Chapter Thirty-Two
“E xcuse my appearance , ladies,” Nathaniel said once seated next to Cecil in the carriage.
“Are you all right?” Lady Edith asked in a whisper, her face pale.
“I’m sure I look worse than I feel.” He smiled weakly. “How did you find me?”
“By accident,” Cecil replied. “St. Mary the Virgin Church is the reference our fake Mrs. Stafford gave Diana.”
He was confused, and it must have shown on his face.
“Shall we start at the beginning?” Lady Edith asked. When he nodded, she continued, “Your sister sent a note this morning telling me you were missing, and she was worried.”
“Oh yes! Poor Alicia!”
“I received a missive from Lord Essex asking after your whereabouts; I traveled to Hanover Square, and here we are.” Cecil shrugged.
He frowned. “I sent a hackney driver to fetch you yesterday afternoon. Promised him a guinea for his effort.”
“I was home all afternoon and evening,” Cecil replied. “No hackney driver came to collect me.”
He told his companions about seeing the black coach with a driver wearing black and red livery.
“A hackney carriage is right there when you need it.” Cecil shook his head. “It may have been a trap.”
“I believe you’re right. Someone knew we would visit the church. There were blankets and rope in a mausoleum in the churchyard. The veterans could have been held there and spirited away when I arrived.”
“Did you hail the hackney in Berkeley Square?” Edith asked him.
“After our conversation yesterday,” he started and then paused. They all knew what had set him off, after all. “I walked and walked for what seemed like hours. I saw the black carriage with a driver in black and red livery pass me as I entered the Mortlake area, so I hailed the hackney and followed. The carriage went to St. Mary’s.”
“So you determined it was a good idea to investigate alone.” Cecil let out a groan. “Knowing that someone might want to hurt you.”
“I sent the hackney driver to fetch you. I hadn’t planned on going into the churchyard, but I heard a man yelling for help. I thought it might be one of our veterans, so I followed the noise to the mausoleum. When I got to the entrance of the building, someone hit me from behind. I didn’t wake up until a few minutes ago.”
“How dreadful!” Edith grimaced. “Were you out in the elements all night?”
He shook his head and then winced. “Whoever hit me must have dragged me inside the mausoleum.”
“Do you think anyone in the church is involved?” Louisa asked.
Cecil shook his head. “I interviewed the vicar about Mrs. Stafford. I'm sure he has no connection to the RA. The rectory is not on the premises, and the churchyard can be accessed without the vicar's knowledge.”
His head still pounded, and Nathaniel closed his eyes for several minutes.
“Lady Edith did have an interesting idea on how to gain admission to the prison hulk in Woolwich,” Cecil eventually said, breaking the silence.
“Lady Edith?” he opened his eyes to stare at the lady.
She flushed under his regard. “We all must play a part. I’m not sure how heavily you and Lord Wycliffe can be involved as I imagine you are both well-known even in the outskirts of London.”
“Go on.” He nodded encouragingly.
Once he’d heard the plan, he was convinced it could work. Now he and Cecil needed to decide who would escort the ladies onto the ship.
“If I’m hysterical and Edith is overwrought with concern for her maid, the guards will likely fall over themselves to help us.” Louisa grinned. “Men do not want to deal with emotional females.”
“I think it is an excellent plan.” He met Lady Edith’s gaze and gave her a warm smile. She’d looked unsure of herself, and he couldn’t have that.
The coach halted in front of Edith’s home in Hanover Square, and Lord Wycliffe handed Lady Edith and Lady Louisa out of the carriage. “Good afternoon, ladies. I need to get Lord Harbury looked after. We will contact you soon.”
When the coach rolled away again, Cecil moved to the bench across from Nathaniel and grinned. “You did get Lady Edith’s attention. Perhaps in the future, you shouldn’t resort to such drastic measures.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked grumpily.
“She was worried sick about you. Congratulations, my friend, the lady most assuredly has feelings for you.”
“Lady Edith is friends with my sister. Of course, she was worried. Probably on Alicia’s account,” he replied lightly.
“Believe what you will.” Cecil shrugged. “Right now you need a bath, a good meal, and rest. I will call on you tomorrow to further discuss Lady Edith’s plan.”
* * * * *
“L ord Harbury was at one of his clubs last night?” Edith’s father asked over supper.
“It was all a misunderstanding.” Louisa helped herself to another serving of boiled potatoes. “Miss Tilford surely gave her brother an earful when he returned home.”
Edith was tired of fibbing. Louisa seemed more adept at it, so she let her friend tell the story about how Lord Wycliffe had forgotten the baron had stayed at his club, and Cecil was to meet his friend at Thorne’s today. It wasn’t a particularly plausible tale, but Louisa told it with such conviction that Edith almost believed her friend’s version of the day’s events.
The depths of her relief at finding the baron safe had been her undoing. When Edith arrived home that afternoon she’d run straight to her bedchamber, locking the door behind her. Seated on her bed, she felt tears threaten. The thought that something could have happened to Lord Harbury...
“I’m falling in love with him,” she whispered.
There was a knock at her bedchamber door, and Louisa asked, “Edith? Do you want to talk about it?”
She rose from the bed and unlocked the door, retaking her seat on the corner of her bed. “Talk about what?”
“Why you felt the need to sequester yourself in your bedchamber.” Louisa took a seat on the stuffed chair near the bed. “It is obvious you have feelings for the baron. You were thrilled when we found him. And when you looked at Lord Harbury today, I’ve never seen such emotion in your eyes.”
“You’re right, Louisa. What I thought I felt for Lord Cecil is nothing to the affection I feel for the baron.”
“Why do you look so miserable? It is apparent he cares for you.”
“I can’t think about myself right now. Our veterans are still missing, and I’ve lied to my father. Someone means to hurt Lord Harbury; we don’t know where the fake Mrs. Stafford is, and we still need to get on those hulks.” She paused to take a breath. “You and I could be in danger if we go to Woolwich.”
“We could. Is it a chance you are willing to take?”
Edith thought a moment and then shook her head. “Not without speaking to my father about it.”
Louisa groaned. “He might well forbid you from attempting to get on those ships.”
“I won’t lie to my father again. I will speak to him after supper.”
And now it was time for her to do so.
“Father, may I have a word with you? In your study?”
“Of course, my dear.”
She followed her father to his study. Her father sat on one of a pair of side chairs and motioned for her to take the matching chair.
“What did you want to speak to me about, my dear?”
Although she’d decided not to tell him further lies, she wouldn’t go back and tell him the truth about Lord Harbury’s disappearance.
“Father, after some investigation into the matter, Lord Harbury and Lord Wycliffe have concluded that the missing veterans may be on a hulk in Woolwich.”
“And you know what a hulk is?” her father asked with a raised brow.
“A prison ship.” She added, “These particular hulks have convicts on board headed for New Holland. Lord Wycliffe hasn’t been able to confirm or deny that the veterans are on board. Convicts to be transported are overseen by private entities, not the crown, you see.”
Her father nodded. “What does this have to do with me, Edith?”
“It has to do with me , Father.” She took a breath. “Louisa and I are going to attempt to get on the hulks and find our missing veterans.”
Her father’s face had turned pale, and he stared at her as if her hair was on fire. “You and Louisa!? Are you daft, Edith?”
“Lord Harbury and Lord Wycliffe would not be allowed to board the hulks if our veterans are on the ship. Louisa will pretend to be my maid who is searching for her brother. She and I will cause such a commotion that someone in charge will surely help us.”
Her father frowned darkly. “Help you do what?”
“Find Seaman Wilson. We’ve determined that the last veteran to go missing is most likely a decoy. A distraction. If he isn’t important to the kidnappers, perhaps he will not be as heavily concealed.”
“And Lord Harbury and Lord Wycliffe asked you to do this?”
“It was my idea, Father.” She sat up straighter in her chair. “Both gentlemen will be nearby. Either can disguise himself as my driver. I believe this is the only way. Lord Wycliffe has made discrete inquiries. If either he or Lord Harbury try to get on that ship, our veterans could be moved elsewhere, and we might never find them.”
Her father remained silent for a time. He stared at the cold hearth in the room while she stared at the hands clasped in her lap.
“You’re determined to do this,” he said almost to himself.
“I am. It may be our only chance to find those men,” she replied, looking up.
“You must have either Lord Harbury or Lord Cecil with you the entire time you are on that hulk,” her father said, his voice gruff. “Swear to me, Edith.”
“I swear, Father.”