by Ayles, Abby
Catherine looked at her quizzically, but she consented and followed Noelle into her room. Noelle quietly closed the door so they would not attract attention to themselves. The rest of the family didn’t seem to be up yet.
“What is this all about?” Kitty asked her, sitting on Noelle’s bed. She didn’t seem quite as peeved as she had last time, but Noelle knew that she’d been that way before largely because she’d forced her into a kind of scathing commentary on her actions. This time, for her part, Noelle was being much calmer.
Noelle sat beside her on the bed, trying her best to appear friendly instead of as if she was interrogating her. “Why do you never speak of dear Lord Edwards anymore?” she inquired. “He used to be all that you wanted to talk about.”
Looking down at her knees, Catherine tilted her head a little bit. She was frowning slightly, but she didn’t seem angry or particularly bothered by her sister’s question. “I’m not sure that I know what you mean.”
Noelle did her best to keep her temper even. “You’ve been quiet about him and all you talk about these days is Lord Drake. I worry that you are ignoring a perfectly kind and sweet gentleman. He surely adores you,” she added.
Catherine sighed. “Does he?” she asked. “He doesn’t show me as much attention as Lord Drake does.”
“That’s largely because he’s shy,” Noelle replied, smirking a little bit. There was no way that Kitty didn’t know that about the man. One of the things that made him extra sweet was that he was modest and retiring.
Catherine didn’t seem entirely convinced that this was the way of it. “I still think that he’s very sweet, but Lord Drake has shown me such attention. He really does like me, Noelle.”
Her elder sister frowned, giving her a dark sort of look but she retained her temper. “That’s as may be, but you’re not supposed to receive his affections. Mother and Father have a plan for you and a plan for me. You know that.”
“Oh, everyone’s always going on and on to me about plans and rules,” Catherine complained. “No one ever stops to think about what I want.”
Noelle nodded her head a little bit. “Welcome to being a woman in 1805.”
She didn’t mean to be snippy towards her sister, but she felt like they’d been through all of this before. Even though she did not have an interest in Lord Drake, that didn’t mean that Catherine could just pursue him instead. Lord Drake was supposed to marry the eldest daughter, not a younger one.
First sons of dukes married the first daughters of dukes. That’s how it was supposed to work. Catherine was forgetting the order of things.
“The viscount would be a wonderful husband for you,” Noelle pressed. “You should have everything that you could ever want with him. He would let you completely be yourself, I just know it.”
But there didn’t seem to be any convincing Catherine at this moment. Sighing a little, she went and opened the door so they could venture downstairs together and see what the plan was for breakfast. Their parents were sitting together in the drawing room, deep in the middle of a discussion.
Their sisters were nowhere to be found, but Noelle had an idea that she knew where they were: Anna and Beth were surely fussing over which dresses they ought to wear down, and Emily was obviously reading a book somewhere out of sight. Noelle smiled fondly when she thought of the rest of her sisters, but Catherine…
Catherine was starting to be a real menace.
“Did you have a nice time at Stone Hill Manor?” their father asked then, looking pointedly at Noelle, which caused her cheeks to immediately go pink. He knew how she felt and he’d likely been discussing those feelings with her mother.
Nodding eagerly, Catherine smiled at him. “Oh yes, Father. That home is so beautiful. And rather gothic, in an enchanting way.”
“It’s certainly gothic,” Noelle muttered. In truth, the castle made her think of a horror story. And she thought the old man didn’t exactly help to change that. “I was rather on edge the whole time.”
“Noelle, you’re no fun,” the duchess said, smiling at her in a way that said she was making fun of her. “I think the duke’s home was quite lovely. They were very kind to let us stay there a few nights and take in its splendor.”
If Noelle hadn’t been face-to-face with them while they discussed this, she surely would have rolled her eyes. But as it was, she just sat there on the couch, keeping mum about her feelings the rest of the conversation.
To her relief, her younger sisters didn’t have more than a vague interest in Stone Hill Manor or the marquess who lived there. They wanted to know what it had looked like and who had been there. There hadn’t been any other ladies – not counting the maids – so the young girls quickly lost interest in the topic.
Noelle was more than happy to move on to other subjects.
“I had some enjoyable conversations with Mr. Edwards again,” she told them with a genuine smile on her face for perhaps the first time since coming down the stairs. “He is always a delight to see.”
Their mother looked upon her with raised eyebrows. She didn’t seem at all surprised that Noelle had brought Mr. Edwards back into the conversation but she still seemed as if she wished she wouldn’t. “He always seems to appear at these functions, doesn’t he?”
“Well, he’s close friends with Lord Drake,” Noelle said with a slight shrug. “Don’t forget, the first time I met Mr. Edwards, the marquess didn’t even deign to participate in our ball. I think it speaks well to the gentleman’s character – Mr. Edwards’s – that he appears when he is invited. Wouldn’t you say?”
Noelle looked across the room at Emily who had entered shortly after her and she could see that her younger sister was smirking and doing her best to hide it.
“I must say that I can’t say much about his character,” the duchess said thoughtfully. “I suppose he seems a nice enough gentleman.” She continued to eye Noelle suspiciously even as she said these more supportive words.
That night, as Noelle was lying in her bed, she felt like she’d achieved some minor success. Even though her mother still strongly preferred Lord Drake, she was bringing her around to the thought of Mr. Edwards as at least a dear friend…
No one could have known that night, as they slept in their beds, that Catherine was packing a valise. Noelle was disturbed from her sleep in the early hours of the morning and she rushed to the window to see the shadowy figure of a man on the porch below.
All of a sudden, the front door opened and Catherine ran out into the night with the gentleman, into a dark carriage. The carriage rolled away and Noelle ran out of her room and down the stairs.
I don’t have to wonder who that man was, she thought, shocked and horrified. “Mother!” she cried out loud enough to wake the whole echoing house. “Mother, Kitty has flown!”
Chapter 28
Everything started out normally for Rodrick. He woke up early and got to work on a few things on his bit of land and then he went for a walk into Hertford. When he returned home, he was surprised to see James there.
He could see right away that his cousin was in a state. James was frantically pacing the room and as soon as he saw Rodrick come into the drawing room, he rushed over to him. “She’s gone,” he said in a shocked, slightly vacant sort of voice as if he had somehow been deflated of air.
“Lady Catherine has run off with that degenerate Lord Drake!”
Rodrick’s mouth fell open. He’d never heard his cousin speak in such a manner. I should’ve known that something like this would happen, he thought miserably.
“I am so sorry, James,” he said sincerely, not knowing what else to say. He didn’t have any way of fixing this. He’d tried hard to prevent it, but it clearly hadn’t been enough.
James was much more upset than even Rodrick had been able to anticipate. He knew that, if such a thing really did happen, his cousin would be sad, but he didn’t expect this pacing, pulling at his hair or these helpless looks coming from Jamie.
“Where do
you suppose they’ve run off to?” Rodrick asked.
It felt like such a limp and unhelpful thing to wonder, and of course they could likely guess, but he wanted to find out what James was thinking. He was clearly imagining the worst possible scenario. The worst possible scenario in his point of view.
“Probably Gretna Green,” James said, running his fingers through his dark hair. “Isn’t that popular amongst the scoundrels of society?”
Rodrick frowned, disbelieving that Alphonse could do something so insensible and so hasty. For what purpose would he have done such a thing? Does he truly think that he is in love with that foolish girl?
“Her father wrote to you?”
James nodded his head. “He must’ve thought that I ought to know. Not that it does any good knowing. He asked for me to be discreet, and of course I will be.”
Just then, Eleanor came into the drawing room. She looked as though she’d been disturbed by the sound of them talking. Voices tended to carry in their cottage unless they were a mere whisper and James wasn’t concerned about being quiet for once.
“What’s happening?” she asked, looking from her son to James. “What’s wrong?”
“Lady Catherine has run away with Lord Drake,” Rodrick told her. “He came to their house last night while everyone was abed and they rode off together to lord knows where but it’s pretty certain that she is gone.”
Oh God, please let her be married to him now. If they have run off and haven’t gotten married… The scandal was bad enough as it was, but this kind of thing could kill a man from worrying.
The duchess must be in such a state, he thought sympathetically. He’d never quite liked the Duchess of Salisbury but that was only because she’d never acted particularly fond of him either. That didn’t mean that he could not empathize with her now.
“That rat of a man,” he said then. “Putting that poor family in such a terrible position. I hope by God that they have married and they will take their place at Stone Hill Manor shortly.”
Rodrick had to wonder if the old Duke of Cumberland knew anything about it either. He likely didn’t take too kindly to being left alone yet again. That was, unless Alphonse simply brought the girl back to be with him at his estate… unaccompanied.
The more that he thought about it, the more agitated he became towards that girl. Her family really hadn’t been much of a help in this and now poor James was heartbroken and abandoned. He couldn’t blame the family, but he could certainly be annoyed at them for not doing more to prevent this.
I know that they were aware of the way the young lady was with him. They were always talking together, always carrying on… Always rather indecent considering that James was right there.
Hang it all! I’m going to pay them a little visit. James is too full of sorrow to speak with them but I really must. Perhaps I can help them in their time of grief.
He could confer with them, too, about where the two might have gone. And whether or not it really was too late.
“I’ll not be gone more than a day,” he said to them. “And then we shall have a better idea of what more might be done. In the meantime, Jamie, do try not to fret too much; you are and have always been deserving of better.”
Rodrick climbed into a coach and rode to London, to pay a visit to the family in Grosvenor Square. As they approached, he recalled the time that Alphonse had stopped in at his own apartment instead of going to the party… They’re not in his apartment there, are they?
The very idea horrified him. He didn’t think that the marquess would stoop so low, but then again, he had whisked a girl off into the night like some kind of beast. Rodrick pushed the thought from his mind for the moment as he got out of his coach and walked up to the front door of the Salisbury townhouse.
The door was opened by a butler and then he was invited in. Rodrick went into the sitting room and waited for the duke and duchess to join him there. This was the first time he’d come to their home completely unannounced. After the night they had, I shouldn’t be surprised if they’re not keen on receiving guests.
Rodrick waited there for some time with no sign of the duke or duchess. Then suddenly Lady Noelle came into the room. She froze in the doorway and didn’t appear to have received any warning from a servant about his arrival.
She stared at him with her mouth partially open in a little ‘o’ shape. Rodrick willed himself somehow to not be overcome with amorous thoughts about her. They had bigger concerns right now.
He stood up and gave a little bow. “Good evening, Lady Noelle,” he said to her politely. “I came as soon as I heard.”
At first, he hadn’t noticed anything unusual or different about her appearance or demeanor, but upon further inspection of her lovely face, he could tell that she had been crying. There was a little red to her eyes and the tops of her cheeks glistened with freshly fallen tears. Rodrick had spent so long stewing over Lord Drake and Lady Catherine being at fault and now he realized that Lady Noelle was caught in the middle of it all.
And she was mourning the fallen sister. As well as her own damaged prospects.
If James was informed of the sordid affair, then that meant that rumors were now flying around London about Alphonse and Lady Catherine – if indeed she was referred to as a lady anymore.
“It was good of you to come,” Lady Noelle said, coming into the room and sitting cautiously on the nearest wing chair. He knew at once that she was attempting to keep her distance from him.
He sat down in the wing chair opposite, regarding her with sympathetic eyes. “I know that there is not much that I can do, but I want you to know that if I can do anything… I should like to do it.”
Lady Noelle nodded her head, seemingly unconvinced. She leaned forward and got some tea from the tray on the table. He hadn’t even noticed it there until now.
Rodrick could never be angry at her. She never meant for her sister to meet Alphonse, let alone start off the flirtation. He recalled how cautious she always seemed when Lady Catherine and the marquess stood together talking just for each other’s ears.
If their mother was at all upset with Lady Noelle, then she simply didn’t understand how everything occurred like he did. He was there at the ball and he saw how disappointed Noelle had been when Alphonse never arrived. Her sister Emily had been there as well, Rodrick recalled.
He figured that she was not really upset because her sister had stolen the gentleman from her. No, he knew her much better than that. She was upset because her mother was upset at her, and she was upset because her little sister was gone.
It was no great surprise that Lady Noelle cared about her sister. She was probably so worried about her, especially because she was distrusting of Lord Drake as it was.
“I was hoping to speak with your father,” Rodrick said gently, watching as she sipped at her tea with such a sad and distant look on her face. “You know that my cousin is just devastated by this news.”
Lady Noelle nodded vaguely. “My father will be downstairs soon. He’s arranging a search party for them, but I don’t know how much hope there is…”
Rodrick’s frown deepened. He hated to see the lady like this. The light was gone from her oceanic blue eyes.
He wished that he could give her a hug, but of course he knew how impertinent that would be.
Just as he was thinking this, Lady Noelle stood up, setting her cup down on the table as she did so. “I’ll go see why he’s been delayed,” she said to Rodrick. He noticed that even though she was clearly saddened, she was still treating him kindly.
She left him sitting there in the drawing room.
After a few more minutes, the Duke of Salisbury appeared. He seemed just as somber as Lady Noelle was, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks even though it had only been a day since Lady Catherine’s flight had taken place.
He sat down in the wing chair that Lady Noelle had just vacated. “Good evening, Mr. Edwards,” he said. “I daresay that I wish we could be meeting again
under much more pleasant circumstances.”
Rodrick, of course, had risen up from his chair at the sight of the duke in the room and he slowly eased himself back into his chair once the gentleman had sat across from him. “Good evening, your Grace. Indeed, this is most troubling news for all of us.”
The two gentlemen sat together and discussed what each of them had made from the hurried departure of Lady Catherine into the abyss. Rodrick explained that he believed Lord Drake to have taken her to be married away from parental authority. The duke expressed his hopeful agreement with this.
“It seems to me that Lord Drake was tired of waiting for an approval that he certainly would not have received. The man was supposed to wed my eldest daughter, you understand. Catherine is not much more than a child still.”
Rodrick nodded. She certainly acts it much of the time. “Yes, your Grace.”
“We must be relieved that Fairfax is not an imbecile. He’s an honorable gentleman, even if he has made a grievous, very grievous mistake indeed. I have no doubt that he has run off to marry my daughter and they shall reappear soon.”
He sighed a little then. “Of course, such thoughts do little to calm the hearts and nerves of our families. Please do let your cousin Lord Edwards know that this was never our intention. Would that I had a better child to give him as a wife!”
Rodrick nodded again. He could think of one daughter of his who would make an excellent wife, but he would never suggest it. Besides, a duke wasn’t going to be willing to give his daughter away to an earl. Even a well-liked one.
As ever, he thought of Jamie before he thought of himself.
Chapter 29
Noelle was terribly distraught when she realized both the reality and the severity of what she’d witnessed down below her window. Her little sister Kitty had run off with a man. It didn’t matter which man it was, really; she was ruined and her family was going to be tarnished because of her.
It would have been bad enough had it been any other gentleman, too, but the fact that her shadowy accomplice had been Lord Drake made Noelle even more despondent. He was supposed to marry Noelle, or not and move along… He was never supposed to go after Noelle’s younger sister.
