He undressed and lay in the bed, but repose would not come. Instead, he lay awake, his thoughts giving him no peace, until the first sign of dawn began to break, and he rose to make his preparations for departure.
The occupants of Berry House kept country hours and breakfasted early. When Jennifer arrived at the breakfast table, her pale countenance bore evidence that she, too, had spent a sleepless night.
"My dear, you look quite worn," said Judith with some concern. "Do you think yourself up to journeying today? Would it perhaps be wise to delay your return until the morrow?"
"No, we shall go today," replied Jenny, making no effort to attempt the meal set before her. Turning to Phillip, she asked, "Where's Edward? Is he not yet down?"
"He has been down and is gone," replied Phillip, oblivious to the edge in her voice. "He rose quite early and asked if he could have the use of one of my horses. Apparently he's left something of value at the last inn you visited and felt the need to retrieve it immediately."
"I would have gone with him, but he wouldn't have me," said a disappointed Freddie. "Said I was to go with you to Flora's."
"Did he leave any message for me?" asked Jenny, unease sounding in her voice.
"Only that he'll join you at Ravensby as soon as he's able," replied Phillip. "Sinclair's a strange fellow, if you ask me. He was quite curt this morning and abroad so early. It was barely dawn when he came to my door."
"Did he say what it was that he'd lost?" she asked, a small frown creasing her brow.
"Only that it was of value, though what it could be, I cannot think. If it was so valuable, why bring it on such a harebrained journey?"
"Will he return to Berry House?"
"No. He said he would have the horse returned to me and leave directly for London by post chaise."
Jenny rose from the table. "If you will excuse me, I will make my preparations for the journey," she said, a slight tremor in her voice, of which only Freddie seemed aware.
"We leave in an hour. Be ready," called Phillip to her retreating figure.
As she entered her bedchamber and attempted to close the door, Freddie pushed past her into the room. Standing before her with hands on hips, he demanded, "Will you tell me what this issue is between you and Sinclair? You refused to tell me last night, but surely you could confide it to me now. You know I won't breathe a word. Perhaps I can help."
"You can't," replied Jenny dejectedly. "No one can"
He put an arm about her shoulders, in that moment feeling much older than she. "You know I think he's a great gun. I can't believe he would wound you"
"He hasn't wounded me," she whispered, fighting back tears. "He offered for me"
"Excellent!" he responded, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "I knew the two of you would deal famously together. I thought it all along."
"I refused him!"
Freddie fell back in amazement. "I can't believe it. I always knew you were hen-witted. I thought so when you rejected him the first time. But why refuse him now?"
"He only offered out of a sense of duty," she said, wiping away her tears. "I couldn't accept him on those terms. Surely you must see that"
"It wasn't duty I saw on his face when I came on you last evening. Oh, Jenny, you can be such a ... a ... female at times. I may not know much, but this I can tell you: I truly believe he has an affection for you"
"Then that shows just how little you do know," she retorted, an irrational irritation rising. "He finds me amusing, nothing more"
"And what's your opinion of him?"
"He's insufferable, and I hate him." She felt no satisfaction whatsoever in saying those words, not understanding why they only served to make her feel even more wretched.
"O h, aye, the portrait, my lord." The landlord of The Sow's Ear smiled when the earl questioned him in the taproom of the inn. "The gentleman took it. Said he knew you and would return it to you immediately."
"What gentleman?" snapped Sinclair, a decided feeling of unease coming to bear.
"Why, he said he was a friend of your'n, sir. I didn't catch his name, but he said he knew you quite well. A very pleasant man, if I may say so"
"How was he aware of the portrait?"
"The maid brought it to me when he was paying his shot, and very interested he was in it too. Said he'd seen it afore"
Thoroughly perplexed, the earl frowned. "He gave no indication of his identity?"
"None, sir, only that he'd been to the races, where he supposed you and the young shaver to have been"
Sinclair cursed long and low, his mind attempting to identify the half-hidden features of the figure on the stairs, but no recognition came. Forcing a smile, he said, "I thank you. Undoubtedly it will be returned to me when I reach London."
The journey to London seemed infinitely longer than had its predecessor, although in truth it was almost a day shorter, and the earl was relieved when the chaise finally halted outside Sinclair House. Once inside its portals, he lost no time inquiring whether any object or message had been left for him.
"Master Peregrine arrived from Oxford only this morning," stated the footman as he relieved his master of his curlybrimmed beaver. "Other than that, no, sir."
"And where's my brother now?" asked the earl, indicating that his valise should be taken to his apartment.
"I do believe he's gone to call on the Earl of Hawley, my lord."
The earl's dark eyebrows snapped into a heavy frown. "The stupid boy, whatever is he at now? How long has he been gone?"
Regarding the hall clock, the butler replied, "Almost three hours, sir."
"Then he could be anywhere by now," replied Sinclair in an exasperated tone. "I will go to my apartment to change. If he's not returned by the time I've accomplished the task, I shall require my coach"
Taking the stairs two at a time, the earl repaired immediately to his dressing room, calling for his valet as he went. Peregrine's arrival left him in no even mood, and he wondered exactly what his scapegrace brother was finding it necessary to impart to Hawley.
However, almost as soon as he'd been assisted off with his coat and boots, Perry burst unceremoniously into the dressing room.
Seeing the thunderous look that crossed his employer's countenance, the valet made a hasty retreat. He'd no desire to be privy to the altercation he felt sure was about to take place.
"Where the deuce have you been, Ned?" Perry demanded, standing in the center of the room, his usually pleasant countenance dark with a frown. "You've never heard such a hue and cry as your disappearance has set up. No one knew where you'd gone. Hawley has returned with me and is at this very moment installed in the drawing room. He's insisting you must know of his sister's whereabouts and demands that I contact you."
"Then you must inform him that you have found me and that I will be with him directly," replied Sinclair coldly. "However, before you do, you can tell me why you found it necessary to go to him with your tales, when Jenny and I have gone to such lengths to keep him in ignorance of Freddie's little escapade. Couldn't you have trusted me?"
"I didn't know you were involved in the matter," replied a contrite Perry. "Hawley thought it was all a hum, that you'd eloped with Jenny. Knew you wouldn't do it-told 'im so, but he wouldn't believe me. Fact is, the House Master has written to him about Freddie's disappearance, so I had to come to warn him and to tell him the truth."
"Then you might as well have done so in the first place instead of burdening Jenny with your problems," Sinclair scoffed.
"She came to you for help?" asked Perry.
"Obviously, as you should have done. Who else had she to turn to?"
"Then where is she? Has she returned? For if she has, I haven't seen her."
"I've sent her with Freddie to Flora. It's to appear that they'd gone into the country for a visit. You, my dear brother, are to join them there to add weight to their story."
"I must tell you, Ned, the tabbies lost no time in drawing conclusions at your joint disappearance and d
eclared you to have eloped."
"Then they are destined for disappointment, are they not?"
"Is there no chance of a reconciliation between you?"
"None whatsoever!"
When they entered the drawing room a short while later, Hawley came immediately to his feet, crossing the distance between them to stand accusingly before the earl, his mean countenance flushed with anger.
"Where's Jennifer?" he demanded. "Don't try to fob me off with excuses, Sinclair. I know you've been in her company. Oh, it may not have been an elopement-I am well aware of the facts-but you've squired her to God knows where"
"To Buxton, to be precise," replied the earl calmly.
Hawley appeared incredulous. "Freddie's fled to Rutledge?"
"Exactly."
"And where are they now?"
"Rutledge has taken them to my sister in Essex"
"I suppose you will expect me to believe that your association with my sister was quite innocent. That you were in her company the whole while and behaved with absolute propriety?" sneered Hawley.
"If you believe our association to have been anything other than that of the highest moral standing, then it would prove how little you know of your sister and our relationship."
"Whatever the truth of your relationship, you must know that, in the eyes of the world, you have ruined her."
The earl sat on a corner of his desk, negligently swinging one booted foot. Despite a valiant effort to maintain his equilibrium, he nonetheless eyed Hawley with complete distaste, saying, "Then, as her brother, it's in your interest to offer support and help allay the gossip. If it's seen that you endorse our explanation and declare her visit to Flora genuine, who would dare proclaim it a lie?"
"I don't like it. I don't like it by half," said Hawley, sitting heavily in a chair. "When you state it so plainly, it seems too simple. By all that's right, you should be bound in honor to marry her."
"She would not have me," stated Sinclair coldly.
"You made her an offer?" asked Hawley, incredulous.
"I did, and she refused."
Hawley came quickly to his feet. "Then we shall see what she has to say on the subject when I speak to her. I will not allow her to relinquish such an opportunity."
Perry was taken aback by the hardness that came over his brother's countenance, the like of which he had never before witnessed.
"You will not coerce her into marriage with me or any other of your choosing," seethed Sinclair, also rising and taking a step toward his antagonist. "And if it's made known that you make life difficult for her, I can assure you, you will not find her without support "
"Yourself?" scoffed Hawley.
"Precisely!"
"Then you are a bigger fool than I gave you credit for, Sinclair. You champion a lost cause"
Involuntarily the earl's hand shot out, seizing Hawley's neck-cloth, snatching him forward until he was but inches from his face, his toes teetering on the floor. Perry took a quick step toward them but at a warning look from Sinclair fell back, feeling naught but an onlooker at the scene being enacted before him.
Tightening his hold until Hawley clawed at his neck for air, Sinclair gave a hard laugh. "You have no liking for intimidation, do you, Hawley?" he mocked. "It seems more your style to be dispensing it to defenseless females. Not so keen when you are the recipient, are you?"
In response, Hawley gave a spluttered reply, but his words were lost in his need for air as he struggled to keep his balance.
Sinclair issued a harsh oath and, relinquishing his hold, thrust him roughly away. Perry came to stand at his side, but the earl appeared oblivious to his presence. Watching Hawley's attempt to regain his composure, it was a moment before he again spoke.
"I trust that when next we meet, I need not remind you of caution toward your sister," he warned as Hawley edged his way to the door. "I would not wish it to be necessary to repeat my admonition."
Having no desire to prolong the interview, red-faced and seething, Hawley made good his escape. Roundly cursing Jen nifer for the stupidity he perceived to be the cause of his humiliation, he consoled himself with the promise that he would repay Sinclair for his treatment at the first opportunity.
"Never knew you could be so ruthless, Ned," breathed Perry, as, going to a side table, the earl poured himself a glass of brandy and tossed back its contents.
"Then take care that I don't turn my anger against you and your idiotic friend," snapped Sinclair, finding it difficult to relinquish his mood. "If you'd applied more common sense to the situation, none of this would have come about"
Perry had the grace to bow his head. This was a side to his brother he had never before seen, and it was alien to him. "I'm sorry, Ned," he said penitently. "I tried to resolve it myselfbelieve me, I did-but ..." Words failed him.
Full of contrition, the earl came to lay his arm about his brother's shoulders. "I, too, am sorry," he said. "I shouldn't take my frustration out on you. Indeed, it is unpardonable of me. I thought I'd come to terms with my life and planned the way forward. I was not prepared for the confusion that would be left to rule."
"I don't understand your meaning," said Perry, much perplexed.
Sinclair grimaced. "It's as well that you don't. There's too much at issue, and it would be unforgivable of me to burden you with it."
"Am I to go to Ravensby alone, Ned, or will you accompany me?"
"You must go alone. I need remain here for a while. There's a matter I need attend to before I join you there, though how it will be resolved, I don't know."
"Can you confide it to me? Perhaps I could help," said Perry hopefully.
"I wish that you could, but I've lost something that belongs to me and don't know how to retrieve it."
"Is it valuable?"
"To me, yes, very."
"What is it, Ned?"
"Something that's very difficult to define. A talisman, an amulet, a charm. Some would say a lifesaver. Call it what you will, but it's something I've carried with me for some time, and while it's of very little monetary value, to me it's priceless."
Still no wiser, Perry decided it would be prudent to let the matter rest.
As the earl had predicted, Flora eagerly welcomed Jennifer and Freddie to her home and, when the story was told, stated herself more than willing to help. Phillip, although aware that pressing matters awaited him in Buxton-at Carlton's invitation, which had been merely issued out of politeness-stayed on at Ravensby. He received no encouragement whatsoever from Jennifer, but, being now confirmed that her prior betrothal was indeed at an end, he was as determined as ever to press his own cause.
"I declare, you and Edward thoroughly mystify me," stated Flora when she and Jenny sat alone in the morning room at Ravensby. "There always appears some issue between you, and yet you profess no attachment. I am thoroughly confused."
"Then you needn't be," said Jenny with a little twisted smile. "Edward remains protective toward me, that is all."
"And you toward him?"
"Oh, he's a good friend," she replied nonchalantly, "and he has proved he would go to any lengths, however distasteful, to shield me. When the impropriety of his having accompanied me to Buxton was pointed out to him, his immediate reaction was to offer me the protection of his name"
Flora appeared much taken aback. "You say he offered for you? I am bewildered. He's frequently assured me that he's determined not to renew the engagement and has taken great pains to declare his intention of never marrying. Am I not to believe a word he utters? For I tell you, none would be more delighted than Ito see the two of you make a match of it."
"Then I'm afraid you will be sadly disappointed. He thought only to save me from the scandalmongers, and I would not al low him to make such a sacrifice on my behalf. I'm sure you can see that I couldn't allow it. No thoughts of marriage had crossed his mind until Judith and Phillip Rutledge found it necessary to comment on the impropriety of our journey. Until that point we had been quite comfortable i
n each other's company. Indeed, I was saddened that our expedition had reached its conclusion, as, I believed, was Ned."
"Could you not have found it in your heart to accept him, my dear?" asked Flora, laying her hand over Jenny's and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"My heart has nothing whatsoever to do with it," stated Jenny, rising hastily and declaring her intention of seeking out Freddie.
"That is where you are very wrong, my dear," whispered Flora to the empty room. "So very wrong"
Later that evening, when Flora and Carlton sat cozily ensconced in her boudoir, she sighed and confided in him, "Even though she tries so hard to disguise it, I'm sure the chit is in love with Edward. I do believe she has even managed to fool herself into believing she's indifferent to him."
"Whatever the right of it, you must allow them to take their own course," replied Carlton, becoming somewhat bored with the topic and endeavoring to channel his wife's thoughts in his own direction. "You know I hold your brother in the highest esteem, but I believe he is quite capable of ordering his own life, and I'm certain he would not welcome your meddling in his affairs. Couldn't you confine your energies to more immediate tasks? Am I forever to vie with him for your attention?"
"Fie on you, my love. You know my thoughts are always of you." She chuckled, patting his cheek.
"Then I would appreciate proof of that fact," he replied, taking her into his arms.
The news that the Earl of Sinclair had returned to Londonalone-permeated society, and the inevitable comments were made. Those who claimed to know him well endorsed the belief that he had indeed been out of town on an expedition to the races. However, a tenacious few still refused to believe that as fact and clung to the conviction that his absence was most definitely connected to the disappearance of the heiress, even though her brother stated that she was at that very moment visiting Lady Flora Carlton in Essex. So convinced remained certain individuals that they actually dared accost Sinclair with their theory, but with a great effort he managed to retain his composure and brush their questions aside in a most convincing manner. Lord Melville, being one of their numbers, showed a great relief at the explanation that Jennifer was at present staying with Lady Carlton and eagerly promised to quell any further rumors when the affair was mentioned in his presence.
The Portrait Page 10