Chapter Thirty #2
What was she saying? Ophelia had no idea how elopements worked, except that they apparently involved crossing into lawless Scotland.
They reached the front of the line. The man behind the barred window was short and bespectacled, with a long, sad face. “Where to?”
“Oh, we don’t want tickets,” Dessie said. She leaned closer. “We are looking for someone. They’re eloping.” She made it sound thrilling, but the agent looked bored.
“They aren’t here.” He gestured to his enclosure where there was barely room for one.
“Funny,” Dessie said, with a winning smile. She giggled, which clinched it.
The fellow visibly melted. “Describe them.”
“A tall-ish fellow. Dignified,” Dessie said. Then frowned. “Unless he was disguised.”
Ophelia took over. “The girl is young.” She felt she needed to offer some explanation for the chase. “Our little sister, you see.”
He shook his head. “No one like that. I would have remembered.”
“Step-sister. She’s dark-haired. Very pale. Rather, um, plain.”
“Ah. Well, then, yes. I can’t say for certain this is who you’re looking for, but earlier, there was such a pair. Two tickets for Gretna Green.”
That doused Ophelia’s last ember of hope. “Has their train left?”
“That train has.” He leaned forward until his forehead nearly touched the bars. “But I doubt they were on it.” He seemed pleased with himself for playing up the adventure.
“No?” Dessie asked. “Why not?”
“Because Aggie tried to buy two tickets to Southampton right after they bought theirs. Aggie is our resident beggar.” He glanced over their heads.
“Well, I don’t see her now. But she’s always about.
And she doesn’t have money for one ticket to Southall, let alone two to Southampton.
Course, I couldn’t sell them to her. I had to send her to window four. ”
Confused, Ophelia asked, “Do you mean she bought the tickets for them?”
“Walked right over to them after. I was watching, you see, because Aggie’s never bought tickets before. My guess, if you want to know—”
“They thought they might be followed.” This was so absurd it had to be real.
Dessie’s face had hardened. “So to throw off pursuers, he bought two sets of tickets. But they must be going to Southampton if they wanted it to look like they’re heading to Gretna Green.”
He looked annoyed that she’d stolen his thunder. “If they’ve run off to Southampton, your sister is ruined for certain. At least if he took her to Gretna Green, he means to marry her, don’t he?”
Ophelia felt sick. She mumbled, “Maybe they knew you’d be watching. Or someone would. So they did go to Gretna Green, but pretended they were going to Southampton.”
“Hey! Move on!” A shout came from someone in the line forming behind them.
The ticket agent scowled, then shooed them away. “Get on with you, now. I’ve got work.”
Ophelia and Dessie slipped away, heading to the closest wall so they could talk without being jostled.
“Gretna Green? Don’t you think?” Ophelia said. It now seemed the lesser of two evils.
“No,” Dessie said, taking tight hold of Ophelia’s arm. “They took the Southampton train.”
“Why? How do you know?”
Dessie’s eyes blazed with anger. “Because Southampton is a stone’s throw from Lannington. Trentham’s estate. His ducal seat.”
Appalled, Ophelia asked, “Do you think…you can’t think…”
“That he told her they were going to Gretna Green, but then dragged her off to Lannington?”
No! Ophelia’s eyes stung with hot tears. That would be an abduction, not an elopement. Her chest ached. There had to be another explanation. But what? “Oh, Dessie, if it’s true, he’s worse than we thought.”
Dessie nodded. Her voice shook. “Lynch has a lot of explaining to do.”
*
They raced home: Dessie in a white-hot fury and Ophelia holding back tears. Bursting into the house, Dessie yelled for Lynch like a fishwife. He came running.
“Are you all right? Darling, what happened?”
Dessie collapsed into his arms and began sobbing. “Don’t—I’ve told you, don’t call me darling!” He practically dragged her from the hallway into the parlor. Ophelia trailed behind, feeling lightheaded with distress. Nothing made sense.
Like ants coming out of the woodwork, everyone else filed into the room: Daddy, Aunt Grace, Mr. Cameron. Even Peters lurked in the shadows near the doorway.
“What’s wrong?” Lynch demanded.
“Trentham!” Dessie rubbed her face against her husband’s jacket.
“Did you see him?” He sounded surprised.
“Of course not.”
“Neither did I,” Lynch said. “I went over to his place to find out what the devil…Henson said he’d gone out. I just missed him.”
“Henson is a liar!” Dessie started sobbing again. Lynch crushed her to his chest; his brow creased with worry.
He looked to Ophelia and mouthed, What?
“We went to the Barringtons’ to talk to Lady Elizabeth.” Ophelia’s voice shook, but she took an odd strength from Dessie’s tears, as if her sister was doing the weeping for her. “But she wasn’t there.”
“Here!” Dessie yanked herself from Lynch’s arms and pulled a piece of paper out from where it had been tucked up her sleeve.
Lynch read it. Then passed it wordlessly to Eli, who’d crept closer.
Eli scanned it, then said, “Who is Bitsy?”
“Oh, for heavens’ sake!” Ophelia exclaimed. “Who do you think?”
“When did you last see Robin?” Lynch asked Eli in a flat voice.
“Last night.” Eli shook his head, scowling. “This is ridiculous. Why would he elope with a chit he doesn’t even want to marry?”
“Lord Barrington said he did it to avoid signing a marriage contract,” Ophelia said.
“That’s absurd.” Eli looked at them as though they were mad. “I told him he was going to get fleeced, and he said he didn’t care about the money. Lynch, you know he wouldn’t care about the money.”
Lynch’s expression darkened. “No, but he might do something stupid to spite Barrington.” Since Dessie had quieted, he took a step back, though keeping a hand on her arm.
“If they left last night, we can’t catch them.
Trentham’s curricle is unbeatable in a race.
And if they took a train, they’re a third of the way to Scotland already. ”
Daddy cleared his throat. “Wire ahead? Stop the train?”
“He’s a duke,” Lynch said. “They won’t obstruct him.”
“He’s not going to Scotland,” Dessie said. “He’s taking her to Lannington.”
“What? Why?” Lynch blanched. “No! He wouldn’t.” Then he smacked one fist into the other palm. “Why would you even think that?”
Dessie choked up, so Ophelia gave a quick account of their trip to St Pancras station.
Lynch set his jaw. “No. No, I refuse to believe it.”
His certainty renewed her hope. She didn’t want to believe the worst.
Eli chimed in, “Not unless he’d gotten a special license first.” Then he hmm’d. “No. No time for that. And she’s underage. I’m with Lynch. I don’t believe it.”
“Believe what?” That voice.
Everyone whirled at once to face the door. Trentham stood in the doorway.
Ophelia’s breath caught. He didn’t do it. He didn’t do it. How could she have thought…she didn’t deserve him…thank God, he didn’t do it.
Silence fell. And stretched.
He repeated, “Believe what?”