“I shall gladly answer,” Sophie replied.
“You said you hid the letter in your bag but it was stolen at the inn?” the constable asked.
“Aye,” replied Sophie. “A man approached me at the inn.”
“Can you describe this man?” Joe asked.
Sophie tried to remember. She had been sleeping before the fat man came to wake her up.
He was a fat man in a funny looking hat. There was a scar at the side of his neck. He seemed like someone she had seen before, or probably he only resembled one of the men that would come to the Parrish home to drink and to gamble.
“I think I have seen him before, back at home,” she continued, as she spoke, Joe was trying to paint the picture of the man in the paper in his hand.
“Are you certain about that?” asked Adams.
Sophie nodded. “Last night, when I saw him, I was feeling sleepy but now that I think of it, he used to come to the house. He is one of the friends of Mr. Parrish. They drank and gambled together. Mr. Parrish had told Lord Terrence that he had people somewhere that would help him get more men to kidnap Miss Theodosia. He must be one of them. What I am not sure of, is how did he know that I would be at the inn?”
“He must have followed you or it must have been a coincidence,” replied Adams. “Whatever it was, they must have recognized you and seen that you may be a threat to their plan. Perhaps, he wasn’t alone.”
“So what do we do?” Luanne asked. “We need to find Theodosia fast and bring these men to justice.”
“We need to have something tangible before we can apprehend them. Maybe something like a written letter or a confession. Either way, we need to start from somewhere. Do you still remember this inn?” Joe asked.
“Yes, I do,” replied Sophie.
“Good. Check out this drawing, does it match the man you saw?” Joe asked, passing the painting to Sophie.
“Oh, yes, it looked very much like him,” she replied. Quite impressed at the painting.
“Good, then you shall give us the address of the inn. Joe and I will be there tomorrow morning. We shall try to find what we can find,” Adams said, standing up. Then he turned to Luanne. “Do not worry, my lady. We shall find her.”
Luanne nodded. “Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it.”
Some minutes later the men left, and it was just Sophie and Luanne.
“I am sure you are very tired,” Luanne said to Sophie. “Anne is preparing a room for you. Your mistress will be very worried so tomorrow morning, we shall send a letter to her. But we need to be careful so it won’t end up in Mr. Parrish’s hands.”
Sophie nodded. “That is a good plan, my lady. I am certain that very soon, we shall find Miss Theodosia.”
“I hope so,” said Luanne. “You must excuse me, I need to go check on my brother.”
***
Theodosia finally opened her eyes. She winced from the pain surging in her left shoulder. She must have hurt herself when she had fainted.
She looked around her but everywhere was pitch black. Still, she knew that they were no longer in the carriage. She seemed to be in some sort of building.
She tried to lift her legs, but it was of no use. Her arms and legs were bound against the wall.
This was not a dream, this was actually happening, she thought. Her mind went to Barton, she sighed, desperately hoping that he would be alright. She managed to shift her arms, but the ropes were really tight, it was of no use trying.
She heard a rumbling noise, and she stilled. The door opened to her left and a tall figure came in, carrying something which was pushed to her.
“Eat. We do not want you to starve,” the man said coldly.
“My hands are tied,” she shouted. “How do you want me to eat with tied arms?”
The man grumbled and then came forward. “Do not try anything stupid. I will not hesitate to harm you,” he warned before untying her arms. After that, he left, locking the door after him.
Theodosia sighed and pulled the food to her, she dipped a hand inside and tasted whatever it was, it didn’t taste good so she spat. She couldn’t eat that. What if it was poison? She inhaled deeply, she needed to find a way out of this place, fast.
Chapter 11
Saving the Day
Elizabeth stared at the letter in her hand and her heart sank. Her daughter had been captured and Sophie was at the Barton estate. What was she going to do?
She heard Harold coming in, so she quickly folded the letter in her hands.
“Good morning, Elizabeth. Is everything okay?” he asked, looking at her.
She immediately forced a smile. “Yes, Harold. ‘Tis strange. I woke up missing Theodosia, and I was thinking if it would be alright for me to pay her a visit,” she said on purpose, awaiting his reply.
“Well, I am sure that our daughter has her hands full with her wedding preparation. You should not disturb her,” he said.
She tried not to lash out at him. “But, don’t you think I need to be there to help her with the arrangements?” she asked again.
“No, my darling. I need you here with me. She is at her soon-to-be-husband’s house. You should stay in your husband’s house. Once they fix the date, we shall go to the party.”
She was quiet. “Very well. What about our guest? When will he be leaving?” she demanded.
He waited for a while before replying. “He will be leaving later today.”
“Were you able do whatever he came for?” she asked.
He hesitated before replying, “Yes. It was easier than we had both planned,” he replied, kissing her on the cheek. “Very soon my darling, we shall be rich.”
Elizabeth eyed him but said nothing. Just then, a knock sounded on the door. Harold went to get it. It was their butler, he talked in a hushed tone to Harold and later went on his way.
“Well, darling. I will be right back, seems our guest will soon be on his way,” he said and left. Quickly, Elizabeth climbed out of the bed. Sophie had asked her in the letter to try to listen to their conversation if they could get anything as to Theodosia’s whereabouts. She was sure that they would be in the study.
“It worked, they have your daughter,” Terrence said to Harold as he got into the study.
“Thank goodness. So what happens now? We need to be fast with everything. My wife is already suspecting. She wants to go visit our daughter,” Harold stated.
“No, that must not happen right now. The birthday is in three weeks’ time, so she has to be there till then.”
“But what do I tell my wife?” Harold asked.
“Try to get her occupied on other things. We cannot risk having her look for your daughter now. I shall go back to the inn and talk to the men myself. They are not getting paid until after three weeks.”
Harold frowned. “That wasn’t what I told them in the letter. As a matter of fact, my lord. They are expecting their payment today.”
“I do not have money on me right now, you should know that. You can pay them if you want, but until after the three weeks, you and I get nothing.”
Harold was confused. This wasn’t what he had hoped.
“Where are they keeping her?” he asked as Terrence stood up, getting ready to leave.
“Somewhere around Lottingburgh, it’s an old building which was formally used as a cotton factory,” Terrence replied. “Make sure your wife does not suspect anything or you get nothing at the end of this deal.”
Harold frowned. Now he was getting angry, but he dared not say anything.
“I shall take my leave now.”
***
Elizabeth rushed back to her room. She had heard everything she needed to hear. Quickly, she took a piece of paper and began to write. Her daughter was at the old Cotton factory at Lottingburgh. She would need to send this back to Sophie as quickly as she could.
***
Constable Adams and Joe sat at the bar. They had arrived at the inn some minutes ago but they were yet to see the man that Sophie
had described.
“Are you gentlemen looking for someone?” the bartender asked.
Both men exchanged glances and Adams signaled to Joe to go ahead.
Quickly, Joe brought out the portrait which he showed the bartender.
“This man here, we know he comes here regularly. Has he come here today?” Joe asked.
The bartender who was busy cleaning the cups stared at the picture and then looked at the two men.
“What are you two? Constables?” he asked with a languid interest.
“That’s right,” Joe replied. “And a woman’s life is at stake, unless you help us.”
“Well, he only comes here with his friends around midnight but one of his friends, the master’s boy, is still in the room.”
The two men exchanged glances.
“So, he doesn’t come here alone?” asked Joe.
“No, he doesn’t. Oh, that is the lad I was talking about,” he said, pointing at a young man who was entering the inn.
“Thank you,” said Adams and stood up.
***
Ron was angry. He didn’t know what was happening. The men were getting irritated for they had not been paid as expected.
They also complained about feeding their prisoner from their own money. He pulled out a chair and sat down. He was exhausted and had barely gotten enough sleep the previous night.
Getting the maid had been really easy, after Darrel had taken the letter from her and her money. He very well knew that there was no way she would make it to the Barton so quickly.
He decided to go through the letter that his boss had written to the men. After they had gone through it last night, he had taken it back.
He dipped his hand into the pocket to bring out the letter but it dropped on the floor. While he bent to pick it, another man bent to pick it up.
“Hey, that is mine,” he said quickly, standing up to face not only one man but two men. “Give it back!” he snapped at them.
Instead, the man unfolded the letter and faced him. “Are you sure this is yours?”
“Of course! Who are you?” Ron demanded.
“Well, this letter is addressed to Theodosia and you do not look like someone who bears the name.”
Ron swallowed. That was the wrong letter.
“Look, I do not know who you are but you have no idea what you are doing,” he threatened.
The men laughed.
“I think you should sit down, lad. We know you kidnapped Theodosia and we want you to tell us everything.”
When Ron realized who they were, he swallowed. He knew the game was up.
“Please, be lenient. I am just the messenger,” he said.
“Well, messenger, you better start talking or you will be spending the rest of your miserable life in jail,” said the older of the two.
“It was all Lord Terrence’s idea with Mr. Parrish. I have nothing to do with it. All I needed to do was to deliver the messages,” Ron said finally having explained all that happened.
“So you robbed a young lady of her money and her letter, last night, yes or no?” Adams asked.
Ron hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, I am sorry. I admit that was all me, but I just thought…please, I will do anything not to go back to jail.”
Adams frowned. “So, you have been to jail before?”
The lad nodded. “Yes, Lord Terrence found me when I got out. Since then, I have been serving him. Please, do not punish me, I was only doing what I was told.”
Adam smiled. “Well then, if you want to make things right, then you need to help us find Lady Theodosia quickly as well as all the men that had a hand in the kidnapping.”
“I will, please. I promise. Two of them will arrive shortly.”
Adams smiled. “Smart man. Do not do anything foolish that will give us away.”
Ron nodded. “I will not. I promise.”
***
Theodosia couldn’t sleep. The noise was getting louder and louder. The men who were holding her captive were having an argument, and it was getting hotter.
“We are supposed to get paid! This is cheating!” One of them shouted.
“Mr. Parrish said we need to calm down. He sent a letter that we will be paid at the end of the third week.”
Theodosia thought she hadn’t heard that correctly. Her father was in on this?
“I never knew that we would get paid later. This is unacceptable!” he shouted
This was followed by a more deafening noise and then some running around.
“You have been surrounded!” shouted a voice, “come out and drop your weapons!”
Everywhere was quiet all of a sudden and the next thing was a loud banging on the door.
Theodosia didn’t know if it was a friend or a foe. So she kept quiet, Shivering in the corner where she was tied.
The door burst open suddenly, and she saw her mother along with several other men dressed like constables.
“Mother!” she shouted.
“Oh! My darling!” her mother shouted, running to her.
Quickly, the men untied her, and she was embracing her mother.
“Are you okay?” her mother asked.
“Yes, but please, we need to get to Lord Barton quickly.”
***
Barton opened his eyes that night and the faces he saw first were those of his sister and his fiancé.
Luanne was more than excited.
“How long have I been asleep?” he asked, trying to sit up.
“Two days,” Luanne replied as she assisted him.
When he saw Theodosia beside him, he was more than relieved.
“I thought you were taken away,” he said.
“Oh! I was. I was later rescued by my mother and the constables that your sister hired. I will tell you everything later.”
“Were the culprits apprehended?” Barton asked his sister.
“Yes. It was our brother and Mr. Parrish. They wanted to kidnap her so he can get the properties.”
Barton sighed, he thought as much. “Well, I am happy that everything is fine.”
“Yes, me too,” replied his sister. Then she faced Theodosia. “Are you going to tell him or shall I?”
He looked at both women suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”
Theodosia smiled. “Well, we think we should hurry up with the wedding. Everything that happened these past few days just made me realize how important you are to me and how I really cannot wait to be your wife.”
Barton felt his stomach fluttered as he heard this.
“Well, I think I will have to excuse you both,” Luanne said, standing up and leaving the room.
“So, are you saying, you are ready to marry me?” Barton asked, holding Theodosia closely to him.
“Yes, I want to marry you this weekend and my mother is around to help us with that.”
Barton was excited, and drawing her a bit closer to him, he kissed her deeply.
“You are everything I have always wanted. I cannot wait for you to become my wife.”
Epilogue
Theodosia found herself smiling as the memory of the whole gambling proposal faded into what seemed like a distant memory. In actual fact, it was just two months ago. She turned to the other side to gaze out of the open window.
It was her wedding day.
After five days of rigorous planning and last-minute changes, Luanne had assured her that every single detail as regards the wedding would be perfect.
She inhaled a deep breath. It was still unbelievable that she was getting married to Barton that day. Even though they had met some months back, she felt like she had known him her entire life.
“Would you sit still, please?” Luanne mumbled with her mouth filled with hair pins. Theodosia looked at her in the mirror and offered her an apologetic look.
“Here are more pins, my lady,” Sophie said as she entered the room.
“Thanks, Sophie. You can keep them somewhere. I may not need them anymore.”
/> “Okay,” Sophie replied and left.
“Sit still, Theodosia. I am nearly done. There is no reason to keep moving your head. See, done!” she leaned down and rested her head against Theodosia’s shoulder. “Do you like it?”
Theodosia inspected her hair in the mirror. Luanne had done a beautiful job. She had separated her hair into different parts before twisting each part into a classical bridal style. Each twist was secured with elegant hair pins and they each had a special diamond at the end so that each time she turned, the diamond sparkled.
“It’s so beautiful,” she said in a whisper.
“Good,” said Luanne, squeezing Theodosia’s shoulder before walking back to admire what she had done.
There were short knocks on the door, making Theodosia jump. Quickly, Sophie went to get it. Her mother entered.
She gasped as she saw her.
“Oh my darling! Look at you,” her mother said, walking closer to her. “You look absolutely stunning. You are so beautiful and I am so proud of you.”
Theodosia smiled as they embraced. She could feel the tears gathering.
“Are you ready to take a step into the future?” asked her mother and Theodosia found herself nodding.
***
“The bride is here,” one of the guests shouted, and Barton turned to face the aisle. He could see Luanne as she slipped through the closed doors which were at the opposite end of the aisle before walking gracefully to her seat.
The music began with the organ which started to play. The guests stood up from their eats. All eyes were focused at the door.
When he spotted her, Barton felt his heart race. She walked elegantly down the aisle, like a vision in a white cloud. Sophie held the train of her dress while Anne followed her. Barton couldn’t take his eyes off her for the smallest second. She was too good to be true.
When she got to the end of the aisle, he stepped forward and offered her his arm. She linked her arm with his and they turned towards the Priest.
“We are gathered here today to…”
“Are you okay?” Barton asked her quietly as the Priest began the ceremony.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, seeing her blush all of a sudden.
“You look quite handsome yourself,” she replied. Then she turned to give him a loving smile before they shifted their attention back to the priest.
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