The Black Knight of Ashfern

Chapter 14

"What do you mean she's not Nan Harris?" Hoss asked, eying the man before him warily. Things might not bode well for the lass if she were an imposter seeking to curry favor with his Master. Though, that was hardly his concern if she were genuinely foolish enough to play such a game with him.

"I mean, she's not Nan Harris." Tom shook his head. "At least not the Nan Harris, she were introduced to me as bein'." His declaration still no clearer then it had been the first time.

"Introduced? By whom?" Hoss asked, taking great interest in this unknown source as he pulled himself closer to the table, not wishing to miss one word Tom might say of Nan or this new person. He'd not been lying earlier when he'd told Tom he wanted to make sure Nan was worth his Master's attention. After what Lady Horton had done to his Master, he would not stand idly by and let some penniless vagrant do the same. No matter how sad or pathetic her history, his loyalty was to Sir William and Sir William alone.

"May Harris. Her mother." Tom nodded, reading Hoss's look with understanding as his brow scrunched together in confusion.

"How can she not be Nan Harris if her own Mother introduced her as being Nan Harris?" Hoss snapped. If anyone were to know for certain if Nan Harris was who she claimed to be, would it not be her own mother?

"Because that Nan Harris drowned nearly two years before," Tom replied, and suddenly, Hoss understood the woman's misconception. Grief had an odd way of making people see things that weren't there, tormenting them with memories of a beloved relation long gone. Tricking them into thinking they were still alive when another's voice sounded like theirs, another's eyes were the same color, hair the same shade, even certain mannerisms. It did not take much to fool an unhappy mind. Sometimes, all it took was one similarity, and their grief would supply the rest.

"Was the body ever found?" He needed to make sure there was no way this could be the real Nan Harris.

"Not to my knowledge." Tom shook his head.

"Then, how can you be certain this Nan isn't the same? Traumas such as these have ways of changing the appearance. I knew a man once with hair black as raven's feathers, two days he was lost at sea and it turned white as snow. I'm fair certain if Sir William's mother were to look upon him now, she would scarcely recognize him." Hoss added.

"Aye, the sea does have a way of changin' a body." Tom agreed, rubbing at his chin as he did, "though I think bein' drowned would be far less drastic a change than bein' burned. And while I've heard of hair going from dark to light in a matter of days. I've not heard the opposite. May's girl was fair-haired and freckled and a wee bit pudgy. She also couldn't tell a Daisy from a Daffodil if it were sitting in front of her. Does that sound at all like the Nan, you know?" Tom asked, staring at Hoss, already knowing what his reply would be.

"No." Hoss shook his head, running what Tom had told him through his head once more to make sure this Nan really wasn't the real Nan, but with all, Tom had told him, it seemed less and less likely. Not even by a case of mistaken identity if they looked so little alike, but then it begged the question of why no one had declared her a fraud. If any knew what Tom did, and it was more than likely they did, why had no one said anything? "Did no one ever remark on the girl's miraculous return? Did no one ever question her or May on how she had survived her stint at sea? Why her look was so different from what it had been?"

"Aye, a few. To all. But back then, Nan wasn't speaking to any but May. And if you tried to ask May, she'd go mad, start screamin' and yankin' out her hair. Eventually, people stopped askin'. And what for? The girl wasn't doin' no one no harm. Matter-of-fact, since her return, she's been of a great deal more use to us than she had been before, with takin' over her mother's trade and all."