Chapter Twenty #2
Ignoring everyone else, Pa made straight for the horse bearing Cilla, and was there to lift her down and fold her in his arms as soon as Drake halted the horse.
Bane waited until Drake had dismounted and the horse had been led away to bring their horse up beside Pa, but he had all his attention on Cilla and didn’t notice. It was Drake who helped Livy to reach the ground, and Bane who said, “Mr. Wintergreen, here is Livy.”
Keeping one arm around Cilla, Pa reached out the other. “Olivia, my dear girl. Olivia, I have been so worried. I should have abandoned that rapscallion to the debt collectors months ago! I should never have listened to Virginia when she told me he was reforming.”
“She was part of this, Pa,” Livy told him. “She and Lord Curston.”
“Why have you tied up my son?” The bellow came from Lord Curston, who had emerged from the house and was glaring at the carriage, where Garry was supervising as some of Lord Finch’s men passed out the bound forms of the kidnappers.
“Your son,” Pa bellowed back, “abducted my daughters.”
“If—and I say ‘if’—my son offended your daughters, the remedy is easy.” Curston was no longer shouting, but his voice was still pitched to carry to the furthest corner of the courtyard.
“He will give Olivia the protection of his name, and in due time, the title of viscount. What do you say to that, eh?” His smile spread wide, he clasped his hands behind his back, and bounced up and down on his heels, as if he had just accomplished something praiseworthy.
“Your son will not be permitted to benefit from his perfidy, you scoundrel,” Pa declared. He, too, managed a volume worthy of the finest of actors. “Fortunately, both of my daughters are already betrothed.”
His arm tightened around Livy for a moment. “To two fine upstanding young men who are already on their way to becoming men of real worth—both financially and in character.”
Livy opened her mouth, and Pa whispered, “Let it be, Livy. For Cilla’s sake.” Livy looked around at the curious crowd, avidly waiting for some piece of scandal they could use in a letter. For Cilla’s sake then, and for the moment. She would clear the error up after this was all over.
Meanwhile, Bane had moved up beside Livy, and on Pa’s other side, Drake stood protectively beside Cilla.
“Lord Finch, perhaps we could continue this without an audience,” Bane said to their host.
“Good thinking, good thinking,” said Lord Finch. “Bring the prisoners inside, Lord Thornstead.” He turned to speak to his butler, who had appeared at his side, though Livy had not seen Lord Finch summon him.
“The servants into the cells,” he said in a low voice that Livy only heard because she was just a few feet away.
“Lord Marple and Mr. Curston can bide there, too, until I have questioned the witnesses.” The butler led away the parade of footmen and bound men, with Lord Thornstead striding alongside and Lord Curston scurrying behind.
“Miss Wintergreen, Miss Lucilla, and Miss Beryl, do you feel up to answering questions?”
Livy nodded. Might as well get it over.
“May I request tea and refreshments for the ladies?” Bane said to Lady Finch. “And, forgive me, but the opportunity to—er—freshen up? They have been through quite an ordeal, and have been given nothing to eat or drink since they were taken from here several hours ago.”
“I shall have tea served to Lord Finch’s study,” said Lady Finch.
“I must be there if my daughter is to be questioned,” Aunt Ginny insisted. She might have been there for a while, standing with the other onlookers, but Livy hadn’t noticed her until now.
“I will speak to the three young ladies alone, with Lady Finch as their chaperone,” Lord Finch insisted.
Pa glared at his sister. “I suggest you go to your room, Virginia, and contemplate your future. You and your son are dead to me from this day.”
Aunt Ginny stomped her foot, burst into tears, and rushed back into the house. Livy wondered what would become of her. Pa would look after his nieces, of course. But he was not one to easily change his mind, and Aunt Ginny and Jasper had directly and repeatedly flouted his direct wishes.
Bane was offering her his arm. “May I escort you to Lord Finch’s study? And afterward, we should talk.”
“Yes,” she said. Yes, they needed to talk. Livy was suddenly and overwhelmingly weary. Would this day ever end?
It did, of course, after many questions from Lord Finch.
Then more—intrusive and not to the point—from the guests, who should have gone home by now, but who were hanging on for fear of missing something.
The grueling inquisition was cut off by Bane, who firmly announced that the Miss Wintergreens and Miss Marples were tired, and that their carriage was waiting.
Sure enough, Pa had apparently gone to bespeak his carriages as soon as Lord Finch finished with the three of them.
“What will happen now?” Cilla asked.
“Mr. Wintergreen is taking you all back to his place,” Bane answered. “Lady Marple and Lord Curston have been asked to remain here to ‘help Lord Finch with his inquiries’. What will happen to any of them remains to be seen.” He sighed. “People of their class seldom pay for their crimes.”
Drake was escorting Cilla to the carriage, the two of them with their heads together for all the world as if their betrothal had already been announced.
The three Marple sisters were already waiting by the carriage.
Beryl had been crying and she and Ruby had their arms around one another.
Pearl was pale and serious. Whatever happened, this was going to be a tragedy for them.
“This Season in London, their first, has been the most important thing in their lives for years, Bane. I hope we can save some of it for them.”
“Their brother deserves punishment,” Bane commented. “Their mother, too.”
“But public condemnation for those two would mean ruination for these three,” Livy pointed out.
“Perhaps. Or they could make their curtsy in the merchant world, as the nieces of a prominent man,” Bane argued.
It was a fair point. Why had Livy and Cilla been so focused on an upper-class debut? Because it was all Aunt Ginny talked about, Livy realized. “That could work,” she acknowledged.
Bane stopped before they were in earshot of the others.
“We could work,” he said. “Can we at least talk about it, Livy?”
“Come as usual tomorrow morning,” she said. “Take me for a walk.”
He nodded. “I’ll be there.” He proceeded to hand her into the carriage and say farewell to them all. He and Drake were staying until Lord Finch was ready to talk to them, and would then ride back to London.
It would be wonderful to be married to Bane, Livy thought. But she was certain. He wouldn’t want her once she told him her history.