Risky Rules of a Passionate Governess

by Henrietta Harding

  “Here, then,” Sofia said, going to a set of drawers. She pulled open the top drawer and Lord Garret felt momentary shame that they were spying on her so. From that drawer, Sofia pulled out a gold chain with a heart-shaped locket, and she placed it on the top. “Red ruby, gold locket; exactly as it was described,” Sofia said, with fear in her voice.

  Lord Garret came closer in order to inspect it, and indeed, it was the exact replica of the one that his mother had owned.

  “How can this be possible?” Lord Garret said.

  “I’m unsure, M’Lord. But that’s it, before your very eyes.”

  Lord Garret picked it up in order to inspect. From the weight of it, and the smoothness, he knew that it was no copy. His heart was sinking in his chest. It was as though the world had stopped spinning. Unless someone had planted the locket in there, the only explanation was that Katherine had stolen it.

  “Why were you going through her drawers?” Lord Garret asked, not so much an accusation as a moment of curiosity.

  “I also darn her socks and other delicates. I put them back in that drawer when I’m done. One morning, I sees it there. I can’t recall when was the first time, but it couldn’t have been more than a few weeks ago.”

  “And why did you not tell the duke?”

  “I tried. I mean, I almost did! But then, this wave of fear comes through me and I couldn’t do it.”

  “Why did you feel fear?”

  “Fear for Katherine, I suppose. Fear for what he might do to her. I don’t want Katherine going to the Tower of London!”

  “I hardly think that she will,” Lord Garret replied, taking the locket and putting it in his pocket. He was utterly bereft and beside himself. Had Lord Garret not needed to act the part of a leader and a gentleman, he would have shed a tear just then. Katherine’s duplicity was like nothing he had ever encountered before.

  What else was she hiding up her sleeve? Did she not truly love Lord Garret? Was she merely saying that in order to steal his affections and get closer to the family? It didn’t seem far from the realm of possibility.

  “Oh, I don’t like none of this at all,” Sofia said, bringing her hands to her cheeks.

  “Leave me,” Lord Garret said, ordering the lady to exit.

  “Yes, M’Lord,” Sofia said, exiting the room.

  In the silence and privacy of the room, Lord Garret went to sit on Katherine’s bed. He placed his head in his hands and leaned his elbows upon his knees. It was an utter disaster. What had seemed like heaven had quickly turned into hell. There was nothing else that could be done. Lord Garret would have to inform the duke at once and punishment would be swift. He and his brother would have to discuss the severity of the punishment.

  Despite his fury, resentment, and sadness, Lord Garret still did not wish to see Katherine hurt in any way. If the punishment needed to be banishment, then so be it. But he did not want her to suffer as he was suffering in that very moment. The thoughts and sensations that swirled within him were so egregious; he wouldn’t wish them upon his worst enemy. Yet still, Katherine would have to pay for what she did.

  Exiting the room, Lord Garret walked down the hall and heard the sound of his boots on the wood reverberating through the walls. Coming down the stairs, servants were looking at him far differently than they had when he had arrived. He had returned to his former self; cold, calculating, and not trusting. Coming to the duke’s study, Lord Garret pushed the door open with his boot and walked in. There, Katherine sat alone, with Nigel beside her, carrying a tray of tea.

  “Are you ready for tea, then?” Nigel asked. “Your brother was just called away on brief business.” Lord Garret could feel Katherine’s eyes upon him, but he daren’t look at her.

  “Send the children into town,” Lord Garret said in no uncertain terms.

  “What?” Nigel asked.

  “I said, tell Prudence to take the children into town for the afternoon. They can enjoy their tea there.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “There’s something of the utmost importance that we need to deal with immediately, and the children shouldn’t be here to see it.”

  “Lord Garret, what is going on?” Katherine asked, and that’s when he finally looked at her. Yet again, he felt as though he could weep, but he pushed that sensation down by filling up with even more fury.

  “You’re exactly as I suspected you to be,” Lord Garret said to her, and Katherine’s face fell.

  Nigel rushed out of the room, sensing that something of the utmost privacy was about to transpire.

  “Please, tell me what you mean,” Katherine replied, dejected.

  “Do you think that it’s just to take advantage of my family? To take advantage of me?”

  “I promise you, M’Lord, I don’t know what you speak of.”

  “What was it that you hoped to gain from moving into Bonhomie? What great heights did you desire to reach?”

  “I didn’t wish to reach any heights. I merely wanted to teach the children.”

  “You amaze me,” Lord Garret said with a laugh. “All that sadness and despair on your pretty face, and it’s nothing more than a good bit of play acting.”

  “Lord Garret, please tell me what is going on this instant!” Katherine finally protested.

  “You were the one that stole the locket from Constance’s chest. Sofia has known this the whole time and has been afraid to tell anyone. Finally, she approached me and revealed all. We went up to your room just now and there was the locket, tucked away in a drawer. Do you like to put it on at night and walk about the room, thinking that you’re the Duchess of Easterly?”

  “I promise you, I did not steal that locket,” Katherine replied, tears forming in her eyes.

  “Then how can you explain that it was in the drawer?”

  “That is my own locket. It’s a family heirloom that my sister gave to me before coming to Bonhomie.”

  “Ha!” Lord Garret replied, his fury only growing. “Do you expect me to believe that? Do you take me for a fool?”

  “My lord, I swear on my honor that it is the truth.”

  “Your honor? Isn’t that an interesting topic. Your honor. Your honor is lost, Katherine. As well as your position here at Bonhomie.”

  “Your Grace!” Katherine cried, her chest heaving with tears. “I beg you not to do this.”

  Lord Garret’s heart was breaking as he was berating her. He didn’t wish to do so, but it was a betrayal like none that he had ever known in his life and Katherine would have to pay. He was glad that his brother was no longer in the room, for it gave him the chance to rain down the ultimate punishment.

  “I knew from the beginning that your lowly birth most likely made you corrupt,” Lord Garret said, now also feeling tears come to his eyes. He was scolding the thing that he loved most in the world, and it hurt him immeasurably.

  “Sir, not only do you deject me, now you also offend me too.”

  “There’s nothing offensive about it, it’s the truth. When you first came here, I was afraid that you would try to take advantage of my family in some way, and you have proven to be the most heartless liar to ever live under this roof!”

  “I beg you to stop,” Katherine said, collapsing into herself.

  “I will not stop until you are out of this house! I never want to see your face again, do you understand me?” Lord Garret said, allowing the tears to fall. “You have hurt me and my family in a way that no other person has. I trusted you, and I even gave you my heart and my soul, and look at what you have done?”

  As though Katherine couldn’t take the torture any longer, she stood to her feet in protest. “Not only do you offend me and banish me, but you won’t even listen to a word that I say! I’m trying to explain and you won’t even listen. There’s no way that I can prove that what I’m saying is the truth, because you refuse to listen.”

  “Yes, I refuse to listen,” Lord Garret admitted. “Because if I hear one more untruth come from your mouth, I might go
mad. All this while that I’ve been thinking of you, dreaming of you, I was imagining a lie. The Katherine Chance in my mind does not exist. You are a whole other creature entirely, and one that I wish out of my sight, do you hear me?”

  “I hear you, M’Lord,” Katherine said sombrely. “I hear you quite clearly. And it rips my heart in two to have things come to this. I don’t know how to get through to you nor to prove to you that I’m speaking the truth, and for that reason, I will do as you say and depart this house.”

  Lord Garret stopped and took a breath. Everything inside of him felt as though it were sinking down into the earth, there to be entombed in an early grave. He did not want her to go, but what other choice did he have? Would his brother instruct him to be more lenient? Lord Garret thought that leniency was impossible in such a situation. The servants would pack her things immediately and she would be sent off in a carriage. That was that.

  “Go,” Lord Garret said softly, motioning towards the door. “Please go now.”

  Katherine brought her hand to her mouth, on the verge of weeping as she ran past him and through the door. Lord Garret followed her, searching out Nigel. He discovered him out on the veranda preparing the tea.

  “The children are in the sitting room. I can’t find Prudence anywhere!” Nigel said immediately.

  “It’s no matter. Nigel, have Katherine’s bags packed at once and bring the carriage around.”

  “But . . .”

  “There’s nothing else to say. Do as you are told,” Lord Garret said, leaving the veranda. Walking back into the house, Lord Garret made his way to the sitting room where the children were now ensconced. “Harry, Constance, there’s no time to soften this blow. Katherine has been ordered to leave Bonhomie at once.”

  “What?” Constance asked, her eyes wide with shock.

  “I said, Katherine has been ordered to leave. She is the one that stole the locket,” Lord Garret said, taking it from his pocket and displaying it. “And for that reason, her employment here has concluded.” Lord Garret heard as the children began to cry, and Prudence rushed in to console them.

  “But we love Katherine!” Constance protested.

  I know. As do I.

  ***

  Katherine couldn’t stop the weeping. It coursed through her body in violent waves. She could barely see through her tears as the servants hastily packed her bags. Sofia was one of them, and Katherine daren’t speak to the maid. There was no way of convincing anyone of the truth, and Katherine found that she didn’t even have the words to speak. There would be no time to inform her parents that she was returning home. They would just have to receive the same shock that Katherine had received.

  There were so many things that hurt, that Katherine had trouble considering all of it. It wasn’t that Lord Garret didn’t trust her or even listen to her; it was that he had deeply offended her, as well. He had spoken of her lowly birth, which wasn’t even the truth either.

  After all that they had shared, their beautiful night together, the letters, and the anticipation, it had all come to this. This situation was in such utter disrepair that Katherine thought that she might not even survive it. Surely, her heart might never recover.

  Lord Garret was the man that she loved, and to see him so adamant in his anger was incredibly frightening for Katherine. Her entire body was shaking and she didn’t know how to make it stop. She found herself grateful for a family that still loved her. They would be her refuge. There was no chance of marrying now.

  Lord Garret had even shamed her by mentioning her honor. Yes, she had given herself to Lord Garret in full trust of their love, and now, there was no taking it back. She could probably never work in another home again. Katherine was unsure what would become of her life.

  As she walked down the hall and towards the front of the house, Katherine could hear the children crying in the sitting room. She desperately wished to go in and console them, but she knew that to do so would be too painful. Katherine would quietly leave and return to her old life; the future uncertain.

  She momentarily thought of how ironic it was that she came to Bonhomie, was drawn to it, for reasons that the de Bowes family didn’t even know. That the look in Harry’s eyes had called to her. When Elizabeth gave her the family locket before leaving, little did her sister know that it was the very thing that would lead to Katherine’s return.

  “My heart is aching,” Nigel said to Katherine, helping her into the carriage. It was as though Nigel sensed that something was not right about the punishment.

  “As is mine,” Katherine replied through her tears. “Please, send my love to the children and to the duke.”

  I should like to give my love to Lord Garret, as well, but all that is lost now.

  Katherine could feel Lord Garret’s latest letter still in her pocket. It made the tears fall down even more mercilessly. As the carriage pulled away and sped down the drive, Katherine took the letter and threw it out of the window, watching as it fell into the dirt. What would the duke think when he returned? He had been pulled away so abruptly, Katherine marveled at how things might have been different were he still at home. Would the duke have been opposed to such a punishment? Might he even bring her back?

  No, there was no use in hoping for that. Katherine would never return to Bonhomie, she was sure of it. What’s more, she wasn’t even confident that she could remain in Hedge-Grove Downs. Katherine could never show her face again in town. Perhaps her parents could send her off somewhere far away where Katherine could begin afresh.

  All this planning, all this thinking of the future was to merely mask the deep and profound pain in Katherine’s chest. It was a sensation that she had never felt before. It could break her, she reasoned. It could very well break her in two.

  Upon reaching the house, Katherine tried her best to dry her eyes and put on a good face for her family. Although her situation was dire, she at least trusted that her family would understand the truth of the matter and know that Katherine was in no way involved in foul play. They would be the only ones on this earth that would know the truth. Perhaps her parents could go to Bonhomie and explain the situation. But even then, why would Lord Garret believe them when he couldn’t even believe Katherine?

  Stepping down from the carriage, the driver took down Katherine’s trunk as she walked up to the house, only to find her mother and father working in the front yard. The shock on their faces was like nothing that Katherine had ever seen before.

  “What on earth?” Her mother said.

  “Mum,” Katherine replied, rushing into her mother’s arms and weeping yet again.

  “Katherine, what is going on?” Dennis asked.

  “Something terrible has happened,” Katherine said.

  “Tell us at once,” Sybil said.

  “Let’s go inside,” Katherine said, pulling away and wiping her eyes.

  “I’ll make some tea, then,” Sybil said, walking her daughter into the home.

  Once inside, Katherine instantly felt relief. She was in a safe place and she could begin to tell her parents all. Elizabeth came down the stairs at once.

  “Kat!” She yelled, running to her sister.

  “Oh, Lizzie,” Katherine said.

  “Why are you here?”

  “She’s about to explain,” Sybil said, putting the kettle on.