#withywoods

I got what I had feared. That wash of confusion across his face, his dilated pupils, and then a shamed laugh as he said, "Sir, I don't know of whom you speak. I am steward for Withywoods. Or have I displeased you so that this is how you tell me I am replaced?"

"Not at all. Revel was steward before you, of course. Do you recall him now?"

The confusion again and a flickering of fear on his features. Then his face smoothed. "I'm sorry, sir, I do not. I think… perhaps he had left before I was hired?"

"Lady Shun spoke highly of you."

Confusion crawled toward panic. "Sir, I don't know—"

"And little Lady Bee." I pressed blindly on, not knowing what I was seeking, but willing to crack the man like a nutshell to get at the knowledge I needed.

"Bee…"

"Who set fire to the stables?"

He made a sound without words.

"Who attacked the manor? Did they take Lady Bee and Lady Shun? Kill them? What happened?"

The man's head bobbed and his chest heaved. His lips puffed in and out with his audible breathing. He rocked back and forth in his chair, his mouth working wordlessly. Froth began to gather at the corner of his mouth.