True Nobility

by Lori Bates Wright

  The dull ache in his chest wouldn’t let up. Nicholas moved around his mother to stare out the window. Victoria was out there somewhere. He wasn’t about to lose her. If he had to move heaven and earth so be it.

  “When Edward revealed this scheme of his, I was quite upset. I despise his method—it was deceitful, and I’ve told him as much. But what’s done is done, and now we must do whatever we can to find Victoria. She’s in terrible danger, son.”

  He turned from the window and lifted Tori’s cross and chain from the desk. “Someone tried to hawk this at the bank today. And tried to withdraw fifty thousand from the earl’s account. She also tried to peddle Grandmother’s brooch to the first taker.”

  The earl’s mustache twitched.

  “Apparently this person has a resemblance to Victoria. Any ideas where I might find her?” Nicholas didn’t trust himself to say any more than that to Victoria’s father.

  Haverwood took the cross from Nicholas’s grasp. “Lucinda wrote to me and warned me the girl had found out about her possible inheritance. She advised me that Victoria was in danger. You were supposed to see that she was kept safe.” His accusation was hollow in light of his own transgressions.

  Nicholas had to look away to keep from strangling the man.

  “Lucinda never would have contacted me unless it was a matter of life and death. We had that agreement. I wrote to her saying Victoria and I were coming to America where we would have all this addressed in a court of law and be done with it. I would see that Lucinda’s children were taken care of so that they would not feel the need to harm Victoria or myself. Unfortunately for all of us, Lucinda died before she ever received my letter.”

  “Do you have the address where you sent the letter, Edward?” Dottie wanted to know.

  “It was in care of Somersville Plantation. She must have been employed there.”

  “Somersville is over near Bloomingdale. I’ll go with you.” Ian was up and ready.

  The earl came to his feet as well. “I must warn you—the girl made one attempt on Victoria’s life already. Thankfully she was away at school at the time. Because of Lucinda’s letter, I was able to prevent her from murdering Victoria right in her own bed.” The earl’s mustache twitched as he addressed Nicholas. “Now you’ve gone and handed her over on a silver platter.”

  Haverwood could have saved his breath. Nicholas’s own conscience screamed louder than anything the earl could dish out. Stark dread and anger welled up inside of him. He’d put his business ahead of Victoria’s safety and now her life was at stake.

  “Do you know if this girl looks anything like Tori?” Zach asked.

  “I’ve no earthly idea. I’ve never seen her. But I can tell you her mother was lovely once.” The earl spoke quietly.

  “Sounds like the young woman I saw bounding from the bank could very well be Lucinda’s daughter.” Zach started for the door, but halted when his mother put her arm through his. “I need you to stay, son. Aurora may need you when we bring Edward home.”

  Nicholas grabbed his revolver from an engraved case on his desk and disappeared from the room.

  Another cool splash hit Tori full in the face and her head lobbed to one side. A searing pain vibrated behind her eyes.

  The ground beneath where her pitched violently, dipping without warning. Trying to hold on, she reached out but found nothing solid to hold on to.

  A moan reverberated in her ears, the voice sounded much like her own. A swaying light penetrated her consciousness even from behind closed lids.

  “You rung her bell good, Billy Joe.” An unknown voice spoke above her in graveled tones. Why’d you have to knock her plumb out?”

  “So’s she wouldn’t get away.” Another voice spoke from the other side of her.

  “Leave her be. I’ll tend to her.” Tori knew that voice. “Just you get us upriver like we agreed.”

  Josie! Tori attempted to open her eyes. The blinding glare of a lantern close to her face sent pins of excruciating light through her head. Her empty stomach lurched as a result. “Get the light out of her face, you nitwit, or she ain’t never gonna come around.”

  Splashing sounds, in time with the swaying she felt beneath her, brought her to the conclusion that she was on a water craft of some sort. But, where was she going? Were they heading back to Savannah?

  “Nicholas.” Tori tried to speak but it came as a quiet murmur.

  The graveled voice was first to respond. “What’d she say? Somethin’ about a necklace?”

  “Prob’ly lost it when she fell,” the other man snapped. “Get to rowing!”

  “Go on.” Josie still stood over her. “You’ll get what was promised soon enough. Let her wake up first.”

  Tori listened as heavy footsteps shuffled away. She made another painful attempt to open her eyes now that the light wasn’t in her face. The sky was blanketed in black, completely void of stars. A faint smell of something burnt assaulted her nostrils and again her stomach lurched.

  “Where are we?” She asked into the darkness.

  “On the river.” Josie stepped into her view, blocking the glare of the lantern.

  “I gathered that much. Where on the river? Are we going back to Savannah?” She was careful not to sound too hopeful.

  Josie gave an ugly laugh before convulsing with a spell of dry coughing. Her breath was labored as she wiped a smearing of blood from her lips. In the dim light Tori could see the drawn, haggard look on the other girl’s face. She needed medical attention—and soon.

  “We’re headed in the opposite direction of Savannah, as a matter of fact.” Josie managed with a smirk.

  Trying to sound indifferent against a wave of panic, Tori pushed herself upright. “Have we passed the Brechenridge plantation, yet?” Her heart raced knowing Nicholas’s land was somewhere along this route. “We would be safe there.” The dizzying pain in her head returned and she slumped back against the wood planks.

  “We’re long past it.” Josie spat over the side of the raft.

  Whether it was the truth or a lie didn’t matter. Tori needed to get off the unsteady craft or she would be sick from its constant motion. Her empty stomach couldn’t take much more. “Tell them to let us off here just the same. We can find our own way. The sooner I return to my husband, the sooner you can have your money—” Her words were choked off as Josie yanked the collar of her tattered woolen jacket up at her throat.

  In that brief moment, she had a liberating discovery. She no longer feared Josephine Haverwood. Knowing that Josie was her own flesh and blood, she felt an odd responsibility to see past her bullying—to try to reach a forsaken soul.

  Not only that, she’d buried that dreadful knife. Josie couldn’t harm a fly without it.

  “You can’t kill me, Josephine. I’m the only one who knows where your contract is.” Tori felt the grip at her throat relax a bit, so she pressed on. “And you must learn to behave in more civil a manner if you are to be presented to polite society once you return to England as mistress of Wrenbrooke. For that, you need me.” Her chin lifted a notch higher with an assurance she didn’t feel.

  “I don’t need you for nothin’.” Josie released her coat. “Ain’t nothin’ special to bein’ a lady.” Though her words were defiant, Tori saw a flicker of doubt cross her face before she turned away.

  “Certainly there is. One infraction to the rules, no matter how minor, could result in unconditional elimination from elite society as a whole.”

  That ought to give Josie something to think about. At least it distracted her from wanting to kill her. For the moment.

  The ache in Tori’s head eased enough for her to take in their meager surroundings. She was leaning against a rustic hut set in the middle of a timber raft. The two male voices she’d heard earlier were now at the end of the watery platform. She could hear their oars slapping against the choppy water.

  “How did we come to be on this rickety craft, anyway?” Tori spoke in a careful undertone. Something told
her the less attention she drew from the scraggily strangers, the better off she’d be. “The last I remember you had fainted from all that hideous coughing.”

  Laughter came from the two men huddled in private conversation. “Who are they?” Tori asked, with more than a touch of irritation. She was tired, her head hurt, she was hungry and in terrible need of a bath.

  “They agreed to take us upriver to Augusta.”

  “Augusta? I promised to give you my inheritance. But in order to do so, you need take me back to Savannah.” Tori tried to turn so that she could better see Josie’s face, but a sharp pain hampered her curiosity and she rested her head back against the wooden hut.

  “Look, I thought I made it clear.” Josie resumed her threatening stance. “I ain’t inclined to trust you or anyone like ya. Especially with that stupid stunt you pulled back there. Good thing I thought to check for my paper after I flattened ya. Unless you want to give it back, we’re goin’ to the records department in Augusta to get me a new one.”

  Tori felt the heat of Josie’s glare.

  “Why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance?” It was a serious question. Josie had been given the perfect opportunity to kill her and had not done so. Perhaps she wasn’t as depraved as she tried to pretend she was.

  Josie offered no explanation. She stood and yanked Tori up by the coat sleeve, nodding her head silently at the shoreline coming closer into view.

  “There’s the tradin’ post.” The man with the gruff voice called out. “I expect we’ll be collectin’ our fare now.”

  The men exchanged crudities that Tori couldn’t hear clearly.

  “What fare? I thought we didn’t have any money.” She whispered but Josie shushed her with wave of her hand.

  “I promised ’em somethin’ else.”

  Ignoring the girl’s warning, Tori raised her voice a bit to be heard over the lapping waves. “What could we possibly possess that those two would be interested in?”

  “They think we’re harlots.”

  Tori was too stunned to respond. With a sudden jolt, the crude raft collided with a small dock. Once moored, the deck swayed precariously as each one stepped from its platform.

  Tori shot Josie a scathing look.

  One of the two shabby men grabbed her arm and pushed her forward. “Get along there, missy. I ain’t got all night.” His lewd chuckling caused Tori’s skin to crawl. His breath filled the heavy night air with a sickening odor of soured wine.

  “Harlots?” Tori murmured through gritted teeth as she passed Josie. “Wouldn’t a simple IOU have sufficed?”

  “Just go along.” Josie whispered back. “We’ll get rid of ’em as soon as we clear the shoreline.”

  Before she could react, Tori was abruptly spun around and a hideous face with rotted teeth was descending upon her. Abrasive lips scuffed across her mouth and she quickly turned her head.

  “Hey, now! That one’s mine. I saw her first.” She was snatched back so hard her aching head snapped.

  “Don’t go gettin’ selfish on me, Billy Joe. We can share. Two for the price of one.” The one who spoke slapped her hindside with stinging assent.

  Shudders of panic surged through her entire body. “Josie!” Surely this was a perfect time to make their escape.

  Tori held back a cry, as her half-sister came into view. A low fog misted off of the water and the heavy moisture had Josie doubled over in uncontrollable hacking. She appeared weaker than a half-drowned kitten. Her quivering shoulders were covered in a feverish sheen.

  Both men now focused their blurred attention on Tori. Tugging the shabby coat from their greedy paws, she tried to shield her exposed limbs as best as she could. This game seemed to amuse them, and it became rougher as it went on.

  The sound of the threadbare material giving way rent the stillness of the night. Desperately, Tori clung to the remaining cloth, holding it across her bosom to cover her thin camisole. How could she have let Josie talk her out of her dress?

  “Enough of this. Time to pay up.” A menacing hand closed over her upper arm in a painful vise. Another filthy arm came around her waist, snatching her breath as it hauled her backward.

  Flashing a brimming plea skyward, Tori kicked wildly, making contact with at least one shin.

  The blast of a shotgun burst upon the riverside, echoing across the water.

  Tori’s stifled a scream at the unexpected blast. Taking only a second to rally her senses, she caught her captors off guard, quickly twisting from their clutches.

  “Get from around here.” A toothless old gentleman with bristly white whiskers wearing a red nightshirt tottered down the bank from the outpost. “Go on. This ain’t no place for the likes of you two.”

  Thank heavens.

  Tori rushed to Josie’s side. When they returned to Savannah, she would see that this wonderful man was rewarded for saving them from those stinking brutes.

  Josie was wobbly, but conscious as Tori helped her to her feet.

  “Leave ’em be, old man. We were just seein’ to some business here.”

  “Ain’t puttin up with no shenanigans on my pier. Maude and me runs a respectable outfit. Now git, you hussies!” The barrel of the gun was centered on Tori.

  In utter astonishment, Tori’s back went stiff. This person wasn’t here to save her from these brutes at all.

  He actually thought to save those drunken creatures… from her!

  If thou shouldst never see my face again, pray for my soul.

  More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.

  ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

  Thirty

  “I beg your pardon?” Tori was so dumbfounded she could barely get the words out.

  “Ain’t gonna do you no good to beg. You cain’t go traipsin’ all over creation lookin’ like that. We got laws you know.”

  “Who is it, honey?” A woman, as short as she was round, was picking up momentum as she bobbed down the grassy bank.

  “Couple of floozies from town. These two fellers brung them here and I was just runnin’ them off.” He pointed Tori out to the woman with the end of his shotgun.

  “Land sakes.” She narrowed her eyelids to near slits. The wages of sin is death and from the looks of it, that other one there’s about to get her just reward.”

  The hair stood up at the nape of Tori’s neck. These people obviously had no idea who she was.

  Her gaze darted toward the woods just past the outpost. Josie was in no shape for a quick escape. She’d have to use her head to borrow some time. “You are shamefully mistaken. I’ll have you know, my husband is a very influential man in Georgia.”

  “Hush-up, Jezebel. Take your friend there and go on back to wherever you come from. We don’t need your kind ’round these parts.”

  Tori leaped backward as the old man spat a stream of tobacco juice at her feet.

  “We’ll see that they’re taken care of, won’t we Billy Joe?” One of the men from the raft moved toward her.

  “Billy Joe Daughtery, is that you?” The woman’s loud high-pitched screech brought about an ear-piercing retort from a donkey somewhere behind her. “You get yourself back home to your wife, you worthless cheat. Or I’ll be tellin’ her why.”

  The man responded with an angry slap to his leg. “Maude, you ain’t nothin’ but a tail-bitin’ gossip.”

  The pudgy woman stood up straight and looked proud to hear it.

  “You go on back. I’ll take her with me.” Again Tori was yanked back by the arm.

  “Oh no, you don’t. If I ain’t havin’ her then you ain’t neither.”

  Ambling their way back to the wobbly raft, the two argued between themselves. Finally they gave up on collecting their fare and pushed off into the rippling current.

  Tori sidestepped the spittle to come in closer to the couple, determined to make them understand her plight.

  In unison, they each took a step back. “Get thee behind me, trollop.” The old man lifted his gun higher t
o ward her off.

  Josie cursed loudly. That didn’t help their cause one bit.

  “You really must listen. This is not at all what it seems. I’ve been abducted, you see. And this is … well, this is my abductor … my sister … sort of. And she’s taken ill. Surely you can find it in your hearts to give her a bit of nourishment.”

  The couple looked at each other and nodded in smug agreement. “Foreigner.”

  “Oooh!” Tori was completely exasperated.

  The woman’s beady eyes tried to get a better look at Josie. “Appears it’s a mite too late for that one.” The woman’s jowls bounced when she swung her head. “Looks like she’s got fever. Get her off our post. We don’t need no fever spreading from here. They’ll put us under quarantine.”

  “The craft we arrived on has now departed.” Tori pointed out, folding her arms “Have you a horse and carriage we might borrow?”

  “Horse thieves to boot.” The old man waved the barrel of his shotgun.

  “That’s preposterous.” Tori prayed for patience. “I’d purchase them outright but I seem to have misplaced my purse.”

  Josie snickered causing the man to point the gun in her general direction.

  “Run ’em off and be quick about it. We can’t have folks seeing trash like that around here. They’ll sully our good name. After all, a good name is to be chosen rather than riches and gold.” His wife’s sing-songy ridicule sounded like a spoiled child as she lifted her dingy white robe and rambled her way back up the incline to the box-like outpost at the top of the embankment.

  The man was obviously not going to budge as long as he thought her a strumpet. Hanging her head in mock shame, Tori imitated the actors she’d seen at the theater.

  Sniffing back pretend tears, she sobbed theatrically into her hands. “Oh, sir. I am so ashamed.” She clasped her hands together in front of her bosom. “Your truthful words have made me see the error of my ways. Won’t you please take me to the local authorities? So that I may confess and pay for my misdeeds?”