When The Rain Falls

Chapter Twenty-One

My pen scratched against the piece of paper on my writing desk. I drummed the fingertips of my left hand against the wood of the desk, watching for words form on the page. Sunlight streamed in through the window and lit up the paper as I wrote on it. The soft breeze helped to cool me down somewhat, but the heat was still unbearably strong.

I paused my writing for a second, glancing out the window at the dry, yellowing grass and the trees that were the only offering of shade against the harsh sunlight. In one tree, I could see a small bird hopping around on the topmost branches, tweeting and occasionally rustling its feathers with its beak. What I wouldn't have given to be a small bird in the trees on a hot summer's day without a care in the world.

Alice had once again decided to spend the day with Rebecca, aided by the fact that her etiquette teacher, Mrs Percival, had been suffering from fainting spells so had to rearrange. They were to spend the day playing with Sooty, the cat who had spent the entire evening on Rebecca's bed. The servants were less than impressed with the arrangement, as was Father when he came home to discover Sooty prowling around upstairs. Alice had made a decent enough case for him to stay.

I glanced down at the sheet of paper, clenching my fingers around the pen. Father had shown leniency to Alice that he never would have shown me had I asked for the same favour. I tried to push those feelings down, to ignore the anger that had erupted when Father relented to Alice's pleas, but they remained tucked away. He had never treated us the same way, and that had become abundantly clear as we grew older.

She never had to prove herself to him. I had everything to prove.

"What are you doing, Master Nate?" George said, creeping up behind me.

I jumped. My heart threatened to jump from my chest as I turned in my chair to look at him. "Just trying to figure something out, that's all."

"I thought you might be studying. I would imagine that might take priority with the free time you seem to have acquired."

"It's too hot to think about the law and studying." I sat back in my chair. "The heat has turned my brain to mush and I cannot think straight. I thought I might try to do something useful for a change."

"And that would be?"

George raised an eyebrow at me and glanced down at the sheet of paper in front of me. My handwriting was a struggle for anyone to read, and George was no different. He frowned at the sheet of paper and looked at me for an answer; I wasn't sure I wanted to offer him one.

"I'm trying to figure out just how much information we have about Miss Edwards. There are some things she has told me that feel familiar, but I just cannot place them where I want them to."

"What feels familiar? I've been around a lot longer than you have. Maybe I'll have the answers you need." He chuckled to himself.

"Have you ever heard of someone having a horse called Abacus?"

He shook his head. "Can't say I have. I've met a lot of horses in my time, but it isn't a name that sticks out to me as being very important."

"Miss Edwards said her father had a horse called Abacus. I thought it sounded familiar, but I cannot figure out how or where I have heard such a name before and Alice is of no help. When we were in the village, I asked Joseph about it and he said he would ask around the other stable hands, but that might take an age."

"Do you have anything else?"

"Other than her name and the fact she had a cat called Luna growing up, I have nothing. The horse is the only thing of any use."

I glanced down at the sheet of paper again, slumping down in my chair at the sparseness of the list. After almost a week since Father's deadline, I hoped to be further along than I was, but I was no closer to finding out the truth than I had been originally. The time I had spent with Rebecca had offered me little to go off. If we didn't find something soon, Father would send Rebecca off to an institution without a second glance at her or me.