Fate Is A Stranger: Regency Romance

by Gay, Gloria

  Earlier, Lady de Compte had given her the letter to leave on Violet's dresser. It was a note in Violet's imitated handwriting that disclosed that she was eloping with Lord Souten.

  There was a satisfied smile on Galena's face as she held the letter down with a bottle so it would not blow away or fall down.

  Once Lady Kelly was returned to the castle, after the herb tea that made her sick had worn off and she was again well, she would see the note. And it would be too late for the Duke of Hawkinston to do anything about it.

  Galena wanted to shout with glee. Soon the field would be cleared of Violet.

  Galena could hardly wait to secure the duke for herself. She savored the words that rolled over in her mind:

  "Lady Galena, Duchess of Hawkinston requests the pleasure of your company at a ladies’ tea to be held…"

  She would soon be a duchess, of that she had not the slightest doubt.

  But first she had to remove Violet as a rival…

  As Violet ran down the dim corridors of the dark castle tracing Galena's footsteps, she again wondered why it was that Lady Galena was involved in this, but the fear in her heart overruled her reason. It was enough that Galena was concerned that her mother was ill and for whatever reason was being very helpful. Yet in spite of this, she did manage to question her, between puffs, for she was now gasping for air as Galena ran down the corridors as if driven.

  "How is it that you found out my mother was ill, Galena?"

  "I was on my way to Mama's bedroom, for she, too, is ill with a cold, when I saw Lady de Compte running out of your mother's bedroom and calling out for help!"

  "Help?" Violet's voice quivered.

  "Yes, your mother had sent her maid for help for she had taken violently ill."

  "Dear Lord," Violet exclaimed, "I should have looked in on her before retiring. I just didn't want to wake her if she was resting."

  Violet followed as Galena raced down the dark circular steps at the front of the castle and saw that a footman was asleep by the door as they ran out.

  Outside, two carriages waited, illuminated only by the light from the full moon that cast a dark blue hue on everything, from the turrets to the ramparts and the gargoyles of the castle, down to the steps and the foliage around. Everything was silent and dark and still.

  "There they are, waiting for us," said Galena, pointing to the carriages. "Hurry, Violet."

  When they reached the carriage, Violet saw Lord Souten emerge from one of the carriages. A fear shot through her. What was Souten doing here?

  "Miss Durbin! Your mother has become extremely ill and has entreated us to help her," he exclaimed.

  Lord Souten appeared strangely agitated and Violet suddenly got a bad premonition about this night, now that Souten was involved.

  She leaned into the carriage and saw that Lady de Compte sat on one side of the carriage and her mother was on the other, reclining. Sadie's eyes were closed and by the side lamp inside the carriage, Violet saw her mother's forehead wet with perspiration. Alarm and fear invaded Violet and tears formed in her eyes on seeing her mother's slumped body.

  "Mama, I am here; what has happened, my dear?" Violet sat beside her mother and tried to straighten her slumped body and lolling head.

  "I feel very ill, my dear. I called out and Lady-Lad-" Sadie closed her eyes and said no more. She had apparently drifted into semi-consciousness. Violet got on her knees in the carriage and embraced her unconscious mother, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  "We must take her to a physician, Miss Durbin," said Souten, "And the sooner the better. She is extremely ill."

  "Where were you taking her?" asked Violet.

  "We are taking her to the village posthaste."

  "I would like instead to go back to the castle and apply to his grace in this emergency," responded Violet. "I am certain the duke's personal physician would help us in a faster manner. I cannot countenance moving my mother when the journey might make her illness worse."

  She hated the idea that Souten and Lady de Compte, with little knowledge of her mother, were making extreme decisions concerning her life and in the middle of the night.

  "There is no physician in the castle, Miss Durbin," said Souten quickly. "We have already applied to his grace for help. He advised us to take your mother to the village as quickly as possible—"

  "Nevertheless, I must hear those words directly from his grace," interrupted Violet. "I insist on speaking to him about this at once. I cannot agree to have my mother leave the castle in the middle of the night in this furtive manner without obtaining the duke's opinion."

  "Vi—Vi—"

  "Yes, Mama. What is it? Please, tell me what you feel."

  "I must see the physician, Vi, for I fear I will die if I don't get help soon. Please, dear. I cannot wait another moment. Allow them to take me to the doctor. I cannot stand the pain any longer."

  At that moment Sadie let out a long wail of suppressed pain and slumped over. Alarmed, Violet shook her head, amazed at the turn their lives had taken.

  But she still hesitated, for she trusted neither Lord Souten nor Lady de Compte. The whole thing seemed suspect to her.

  "Lady de Compte," said Souten, "a word with you."

  Lady de Compte alit from the carriage while Violet comforted her mother.

  Souten closed the carriage door and walked a few paces away with Lady de Compte and when he was certain Violet was no longer within earshot asked her,

  "Where is Lady Galena?"

  "Why, I don't know," said Lady de Compte. "I believe she may have gone back to the castle."

  "She was supposed to follow in the other carriage with you." Souten's face in the moonlight was sinister and his moonstone eyes seemed made of white glass.

  "There was so much to overlook and so little time to plan," said the woman, "I could not control Galena's actions. In any case, there is nothing to be done about it now. Perhaps she does not want to get involved more than necessary. But I should not worry. Galena will not talk about this with anyone. It would be foolish of her to do so, don't you think?"

  "Nevertheless, I would have liked to have spoken with her before she left. I don't like leaving loose ends about."

  "I can vouch for her,” countered Vera. "She would not like her involvement in this to come out."

  "You may be correct in that assumption," Souten whispered back. "It would go very badly for her if she did.

  "All right, let us return to the carriage. Maybe by now Lady Kelly has convinced Violet that she must be taken to the physician. You will travel with me in this carriage and Violet will travel in the other carriage alone with her mother. We'll switch Violet from the carriage she is in to the other one further down the road."

  "Yes." Lady de Compte found herself trembling from head to toe under her cloak and was glad that none of this was apparent to Souten, who was concerned with his own problems.

  When they returned to the carriage they were glad that Sadie appeared to have convinced Violet that she needed to be taken to the doctor at once.

  "Very well, Lord Souten," said Violet with resignation, "I will allow you to take Mama to the doctor. I just hope I am not making the wrong decision. This all seems so furtive."

  "There’s nothing furtive about an emergency," said Lord Souten, highly pleased. "You will be with your mother at all times, reassuring her. And very soon all will be well. You will be glad she turned to us in her grief."

  Violet nodded and Lord Souten closed the carriage door and returned to the other carriage with Lady de Compte.

  They sat in silence opposite each other in one of the carriages as the two carriages rumbled down the gravel road in tandem. The road was dimly lit by the moon and looked fearsome.

  Lady de Compte wondered if she would get out of this adventure alive. All she wanted now was to get away from Souten; her whole being called for it. But how to do it? He would surely use force to prevent her if she attempted to flee.

  She swore she would never agai
n put herself in such a dangerous situation. She would curb her desire for jewels and gowns and abide by the living she had obtained at her husband's death. Never again would she do anything that would put her in a position where she could be taken to the gallows. If only she lived through this. She shut her eyes and prayed fervently for a few minutes.

  She wished she had been able to slip away as Galena had done. Galena only wanted to thwart any kind of a relationship between the duke and Violet but was smart enough not to involve herself beyond that. She had done her vile deed with the minimum involvement. Later, if caught, she would probably say that she had been told Sadie was ill and to call Violet. She would assert she knew nothing beyond trying to help. And she would have accomplished what she had set out to do, to remove Violet from the duke's vicinity for good and forever and leave the field open for herself.

  Violet's concern was only for her mother. She was hardly aware of the others. She saw that there was a bottle of water in a hamper. The water was cool so she soaked her handkerchief with water and placed it on her mother's forehead. Sadie's breathing was labored and she was trembling all over. Violet took the rugs that had slipped off her and secured them around her once more, making certain they would not fall off again. Sadie was perspiring heavily and when she opened her eyes briefly, they rolled.

  Violet tried to hold her mother to her bosom to keep her from trembling and Sadie, aware at times of Violet, would murmur that she was glad Violet was at her side, that she could not have been able to stand her illness without her.

  "Lean against these cushions, Mama," said Violet as the coach tore down the road, for Sadie could not even settle down into a restful position but must move about restlessly.

  "How did this come about?" Did you eat something that was spoiled?" she asked her. "Tell me, dear, for we must know what to tell the doctor."

  But Sadie was incapable of speech. She appeared to be in a semi-conscious state and when she emerged from it she seemed to be in excruciating pain that made her moan and whimper.

  Violet felt helpless and knew that it would have been a lot better if she had been allowed to contact the duke.

  She was certain her mother would have been in much more capable hands with the duke than she was with Souten and Lady de Compte.

  This strange manner of leaving the castle still rankled on her and she had every intention of explaining everything to the duke once her mother had been treated and they returned to the castle. Such an event seemed so far away to Violet now as to seem almost an impossibility.

  Finally, it occurred to Violet that they had passed a village as she leaned out and saw the coach leaving the lights of the village. She was not familiar with this area of the country they were going through and had not been paying attention to it as her attention was taken over completely by her mother.

  There was a strong smell of burning wax from the lanterns inside the carriage and outside the dim light from the full moon looked eerie.

  Why had Souten not stopped at the village they had just passed?

  She leaned out the window and saw that those in the coach ahead did not seem to be concerned by the fact that a woman in the condition Sadie was in could not be left without the care of a physician for much longer.

  She wanted to signal to the coach ahead to stop in order to confer with Souten and Lady de Compte about why they had not stopped at the village they had just passed, so she banged on the roof of the carriage to signal the driver to stop. But the driver, even after repeatedly signaling him to stop, ignored her.

  This was all too strange!

  What else could she do? Violet decided to remove her arm from around her mother and lean out of the carriage window and yell out to the driver.

  Finally, both carriages came to a stop.

  Violet saw Souten walk back from the carriage ahead of the one she was in.

  "Miss Durbin, we must transfer your mother to the other carriage. Your driver has signaled that the axle in your carriage is giving way."

  "Well, no wonder," Violet exclaimed, annoyed. "We were going at breakneck speed!"

  "Miss Durbin, I’m only trying to get to the physician as quickly as possible—”

  "By passing the village where the doctor lives without stopping?" interrupted Violet. "I find all this very strange, Lord Souten. I demand to know why you didn’t stop at the village. My mother can’t continue this way much longer."

  "The doctor is not at that village, Miss Durbin. We must go directly to his house in the next village. Please, you’re only making your mother wait longer—"

  "Vi-Vi—please…" her mother’s faint voice filled Violet with remorse. Perhaps she should not interfere when Souten was only trying to help her mother. What if something happened to her? She would blame herself for the rest of her life.

  "Yes, my dear, we must transfer you to the other carriage, as the one we are in is becoming disabled," said Violet with resignation.

  Violet looked on as Lord Souten and an outrider carried her mother to the other carriage. She also saw Lady de Compte climb in and sit beside her mother and just as she, Violet, also attempted to climb into the carriage, an outrider barred her way.

  "There is no room in that carriage, miss," he said, and taking her by the arm pulled her back to the other carriage.

  Violet struggled to get free of the man's large hand on her arm as he forced her to the carriage, but to no avail.

  "What is the meaning of this, Lord Souten?" asked Violet angrily as she tried to get loose from the outrider's grip on her arm.

  "There is no room in the other carriage for you, Violet. Let Lady de Compte will care for your mother on the way to the doctor's. You and I can follow in this carriage."

  "In this carriage, the carriage you assured me would soon be disabled?"

  "It’s not disabled yet and it will be lighter with just you and me in it. Come, let us board quickly or we will lose sight of the other carriage.”

  Alarmed, Violet saw that the carriage where her mother was had taken off at a fast pace. There was nothing to do but to board the "disabled" carriage if she didn't want to lose sight of her mother.

  Violet looked suspiciously at Lord Souten as they sat across from each other in the carriage. Then she leaned out the window to see if she could still see the carriage where her mother was in. No sight of it!

  Something was terribly wrong, she thought. Images of another time six years ago came flooding back to her mind. Could there be foul play in this incident? Did Souten have ulterior motives for not stopping at the village? Why had he separated Violet and her mother in two different carriages?

  What was going on here?

  And why was he now calling her "Violet" in such a familiar way?

  CHAPTER 21

  Unable to sleep when the ball had ended, Jared was sipping brandy in his bedroom. Feeling restless in spite of the soothing brandy, he went to the window and as he looked down he was surprised to see two carriages taking off at the same time, one after the other, down the gravel drive.

  He wondered why those two carriages were leaving as dawn was about to break. He didn't believe they had such eccentric guests at the castle that took off in the middle of the night without saying good-bye to their host. Or did they?

  He had been unable to see the coat of arms of the carriages because he had seen them from behind and it was dark. He determined to go downstairs and see if the watchman had seen who had left the castle.

  Jared walked quickly down the dark corridor and was startled to see a lady wrapped in a cloak rushing along the hallway. There were wall sconces at long intervals and as she passed by one, her hood slipped and Jared saw that she had fair hair tied at the crown with a circlet of rosebuds.

  "Madam, Viscount Falweir at your service,” he called out. “A word with you, if you please.”

  At the sound of his voice the lady increased her pace, almost to a run and turning a corner disappeared in the gloom of an ill-lit corridor.

  Jared turned the c
orner himself and tried to find the lady but to no avail. Why did she not stop? Anybody else would have. What was going on?

  And when before he had been merely curious as to the two carriages that had left the castle in the middle of the night, now, after calling out clearly to a lady who refused to stop, he began to feel that something strange was going on. His curiosity had now turned into determination to find out what was afoot as he retraced his steps along the gallery and toward the stairs.

  As Jared went down the wide circular staircase, he tried recalling the ball in order to remember who had worn her hair dressed in such a unique way. He ran through the young girls that were houseguests in his mind and then it hit him: Lady Galena! It was Lady Galena who had worn her hair in that fashion.

  What was Lady Galena doing in a cloak and running down dark corridors of the castle near dawn? And why had she not stopped when he called out and identified himself?

  Jared found the two watchmen that were supposed to keep guard by the door fast asleep. He woke them up and asked them about the two carriages that had just left. The two men scratched their heads but could offer no information as to whose carriages they were or who had left in them.

  Jared went back to his room to ponder the situation. In the morning he would question the stable grooms. Surely they would be able to say which carriages were missing.

  Yet something, an indefinable feeling, told him that he should go wake up the hostlers and demand they tell him which carriages were missing now, in this instant. Strange things were going on at the castle and he should at least make an effort to find out what they were. After all, this was his uncle's castle and people had no business coming or leaving without the duke's knowledge.

  So Jared went out the back door and to the stables.

  "Now lessee," said Jiddy, the head stable man, sleepily, "'e be 'ere, sire. Right about 'ere."

  "Right about here what?"

  "M'lor's carriage."

  "M'lor who?

  "M'lor Souten."

  "Souten! I never did like that man," said Jared. "So it was his carriage that left near dawn. How come you didn't wake up with the commotion, Jiddy?"