Only In Her Dreams

by Veronica Towers

  “No, but I wager tha’ this fine Miss knows who he is? I ‘magine it would not take much persuadin’ to make her talk,” Ollie said.

  Sarah’s eyes widened, they were speaking of Beatrice. Sarah felt helpless as she felt herself flung onto the floor. She hit her head and winced in pain and nausea.

  “I say we have some fun with her before we do some serious persuadin’,” Sully said.

  Sarah stomach roiled ominously. The bag was ripped off her head and Sarah blinked up at a large, filthy man leering at her and stroking at his crotch. She tried to sit up but Mrs. Peabody had had her put on the new corset with its long wooden busk and she could hardly bend. The man reached down and grabbed her off of the floor drawing her up. The movement, the smells, and the remnants of her accidental overindulgence in wine all worked for her as she cast up her accounts into the man’s face. He flung her away and she again hit her head. This time, however, she was able to catch herself on her feet and lean against the wall.

  The man wiped at his eyes , “Bloody bitch!! Why did ye not say you was sick?”

  Sarah smiled annoyingly at her attacker, “Just think, I had a large breakfast this morning, I still feel wretchedly ill.”

  He approached her and back handed her hard. Blood trickled from Sarah’s lip. She touched her tongue to her split lower lip and braced herself for another blow…

  Marcus paced around the study, “What is taking them so long.” The room was filled with all of his cousins. Simon, Patrick, Matthew and a newcomer, his cousin Nathaniel, were all taking turns wearing out the tread on the carpet.

  “Marcus, be patient, it has only been thirty minutes,” Lady Minerva admonished.

  “Minerva, let the man talk, I know I would be beside myself if someone took you,” Sir Horace said sagely.

  Mr. Wolcott walked in holding the arm of a street boy. “This ‘ere boy says he knows where they took Miss Montague,” Mr. Wolcott

  Marcus grabbed the boy’s shoulders in desperation, “Where is she?”

  The boy’s eyes widened in alarm as he stammered, “She’s a-at a w-warehouse near the Tobacco Docks in Wapping.

  Marcus let go of the boy and turned to his cousins, “I own a warehouse across from Tobacco Dock. Could it be…”

  Patrick jumped to his feet and started passing out guns and bullets.

  Lady Minerva tugged at Marcus coat sleeve, “Marcus they might have hurt her.”

  He looked away from the concern in his aunt’s eyes, “I don’t care so long as she is alive. When I catch up with them they will wish for death before I am through with them. So long as Sarah is alive…” his voice had an odd catch to it. He cleared his throat and said in a stronger voice, “Let’s go.”

  He went outside where he was surprised to find Amelia Ambrose and some of the older boys including William and Ida waiting in a wagon filled with vegetables. They were wearing old clothes and Ambrose had a soft hat pulled down on his brow.

  Marcus frowned at them, “What are you doing here?”

  “Sarah is our cousin and we can get closer than you in this wagon. They will have lookouts,” Ambrose said sternly. “Amelia, you should go and wait at the house.”

  “Ambrose, she may need me,” Amelia said with a tear in her eye.

  He looked away from the fear in his sister’s eyes, “Your Grace, there are street boys all around in that area looking out for her. They all know me and will came to me before they would come to you.”

  Marcus shrugged off his jacket and jumped in the back of the wagon and smeared himself with dirt and tousled his hair. “Don’t just stand there, man, take off,” he barked at Ambrose.

  Nathaniel spoke up for the first time, “Marcus, we will go another way on horseback. The vicar is right, you have a better chance of getting in close in the vegetable wagon.”

  Ambrose slapped the reins on the horses and sped off towards Wapping. Amelia said, ”Your Grace, look under the tarp…

  Marcus lifted the tarp and pulled out several fowling guns, “I did not know you had any guns.”

  Ambrose replied not taking his eyes off of the road, “I keep them put away…the children you understand. I keep them for the occasional bully that thinks one of our girls would make excellent Covent Garden ware.”

  Marcus looked at Ambrose with new respect, “You ever have to use them?”

  “Once,” Ambrose replied shortly.

  Amelia put her hand on his arm, “Ambrose, you did what you had to do…Rose is safe. He would have hurt other children.”

  Marcus frowned and focused his thoughts on Sarah, “How much longer ‘til we get to the dock?” He had noticed the area getting sparse of population except for the sailors dock whores and street boys. Street Boys!

  He watched Ambrose signal to the one of the boys. The boy approached the wagon carefully.

  “Vicar Appleby, Miss Sarah be in there all right, she be in a side of the warehouse with a fireplace,” the boy, young man really looked at Ambrose significantly.

  Ambrose nodded, “Who do you have up on the roof?”

  “Jackie and Robby be up on the roof roight next to ta chimney,” the young man said. Jackie, ‘e ha said they ‘ad themselves a roight fine fire.”

  Marcus looked at him suspiciously, “What is going on here?”

  “Jackie, Robbie and Kris used to be chimney sweeps,” Ambrose told Marcus, Amelia nodded her head.

  “What can they do from up there?” Marcus wanted to rush in and save Sarah but was hampered by the lack of information.

  “Number one they can hear things, number two…I believe Jackie had an idea,” he looked at the young man and nodded.

  “Jackie ‘as ‘imself some damp peat…” the boy began.

  ***

  Sarah had braced herself for the blow that did not come when an imperious elderly voice yelled, “Stop that at once, if you kill her she can not write the ransom note. And the girl will write a ransom note if she knows what is good for her.”

  Sarah saw an elderly woman dressed in black and using a cane, walk up to Sully. Sarah asked puzzled, “Who are you?”

  The woman slammed her cane down, “I did not give you leave to speak. However, I am Lady Elizabeth Derning. The rightful heir to the Ducal estates but because I was born female my brother inherited.”

  Sarah could see the light of fanaticism in her eyes and she knew this woman was the most dangerous person in the room. She also knew she would never leave here alive. She was no longer tied up but she was in an office with the three people who held her captive. The windows were too high to escape that way. She looked over at the fireplace with its high flame. The elderly woman could not take the chill of the room and stood with her back to the fire. Sarah stared at the fire, she felt so cold inside she knew no fire would ever warm her. Something plopped in the fire. She dismissed it. This was an old warehouse birds probably nested in there.

  The woman gestured for her to seat herself at the desk where there was paper and quill. “Write the ransom note,” the old bat instructed coldly.

  Sarah knew she was going to die why make it easy for them. She smiled pleasantly at them, “No.”

  The woman looked infuriated, “No, what?”

  Sarah displayed a lovely smile, “No, you old harridan. You will kill me anyway so I am not going to make it easy to kill Marcus.”

  “He is the Duke of Allendale, not some barroom brawler,” the woman stated coldly. “Speak of him with respect.”

  Sarah heard a louder plop into the fireplace, it looked like—what was wet peat doing in a fireplace? Surely it did not grow in the chimney. Sarah suddenly realized what was happening The other three turned to look at the fire. Sarah quickly said, “I respect him much more than you do, you old bawd. You think killing him is respectful.”

  “Let us see if he wants to marry you with a scarred face,” the woman stuck the end of her cane in the fire and when it started to glow she with drew it and approached Sarah. “Write the note or I will burn your eye out.”


  One of the men came behind her to put his hands on top of hers. Sarah said annoyed, “I can’t write if you hold my hands down you make-bait.” The chimney started to smoke in earnest, then suddenly a woosh and the room filled with smoke.

  The woman dropped her cane and began to cough. As the man let go of Sarah’s hands, she kicked back the chair and caught him in the stomach. She kicked up his feet, flipped the desk up and slid behind it. Sarah brought the skirt of her dress up to cover her face and started to crawl to the door. The busk that Mrs. Peabody said no woman of fashion was without, was digging into her pelvic bone. Sarah swore she would not ever wear one again even to save her life.

  She heard the door open and tried to scurry away as a pair of fine Hessian boots with the shine dotted with dirt stopped in front of her. Sarah’s eyes widened with alarm as a pair of hands reached for her. She reached into the slit in her petticoat for her stiletto but was unable to reach it before gentle strong hands lifted her up from the floor. Sarah looked with surprise and relief at the searching face of Marcus.

  Chapter 25

  As Marcus took in the split lip and developing bruise on her face, Sarah felt his body tense with rage. “Who dared to hit you?” he said menacingly. He swung her up in his arms and carried her outside.

  The two men had been captured by the Randolph twins, Simon and Patrick. Sarah felt safe carried in Marcus’ arms close to his heart, as though she were something precious and not just a duty. She felt tears prick her eyes already sensitive to the smoke. She looked down at her new dress which was stained with blood and torn. She bit her lip, expelled a breath, and said, “Your Aunt Elizabeth is in the warehouse still…I think she has gone mad.”

  Marcus set Sarah down and went towards the warehouse again, he stopped and turned back to the two men being shackled by Mr. Wolcott, “Don’t think I have had done with you bastards yet…” He stalked into the warehouse door. The office where Sarah was held was considerably less smoky now that the two boys weren’t using a bellows to reverse the smoke down the chimney.

  He saw her laying on the floor her cane beside her, the tip still glowing. He had heard her threaten to blind Sarah with it. This frail old woman who had made his mother’s life hell on those brief visits to the Allendale Castle, looked rather pathetic. She coughed and clutched her chest. She looked up at Marcus with watering eyes and rasped, “Daniel, what are you doing here, you are dead…” She coughed again loudly, “Am I dead, too?”

  Marcus could not hate the crazy old woman, “No, not yet.” He did not correct her impression.

  She said weakly, “If I had been born male, I would have been the Duke, not you.” She closed her eyes and stopped breathing.

  Marcus shook his head, all of this was about the property and breaking the entail because of his aunt being eaten alive by envy. It must have been the catalyst for every despicable act and word. He picked her up and carried her outside.

  After a bath and a change of clothes, Sarah joined Marcus in the study for some tea. She found him pouring over the estate records and trying to understand them. “Marcus, we need to talk.”

  He looked up at her absently, “Can you make heads or tails of this?” He gestured at the papers in front of him, they were essentially alone in the house. The cousins and his aunt and uncle took all of the street boys over to buy them ices. Marcus, too, had bathed and changed instead of going with them.

  Sarah walked over to him and looked over his shoulder. She put her fingers under his chin and turned him to look at her. “I heard what you said and I refuse to be a burden to you. In fact, I am furious that you risked your life to go into the smoke filled room for me. You should never have risked your life over someone who is just-just an obligation,” Sarah’s voice broke over the last statement and a tear rolled down her face. “I was almost maimed over your overwhelming sense of loyalty. I don’t think two people should marry without love…”

  “You’re just overexcited by everything that has happened,” he reached around and pulled her into his lap. “You could be pregnant with my child…”

  “Ahem,” a voice cleared and Sarah clumsily scrambled out of Marcus’ lap. It was Marcus’ cousin Edward.

  “What are you doing here?” Marcus growled.

  Edward looked puzzled, “I received a note that I was to meet you here immediately.”

  “I sent you no note,” Marcus looked at him suspiciously.

  “I am afraid I sent the note, Your Grace,” said Mr. Emberton from the doorway, holding a gun with two more tucked at his waist.

  “Emberton, what is the meaning of this?” Edward said aghast.

  “Honestly, are you people so stupid that you cannot figure out that one elderly woman could not have hired all of the help here in town?” he said dispassionately.

  “You have been bilking the ducal estates for years,” Sarah said shaking her head. “I knew that the townhouse had had no repairs.”

  “Yes, Miss Montague you would have made an admirable Duchess, nothing would have slipped past you or your uncle, Your Grace,” Mr. Emberton still obsequiously referring to Marcus by his title. “And you are a smart man, you would have eventually found me out.”

  “But, why?” Sarah said plaintively. “You had plenty to live on…”

  “Maybe if I were as miserly as you are reported to be Miss Montague, but alas a gentleman in town has expenses…” the solicitor’s voice trailed off.

  “Gambling,” Edward said.

  “Ah, yes, among other vices,” the man said with a cold smile. He gestured with his gun for Edward to join the group over by the desk. “It seems that your cousin here is going to try and kill you but you will pull a gun as well and you will shoot each other. I have decided that Miss Montague will be strangled by young Edward here. A very tragic tale…”

  Another voice exclaimed, “Where is everybody? The door was wide open. Ida, catch that dog!”

  The dog ran into the study and ran into Mr. Emberton who fired his pistol. Sarah leaped in front of the gun and slumped to the floor. Edward turned and leaped on the solicitor and disarmed him.

  Ambrose hurried into the room, “I heard a shot—“ He took in the tableau at once. He saw Edward restrain the solicitor and he saw Marcus holding Sarah in his arms rocking her back and forth.

  Marcus said, “Sarah, you should not have leaped in front of me. You would have been free of me. I love you and I would have never let you go, so long as I lived.”

  “Marcus,” Sarah said in a surprisingly strong voice for someone who was shot.

  “What, my love?” he said noticing for the first time that Sarah was not bleeding.

  “He ruined my new busk and my new corset has a hole in it, saving your life is detrimental to my wardrobe and very expensive,” she said with a smile.

  Marcus laughed out loud, “I will buy you a hundred of the damned things, a thousand. Just marry me and save me from my spend thrift ways.”

  Marcus assisted Sarah to her feet, she brushed off her skirts, “You know what you just said does not make a bit of sense. But we do owe Beatrice another dress.” She walked over and patted the excited dog, “And B. B. here deserves a big slab of beef.”

  William and Ida came into the room followed by Amelia. “Miss Sarah, did you know you had a bloody big ‘ole in your dress front?”

  Everybody laughed. Ambrose said, “Good thing Mr. Wolcott will be here soon he can take this man whoever he is—“

  “This is Mr. Emberton, the Duke of Allendale’s former solicitor,” Edward interjected.

  The rest of the family crowded into the room including Marcus’ mother who walked stiffly on two canes.

  The formidable Dorothea Derning, stared a moment at Sarah and said in her deep feminine voice, “You saved his life again?”

  Sarah just looked at her not knowing what to say. She looked over at Marcus, back at his mother and then down at her hands biting her lip.

  “The whole family is here and I am not getting any younger. Marcus, M
inerva told me you have a special license,” Mrs. Derning said imperiously.

  Marcus replied with a quirked eyebrow and a smile, “Why, yes, Mama.”

  “And are you a vicar, sir?” she said to Ambrose.

  “Yes, I have a mission in Whitechapel,” Ambrose said with a smile.

  “Marcus, I think you should marry the lady immediately, before she becomes bored with constantly saving your life,” after she said this, the older woman walked across the room leaning heavily on her canes for balance. She arrived in front of Sarah handed the canes to Marcus and hugged Sarah. “Welcome to the family, my dear. We are not usually this exciting.

  As soon as the larcenous Mr. Emberton was led away by Mr. Wolcott, and Sarah changed her dress yet again, she refused to be married in a tattered gown, Sarah and Marcus were married.

  Later that night at the ducal townhouse, Marcus and Sarah were sharing champagne in bed. Sarah said, “You know, Marcus, before this I would have said there was only one way a woman like me could be happy with a man like you…”

  He took a sip of his wine and set it aside and reached for his bride, “How?”

  She put her own glass aside and placed her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes with a smile, “Only in her dreams.”