by Edith Layton
“Bev failed?” Elizabeth asked in confusion.
“How could he else?” Lord Kingston sighed. “For once Morgan gets hold of an idea, he is intractable. When he discovered you were still in the vicinity, he was furious. He took his rage out upon Bev first, then poor Tony. He sent for you, I suspect, to do similarly. But at the last, he decided he could not even look upon you again. ‘Do the business for me, Harry,’ he said, and stalked away. I wanted to spare you the pain of actually coming to the garden to get your congé, so I set out to intercept you. I did not know that you would arrive so soon. I planned to meet you at the gates.”
“Oh,” Elizabeth said, for she could think of no other reply. She had not known him as well as she had thought, but as she stood and tried to absorb all she had been told, still she could not envision the Earl so cruel, nor so lacking in spirit as to send another man to do his battles. But then, she remembered, he had told Lord Beverly to see them from Lyonshall.
“Then,” Elizabeth said suddenly, avoiding Lord Kingston’s eye, “I shall leave. There is no need to explain further, I understand.”
She turned to go, but he stepped in front of her and blocked her way. “The least I can do,” he said softly, “is to accompany you back to the inn. I have a carriage waiting at the gate, for it was there that I expected to meet you. Come, I will walk with you.”
He offered her his arm, but Elizabeth shook her head. “No,” she said resolutely, “I need no further assistance. In fact, I should rather walk, for in that way I can clear my thoughts. It is kind of you, my lord, but I assure you I am not such a fine lady that I have not walked miles farther at home. Thank you anyway, and tell his lordship I shall not fret him again, for I shall never return.”
“I think,” Lord Kingston said slowly, now taking her arm, despite her attempt to pull away, “that I must insist.”
Now that he was in front of her, Elizabeth could see his expression clearly without the radiance of the sun to obscure it. And the expression she read alarmed her. She tried to drag herself away and grew more anxious as he held her fast. Although now the sun was at her back so that he could not read her countenance, he seemed to understand her well enough.
“Useless,” he said implacably. “You shall come with me, Elizabeth.”
The last bursts of the sun’s fading light sent radiance to touch upon the scene, making Lord Kingston’s neckcloth dazzling white and Elizabeth’s hair shot silk. It touched upon the leaves, upon the stones, and struck a glint upon the pair of spectacles that peered out from behind a tree. But neither of the pair struggling in the clearing noticed it. The eyes behind the spectacles grew wide with fear and foreboding. He had come after birds’ nests and found a hornet’s nest instead.
After only a second’s pause, the glint disappeared as the owner of the spectacles decided rapidly that discretion was, in his case, both sadly and easily the better path to valor. The small figure wasted not a moment, but crept bent double, a difficult feat for such a bulky little parcel of a boy, silently from the scene. And then, once he had achieved the wide lawn, he straightened and began to run flat out.
He had kept his own counsel unhappily but conscientiously for all these past weeks, remaining silent through intimidation and the inescapable awareness of his own helplessness. But he knew full well from his own bitter experience that his new true friend, Elizabeth, was now in certain though unspecified danger. The decision was sudden and irrevocable; no true hero from any of his treasured secreted books would ever have let a maiden fair suffer due to his own cowardice. So he ran as though possessed. And he was, both by fear for her and by fear of his own wild recklessness.
But it was difficult for such a rotund figure to make much headway, though he was impelled as though pursued by demons. Thus it was that when he finally reached the Earl’s study, he was panting so that it took several long gasping moments for him to state his case so that it could be half-understood.
“Elizabeth, Elizabeth,” Lord Kingston said, shaking his head sadly as he imprisoned her hands in his and held her fast, “what am I to do with you? Here I try to be a gentleman, and all you can do is run from me like a frightened deer. Now, come, be a good child and come with me as a lady should. For all I want to do is the right thing.”
“The right thing,” Elizabeth said through clenched jaws, “would be to let me go my way unmolested.”'
“Oh, is that what you fear?” He smiled. “I’ll admit I am tempted. Have been tempted since I first saw you. But I fear your reaction yesterday quite put me out of sorts. I am an expert in such matters, I assure you, and I could see that your thoughts did not match mine in that direction. Still,” he said, smiling down at her, “it is never too late. Now that Morgan has spurned you, you have no future except that dreary little shop. No fortune, no prospects. You could still do better with me, Elizabeth. You are a devilish tempting little creature. There is nothing for you here, or at home either. Why not cast in your lot with me? I am not hard to take. I’m considered quite expert in the ways of love, in fact. Come with me to London. We’ll live at the top of the mark, and I will see that you don’t regret it.”
“I would not marry you for any reason,” Elizabeth cried once again, trying to tug free of him.
“I did not mention marriage,” he said coolly.
Elizabeth started and then said, in an effort to match his coldness, “You are not a gentleman, and I may not be a lady, but that does not make us a pair. Release me instantly.”
“Or what?” he said angrily. “No, it was a bad idea to start with. It’s as well you turned me down. For it was the work of impulse, and Isabel would skin me if she found out. No, I shall stay with my original thought. You shall come with me, Elizabeth. And if you continue this struggle, I can, I assure you, guarantee your compliance. But I do not think you’ll relish a bruised jaw, nor I the effort of carrying you down to the carriage. Now,” he said calmly as she ceased her resistance and only gaped at him, “you will walk with me, my dear, and you will enter the coach with me. Then I will bid you a tender farewell. And you will leave Lyonshall, just as you wished, forever. No, don’t look at me like that. I’m no murderer. I have too much wit for that. But you will be sent on a journey across the seas. And by the time you get back to England, if you do indeed decide to return after your weary travels, all will be changed. Morgan will be gone from here, as it is not his custom to remain for long. Even if he is in residence, I do not think you will have any reputation or word to be honored, not after your odd disappearance and your long sojourn abroad.”
Elizabeth felt cold to the bone and only whispered, “Why? What have I done to you?”
He looked at her oddly, and then cupped her chin with one hand. “You do not know, do you? Little innocence, it is not what you have precisely done, it is what you were about to do. It does not suit me for Morgan to be wed again, it does not suit me for him to decide not to name an heir. You were about to upset my plans, that is all, my love. Although,” he breathed, looking into her startled clear topaz eyes, “I do understand his change of plans, I do sympathize indeed.”
He drew closer to Elizabeth and pressed a kiss upon her lips. She recoiled instantly and began to fight, trying futilely to free herself. He raised his head and gave her a look of such anger that she flinched.
“No? Then I shall desist. I do not have to take what is not freely given. But I wonder if the fellows I have hired to see to your safe transport will have such reservations. Nor do I much care. But,” he went on savagely, dragging his hand slowly down her breast and along her body with insulting languor, “I think you shall. Come, Elizabeth,” he said abruptly, dropping his hand so as to more safely secure his grip upon her. But he hardly had need to, for Elizabeth only stood still and stared at him in horror. She whispered with sudden dread comprehension, “Morgan never wrote that note, did he?”
“So slow for so swift a lass. No, sweet, he did not. I had only to follow Bev this morning to get your direction. You can imagine our co
nsternation when we discovered you were not, after all, on your merry way back to your hat shop. But now you shall undertake another journey. Not so merry perhaps, but surely swifter and farther. Do not look so stricken. After all”—he laughed—“what is a reputation to a shopgirl? It is time for us to go. You have your choice: either walk with me or begin your journey with an aching head. It is all the same to me.”
Elizabeth only dug her feet in and shut her eyes. She did not welcome pain, but she knew that she could never meekly accompany him, no matter what the penalty. She stood in the glade listening to the late bird calls and the sound of the wind in the canopies of the trees. She heard her captor heave a great sigh and mutter about what a fool she was. She braced herself for a blow that never came. For her eyes snapped open as she suddenly heard a new sound, that of distant voices hurrying close. Lord Kingston dropped his fist and wheeled about as he heard them as well.
But when Elizabeth turned to see the first of a collection of people entering the clearing and felt herself grow dizzy with exultant relief, she also became aware of the fact that Lord Kingston still gripped her close. He had, in fact, thrust her in front of himself. She felt him fumble one hand into his jacket and then hold her so tightly about the waist as to almost cut off her breath.
Her first thought when she saw the Earl, moving with rapidity although leaning upon his walking stick, was as to how she would ever explain this compromising situation to him. For she was in Lord Kingston’s embrace again. Now she despaired. Even though she knew her entire future had just been threatened, her only present concern was as to how he would ever trust her again.
But he only glanced at her once, and then gave his full attention to Lord Kingston. Bev was beside him, and had started forward to her with a glad smile, but the Earl pushed him back. Through the confusion and fear that surrounded her, Elizabeth could still recognize some familiar faces before her. There was Owen, half-crouched beside Bev, and the Earl’s man of business, and a tall footman she had often seen. But the two other men crowded close were strangers to her.
The Earl stepped forward and signaled them to quiet and then smiled at his friend. “Harry,” he said softly, “don’t be an idiot. The race is run. There’s nothing more to profit from it. It is over. Let her go and we will talk.”
“Talk?” Lord Kingston snarled. “Talk, is it? About what, my dear? Whether I shall go to Newgate or Australia? Keep such talk to yourself.”
“Harry,” the Earl said reasonably, limping closer, “you are not a fool. Where can you go from here? Do you think you can just turn and walk away with her now? It’s too late, my friend. You had a lively dance, but the music has stopped. I’ll swear you are a more reasonable fellow than this.”
“Oh, I am reasonable,” Lord Kingston said with a smile in his voice. “Reasonable enough to know that you will take care when you see this.”
Elizabeth felt her arm jerked back, and saw from the corner of her eye the pistol Lord Kingston produced from behind her back.
“I am a reasonable shot, you recall,” he added tightly.
The Earl only stepped closer and said dryly, “More than reasonable, if you can get us all with one ball, Harry. Come, there are ways we can work this out, still. But not if you harm Elizabeth. Then there will be no recourse. There yet may be an honorable way out for you, but not if you add murder to your list.”
“Isabel, was it?” Lord Kingston spat. “That jade. Did she think to take all and throw me to the dogs? Well, I know enough to settle her. Or was it that fat toad Owen? He never liked the idea of my becoming his papa, though for all I know I might already have had that honor.”
“Neither,” the Earl said, coming so close that Elizabeth could see the glint in his eyes. “It was I. I knew the moment you came to Lyonshall, my friend. ‘Tall, fair, well-set-up young gentleman’ was the description I heard in London. That and the fact that James Everett Courtney, my designated heir, knew all about me and my home. Who else, Harry? When you stepped through the door, I knew. I remembered all those long and lonely hours in the hospital when I told you of my life. And then when you said you were on your way to rusticate at Heron Hall, I was sure, for I had heard that Heron Hall was on the auctioneer’s block, it was so encumbered by mortgage and debt. And then, Harry,” he went on, standing still and so close that Elizabeth could hear his every indrawn breath, “it was foolish of you to pretend to no interest in Isabel, and no strong attachment to her at all. That made no sense. I know you of old. Neither did your schemes. I wonder at their crudity. Did you think I would pay heed to a drunken youth’s maunderings, or fail to note who filled him with spirits? Did you think I would believe Elizabeth attracted to you, even for an instant? I am not such a fool to think all females akin to my dear late wife, and no actress could simulate Elizabeth’s very real disgust of you.”
But seeing Lord Kingston’s lips pull back and his grip on Elizabeth become cruelly tight, the Earl changed his tone and sighed deeply. “But that must have all been Isabel. How could you have listened to her or credited a thing she said? I only waited till I could get documented proofs, whilst you were under my roof. Do you see that fellow there, Harry? Mr. Jensen, the fabulous bootmaker. He knew you on the instant.”
“I never forget a foot,” one of the strange gentlemen spoke up fervently, before his companion elbowed him in the ribs.
“And the other fellow is employed by Bow Street. I thought to have the matter settled between us, Harry,” the Earl said sadly, “but then I saw that you and Isabel had further plans. She summoned you, of course, to discredit Anthony and Elizabeth. And would have done the same for Richard, if he were not so busy doing it for himself. But it was foolish of you to come, Harry. Did she actually convince you that if all obstacles were removed I would fall into a romance with her? Or did you think I would settle all upon Owen, and then you two could find a way to dispense with his inheritance…and eventually myself as well?”
Lord Kingston’s face flushed, and Elizabeth felt his body grow suddenly taut.
“No matter,” the Earl continued. “It hardly matters now. Though I confess that when Isabel was told all the truth, she went into strong hysterics. She did not know you as James Everett Courtney. Was there no honor among thieves? Don’t take umbrage, you were wise not to trust her. Come, Harry, this is sad stuff. Come back with me, we shall see what we can yet retrieve from our lost friendship, in the name of gentlemen. Loose Elizabeth, Harry. You have tried your damnedest to do her injury. That must end now. Indeed, I only sent her away so that she could be safe from your plans until I had the evidence in my hands.
“She has no part in this, Harry. Free her now. She did not even know of my suspicions or plans. How could I have told her, when her emotions lie so close to the surface of her eyes, and her face is so transparent? You and Isabel would have had the truth from one look at her, moments after she herself did,” the Earl went on, at last letting his gaze rest sadly upon Elizabeth. “I had to send her away when I realized how far you were prepared to go, but only so far as the Inn. For I knew the whole wretched business was drawing to an end. Loose her, Harry, and be done with it at last.”
“I shall be done with it,” Lord Kingston shouted, “for I hold her now. And if that is the only way I can get at you now, through her, I shall. Damn your eyes, I shall!”
The Earl shook his head. “Harry, Harry, do be sensible. I longed to destroy you that day in the salon, but my hands were then tied. For I could neither challenge you nor order you from my house until the net was closed about you. What do you think I will do to you if you harm her now? But more to the point, what will it profit you? You are many things, but not a murderer of defenseless females. And I did not think you a man to hide behind a female’s skirts,” he added with a sneer.
“Nor am I,” cried Lord Kingston, pushing Elizabeth away from himself with such violence that she stumbled and Lord Beverly had to rush to catch her and hold her upright.
“But you, my dear friend,” Lord Ki
ngston said, pointing his pistol straight at the Earl, so close that the barrel touched his chest, “are a man. And what is to stop me from finishing you here and now?”
The Earl simply stood and looked at his erstwhile friend with a weary expression. He shrugged. “Nothing, I imagine. But, Harry, what will it profit you?”
Lord Kingston hesitated and then, a look of wild despair upon his face, began to lower his pistol slowly toward the ground.
“You are wrong!” cried a young high voice almost cracking in its excitement. “For I shall stop him!”
Anthony burst into the clearing, disheveled and breathless. He carried a long chased-silver dueling pistol in his hand, and he stood facing Lord Kingston and the Earl, and pointed the pistol toward them.
“Drop it, I say!” he shouted, the pistol wavering wildly as his hands trembled in agitation. “For I have taken it from Morgan’s study, and I know how to use it, Harry. I have been your dupe, but no more. I demand you drop your pistol. At once!”
Lord Kingston wheeled to face Anthony and said with a trace of his old insolent drawl, “And have you even cocked it, young half-cocked fool?”
“I have,” Anthony shouted. “Now, drop yours or I shall fire!”
The Earl raised his hand in a motion of denial to Anthony, and Lord Kingston turned to note his gesture with amusement.
Then Anthony, wild with anger, raised his pistol, and holding it with two hands, closed his eyes and fired.
The explosion cast him back a step, and it was moments before the smoke cleared. Lord Kingston dropped his pistol and clutched at his heart in mock distress. “Behold me terrorized, young Tony. I doubt you could hit an elephant at two paces.”
