by Merry Farmer
He should have done more to say goodbye to Natalia. He shouldn’t have just left her with her family in Hyde Park the day before. If he had been cleverer, he would have found a way to scale the wall of her house and climb through her window to engage in the sort of romantic scene that poets wrote about in order to say his goodbyes. As it was, a few, short words in public hardly seemed like enough to reassure the love of his life that he would remain true and that he would return to her as soon as he could.
By the time they reached the train station, his insides were writhing. He’d made a horrible mistake. He should have done more to stay with Natalia, or at least to prove his love for her. As he helped Fergus down and settled him into his wheelchair, he wondered if there was still time to make things right.
“I should send her a note at least,” he said, half to himself and half because Fergus and Henrietta were staring at him as if they knew he had something he wanted to say. “I should tell her how reluctant I am to leave and promise to write to her every day I’m in Ireland.”
“I’m not sure if that would help the situation or spur Lady Natalia on to mutiny,” Henrietta said with a grin.
“Those Marlowe girls are certainly good at defying their parents to get what they want,” Fergus agreed.
Henrietta let out an impatient breath, even though she smiled. “Now, now. You can’t go assuming Natalia would do anything as brash and reckless as what Bianca did with Jack Craig.”
“Can’t I?” Fergus answered, grinning back at Henrietta and looking as though he were in the mood for a mock fight. “They’re all apples that fell from the tree of Katya Marlowe Campbell, and we all know how mischievous she was in her prime.”
Linus would have been more than happy to have the conversation swing around to Lady Campbell’s reputation in her younger days as they walked through the station, searching for the platform for the train that would take them to Liverpool, where they would catch a ferry to Dublin, then continue on to the northern part of Ireland and Fergus’s estate. His thoughts stopped entirely, though, and his heart dropped to his knotted gut as he spotted his father at the far end of the station.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered under his breath. He stopped and straightened as Fergus and Henrietta checked the huge board announcing arriving and departing trains.
Linus would have been alarmed enough if his father had somehow managed to snag a spot to proselytize in the train station. He was used to seeing the man standing up before a crowd, pontificating to them. But instead, his father seemed to be fawning over one woman dressed in a stylish traveling costume. Linus could only see her from the back, but she had silver hair and leaned toward his father as though enthralled by what he was saying.
He was ready to let the whole thing go and to hunch his shoulders, turn away, and pray his father didn’t see him when a second woman approached his father and the older woman. She was young, though pale and drawn. But what alarmed Linus was that he knew her. He’d seen the woman just yesterday, at Campbell House, sitting next to Natalia.
“Good Lord, is that Lady Darlington and her daughter?” Henrietta asked, evidently seeing the same thing Linus had.
“It appears to be,” Linus answered, even though he wasn’t the sort to keep track of the comings and goings of society.
“Whatever is she doing at a train station?” Henrietta asked on. “I thought she and Lady Phoebe didn’t have a farthing left to their name after Lord Darlington died last year, leaving all that debt.”
Linus arched an eyebrow, wondering if his father knew the woman he’d obviously made a target wasn’t what she seemed.
He had barely finished that thought when his father glanced in their direction and spotted Linus. Instantly, the man’s face lit with surprise and the sort of delight that made Linus squirm. Worse still, his father left Lady Darlington’s side to make his way across the crowded station toward Linus.
“Who is that man coming our way?” Henrietta asked.
Fergus attempted to lift himself in his chair enough to see around the bodies that blocked his way.
Linus cleared his throat, turning to his friends. “I know him. I’ll take care of this.”
He broke away from Fergus and Henrietta, marching across the station in the hope that he could have whatever conversation with his father that was about to happen out of Fergus and Henrietta’s earshot.
“Son. What a delight to see you here,” his father greeted him.
“What are you doing with Lady Darlington?” Linus asked, forgoing the pleasantries of a proper greeting.
His father smiled broadly. “Our dear Lady Darlington is ready to embrace the message of God’s love and to help me start a new community.”
Linus frowned at him. “You cannot swindle a widow like Lady Darlington, Father. She deserves better.”
“Does she?” his father asked, lowering his voice and losing some of his charm. “From what I’ve heard, she has a great deal to atone for. And there’s nothing like a guilty soul to build an empire on.”
Linus made a face as though he’d bitten into a sour lime. “I’d have thought you would give up your mercenary ways after what happened before,” he hissed. “And regardless, you should know that Lady Darlington doesn’t have any money. Her husband lost it all, leaving her destitute.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong,” his father said, his eyes glowing with mischief. “My dear Beatrice believes her late husband left her investments in Ireland. She is on her way to collect, and once she does, she has pledged to support me in my efforts to establish a new colony of believers. After all, even wealthy widows need somewhere to live.”
“Father, you can’t—she isn’t—” Linus was too frustrated to form his thoughts into words.
“You should join me, son.” His father rested a hand on his arm. “Build this new community with me. After all, Lady Darlington’s daughter is rather fetching.” He turned to stare lasciviously at Lady Phoebe, who looked as though she were trying to talk her mother out of making a huge mistake. At least the young woman showed some sense.
Linus hesitated for only a moment before starting forward. Perhaps between him and Lady Phoebe, something could be done to convince Lady Darlington to run as far and as fast as she could from his father.
“My dearest Beatrice.” His father rushed ahead and addressed Lady Darlington first. “Allow me to introduce you to my son, Dr. Linus Townsend.”
Lady Darlington turned to Linus in surprise, but her shock was nothing compared to Lady Phoebe’s. “You are this man’s son?” Lady Phoebe said.
“Sadly, I am,” Linus told her, trying to communicate that he did not sanction his father’s actions in any way. “I am sorry we weren’t properly introduced at Campbell House the other day.”
“I…um…yes.” Lady Phoebe continued to stare at him with wide eyes, as if she weren’t certain he was as reputable as she’d previously thought he was.
“You cannot dissuade me from my destiny, my dear,” Lady Darlington said, as though her previous conversation with her daughter hadn’t been interrupted. “Your father was an ass, and now it is time that I turn to a new love, the love of God, to carry me through my twilight years.”
Lady Phoebe glanced anxiously from Linus to her mother. “Please, Mama, I beg you not to do this. Our situation is bad enough already.”
“I have told you that you do not need to come with me,” Lady Darlington told her. “You are perfectly welcome to stay here, as you insist.”
“I insist that you stay with me, Mama,” Lady Phoebe hissed. She glanced around warily, as though the last thing she wanted to do was to have the conversation in public.
“I am going to Ireland, and that is that,” Lady Darlington said.
Her declaration was punctuated by a shrill whistle as a train pulled into the station.
“I believe that is our train,” Linus’s father said.
Linus twisted to glance at the station’s announcement board. Sure enough, the sign was chang
ed to indicate the newly arrived train was, indeed, the one departing for Liverpool. Fergus and Henrietta stood just under the board, watching Linus with curious and impatient looks. Time was ticking away.
“I did not purchase a ticket for you,” Lady Darlington told her daughter, her chin tilted up in defiance. “Go back to that odious boarding house, if you wish. Horace and I are moving on to better things.” She held her hand out, gesturing for Linus’s father to offer his arm.
Linus’s father rushed to do just that, sending Linus a triumphant look as he did. “You are always welcome to come with us, son,” he said.
“As it happens, I will already be on the same train,” Linus grumbled. At least that meant he would be able to keep an eye on his father. Perhaps he would have enough time on the journey to convince Lady Darlington she was making a huge mistake.
“How splendid,” his father replied, likely thinking the journey would give him the opportunity to convince Linus to join him. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must see that Lady Darlington is settled in her compartment.”
His father escorted Lady Darlington off, leaving Linus with a horrible sense of foreboding. He rubbed a hand across his face and stared after them, wondering if there were anything he could do.
“Is it true you will be on the same train as my mother?” Lady Phoebe asked in a small voice.
“It is,” Linus answered with a nod.
Lady Phoebe glanced up at him with a pitiable expression. “Will you make certain she is safe?”
“I will,” Linus promised. A thought occurred to him, and he turned to face her fully. “Would you be willing to do something for me in return?”
Lady Phoebe blinked in surprise, but said, “Yes.”
“Will you call on Lady Natalia Marlowe and give her my deepest regrets for running off without saying a proper goodbye to her?” Linus asked, feeling as though he were playing a part in some maudlin melodrama.
Lady Phoebe smiled. “Yes, Dr. Townsend. I would be happy to do that for you.”
“Thank you.” Linus returned her smile with one of his own and touched the brim of his hat to her. “I will do my best to make certain your mother is returned to you in one piece.”
There wasn’t much else to say, and Fergus and Henrietta were waving at him to hurry along. So with one final nod to Lady Phoebe, Linus turned and jogged across the station to meet Fergus and Henrietta at the platform. He wouldn’t let his father succeed in his sinister plans, but he knew he had his work cut out for him.
Natalia paced the length of the south parlor in Marlowe House, rage propelling her. It was utterly unfair that she and Linus could be ripped apart by her parents. It was even more unfair that she wasn’t able to do a single thing about it. For years, she had been involved with all manner of efforts to advance the rights of women, even though she hadn’t been invited to be a member of the May Flowers yet. Only now was she truly seeing how helpless she was in the world in which she lived.
She wanted to ignore her parents’ demand that she stay away from Linus. She wanted to strike out on her own and build a life for herself. But as she’d tossed and turned the night before, scrambling for a way to defy everyone and go after Linus, she’d come to realize that the deck of life was stacked against a young, single woman, no matter what sort of background she came from or what financial resources were at her disposal. A young woman could barely leave the house alone, much less dash off to Paddington Station to save her beloved from leaving.
“Natalia, you have a guest,” her mother said, sweeping into the room with the pinched look that said she had a headache. Good. A headache was the least of what her mother deserved.
“I don’t want to see any guests,” Natalia protested, changing the direction of her pacing to march toward the door.
She stopped short when she saw Lady Phoebe Darlington entering the room behind her mother.
“Lady Phoebe,” she said, unable to hide her surprise. “I…what a delight.”
“I’ll leave the two of you to visit alone.” Natalia’s mother said. “I need to find something for this headache.”
Natalia gripped her hands awkwardly in front of her as her mother left the room, her fingertips pressed to her temples. The last thing Natalia needed in a moment of crisis was for the awkward, mousey Lady Phoebe to distract her when she needed to figure out how to get to Linus.
But Lady Phoebe surprised her yet again. The young woman glanced over her shoulder to make certain they were alone, then took a step closer to Natalia. “I was just at Paddington Station,” she said. “It’s a long story, but I encountered Dr. Townsend there.”
Natalia’s brow flew up and her mouth dropped open. “You saw Linus?” she asked, surging toward Lady Phoebe as though they were the best of friends instead of barely acquaintances.
“I did,” Lady Phoebe said with a nod. “He told me to tell you that he deeply regrets leaving without saying goodbye. I…I was given the strong impression that he cares deeply for you and that, had he been given the choice, he wouldn’t have left.” She paused. “At least, that’s the feeling our conversation gave me.”
“Your conversation? What did you converse about?” Natalia clasped her hands to her heart in an attempt to tamp down the sudden burst of jealousy within her. Linus couldn’t possibly fall for Lady Phoebe. She couldn’t imagine any man falling for someone as pale and wispy as Lady Phoebe.
“The conversation was mostly about my mother,” Lady Phoebe confessed, staring at the floor. “I’m afraid she’s fallen under the influence of a charlatan.” She blinked, glancing up to Natalia. “Did you know Dr. Townsend’s father is a charlatan?”
“I…what? He is?”
Lady Phoebe nodded. “I only just discovered the truth myself at Paddington.”
Natalia gaped and her heart raced. “No wonder,” she said as the pieces began to fit into place. She shut her mouth, shook her head, and looked to Lady Phoebe once more. “I know very little about Dr. Townsend’s family or his background,” she confessed. “All I know is that I love him, more than I love anything, and I will marry him, no matter what my mother or Lord Malcolm says.”
“How romantic,” Lady Phoebe sighed. Her shoulders sagged. “And the best I can hope for at this point in my life is that Dr. Townsend upholds his promise to protect my mother from his father.”
“Your mother and Dr. Townsend’s father are with Dr. Townsend and the others?” The stirrings of an idea began to pulse in Natalia’s chest.
Lady Phoebe nodded. “I believe they are all on the same train.”
Ideas flew into Natalia’s mind so fast that she had to grab hold of Lady Phoebe’s arm to steady herself. “We have to go after them,” she said, a smile spreading across her face. “I could never go alone, but two women traveling together wouldn’t raise as much suspicion.”
“Two women traveling?” Lady Phoebe managed to look even paler than usual.
Natalia snapped her eyes up to meet Lady Phoebe’s. “We can do it if we go together. I’ll dash upstairs and pack a bag. Mama has a headache and has likely taken to her bed. Lord Malcolm is off with his friends somewhere. No one will be able to stop me and no one will be the wiser until it’s far too late.”
“But to travel all the way to Ireland,” Lady Phoebe said, shaking her head, her mouth working but no further words coming out.
“It will be an adventure,” Natalia said, lighting up. “Where are you staying? You can help me pack my things, and then we will go pack yours.”
“But I don’t have any money,” Lady Phoebe protested, even as Natalia grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the room.
“I have plenty,” Natalia said. “I’ll pay for everything. Oh, this is such a perfect idea,” she squealed as she dragged Lady Phoebe up the stairs to her room. “I am certain that by sunset, Linus and I will be reunited and all will be right with the world.”
Chapter 8
As fast as Natalia raced to pack a small bag with what she considered essentials, and as
quickly as she and Lady Phoebe rushed to the boarding house where Phoebe and her mother were staying, it still wasn’t fast enough.
“Is this truly where you live?” Natalia asked, glancing around the drab room in the boarding house as Phoebe packed her bag.
“Yes,” Phoebe answered without looking at Natalia, her face going pink. “It’s all we can afford.”
Natalia frowned at the stingy amount of coal in a small scuttle beside the cold fireplace. “Surely, you have friends or family you could stay with in a time like this.”
Phoebe closed the lid of her beat-up, old case and fastened the clasps before turning to Natalia. “We do not,” she confessed, looking miserable. “Father burned all of his bridges before dying. Mama comes from a small family that did not approve of her match with Father. And as for friends….” She lifted her case and marched to where Natalia stood in the doorway. “I believe you know what the score is on that account.”
Natalia chewed her lip, guilt racking her. She hadn’t been much of a friend to Phoebe Darlington. No one had. The girls in Natalia’s circle had laughed at the poor thing for being a wallflower for years. If Natalia had known the sad tale that lay behind Phoebe’s shy demeanor and lack of social graces, she might have behaved differently toward her.
“Never mind all that now,” she said, forcing herself to smile as she gestured for Phoebe to follow her out of her room and down the stairs to the boarding house door. “We’ve got an adventure waiting for us.”
Navigating their way to Paddington Station and then figuring out how to purchase tickets to Ireland was enough of an adventure in itself.
“How do we get to Ireland from London by train?” Natalia asked as she and Phoebe waited in line to purchase tickets. “Isn’t there a body of water that separates the two?”
Phoebe glanced nervously around, her shoulders hunched. “Mama purchased a ticket to Liverpool. She planned to take a ferry to Dublin from there.”