by Abby Ayles
“Lady Julia. Can you not sleep?”
“I thought Lady Joanna would go home tonight but she has decided to stay. Why do you think she chose to stay?”
“I do not think she wants to see your parents. She is too ashamed. They would question her if she cried in her room there like she is doing in her room here.”
Lady Julia nodded, a satisfied look on her face. “That does make perfect sense.” She scooted over on the bed and Lady Annabelle sat next to her after changing into her nightgown.
“Tomorrow is Sunday,” Lady Julia said. “It is God’s day and we will have to put on a smile for the church. I do not feel a lot like smiling. I can think of nothing in my life right now that would make me smile.”
Lady Annabelle looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Am I not a blessing? Is it not your privilege and honor to be my best friend in the world?”
Lady Julia laughed. Lady Annabelle nodded.
“I thought I could make you smile. I know you are unhappy with what is going on but it will be resolved soon enough.”
“I feel responsible. She is my twin sister. I feel whatever she does is a reflection on me and that now people will not think of me the same.”
“No one in this house will think of you any differently,” Lady Annabelle replied, shaking her head. She reached over and took Lady Julia’s hand, looking into her eyes comfortingly.
“You did not do this. The fact that she is your sister, even a twin sister, does not make you responsible for the choices she makes. She is someone completely different from you. You are my best friend. Please understand how much I care about you.”
She brought Lady Julia’s hand to her chest and held it against her heart. Lady Julia sighed.
“Thank you, Lady Annabelle. I feel different now.”
“Would you like to sleep in here tonight?”
“That would be a great comfort to me.”
Lady Annabelle held her hand out, sweeping it over the huge bed behind them. “There is plenty of room and you are always welcome. Come, let us get some sleep so that we will not have droopy, puffy eyes in the morning.”
The girls had climbed in the bed and both were asleep within minutes. The day had been long and disappointing.
As they were on the way to church, after a hearty breakfast, they were quiet, not wanting to interrupt the conversation of her father and the Duke of Cardinal. Lady Annabelle listened to them discuss what they planned to say to Reverend Stovington and the Lords Balfour. Her father was unhappy that they had not received a message back from him.
They reached the church, where many other buggies and carriages were pulled into the dirt lot beside the building. There were a few people outside but it appeared almost everyone was almost inside.
The Duke of Norrend stepped down from the carriage, glancing around him. “It looks as though there are not many people attending church today. Are we late? Perhaps we are early.”
Lady Annabelle shook her head. “No, Father. We are here at the same time we usually are.”
The men walked ahead of the women into the church, passing several people who were talking quietly. They looked at the group as they passed but none of them said anything directly to them.
“Mother?” Lady Annabelle looked at her mother, worried. “Something feels different today.”
The Duchess of Norrend nodded at her daughter. “I agree, my dear. But we will not know until we get inside, will we?”
We might not even know then, Lady Annabelle thought, her heart racing. What if something had happened to the reverend? Or to either of the Balfour brothers?
They were the ones who knew where the paintings were. If they had them in their possession, they might have opened themselves up to dangerous people. Or had the reverend participated in the theft in some way?
Lady Annabelle’s eyes darted to her father as if he could read her thoughts. She would not want him to know she suspected the reverend even for a second. She did not feel it was possible but was rather thinking of anything and everything that might be an answer.
“My lords!” A man Lady Annabelle did not recognize came around a corner and spotted her father and the rest of them. “Have you seen Reverend Stovington?”
Lady Annabelle was covered in chills. “Is he missing?” she asked. The man looked at her.
“Yes, my lady, he is. He has not been seen since last night. He had a late visitor, the Duke and Duchess of Rochester Island. They stayed until late into the evening and left. They said he did not mention going anywhere and there was no sign that he was planning to leave his church.”
“I suspect something else may have happened to him,” the Duke of Cardinal said, frowning.
“Yes, that was my thought, too, my lord,” the man replied.
“Thank you for your information,” the Duke of Norrend said, turning to his wife and daughters. “I must find the Lords Balfour. They will have to answer for this. I am sure they will know what has happened to the reverend. He would not miss a Sunday at his church unless he was detained elsewhere and unable to come.”
“I agree, my lord,” his wife answered. “We will wait for you here.”
“But, Mother…” Lady Annabelle began to protest and then slid her eyes to her father and the Duke of Cardinal. She closed her mouth and took a step back, looking down. It was not her place to help the men.
The dukes and Mr. Covington went down the middle aisle toward the altar at the end and the ladies sat down in the back pew, watching them.
The Duke of Cardinal could not have felt much more confused. He looked back on the time he had spent at Norrend and could not remember anything he had done to make Lady Joanna betray him in such a way. Not even for the chance of getting a husband.
Would a woman really go to such lengths just to get someone as unattractive and crude as Lord Gilbert Balfour?
He followed the Duke of Norrend to the stage where the altar was. They stepped up on it and went to the door to the right that would lead to the offices of the church. The door on the opposite side led to the quarters where the reverend and any of his charges or those seeking sanctuary could take a room.
“We will check the offices first,” the Duke of Norrend said. “If there is no sign of foul play, we will check the rooms. I do not wish to invade anyone’s privacy.”
“I do not think the Balfour brothers will be here, my lord,” Mr. Covington said. “If the reverend is missing, they will know they are suspect. We may have to search for them elsewhere.”
“I hope they are here,” the Duke of Norrend said. “I do not wish to spend my Sunday searching for them.”
“We will need to find Reverend Stovington. I must say, my lord...” The Duke of Cardinal shook his head. “I do not think the Lords Balfour are very intelligent. If they are planning all of this, they have not thought anything through. If they did harm to Reverend Stovington, they will hang. And they have made it perfectly clear that something is afoot by not being here when he is missing.”
“They might be here,” Mr. Covington said.
The dukes looked at him, nodding. “Perhaps.”
They went through the long hallway that curved around the back end of the church. The Duke of Norrend opened doors as he went, putting his head in to see if anyone occupied the room.
There were four offices and two classrooms for the children. No one was in the offices. There were children, whose parents did not expect the reverend to be missing, in both the classrooms. They looked up at the men in surprise.
The Duke of Norrend just smiled at them and closed the door. He turned to his companions, shaking his head. “They are not in the offices nor the classrooms. I suppose we will have to check the rooms. I hesitate to do so because it is very personal. But we must find them.”
“I am sure we cannot be the only ones looking for the reverend, my lord,” the Duke of Cardinal said. “Though we may be the only ones looking for the Lords Balfour.”
The Duke of Norrend nodded. “I belie
ve you are right, Duke Colbourn.”
The men crossed the stage to the other side, passing through the door to the bedrooms. As they had suspected, there were two other men walking down the hallway. They turned when they heard the men come through the door.
The Duke of Norrend put his hands behind his back and clasped them together, walking swiftly to the two men. “Have you seen the reverend or any sign of where he might be?”
Both men shook their heads and one answered, “No, my lord. We have been looking in every room and he does not appear to be here. We are quite worried about him. He would not leave without giving notice or getting a replacement for himself.”
“I agree,” the Duke of Norrend nodded at them. “I will check below with my companions. You continue to look up here.”
The men nodded and bowed at the waist. “Yes, my lord,” they said at the same time.
The Duke of Cardinal gave the Duke of Norrend a quizzical look when the older man turned back to leave the hallway. “What is below, my lord?”
The Duke of Norrend looked up at the Duke of Cardinal, who was taller than him. “The cellar.”
Chapter 32
The three men went down a spiral staircase that led to the damp parts of the church. The Duke of Cardinal found the underground rooms to be intriguing.
The walls were made of stone, with etchings of animals, leaves, flowers, and other objects of nature decorating them. The floor was also stone but the duke
was impressed by how smooth it was. It must have taken some time to make the rooms as uniquely well-done as they were. There were lanterns on the walls and the Duke of Norrend lit one to carry with them as they walked through the rooms.
“I do not believe I have ever been in a church with a cellar that looked like this, my lord,” the Duke of Cardinal said. “How long have you known about this place?”
“I have always been aware the cellar was made this way. I believe the church held functions down here some years ago, when it was first built. It does not seem suitable for such things now.”
The Duke of Cardinal just smiled at him.
“I suppose it is not. If the Lords Balfour are down here, we will insist on getting our answers.”
“You do realize they will not admit to anything,” Mr. Covington said. “They will deny all. Criminals always do.”
“I will be able to tell if they are lying to me,” the Duke of Norrend sounded confident. The Duke of Cardinal wondered how he could be that way. “One way or another, I will have my paintings.”
The three men walked quietly through the tunnels and hallways. The Duke of Norrend held up the lantern while the other two men lit their own. They split up to search the large cellar, meeting up in the middle where they had started.
“They are not here.”
“Did you see any signs that they might have been or that anyone has been down here recently?” the Duke of Norrend asked. Both men shook their heads.
“No, I am sorry, my lord,” Mr. Covington said.
The Duke of Norrend sighed heavily. “We must continue the search outside.”
“Perhaps someone else has found out where the reverend went,” Mr. Covington said.
“We will find out. I have not been…” The Duke of Norrend stopped speaking when the door they were about to pass through opened and the Lords Balfour came through, Gilbert first with his brother behind him.
The two young lords stopped and stared at the three men. The Duke of Cardinal thought they looked scared out of their minds. He knew instantly that they were guilty of everything Lady Joanna had said. Despite that, he knew that unless the two boys confessed or the paintings were found in their possession, there was no proof of their guilt.
He half expected the two to turn tail and run back up the steps to get away from them. But they didn’t. Lord Gilbert calmly stepped into the main room, his brother coming through behind him.
“Good morning, Your Grace. Your Grace.” Lord Gilbert did not acknowledge Mr. Covington, bowing at the dukes. “Have you seen the reverend?”
The Duke of Cardinal’s heart sank. They had the perfect reason for being down in the cellar, and even for looking guilty. Everyone was looking for the reverend and by asking the question, Lord Gilbert was using the disappearance as an excuse to keep from looking like he was doing something wrong.
“We have been looking for him,” the Duke of Norrend answered. His tone indicated to the Duke of Cardinal that he was thinking the same thing. “When did you last see him?”
“Yesterday evening,” Lord Gilbert responded. “He is not down here?”
“No, we have not seen him.” The Duke of Norrend crossed his arms over his chest. “We must talk. We have questions to ask you.”
“What is it about, my lord?”
“It is about the paintings the Duke of Cardinal was purchasing from me. They have gone missing.”
“Oh my, that is not good news,” Lord Gilbert said. His face did not change. He did not look worried.
“No, it is not. And Lady Joanna claims that you have taken them.”
Lord Gilbert raised his eyebrows and looked genuinely surprised. “Why would she say such a thing?”
“She was very credible,” the Duke of Cardinal said.
Lord Gilbert gave him a sarcastic look. “It seems to me she has lied before. She has caused trouble in the past. I find it hard to believe you would take her word for anything.”
The Duke of Norrend frowned. “I do believe the last words I spoke to you was to advise you to go to Earl Rickman and ask for permission to court Lady Joanna. You appeared to be getting very close to her. I know that she was under that impression as well. I believe we all were. If you feel she is not worthy of being trusted and believed, why would you allow yourself to be involved with her?”
Lord Gilbert had the courtesy to look ashamed for a moment. The Duke of Cardinal had to refrain from losing his temper. They were guilty and they were not going to own up to it, just as Mr. Covington had said.
“I want my paintings returned,” the Duke of Norrend said. “And if anything has happened to Reverend Stovington, I can assure you, there will be consequences.”
“We have done nothing to the reverend, my lord,” Lord Gilbert responded in a calm voice. “We are going up to the church to continue the search for the reverend. If I hear anything about your paintings, I will certainly notify you directly and as quickly as possible. But I cannot tell you where they are or where the reverend is.”
“Cannot or will not?” the Duke of Cardinal inquired. Lord Gilbert looked at him for a moment before smiling.
“I cannot tell you something I do not know.”
The Duke of Cardinal balled up his fists but kept them behind his back. These men had callously attempted to destroy his reputation and almost cost him the woman he loved. He would not resort to fisticuffs, though he was very tempted.
The Lords Balfour turned to go back up the stairs. The dukes looked at each other with regret and reluctantly went up the stairs behind the two Balfours. Lord Leonard still had not spoken.
The Duke of Cardinal thought he looked like he wanted to say something. It might benefit them to split up the two brothers and try to get the information from Lord Leonard. But he had never seen the two brothers apart.
He wanted desperately to speak to Lady Annabelle about it. She was highly intelligent and intuitive. She had the kind of woman’s intuition that would be perfect for sorting out this kind of tragedy.
Once he began thinking about her, the Duke of Cardinal could not stop. He was anxious to be in her presence again, missing her like he never thought he would. And it had been less than an hour. He wondered if she was missing him as much as he was missing her.
He stared at the back of Lord Gilbert’s head as they went up to the church. He was not an attractive man by any means and had little money. He was not dressed in the clothes of the season, indicating he was unable to purchase new ones. He was unclean, dirty on the inside and the outs
ide.
The Duke of Cardinal could not imagine what Lady Joanna saw in him or how he had been able to manipulate her the way he did.
He certainly did not seem charming in any way.
The men came out just outside the church, where the door to the cellar stood open. People were walking around the grounds with looks of wonder and curiosity on their faces. The reverend would be missed if he was not able to return.
The Duke of Cardinal turned to go in the church. He wanted to see Lady Annabelle. He wanted to tell her he had been thinking about her. Just to see her pretty face and be in her presence would be enough to calm his angst.
