by Sally James
Bella agreed. Eager as she was to carry on, she knew it made sense to make enquiries at the last place where they’d been seen.
‘Jackson, you can ask amongst the ostlers, find out what sort of carriage Lambert hired and if possible where he was going,’ Lord Dorney went on.
It was almost as though he were organizing a military campaign, Bella thought.
‘Right, sir, and I’ll find out, don’t you worry!’ Jackson replied, his expression grim.
‘Good man. Dan and Alex can mingle in the tap room and try to find out what they can there. Bella, you won’t be able to pretend to be a boy close to others, so you can wear that cloak until you are safely inside the private parlour I’ll hire for you. When you look respectable again you can gossip with the maid.’
Bella nodded. She would have objected to the word gossip, if she hadn’t been so concerned for Mary. This was the second night that villain had imprisoned her, and she must be so frightened, terrified of what he intended for her.
‘I have an acquaintance in the town, I’ll visit her and discover what I can about Lambert,’ Lord Dorney said.
Bella frowned. A woman? They she told herself not to be selfish. She ought not to be considering her own situation with regard to Lord Dorney while Mary was being held prisoner. But she could not banish her thoughts, especially after she had been conducted to the private parlour, with a bedroom off it. She changed into a somewhat creased gown that had been hastily stuffed inside her saddle bag, and was left to eat the solitary supper Lord Dorney had ordered to be sent up to her.
He had been supportive. He had held her closely. He had called her his dear. And now he was going to see a woman he knew. What woman? Bella’s imagination conjured up a young, beautiful female. He had paid no special attention to any of the debutantes in London. Was that because he was in love with someone? At times she had thought he was turning his attention to Mrs Ford, after he had rejected her, but that was not the case. Was there an unknown women he admired? How convenient that they had stopped in the town where she lived, so that he could visit her.
She tried to still her confused ponderings. He had not planned this journey. It made sense to ask at this inn. And when the maid came to clear away her supper she had her own part to play.
* * * *
‘A friend of mine came this way yesterday,’ Bella said, smiling at the young girl. ‘She was unwell, and I’m on my way to her now. Did you see her?’
‘Oh, yes, miss. Though I didn’t see her properly.’
‘What do you mean?’ Surely, Bella thought, Lambert could not have covered Mary’s face with a mask and a gag? That would have made people ask questions.
The maid explained. ‘She was all wrapped up in a cloak, and her brother carried her in and said she was cold, but needed to rest for an hour.’
‘Did you help her undress?’ Bella asked, but without much hope of it. Lambert would have thought it too dangerous to allow anyone near Mary.
The maid shook her head. ‘They had this very same room, but he said she didn’t need me, she’d lie on the bed in the room next door. He had some food sent up, but none of us saw her.’
She must have been unconscious! Bella wished she had Lambert with her now. She wouldn’t hesitate to use her pistol. Had he drugged her? Or even hit her on the head?
She forced herself to appear calm. ‘And when they left? Did you not see her then?’
‘Well, no, miss. I’d been to fetch the dishes, see, and was down in the kitchens. But Billy, one of the ostlers, said she was all wobbly on her feet, and had to be lifted into the chaise.’
‘Chaise? Not the one they arrived in?’
‘I wouldn’t know, miss.’
That was all Bella could discover.
* * * *
‘She must have been drugged all the time,’ Bella said indignantly later that night when they all sat round the parlour table comparing notes. ‘She’d not have gone willingly with him otherwise, when there were people round who might have helped her.’
‘I’m afraid so. What did you find out, Jackson?’
‘Well, my lord, it was a post chaise he hired, just the one stage to xxx. But they were took to a private house, not an inn.’
‘You have the direction?’
‘The postilion didn’t know who lived there, but he said he could find it again. I took the liberty of asking him if he’d guide us there tomorrow.’
‘Capital! Dan?’
Sir Daniel shook his head. ‘Lambert didn’t go into the taproom. He stayed upstairs, had food taken up, and asked that everyone be kept out of the way while he carried his sister down, when they left. Said she was uncomfortable if people watched her while she was so ill and incapacitated.’
‘He must have drugged her! I’ll kill him!’ Jackson snarled.
‘Not before he’s led us to Mary. I found out he has only a small manor house, and all the farms are let, so it’s not likely she’s concealed on any of them. He’s not a good landlord, not liked by his tenants, so they would be unlikely to help him. He has a boat, but I wasn’t able to discover where. Someone on his estate will be able to tell us, though. I suggest we make straight for there in the morning, if Mary isn’t at the place the ostler takes us to.’
‘He might be staying in his own house,’ Sir Daniel said.
‘He might, but I doubt he’d take Mary there. He wouldn’t be able to trust the servants, particularly if he’s late with their wages. You and Alex can go and make enquiries. Now it’s time for bed.’
‘I’ll be back to the stables, my lord. It’s comfortable enough up in the loft, and I’d rather keep an eye on the horses.’
Sir Daniel and Alex went too, though Alex cast a speculative eye at Bella as he left. She felt her face grow warm. He would have known of the gossip in Bath, the expectation that Lord Dorney had been about to offer for her. And he’d have seen the coldness which had existed between them in London.
She slipped into the bedroom where her breeches had been hidden in the saddle bags. With them was a purse. She took it out, went back to the parlour, and handed it to Lord Dorney. He frowned, and looked a question.
‘Money, to pay for our expenses,’ she explained.
‘I don’t need your money!’
His voice was cold, and he turned away abruptly.
‘Mary is my maid, so I should be responsible for whatever it costs us to find her. She’s not your responsibility, nor that of Sir Daniel and Alex. I’m grateful for your help, but I can’t permit you to bear the cost.’
‘Don’t behave like a miserable tally clerk!’
Bella felt as though she had been slapped. How dare he throw such a wounding accusation at her! It was clear he considered her to be beneath him, unfit to be his wife. No wonder he had so swiftly recanted from his intended proposal when he found a reason to do so. He must have been regretting it even after the hints he had given.
‘Then I’ll say goodnight, my lord,’ Bella snapped, and marched towards the adjoining bedroom.
‘Good night. I’ll sleep in here, so you needn’t worry that Lambert might discover you.’
She turned and looked at him. She’d somehow assumed he had taken a room for himself. She didn’t know whether to be pleased at this evidence of his care for her, or furious at his implied assumption that she might be afraid and in need of protection. Why did the wretched man make things so difficult? Sometimes she thought they were almost back to the friendly relationship they’d had in Bath, before he’d discovered about her fortune, then he would do something or utter some remark which clearly showed he had not altered his opinion of her.
She forced herself to swallow an indignant retort, and spoke calmly. ‘I’m not worried by that poltroon! But where will you sleep? There isn’t even a sopha.’
‘I’ve slept on far harder floors on campaign.’
Bella could see there was no reasonable alternative. She could scarcely offer to share her bed, even if he’d accept the offer. She bade him a c
old goodnight, swept through to the adjoining bedroom, shut the door and stood considering. Then she stripped one of the blankets from the bed, dragged off the bolster, and marched back into the parlour with them.
‘At least have these,’ she said curtly, and turned to go.
He had removed his riding coat and shirt, and was standing just in breeches. The muscles of his arms and back rippled, but as he turned towards her Bella saw an ugly scar running from one shoulder down across his chest and ending near his lower ribs.
She gasped. ‘What happened?’ she demanded, and stepped towards him.
‘A stray bullet. At Waterloo,’ he said, unconcerned. ‘The fellow was flat on his back and he fired as I rode past.’
‘Does it hurt?’ Bella was only a step away from him, and she stretched out her hand and gently touched the scar.
Was it her imagination that his breathing quickened? He stepped back, out of her reach, and turned away.
‘Go to bed, Bella. We have to be away early in the morning.’
* * * *
Bella retreated to bed, and eventually fell into a restless sleep. Her dreams were all of battlefields, and once she woke up crying, to find Lord Dorney holding her hand and trying to calm her.
‘What is it?’ he asked softly. ‘You were crying out in your sleep. Don’t fret, we’ll find Mary, and Lambert won’t have harmed her.’
Bella clung tightly to his hand as she slowly regained her senses. ‘I - ‘
How could she tell him that it had not been Mary and her plight which caused her dreams? That she had been imagining dreadful horrors, battlefield skirmishes such as those she’d read about in the newssheets, and his own near encounter with death? Over and over she’d seen some French soldier, probably dying himself, but with just enough strength to fire his pistol at an enemy, in the hope of taking one more with him to whatever eternity awaited.
‘I - I know,’ she managed. ‘I’m sorry if I disturbed you.’
‘Old soldiers sleep lightly,’ he said, releasing her hand.
Bella restrained the impulse to cling to him. ‘You’re not old,’ she said, sleepy again.
‘Old enough,’ he replied. ‘Will you be all right now?’
She nodded, and turned over in bed, sinking almost immediately into sleep. Was it her imagination, she wondered as she lost consciousness, that he dropped a light kiss on her brow?
* * * *
They rode swiftly eastwards on the following morning. Bella was back in her boy’s clothing, after a restless night when she had dreamed Lord Dorney had come to her, held her hand and kissed her. Of course he hadn’t, she told herself firmly. He had seemed more friendly this morning, after the coldness of the previous evening, and he was putting himself out by searching for Mary, but that didn’t mean his feelings towards her had changed. He’d merely wanted to keep her spirits up. He’d called her his dear, she argued. But that was merely the sort of patronising address older people used towards those they considered were being nuisances. As for his help, he was the sort of man who would want to put right any injustices. It didn’t indicate any warmer feelings towards herself. The situation had not changed. Indeed, it had probably been made worse by her outrageous conduct of the previous few weeks, when she had scorned the opinions of society and gone out of her way to antagonize them.
She forced herself to push these musings to the back of her mind, and try to plan for any eventualities that lay ahead. It was Mary who mattered. Their first task was to find and rescue her. If they could apprehend Lambert too, and charge him with abduction and blackmail and extortion, she would not hesitate. Bella was uncertain of the legal charges they might bring, but she determined that nothing would stop her from making him pay, and heavily, for what he had done.
The postilion from the inn led them to a small villa surrounded by an overgrown garden and orchard. No one was at home, not even servants, and Lord Dorney, dismissing the postilion with a large tip, and a recommendation that he told no one of their movements, turned to his companions.
‘There’s the village inn, and the neighbours,’ he said. ‘Jackson, go to the inn and try to find out who lives here and where they are. Dan, you and Alex can ask the neighbours. Say you’re looking for someone else and must have mistaken the direction. They’ll tell you who lives here, maybe even where they are to be found. Bella, you and I will go and ask the vicar. But you must remain silent. If he invites me inside, you’ll stay outside to care for the horses. You look like a groom,’ he added.
‘Rendezvous?’ Sir Dan asked briefly.
He was a man of few words, Bella decided. At least he was friendly towards her, hadn’t been shocked by her boy’s apparel, and didn’t talk down to her as a mere woman.
‘A mile outside the village, on the road to xxx. The chances are it will be on our way. And Lambert’s house is a few miles further on. We’ll try there next.’
* * * *
Bella, fuming inwardly, did as she was bid and waited some distance from the Rectory. She knew he was right, and close to she could not be taken for a boy, but the need to be inactive while others made all the enquiries, made her impatient.
Lord Dorney merely nodded as he returned half an hour later, took the reins of his horse and mounted. He set off without waiting for her, and she scrambled up into the saddle, her temper barely under control, and followed.
The others were all waiting for them, sitting in the shade of a huge beech tree. Lord Dorney dismounted, hitched the reins over a low branch, and sat down with them. Bella followed suit.
‘The house belongs to a young fellow who sounds like Lambert’s twin,’ Sir Daniel began. ‘Benjamin Hill, by name. He’s the son of a master bootmaker, trying to be a gentleman. Apparently he’s run through the small fortune his parents left him, and is waiting, impatiently, for an elderly aunt to die and leave him her money. He’s rarely at home, takes no interest in the place, neglects repairs, and forgets to pay the caretaker and his wife, who are his only servants. But during the past week he’s been kicking his heels here, drinking at the inn every night until he’s barely able to stagger home to bed.’
‘He’s been put to bed by one of the ostlers more than once,’ Jackson added. ‘Can’t think why the fellow bothered, unless he managed to pick his pockets on the way.’
‘More or less what the Rector told me. Hill and Lambert were at school together, and do little but gamble, drink and wench. Most of the people round here will have nothing to do with them, and several shopkeepers have refused to extend any more credit. Is it known where he is?’
Jackson nodded. ‘He and Lambert went off in his old chaise, towards xxx, with just a pair pulling it. They’ll have Mary with them. The man I spoke with said the chaise was ancient, hadn’t been out on the roads for years, and the horses were more used to pulling a hay wain than a coach. Hill was driving, which he thought made it certain the coach would overturn if it met a deep rut or some other obstacle. He didn’t think either the carriage or the horses would survive more than a dozen or so miles.’
‘xxx is near Lambert’s house. It’s about twenty miles from here. Perhaps they won’t have reached there. In which case they might have some difficulty concealing Mary. But we’re on the right track. Let’s follow.’
They mounted and set off. Bella fretted that they were not making plans for how to rescue Mary, but Lord Dorney and Sir Daniel both said they would have to wait and see what the situation was when they found her. Jackson rode in grim silence, but Bella could see his lips moving, and she suspected he was cursing Lambert and rehearsing what he would like to do with the man. She had a few ideas about that herself.
* * * *
They had gone about ten miles when Alexander’s horse cast a shoe.
‘Leave me. There was a smithy a mile or so back. I’ll catch up with you later,’ he said.
‘If we have time we’ll leave a message at the nearest inn,’ Lord Dorney suggested. ‘If there’s nothing you’ll have to wait there until one of us c
an come and meet you.’
An hour later they drew rein at the small lodge which, they had been informed in the village, marked the main entrance to Lambert’s small manor house. Walls, overgrown with moss, stretched in either direction. The driveway curved round, lined with ancient oaks, and hiding the house from view. It looked almost as unkempt as Hill’s house, and presumably Lambert spent nothing on any but essential upkeep.
There was no sign of life in the lodge, and the gates, with lank grass growing around them, had clearly not been closed for a long time. They rode inside and Lord Dorney led the way behind a thicket of overgrown bushes.
‘We’ll wait here, out of sight. Dan, he won’t know you. Can you go and ask if he’s at home?’
‘And presumably be a friend of his father’s, just home from soldiering, come to pay his respects?’ Sir Daniel asked with a grin.
Lord Dorney grinned back. ‘You’ll know what to say. If he’s not, find out whether he has other property nearby.’
‘Aye, aye, Captain.’
‘It’s not a game!’ Bella burst out as Sir Daniel rode off along the drive. ‘You two treat it as though it’s some form of sport, while poor Mary may be undergoing all sorts of ill treatment, as well as being frightened out of her wits!’
Lord Dorney sighed. ‘Bella, would it help Mary if we spend the time wailing and gnashing our teeth? I am as determined to find Mary as you are, and to hunt this man down and punish him. But the punishment will be through the law, not by a pistol. And if you have any intention of shooting him, forget it now! You would be at fault.’
She ground her teeth in frustration, but the sensible side of her had to admit he was right. She could not shoot the man down even though she considered him no better than vermin. Unless in self-defence, she decided, and smiled grimly.
‘Can’t we be doing something? Asking round the village to see if Lambert has some place where he could hide Mary?’
‘We could, but that might possibly alert him to our presence. I’d prefer to act more silently if possible, take him by surprise. First we need to know if he is at home, or has been here. If he isn’t here, and Dan doesn’t glean anything, we’ll begin to ask.’
