Chapter 20: Chapter 20 – Love is in the air, but it might choke you

Oscar stood silently in front of Mr. Cornell's desk, patiently waiting for his reaction. He had already brought up the unfortunate idea of ​​Madeleine participating in the fair as a fortune-teller, and he had also asked for the necessary money for the costume, the tent, and instruments that she would use that day. Then, seeing that he began with the excuses, he was kind enough to remind him that his simple intention was to ensure that a young woman fulfilled her dreams. And, of course, the father of said young woman shouldn´t interfere but help. What kind of outcast would it be, otherwise? Although, of course, not much could be said about how Edmund Cornell was as a father, about how he was as a husband, on the other hand, for Oscar it was obvious.

He also reminded him it would be a shame to get upset, first with her daughter for not being able to afford what she needed and then with him for knowing about his affair and taking advance of it.

Cornell's face was varying in colors until that moment. Turning pale as a ghost the moment he saw Oscar enter the door uninvited, turning green when he realized the rest of the service was in another part of the house and he couldn´t use them as an excuse to avoid this conversation. He turned red with anger when Oscar accusingly reminded him of his affair with the governess. And now, having ascertained what he meant to do with this request, the ex-employer's face returned to the greenish hue that Uncle Rob must have been so concerned about.

And is that although the guy looked like he was about to faint, Oscar didn´t falter. Even if he was struck by lightning and slapped right there, in a timely manner, Cornell would not escape. Because of this, and because he sincerely doubted that the old man had the strength to get up from his chair, Oscar was able to wait several minutes for the other to gather the courage to speak.

“You came here, even having agreed that you wouldn't, to blackmail me… How dare you?!”

Wasn't it obvious the blackmail would come sooner or later? With Cornell's level of intelligence, the truth is that for Oscar was all very simple. He was one of those who thought that, both in reality and in an alternate universe —like this novel in which he was trapped — either you die or other died. So, especially if the opposite was not a fair and responsible person, there was no room for regrets.

"No, sir, it's not blackmail," he said, however; Although he thought that way, it wasn´t his intention to look like the devil personified and provoke an argument that ended up attracting the attention of onlookers. “It´s a lifelong barter. You put up the money so that Madeleine can make her show at the fair, and I forget the disrespect you´re having towards your wife by secretly meeting with Miss Groves.”

"Maybe I had something with her before... But not now! Don't look at me like that, I'm not affirming anything. Just that right now I only have eyes for my dear Sarah, anyone in this house can confirm, ask your uncles!” After a pause in which he must have considered something new, he added. “A-anyway, y-you can go with that story of my infidelity to whoever you like. No one is going to believe you, much less now that you no longer work for me.”

"Well, it's true that the house I work for now is bigger and its owners have higher status. Which implies a better salary and living conditions, I would have no need to come here and sneak some money (even if I haven´t lied that it´s for Madeleine), and I couldn´t know what happens inside Rose Cottage since I no longer live in it... If I share the story with someone, they´ll surely believe that I am saying it out of bad luck and they´ll call me ungrateful, since you welcomed me into your home for so many years and are good friends with my uncles.”

Oscar seemed to think about it and Cornell saw the opportunity to try to convince him that blackmail was a bad idea:

“That's it! Also, don't forget that my funds are coming to an end and I was going to fire you… But you found a better position! Why add fuel to the fire and thus feed old grudges? You´re still young, take the opportunity to live your life and do not persist in a revenge that is not worth it.”

“It is true that, putting it like that, asking for that money is not worth it. And I'm charging a lot more at Lilac Hall, I could afford these expenses or at least try to ask Mr. Seymour for help. Who is the first interested in the fair going well.”

“Exactly! It makes no sense to ask me the impossible, being able to get resources from elsewhere.”

"Even though Madeleine is your daughter, wouldn't it make sense for you to take over?"

"No, no, focus on the present. They made me swallow that story almost twenty years ago, when Madeleine was going to be born and they told me that as a man I should take responsibility. Which I did! I married her mother and gave her my last name, isn't that enough? She´s now a grown-up, it shouldn't be my problem anymore.”

“Sure. Children, once they have reached a certain age, should abandon the protection of their relatives and fend for themselves. Ultimately, there is no point in blackmailing you! From what I've reviewed, it doesn't benefit me, or Madeleine. For if she doesn´t experiment on her own, she can never grow as a person.”

Cornell breathed a sigh of relief and was going to say something along the lines of, I'm glad you finally get it or I'm still poor in both spirit and purse, get it, but he couldn't. Because Oscar immediately spoke again, this time with a wicked expression on his face that reminded Cornell of his moneylenders every time they came to collect their money at the end of the month:

"But if I don't blackmail you, tell me, what am I going to do with the evidence I obtained of your infidelity? It took me so long to get it that it would be a waste to let go, don't you think?”

"What evidence? No way you have such a thing!” Exclaimed Cornell, who was getting fed up with the game.

"Would you be so kind as to open the third drawer on your left and tell me what you see?"

Seeing that Oscar was not refuting his claim, but was asking a most bizarre question, Cornell became suspicious. Was it necessary to carry a game that far? Still, curiosity got the better of him and, telling himself he had nothing to hide, he obeyed the boy and opened the indicated drawer.

"It's just unimportant papers, old bills."

"Take a good look, don't you see anything interesting in them?"

With an annoyed expression, still wondering why the hell he was getting entangled by a kid he had known almost since he was born, Cornell pulled out a sheaf of documents and started flipping through them, sheet by sheet, trying to find something out of place.

"Maybe you shouldn't be looking at what's out there," Oscar gave him a hint, when the other had already reviewed half the reports, "but what is missing."

Cornell turned the pages more carefully, paying particular attention to the dates and titles of each document, but still unable to erase a confused expression from his face. Seeing that he was not able to figure out what was happening, Oscar proceeded to give him the last push:

"On the twenty-seventh of March you made a reservation at a hotel in London, the one where you always stay when you go to the capital. Although you usually used a single room, that day (and the next two) you used a larger room. Enough to fit a double bed in it.”

“So what?”

"You had an invoice there for those days, but I took it with me a while ago, thinking that the day might come when it would be useful to me. And no, I haven't brought it with me. I know you must be eager to get your hand on it, but I'm afraid that wouldn´t suit my plans. We don't want to spoil the piece of paper that gives you away, do we?”

Cornell was red with fury again and he tried to open his mouth to explain that there was nothing to do with an alleged affair with the fact that he had decided to indulge himself and occupy a wider cot. But Oscar continued, impassive:

"If I remember correctly, that was around that time Miss Groves went to London to visit a sick aunt, isn't that much of a coincidence? On the other hand, when I had to accompany Madeleine and Beverley to the city, I took the opportunity to stop by that hotel. Mr. Merrick at the front desk is very friendly. I asked him about your companion, from your last visit, and he was kind enough to describe her in detail.”

This had its intended effect, and Cornell could no longer deny anything else. Reluctantly, he had to limit himself to asking for the amount of money and materials that Oscar needed and to give up, right there, some of the money — because Oscar didn´t trust that he would comply if he left everything in charge—. It almost gave him another one of his starts when, apart from coming to him with absurd demands, Oscar forced him to sign a kind of private contract between the two of them by which Mr. Cornell offered to cover all the expenses of the show that his daughter would offer at the fair in exchange for Oscar's cooperation.

What this cooperation consisted of, although it was understood by the two of them that it was the fact that Oscar remained silent about what was seen and heard, it wasn´t stated precisely in the manuscript.

Oscar kept the original and Cornell got a copy. The latter was not smart enough to inquire further about it, demand that they be more precise with the terms of that contract, much less had the cunning to seek a method by which the blackmail would cease. Because, everyone knew, blackmailers never relented if they had a way to extort money. These types of businesses had to be nipped in the bud.

But Mr. Cornell had neither the courage to tell his wife what was going on, nor the money to pay someone to get rid of this hassle. Hence, he gave in so easily to a ruse of such little complexity and, therefore, Oscar was not afraid of the consequences that this could bring: Cornell was tied by hand and foot. He couldn't go after him now that he knew he had evidence against him. And by the time he got the means, the secret would have been revealed.

Oscar was in a good mood when he left the office. Although he had found the aforementioned receipt, he hadn´t visited the hotel. Not when he accompanied the girls to the Summerfields ball, not ever. Why should he do it? At that time it wasn´t yet known to him that Cornell was cheating on his wife (since in the original novel wasn´t mentioned), and although the marriage room gave him something to suspect, his detective anxieties didn´t go so far as to want to move from one end of London to the other to verify a hunch.

When he learned about Ms. Groves, his suspicions were confirmed. Cornell wasn´t the smartest person in the world, and he knew that by pushing him a little, with the guesswork he already had, he´d get everything out of him. Which is what happened.

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"Well, did you get it?" Was the first thing Madeleine asked when she saw him approach the garden table where she was sitting. “You should have let me accompany you, I got a lot of skill in dealing with father. On the other hand, if someone else is asking for it, I´m not so sure that it is possible...”

"What do you mean with another person? Isn't enough with me acting as persuasion?" Oscar asked in return. “Your father has accepted instantly, there was almost no need to insist. After hearing about the project, he took a checkbook out of his drawer and asked me how much you needed. He even said that it didn't matter what it cost. That if it was for his precious firstborn, he could add as many zeros as you wanted to the check.”

Hearing this, Madeleine's eyes lit up and Oscar couldn't help but laugh. Zeroes yes, but he had never said if they could be put before or after a slightly stronger figure.

"I knew Father wouldn´t disappoint me! I never had any doubts about it, if it's about me, he would even be able to disinherit my sisters! Isn't it great to have such supportive and caring relatives? I think so! With his support, nothing can go wrong. Not this time.”

"Yeah, well, speaking of things that can go wrong or right depending on how they´re planned, how are you going with the letter to Patrick?"

Having foreseen the subject would come up, because after all that was one of the reasons why Oscar had come, a multitude of pages, both blank and already written, remained on the table. There was ink, several pens, and a couple of novels that Oscar imagined wouldn´t have been removed from the Cornell shelves had Madeleine not been in need of inspiration.

"Here I got it," she had said happily, handing it to him. “You don't know how complicated has been for me, I had to start it and discard it about seven times before I was satisfied with the result. I even tried to do some poetry, which if you want you can also read, it's around here... But in the end I listened to you and opted for prose, I know that not everyone can appreciate poetry and it´s not my idea to make poor Patrick have to decipher the message.”

Oscar began to read, but hadn´t reached the second paragraph when he sentenced, returning the letter to  its owner:

“Rejected.”

"Huh? But why?" She asked, going from proud to annoyed in a second.

"You can't be so direct as to tell Patrick he's the love of your life and that you´ll meet him shortly. And no, it doesn't matter what the fortune teller tells him later. If you don't camouflage it a bit, he´ll quickly realize that you´re the same person.”

“That's all? Well, I can fix it!”

"Don't mention the temple either, just say you'll be at the fair... Oh, and don't even think about putting your name or mentioning anyone you know!"

"Of course I wasn't going to mention anyone, I'm not stupid! Are you trying to get him to think about Beverley or Eleonore and draw Patrick's attention to them?”

"Also, do me a favor, don't mention that you're the best for him or speak highly of your attributes," Oscar added, earning a glare from Madeleine, who had already begun writing. “People like Patrick don't like haughty or conceited women. Therefore, you better pretend modesty. When you meet, if you win his favor, you can boast whatever you like.”

"I know, I know, mother says that often," Madeleine said, somewhat calmer. “I got to pretend that men are always right, even if they aren´t!”

Oscar just smiled, uncomfortable with that piece of advice the Cornell girls followed strictly, and let Madeleine continue writing. In other circumstances, and if Madeleine didn´t have a character that assured an unfavorable reply to his opinion, he would have bothered to teach her a thing or two about morals and self-esteem. But as uncompromising as that protagonist was, he didn´t feel that was worth it.

So he sat opposite her to wait for her to finish, entertaining himself momentarily with the volumes that she had taken outside and quickly putting them back in place, as if touching them burned, once he had verified that they were erotic stories and novels which plot could be worth a soap opera of three hundred chapters and zero development.

“Done! Madeleine exclaimed after a while, returning the paper to Oscar. Now you won´t find  a single flaw.”

But there were mistakes, both in spelling and, once again, in content.

"Hey, couldn't you write something where you don't highlight qualities that you don't even know in another person?" Oscar asked after reading it. “Being imaginative, and thinking that Patrick fits all these things you attribute to him, isn't that too blatant of an exaggeration? Think that you have only seen each other a couple of times, you couldn´t say that you know him very much either.”

"I can't compliment him, express my good qualities, say names, or refer to the future," Madeleine reviewed, beginning to get angry again. “So what am I supposed to write about?”

"I'm just saying try to express the same thing, but with more subtlety. Don't try to impress him in one letter or he´ll think you´re only after money and property.”

"I would never do such a thing! Don't tell me that is what is sensed in these letters!”

"No, it's not that either. But it does give the impression that you´re saying more than necessary.”

“You know what? I´m done with it! I do not wanna hear more, since you don´t believe me capable of doing this. Which I won't even deny you, I had already said that a poem was better, but you refused… Well! Since you are so smart, that you know and understand everything, write the letter yourself!”

Oscar didn´t protest, since long before he arrived he already came with the certainty that he would end up having to do this on his own.

He took a pen and paper and began to write, indicating to Madeleine that later she would have to copy word by word what he had written.

"You have better handwriting than me, it's not fair."

“Focus on what´s written, because you must copy it as is, without errors. In two weeks, on the day of the fair, you´ll have to approach Patrick without him noticing and put the letter into his pocket.”

"It's true, I wondered how I'm going to do so he doesn't notice I did it."

"I don't think there´s a problem, Patrick is likely to be surrounded by guests at all times. He won´t notice if someone brushes his pocket although, if you prefer, you can wait for him to take off his jacket and take advantage of that moment to put it down. But that as you can see, it´s not a priority that he doesn´t discover you. The only thing that in this plan cannot fail, in any way, is the part of the fortune teller.”

"Oh, that's what I wanted to ask you about! Imagine that something goes wrong and my parents or sisters realize that I am trying to deceive… I mean, to lead Patrick another way, so that he´ll notice me. Or imagine he finds the note and thinks it was Beverley's thing. Because he loves Beverley very much, I know. What will we do then?”

"That's not going to happen, because the rest of your family won't go to the fair."

Madeleine looked at Oscar, confused. How could they not go? They had already received the invitation and had even replied that they would attend.

"I got another plan…”

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