Chapter 8
Colin burst through the door of Michael’s study, his enthusiasm filling the room with excited energy. “I have received formal permission from Miss Rebecca’s guardian, her father’s heir, to court her with the end goal of marriage!”
Michael sighed, laying the letter that he had been reading aside.
He lifted his eyes to Colin’s face, attempting to hide the frustration that he felt about the interruption.
Young people in love could be quite exhausting when one did not share their enthusiasm.
Michael’s silence and demeanor did not discourage Colin as he ploughed through the room to stand in front of Michael’s desk.
“Will you accompany me as chaperone and companion to the Vauxhall Gardens? I am still not certain of my reception with her sister, and it would be most advantageous to have you there as a …” Colin paused, thinking his words over carefully so as not to offer offense.
“As a shield against the marchioness’s ire,” Michael supplied, his brow arched in judgment.
“Indeed.” Colin nodded, relieved that he had not been forced to say something ungallant about the family of the woman he intended to marry.
Michael rolled his eyes and stood to pour them both a drink from the carafe on his side table. “As this is now a formal courtship, will not Miss Rebecca’s mother be in attendance to serve as chaperone to her daughter?”
“I do not know, but I am not certain that her mother is any fonder of me than the sister,” Colin confided.
“She agreed to your paying call to Miss Rebecca, did she not?”
“She did.” Colin nodded.
“That is more than she ever gave me,” Michael informed him.
Colin winced at the reference to the pain that Michael had endured at the hands of the Frampton family. “I am sorry for that, truly I am, but I will not let the past dictate mine and Rebecca’s future.”
Seeing that there was no deterring Colin from his course, Michael reluctantly agreed. “I will attend with you, if for no other reason than to protect you from yourself.”
“Thank you, Cousin.” Colin beamed, his usual exuberance returning.
“When is this meeting to occur?”
“This evening there is to be a concert.”
Michael nodded his head. “I will meet you there.”
***
That evening, Michael made his way to Vauxhall Gardens, where people of all classes could come together in a plethora of excitement and awe.
The gardens were beautiful, verdant with lush foliage and colorful blossoms. Lights and decorations hung from the pavilions and trees that dotted the landscape. Michael found Colin awaiting his arrival at the head of the Grand Walk, a lantern-illuminated walk through an elm canopy.
Upon seeing his cousin, Colin smiled in relief. “Michael,” he called, inclining his head in gratitude.
“Have the others arrived yet?” Michael asked as he came to stand beside him.
“Indeed, we have.” Theodocia Frampton’s tight, precisely clipped voice announced from behind him.
Michael turned to find the three Frampton women approaching. “Ladies,” Michael replied, his manners impeccable as he greeted each one in turn.
“A pleasant evening for a stroll, is it not?” Colin joined them, offering his arm to Rebecca.
Rebecca blushed prettily, accepting his proffered arm. “Enchanting,” she agreed.
The young couple began walking, Rebecca’s mother walking directly behind them, keeping a wary eye on their every move. Out of necessity, Michael and Emmeline fell into step beside each other. They kept a respectable distance from one another, each with their own thoughts.
“Have you been well?” Emmeline finally broke the silence.
“Well enough,” Michael answered. He had no desire to tell her the truth of how he truly felt. Such a conversation would not have gone well between them. “And you?”
“Well enough,” Emmeline echoed his own reply.
“Hmm,” he grunted in acknowledgement. Their last stroll in the park had resulted in a pleasant walk down memory lane, but there was still much left unsaid between them, and the chasm of their pain was deep.
Michael was not certain that he wished to cross it.
Content to walk in silence, he did not encourage further conversation.
When their little group reached the end of the Grand Walk, they came to a pavilion where a concert was underway. The audience was entranced with the elaborate melody that swept over them like waves upon the shore.
Lulled by the beauty of the music, they decided to stay a while and listen. Michael and Colin agreed to retrieve refreshments for the ladies and left them securely ensconced along the back row of seats.
“Is your courtship all that you desired it to be?” Michael asked his cousin as they waited their turn at the refreshments table.
“It is.” Colin nodded, his eyes aglow with love and happiness. “She is everything that I could ever wish for in a wife. I plan to ask for her hand very soon.”
Michael choked back the argument that rose to his lips. “I wish you both every happiness.”
Colin’s brows rose in surprise at his cousin’s seemingly sudden change of heart. “It is not too late for you to find happiness with the woman that you love,” he pointed out, his eyes filled with compassion.
Michael shook his head. “It is too late. What was done was done.”
“But…” Colin began.
Michael raised a hand, cutting him off before he could continue. “But nothing. I will no longer cast a shadow upon your joy, but I cannot join you in it.”
Colin sighed but said no more on the matter.
Once the men had retrieved their refreshments, they turned back toward the concert pavilion.
“Where is Miss Rebecca?” Colin inquired as he handed Theodocia her drink.
Colin had left Rebecca sitting next to Theodocia, while Emmeline had taken the seat in front of them. Emmeline turned around at hearing Colin’s question.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her eyes falling on Rebecca’s now-empty seat. “Mother, where is Rebecca?” Her eyes filled with concern as she searched the crowded space around them.
“I do not know,” Theodocia admitted. “I closed my eyes for but a brief moment of rest. She did not speak to me of leaving. She would not dare to go about unchaperoned.”
Michael frowned and met Emmeline’s worried eyes. “You heard nothing?”
Emmeline shook her head. “She said nothing to me.”
“She must be here.” Colin attempted to comfort the now distraught Theodocia as she stood to her feet, her eyes darting like an angry, frightened animal all around them. “We will find her,” he promised.
The group broke up into two parties: Colin and Theodocia, Michael and Emmeline. They circled the pavilion, each taking a side, and met around the back to report that neither had seen any evidence of her.
They then expanded their search to include the refreshment tables and other commonly visited areas where other young ladies had gathered. Not finding her among them, their search became more frantic. They searched every building, maze and walking path, to no avail. Rebecca was nowhere in sight.
“We should contact the local magistrate,” Michael advised, a bad feeling settling in his bones.
“Bow Street,” Emmeline demanded firmly. “We must contact the Bow Street Magistrate and his Runners. They are the best with such matters. Father always insisted that, were he to need such aid, he would turn to Bow Street.”
Michael nodded in agreement. “I will have them sent for immediately.”
“I will go,” Colin volunteered, his eyes filled with concern.
“Thank you.” Emmeline nodded her assent. “Please do so with all haste.”
“The scandal,” Theodocia breathed, her face pale and drawn in the lantern’s light.
“I fear we are past such concerns, Mother.” Emmeline laid a reassuring hand on her mother’s arm. “Make haste,” she commanded of the men accompanying them, as Colin took off at a dead run.
While they awaited the arrival of the Bow Street Magistrate and his Runners, Emmeline, Theodocia, and Michael continued their search.
Theodocia sent their coachman back to their townhouse to see if Rebecca had somehow returned there and to alert Mr. Hardy of the situation.
Should Rebecca appear or send word, Mr. Hardy was to alert them immediately.
The Bow Street Runners arrived with swift efficiency. Emmeline and Theodocia answered their questions as best they could, then the Runners split up and began searching the grounds and interviewing people in the area, and informing them that Rebecca had disappeared.
“We will need someone who knows the lass to accompany us on our search,” one of the Runners requested.
“I will.” Emmeline stepped forward, offering her services. “She is my sister.”
The Runner nodded in acknowledgement of her offer.
“I shall accompany you,” Michael volunteered, knowing that Emmeline would need a proper chaperone as well as emotional support.
“Colin, please remain with Miss Rebecca’s mother and provide her with whatever comfort you can,” Michael requested, not wanting Colin to see whatever the Runners might find.
Once a person had seen the death of someone they loved, there was no ridding oneself of the image. While Michael did not know what had befallen Rebecca, he could not eliminate the possibility.
Colin nodded, agreeing to remain with Theodocia to provide her comfort and protection from prying eyes. The Runners searched every place that Emmeline and the others had already searched, then expanded their perimeter.
In the darkest corner of the street adjacent to the gardens, one of the Runner’s lantern light fell upon a small metal object ground in the dirt beneath the edge of a secluded arbor. The Runner bent down and lifted the metal object from the dirt, also retrieving a small white square of fabric.
“Do you recognize this?” The Runner lifted the items for Emmeline to view them in the light.
Emmeline leaned forward, taking the items from him. Emmeline’s face drained of all color. “It is my sister’s silver locket. I gave this to Rebecca,” she answered, her thumb brushing the dirt from the now broken peace offering.
She turned the torn, dirt-smeared piece of fabric over in her hand, the edge monogrammed in Rebecca’s careful stitches. “It is Rebecca’s handkerchief. She made it with her own hands,” Emmeline breathed, tears slipping down her cheeks.
The Runner nodded and searched the surrounding area with his lantern close to the ground. When he rejoined them, his eyes were most solemn.
“I found signs of a struggle. It would appear that Miss Rebecca Frampton has been taken,” the Runner announced, his voice firm and determined. “Rest assured, my lady, that we will do all in our power to find her and bring her home to you.”
“Thank you,” Emmeline managed, her voice strangled with emotion.
“Forgive me, my lady, but I must ask,” the Runner continued.
Emmeline nodded, giving her permission. “What do you wish to know?”
“Did your sister have any enemies?”
Emmeline shook her head. “No. She is beloved by all who meet her.”
The Runner hesitated for a brief moment, indecision warring in his eyes. “Did your sister have any romantic attachments?”
Emmeline’s head snapped up, her face flushing with a surge of anger at what he was truly asking. “My sister was not having secret dalliances if that is what you are insinuating.”
Michael stepped forward, lending her his strength. “We should go and inform your mother and Colin.”
Emmeline nodded, her face once more draining of color. “Mother,” she whispered, her pain-filled eyes meeting Michael’s. “This will destroy her.”
Michael gave her a sympathetic look and offered her his arm. Emmeline took it gratefully, leaning on him as if her very ability to move forward depended upon the stability of his frame.
As they rejoined the other half of their group, they found Colin pacing back and forth in front of Michael’s coach, Theodocia securely sequestered inside. The moment that he laid eyes upon Michael and the Runners, he darted forward.
“Where is she?” he demanded, his hands clenched into fists, his jaw muscles taught with barely concealed fear and anger.
“Go and speak with your mother,” Michael murmured to Emmeline. “I will speak with Colin.”
Emmeline nodded and moved past Colin, climbing into the coach.
Michael took Colin to the side, away from prying eyes. “Rebecca has been taken.”
“Taken? By whom? Who would do such a thing?” Colin demanded, his voice hoarse with emotion.
“We do not yet know, but the Runners have sworn to do all that they are able to find her.” Michael’s heart went out to his cousin. He knew that Colin loved the girl, in spite of Michael’s many warnings not to.
“We have to do something!” Colin demanded, his eyes wide with anxiety. “I cannot stand by and do nothing! We have to find her!”
A cry from the coach behind them told Michael that Emmeline had informed Theodocia of what they had found. Michael clenched his teeth, steadying the storm within himself.
For a brief moment, he had considered that Theodocia might have arranged the entire thing to marry her daughter off to a man of higher rank, much as she had taken Emmeline to Scotland under false pretenses.
Now he was not so certain. The agony of the cry emitting from the coach was real, visceral, maternal.
It is not the time to hold to past hurts, he silently surrendered.
“We will do all that we can to find her and bring her home,” he promised his cousin, laying a comforting hand on Colin’s shoulder. “We will find a way to return your Rebecca to you and to her family.”
For the first time since Rebecca’s disappearance, a small glimmer of hope joined the pain in Colin’s eyes. “Where do we begin?”
“With this,” Emmeline’s voice answered from behind them.
Michael and Colin turned to face her, finding her standing with Rebecca’s handkerchief and locket in her hands.
“I believe that Rebecca left these behind on purpose as a message.”