them the cruellest blow possible. Snoke could have demanded immediate satisfaction of Han's debts and forced the sale of Hope Mills for his wife's half-share in it, but it is my belief he went after his son instead. I think Ben swore loyalty to Snoke in return for his lordship not demanding the promissory notes be paid. Han Solo was many things, a sea captain, a smuggler, a gambler, and some might say a scoundrel, but he was a good man at heart. He would want his son to return home."

Mrs. Kanata paused to drink her tea. Rey, for her part, was too shocked to do anything but ruminate. She didn't know what to make of it all after placing the blame on Mr. Solo for his family's heartache. If the whispers were true, it would mean the fault wasn't his and he'd been forced into abandoning his mother and uncle. Six years ago, he had made a deal with the devil and seemingly no one knew it, except Mrs. Kanata. But perhaps the old widow had been mistaken and Mr. Solo went to Snoke for less altruistic reasons, as she'd previously assumed.

"Do Mr. Skywalker and Mrs. Solo know of these matters? Surely they wouldn't stand by if the debts could be settled and Mr. Solo released from the hold Lord Snoke has over him." Rey found it perplexing that such an injustice could be allowed to go unchallenged.

"As I said before, I have nothing but whispers from the shadows. I could not be so cruel as to raise my dear friend's hopes in regard to her son for it all to be in vain." Mrs. Kanata took a huge bite of cherry cake appearing oddly untroubled by the whole affair. It was as if she knew more than she let on, or, at the very least, already had a plan in motion.

Rey frowned, a sense of wariness creeping over her. "I hope you will not think me impertinent, but why impart these whispers to me? Honoured as I am to have so readily gained your trust, you have not known me a week."

Mrs. Kanata smiled, the girl was sharp, and the faith she had in her surely wasn't misplaced. "Mr. Solo is soon to be a regular visitor to this house," she said mischief dancing in her magnified eyes. "It did occur to me you might engage him in conversation and attempt to gain his confidence."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Rey objected doubting she possessed the necessary guile for such a task.

"Think of Mrs. Solo and Mr. Skywalker," Mrs. Kanata implored knowing how to work on her conscience. "My dear friend has barely set eyes on her son since the day of Han's death. Lord Snoke has kept Mr. Solo away from his family and old acquaintances for six long years. He didn't even permit the boy to attend his father's funeral. This is the first glimmer of hope to present itself in all that time. If evidence of blackmail could be uncovered or details of the outstanding debts, then something might be done about it."

Rey remained sceptical, but for the sake of Mrs. Solo and Mr. Skywalker, who she already knew to be the best and kindest of people, she couldn't refuse. "I could try, I suppose. Although I'm sure Mr. Solo will have little interest in conversing with me. After all, he is coming here to see my father and to talk Plato and Aristotle. I'm certain I will bore him rigid in two seconds flat."

Mrs. Kanata chuckled; her plan had begun to take shape the day Mr. Solo brought Rey home in his arms. She noted how taken the young man appeared to be with Miss Tooker. The fact he had returned a day later bearing a gift for her and sought to engage her father as his tutor, only served to spur the old widow on. "God willing, and if Lord Snoke doesn't find some way to put a stop to it, you will get your chance to test Mr. Solo's boredom threshold soon enough."

Ben rarely went to church on Sundays or any other day, for that matter. His guilty conscience couldn't support it. However, he felt sure the Tookers would be attending the service and was desperate to see Rey. With Mr. Tooker being, until recently, a clergyman, it seemed fair to assume he observed the Sabbath and all its traditions. Sure enough, as Ben entered the church to take his pew, he spotted the former reverend and his adopted daughter sitting near to the altar. She wore a pale green silk dress with a paletot jacket a darker shade of the same colour on top. He secured a seat a couple of rows behind them, his gaze fixed on Rey's slender neck beneath her straw bonnet. With every movement of her head, no matter how small, the forest green feather which hung low on her hat would flutter and brush against her skin. He became quite fascinated with it. So much so, he missed the entrance of Lord Snoke and his ward, until Miss Netal took a seat beside him. Ben greeted them as warmly as he was able; hoping he'd sufficiently masked his surprise and displeasure. Upon hearing his voice, Rey turned to look in his direction. She managed a weak smile, greatly troubled by what Mrs. Kanata had told her. When she saw the expensively attired and beautiful young woman at his side, her smile faded altogether. The old man sat to the woman's right, who she assumed to be Lord Snoke, fixed her with a penetrating glare. Rey shuddered, hastily returning her attention back to her father.

"Had I known you would be attending the service, I would have called at Dreadston Hall on my way here," Ben said making every effort to be obliging.

"It has not been my habit to strictly observe the Sabbath in recent years. Nor, I believe, has it been yours," Lord Snoke noted his sharp eyes watching his protégé like a hawk. "But the oddest of reasons can drive a man into a church, can they not?"

It was as if the old man could see into his head, exposing all his deepest secrets and desires. Ben shifted uneasily in his seat. "Nothing odder than doing our Christian duty, I am sure," he said feigning innocence.

His lordship gave him a knowing look as the reverend appeared in his pulpit. The sermon on temptation was a little too on the nose for Mr. Solo's tastes, particularly when he yearned to steal a glance in Rey's direction. He did, however, hope Miss Netal would take something from the lesson. She had shuffled closer to him on the pew than was acceptable in polite society. Her hand brushed against his knee as she reached for her bible, and he felt sure, from her enticing smile, it hadn't been accidental. The service seemed to last an eternity, the reverend dragging out each word and verse. Ben suffered silent agonies; Rey was so near and yet so far. He couldn't risk raising Snoke's suspicions any further by betraying his interest in her. When finally the last prayer had been said, duty obliged him to escort his lordship and Miss Netal to their carriage. He hoped to send them swiftly on their way back to Dreadston Hall so he could catch the Tookers before they headed for home.

"You will accompany us, of course, and stay for dinner," Snoke insisted in a tone that brooked no refusal.

Ben watched in dismay as the object of his desire faded from view, unable to offer the Tookers nothing more than the briefest acknowledgement as they passed by. Miss Netal gathered up her voluminous crinoline petticoat to make room for him to sit beside her. But, with him being such a large man and the carriage being so small, she practically ended up sitting in his lap. He scowled only to find his lordship enjoying his discomfort.

"If you felt your education had been lacking, you should have spoken to me about it. I know some excellent tutors and would have taken care to engage someone suitable."

Snoke knew about his arrangement, then. Ben took a deep breath, he had practised his argument. "It is assisting you in acquiring Hope Mills that concerns me, my Lord. Mr. Tooker is a close personal friend of my uncle and the two spend much time in each other's company. I am using all possible means at my disposal to discover a weakness in Skywalker's business affairs and his friend could be of use in that regard. Under the guise of concern for my family's welfare, I'm sure I could gain his confidence. The only other option I can think of to gain such intimate knowledge of my uncle and mother's affairs would be for me to affect a mock reconciliation with my family." His lordship blanched at the suggestion just as Ben hoped he would. "I hesitate to even mention such a scheme, but desperate times call for desperate measures. However, with your guidance, I'm sure I can get all we need from Mr. Tooker."

Through narrowed sunken eyes, the old man scrutinised him. He knew a checkmate situation when he saw one. The moment he played his trump card and called in Han Solo's debts, he would lose a far greater asset than gaining a mill could ever compensate for. If he could buy Skywalker out at a knockdown price, he'd get everything he wanted and still keep the ace up his sleeve. He had spotted one potential fly in the ointment, though. "The girl, your tutor's supposed daughter, I hear he found her as a street urchin scavenging in the mud. I suppose being exposed to society more refined than mudlarks has given her ideas above her station." Snoke didn't hide his disdain; he intended for it to be plainly understood he wouldn't tolerate fraternisation of any kind between them.

"She is no concern of mine, no matter what ideas she might have," Ben insisted. "I doubt I shall even see the girl unless she's called upon to serve tea." If there was one place he could be sure his lordship had no spies, it was inside Mrs. Kanata's house.

"Very well," Snoke said. "I need not remind you of the penalty for going against my wishes. If Hope Mills is not mine by Christmas, I shall want to know the reason why."

Ben gave his assurance the plan would work. However, it would leave him less than four months to come up with an alternative, including making Rey his and building a true reconciliation with his family. He had borne his situation with stoicism until now, allowing his malaise to keep him inert. Angry with his father for dying in such debt and bitter about his mother and uncle imagining the worst of him when he'd left home, he'd convinced himself they deserved to be punished, however unjustly. Now, he longed only to see them again and once more know the loving embrace of his mother. Ben knew Snoke dealt with criminals and received money from dubious sources such as racketeering, but he had no proof. His lordship kept his business and finance dealings fiercely protected. It would take a lot longer than three and a half months to find solutions to all his problems, Ben feared. Hope Mills might have to be sacrificed in the short term, as long as he could get Snoke to pay his uncle and mother a fair price for it. He would have to keep playing the villain in public, and for that, his family might never forgive him. As for Rey, how could he woo her while appearing to destroy his family business? No one could know of his true intentions until he found something to use against Lord Snoke.

This chapter was rather plot-heavy so I hope you didn't find it too confusing. Thank you for reading this story and please do leave a review if you are enjoying it. - Mrs. P