Chapter 6“Has Mr John come down to breakfast yet?” I asked Colling as I descended the staircase to the great hall. I was in…not a placid mood precisely, having spent the time at my morning ablutions in determining how I could best inform John he would no longer find me available for the punishment he desired for himself for loving the wrong man. My intent was to have it out with him, knowing after the rapid descent from the magnificent height of the mountaintop I’d scaled the previous night I would be able to stand fast to my resolve.
“No…Yes…That is to say—” Colling stood at the bottom of the shallow steps, wringing his hands and shuffling from one foot to the other.
“What’s amiss?”
The butler was pale, his distress obvious. “It’s Sir Eustace, Mr Ashton.”
I felt myself turn pale. “Nev
