One evening, she ordered the kitchen emptied before the tea tray arrived. Daniel entered to find her standing beside the fireplace, fully dressed.
dragged a curtain into the flames. By the time the alarm reached the courtyard, fire was climbing the staircase.
Daniel and John had returned for the last belongings from their quarters.
A maid screamed that Eleanor was still upstairs.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Daniel took a wet blanket from the laundry trough and entered the house.
He found Eleanor outside her chamber, coughing, one hand clamped around a small iron strongbox.
“The key,” she gasped. “I’ve dropped the key.”
“Leave it.”
She pulled away.
He seized her wrist, and she struck him with her free hand.
Even then.
Even there.
A beam cracked overhead.
Daniel dragged her toward the stairs. The strongbox fell, spilling jewelry across the burning carpet.
She screamed for him to stop.
He did not.
***
Eleanor survived.
The mansion did not.
Samuel honored the agreement because the solicitor held copies and John had
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