True Nobility

by Lori Bates Wright

  Finally, when they came to a clearing of sorts, Tori collapsed onto the grass holding her side. Expecting the girl to insist that she get up immediately to continue their escape, Tori instead found the girl on her hands, and knees coughing violently.

  On her feet in an instant, Tori had almost decided to break free. The farther from Savannah they’d traveled, the more convinced she was that the authorities were better prepared to track down her father. She had yet to see evidence that this person had any real knowledge of his whereabouts.

  Just as she lifted her skirts to run, the other girl called out to her, stopping her cold in her tracks. “Don’t ya even recognize your own … flesh an’ … blood.” The coughing wracked the girl’s thin body.

  Tori wanted to flee as fast and furious as her legs could take her. But, for some reason, she needed to know what the girl had meant by that.

  Tori wrestled with her conflicting emotions. She longed to be safe again, far away from this wretched creature. Yet, if there was even the slightest possibility that this girl truly did know where her father was being kept, she mustn’t hesitate to go to him.

  “Are you so bloomin’ ignorant you can’t see it?” The girl spoke again.

  Cold, exhausted, and in no humor for guessing games, Tori turned on her. Straightening her back, she rested her hands at her waist. “I see nothing. You are muttering gibberish.”

  The girl fell back onto the grass, barely recovering from her last spell. With a shake of her head, she wiped her mouth with her coat sleeve. “You think you’re so high-falutin. You ain’t nothin’, you hear?”

  Tori shook with frustration. Taking a step closer to the girl lying on the ground, she kicked the knife well out of the other’s reach. “I demand you tell me what you know of my father.” Her tone took on an almost hysterical edge.

  “That he ain’t just your father.” The girl spat at Tori’s feet.

  Absurd. Of course he was just her father. Her mother had died before any more children could be born.

  Inching closer, she blinked against the shadows on the girl’s face to search for a clue to the bizarre accusation. Tori’s eyes widened at what she saw. Returning her deep blue gaze with burning contempt, the other girl’s voice lowered with a touch of malice. “An’ you ain’t the only one with his stinkin’ blue eyes neither.”

  Those eyes. They were … her father’s eyes. But, that wasn’t possible. She’d never seen this girl before tonight. Yet there was something vaguely familiar about her mangy dress, and that voice.

  Tori whirled around and grabbed up the dagger, holding it with a dainty finger poised on the top of the blade as if she were about to cut a delicate filet. “It was you! You attacked me aboard Zachery’s ship.”

  The girl tried to laugh but had to pause for another round of hacking until she gagged.

  Tori poked the knife in her direction every now and again as she scoured the clearing for some sign—any sign—of life. Was her father here? Was this girl acting alone? For all Tori knew, a passel of thugs were lying in wait beyond the trees.

  A small trickle of blood appeared at the corner of the girl’s mouth. Tori immediately dropped the dagger as if she had caused it. “You’re ill.”

  “There’s … an ol’ … storehouse …” The girl was unable to finish before she lapsed into an unnatural sleep.

  Hoping to find her father at last, Tori followed the direction the girl had pointed. She walked until she saw a filthy looking building on the other side of some bushes. Surely this wasn’t the place the girl had referred to. It had been condemned six years ago, according to the posting on the door, and she could only imagine the squalor inside.

  Drizzle fell and thunder sounded in the distance. They didn’t have long to find shelter. Like it or not, this seemed to be the only place they could stay dry while she thought about what to do next.

  Returning, Tori tried to rouse the girl, but she didn’t move. Taking the ruffian by the back of the collar, Tori dragged her as far as she could before stumbling over a rock. Painstakingly, she got up and continued the effort, only to once again fall victim to a gopher hole.

  By the time she’d towed the girl to the edge of the meadow, her arms were numb, and her legs cried for mercy.

  “How have I gotten to the place where I am now rescuing you?” Tori muttered to herself. This same moth-eaten delinquent she was hauling through the brush had tried to murder her. And on more than one occasion. If she had half a mind at all, she’d leave her there and run as far away as she could.

  It was becoming apparent the girl was no longer a serious threat and her condition seemed to be worsening by the minute. Everything in Tori cried run. But she’d proposed too many unanswered questions. Besides, she couldn’t just leave her here to die.

  “Stop.” Tori commanded herself. Her imagination was getting the best of her. “No one is going to die.”

  Pushing against the run-down door with her foot, she jumped back when it fell completely off its rusted hinges, and crashed noisily into the crumbling warehouse. A cloud of dust flew up from under it as the sound echoed throughout the empty building.

  Completely dark inside, yet Tori heard strange stirrings and rustlings, signaling they were not alone. Fast losing her resolve, she made a wide circle around the foreboding portal, only to trip over the girl she’d left lying in the pathway.

  Coming to, the girl directed a crude blasphemy at Tori’s infringing backside now resting on her midsection.

  Tori tried to pull the girl to her feet by the shoulder of her tattered overcoat. The thin material ripped at the seam, and the girl was hurled over by the force of it, leaving her face down in the dirt.

  “Oh, dear,” Tori mumbled to herself, tugging at the girl’s other arm. “That couldn’t be at all good for your cough.”

  The other one pulled away from Tori’s grasp as if she were lethal. “Leave me be.” She followed her weak demand with a curse.

  Tori crossed her arms in front of her. Given the pains she’d taken just to get her here, she was fed up with being the target of that hateful glare. “Surely you don’t suggest we stay here for the night. Perhaps we should continue on until we come across a village with an inn.”

  Tori winced at the young woman’s odd-sounding bark of laughter, which caused another spasm of coughing. “They don’t let my kind in no inn. An’ who’s gonna pay for it? You?”

  Tori wondered at just what kind she was, until the girl shoved her forward. Tripping, she fell onto the floor of the filthy warehouse. Slow to get back up, her body felt like a mass of bruises.

  The girl went over to a bale of cotton that reeked of mildew and collapsed on top. Tori stood rooted to where she was, half out of defiance, half out of sheer terror at what might spring out at her from the darkness.

  Just as she determined she’d rather sleep in the grass outside and risk getting sopping wet from the coming rain, something scampered across her foot, and she dashed to the nearest crate.

  Tori’s heart thudded in her ears so that she could barely hear what the hateful girl was saying. She tried to answer, but she’d been so frightened nothing came out when she opened her mouth to speak. With no exception, this was the coldest, hungriest, and most afraid she had ever been in her entire life.

  For the remainder of the night, Tori pressed the girl for information at every opportunity.

  After constant pestering, Tori eventually learned that the girl, and the thug who attacked her aboard The Tempest were indeed one in the same. The young woman revealed that after slicing into her accomplice so he wouldn’t talk, she’d then stowed away in the dank bowels of the ship for the entire trip.

  Tori’s guess was this was how she’d become so ill.

  Although the girl’s motive for wanting her dead still wasn’t clear. She really didn’t seem to know what she wanted. Tori knew this person hated her with a vengeance, that point she’d made perfectly clear. Yet, she’d had ample opportunity to carry out her threat but still had not
finalized the deed.

  With the dawn came more uncertainty.

  Tori sat with her knees pulled up to her chest on a bale of hay in the corner of the dilapidated warehouse. A long stick in her hand hardly provided adequate protection from the various vermin that wriggled around her.

  Filthy and hungry, she cast a wary eye out of the dirt-streaked window, cracked and weather-worn from years of neglect. Water stagnated in pungent puddles along the mortared walls. The heat inside was sweltering.

  They were somewhere near the river, she’d heard the steamships bellow in passing, but this strip of the waterfront had been deserted ages ago. There wasn’t a soul in sight.

  Tori became leery of the girl’s claim to know of her father’s whereabouts.

  Shaking out her skirts for the hundredth time before tucking them back under her knees.

  She still tried to justify her decision to go along with this bedraggled young woman.

  “Take off your dress.” The captor’s voice was raspy from her cough.

  “I beg your pardon?” Tori was sure she hadn’t heard correctly.

  “Take it off. Use this ’til I get back.” The girl tossed the pungent old coat at Tori. “That’ll keep you from followin’ me. You won’t chance bein’ seen out in your frilly drawers.”

  “Wherever it is you’re going, you can take me with you.”

  “So you can go screamin’ and get me jailed?” The girl shook her head. “Not likely. Course, if you don’t want to cooperate, I’ll kill you now, and take the stinkin’ dress. Either way, it’s comin’ off of ya.”

  “Where are you going? And why do you need to go there in my dress?”

  “Like I said. They said my contract ain’t no good, so I’m goin’ to the bank to get my money.”

  “Why do you feel you must change into my gown to go?”

  The girl gave her a hateful sneer. “You think they’re gonna give it to me?” She shook her head with a hateful sneer. “They won’t give me nothin’ but grief. But if they think I’m you then all I gotta do is sign your name and take my money.”

  Tori nearly laughed. “You think they’ll just hand it over because you’re wearing my clothing?”

  “You’d best hope so.”

  Argument was futile. Tori needed another way to get around the girl’s impossible disposition. At the very least she could follow her. And once she was led to where her father was being kept, she would go for help and never look back.

  Reaching for the fastenings on the back of the once iris-colored gown, Tori couldn’t quite reach the top ones. “Would you mind?” She motioned to the back of the dress, and from the girl’s bewildered expression, Tori gathered that she had never owned such a garment. “Just unhook the little fasteners. See? Like this.” She demonstrated with one of the lower ones near her waist.

  The girl fumbled against the slashes on her back, and Tori drew a sharp breath. Holding her matted hair to the side, she felt wetness from the girl’s cough spray against her neck, sending revulsion down her spine. Finally the garment came free. Tori slipped it off, careful to hold it up from the ground.

  “I’d appreciate it if you would steal us a chicken or something on your way back. I’m famished.” It was a crude suggestion, but Tori’s stomach ached beyond endurance.

  Her captor sent her a scalding glare.

  “I see.” Tori was tired, miserable, and becoming increasingly irritable. “So murder is perfectly acceptable to you, but thievery to keep us alive is where you draw the line? Well, fine. Point me in the direction of the nearest farm, and I shall wring the fowl’s neck myself.”

  The girl gave an ugly laugh. “You ain’t never stole nothin’ in your life.”

  “I’ve never been this hungry before.”

  Tori wasn’t ashamed that she’d been well taken care of while growing up. But, these conditions were as foreign to her as night was from day. That she was willing to steal just to make her stomach stop growling, was a humbling testament of her faith. Claiming unequivocal trust in the Lord she realized, was much easier with a full belly and a warm bed.

  This girl was obviously unacquainted with such comforts. Something in her cold frown also told her that she somehow held Tori responsible.

  “Why do you hate me so?” She’d asked it dozens of times and didn’t know why she even bothered to try again. Knowing full well she was treading on treacherous ground, she hoped to take advantage of the girl’s distraction as she tried to put on the heavy gown. If she could catch her off guard, perhaps she would answer without thinking.

  Ignoring her as if Tori had never even spoken, the girl continued to fumble with the closures.

  Ultimately, she tired of watching the girl and put out a hand to help. “Turn around. I’ll do it for you.”

  The other girl immediately pulled away.

  Tori’s nerves were raw, and her patience had run thin. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am at somewhat of a disadvantage. You need my help, and since I have no place to go at the moment, you have nothing whatsoever to lose in accepting my assistance.”

  “Don’t you ever shut up?” The girl presented her back to Tori with a cough. “Do whatever you gotta do to this thing. Just do it with your mouth shut.”

  Tori felt compelled to point out the obvious. “You hardly look like me. The dress hangs on you.”

  “That does it. Ain’t no amount of money worth all this.” The girl whirled around first to the right, and then to the left. Tori assumed she was looking for the knife.

  Tori caught sight of the weapon and nudged it toward the bale of hay with her foot.

  “All right, then. I won’t say another word.” Tori nibbled her lip, and tried to act unconcerned, but her hands were trembling—whether from fear or hunger, she wasn’t sure. “On the condition you take me to my father as soon as you return.”

  “I told you I would.” Again, Tori’s very presence seemed to irritate her. “But if I come back and you’re gone, he’s dead. Got it?”

  Once finished with the fastenings, Tori cast a critical eye over the loose-fitting bodice, much to the girl’s displeasure. She was painfully thin. “What did you say your name was?” Oh dear. She’d forgotten she wasn’t supposed to speak.

  “I warned you.” She came to stand face to face with Tori, though she was no longer a threat. Without that knife and in her sickly condition, she was really more pathetic than frightening.

  Standing so close, Tori could see the furious gold flecks in her eyes—just like her father’s.

  Something about the exchange upset the other girl as well. She backed away with a jolt that knocked her off balance, nearly toppling over a crate.

  Both were stunned for a good minute. Turning, she started to leave. But before she did, she reached out and ripped the silver cross from around Tori’s neck, leaving a painful streak in its place.

  Caught completely off guard, Tori shrieked as the girl also tore her beloved brooch from the bodice of the gown. “No! You can’t take that.” She grabbed the girl by the arm. “Please, it’s not worth anything—except to my family.”

  “We’ll see about that.” The girl jerked out of her grasp and continued to the door.

  “I’ll pay you for it myself.” Tori called after her in desperation. “Please. You must give it back.”

  “You just remember what I said. You best be here when I get back.”

  “At least tell me your name.”

  “Josie,” the girl said before she stepped out into the blinding sunlight.

  “Josie,” Tori whispered.

  Faint memories of her grandmother Haverwood nagged at the back of her mind. The Countess Josephine.

  When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

  ~ Psalm 61:2

  Twenty-Seven

  Riding hard in the high sun pushed both rider and horse to the point of exhaustion. Nicholas returned to the townhouse to give the young gelding a much-needed break.

  Before daybreak, he
’d taken the road that led up to Millen’s Junction. The Central Railroad train was due to leave out at quarter to nine. By far the fastest transport out of the city, the steam engine could reach Atlanta by evening.

  Once at the depot, the porter allowed Nicholas a quick search of every car before the last call for boarding. He’d taken a good look at each traveler, hoping to find one with indigo blue eyes.

  The trip had produced nothing.

  Nicholas left the horse in care of the stable hands before he strode back to the main house, anxious to see if any news had come from the constable or either of his brothers.

  Ian stood over several maps laid out across the dining room table.

  Nicholas pulled off his riding gloves and flung them onto a chair.

  “You need to get that tended to.” Ian nodded at the charred marks staining Nicholas’s white shirt and the raw place on the inside of his arm where the material was completely burned away. The smell of smoke still clung to him.

  “Plenty of time for that after we find Victoria.” Nicholas stepped further inside. “I take it you had no success in talking with the ferry operators?”

  “No one’s seen her.” Ian resumed his study. “One tried to make a small profit in exchange for information. In the end he knew nothing – and got nothing for it.”

  Zach came in through the swinging door leading to the kitchen, a drumstick in his hand. “You’re back. Anything at Millen’s Junction?”

  “No.” Nicholas drove his hand through his hair. “What about the port?”

  “No passenger ships went out this morning. Only a couple of barges loaded with lumber and a small sailboat headed up to Charleston.” Zach took a bite of his chicken and looked over Ian’s shoulder. “I just got back. G.W. took ten men or so back over to Argyle Island. Seems like he’s backtracking to me.”

  “Maybe he can trace the hack that came for the earl.” Ian murmured with a thumb over his mouth, concentrating on the maps.

  Nicholas stretched his shoulders, rolling his neck. “Zach, have the cook fill a canteen for me. I’m going back out to the stable. My horse should be saddled by now.”