“I understand,” he said. There was an awkward silence but she was stoic.
Finally he said, “I think we've had enough excitement for one day. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. I'm going to get some rest.”
She was silent, still taking in his uncle's words.
He continued, “Catherine, I do wish you happiness. I'm sure you'll soon be swept off your feet by someone more interesting than myself. Let us part friends, with no ill will toward each other.”
She hesitated, then shrugged and nodded slightly, then finally smiled a little and held out her hand to shake hands. “Friends.”
They shook hands and William said, “Friends.” He stood up and put his hands in his pockets, “I'll have Ormsby make up a room for you. I'll also have a word with my Uncle to be sure he makes arrangements for your safe return. I only ask that you don't mention my wife to my family. I'd like to introduce her myself, when we're ready for that. It's a great responsibility she's facing. I haven't told them about her yet. It all happened so fast... we need some time, to get to know each other more.”
“Yes, I suppose you do. Don't worry, I won't mention it,” she said, a tear brimming in her eye. “Go! Go back to her as soon as you can. It will be easier on me. And really, I do wish you well. I just need some time... like you; I just need some time...”
He could see that she did. He turned and left her there dabbing the corners of her eyes with a lace trimmed handkerchief to gather her wits. He went in search of Uncle James first, then Ormsby and finally, Ben-- and made good on all of his promises to see that she was given both a place to rest and a ride home with an escort. He found Benjamin in the kitchen looked sleepy. He picked up the boy and deposited him in an empty bedroom across the hall from his own chambers, covered him with a quilt and managed not to wake him. By the time his head hit his own pillow across the hall, he was asleep within minutes.
Chapter 17. The Earl & the Countess Drop By
Alexandra had been awakened in the middle of the night by a great deal of loud pounding at the door. She crawled out of her husband's bed and tried to smooth her crumpled dress. She hadn't even changed into a nightgown before falling asleep. She fumbled around in the dark trying to light a candle but gave up because the pounding had grown more frantic. She could hear voices as she descended the staircase and managed to find her way to the door in the pitch black. She distinctly heard a woman's voice and then what sounded like an older man trying to calm the female voice. There was some sobbing and then more knocking and pounding on the door. Still groggy from her deep and restful sleep, she opened the door hoping her callers would then go away so she could go back to sleep.
“I am very sorry to disturb you Ma'am, but is the Duke in residence this evening?” An older gentleman dressed in a cravat, white shirt, dark trousers and a dark cloak looked very relieved that the door had opened to him.
Standing beside him, a plump lady wearing a fashionable summer bonnet tied in a great bow under her chin and wrapped in an attractive shawl over her dress was quietly sobbing into her handkerchief. Beyond them, a hackney coach drawn by four horses stood patiently in the moonlight with a driver who looked as though he really was trying to be patient.
“The Duke?” she repeated. “I'm sorry, there must be some mistake. There's no Duke here. I live here with my husband, William.” She started to close the door with a yawn.
The man in the cloak put his hand on the door and stopped her, “Wait! Please excuse the lateness of the hour. We're looking for our daughter, Lady Catherine. Perhaps you know where we can find her...”
She blinked and repeated, “Lady Catherine?” William had forgotten to send the note.
“You see she's practically engaged to the Duke... and he has been in residence here; his brother Lord Marcus told us...” Lady Catherine's mother spit out in a warm, crackly voice. “We're quite sure she came here. A neighbor not far down your lane was kind enough to tell us he spotted someone matching her very description, on this very lane.”
“His brother... Marcus...” she croaked, sounding a little like the matronly lady with her sleepy voice. “Do, please, come in.”
She managed to light a candle. “My husband and I met with Lady Catherine earlier today,” she said. They looked immediately relieved for this bit of news. She led them into the kitchen and offered them seats, started a fire, started a pot of tea and set cups and saucers on the table. They talked about their daughter as she did all of these things. She listened to every word with acute attention.
“Our daughter took the curricle out for a drive this afternoon from my dear brother's house and she never returned. We're all in a dither searching for her. As you see, it's well-nigh eleven o'clock and she's still missing,” said Lady Catherine's mother. “Forgive me for not introducing ourselves earlier. I am Countess Duncan.”
“I am the Earl of Duncan,” the man in the cloak said. “Did you say your husband's name is William?”
“Yes,” she said. “We're newly wed.”
“We offer you our congratulations,” the Earl said with a long glance at his wife.
“You said the Duke,” Alexandra paused, “has a brother named Marcus.”
“Aye,” the Earl said. “Lord Marcus...”
“Studying to become a barrister,” Alexandra said.
“One and the same,” the Earl nodded.
The kettle began to whistle so she poured the steaming tea out into their cups and joined them at the table.
“How long have you and the Duke, uh, William, been married?” the Countess asked.
“My William, the Duke...?” she stammered. “Uh, almost two months...” Her mind was doing flips.
“We would just like to find our daughter,” the Earl sighed. “We've looked everywhere we could think of that she might be. You said you met with her earlier today. Perhaps you could help us. We're simply afraid that something terrible has happened to her. She's never turned up missing like this before...”
“We should never have let her go hobnobbing about the countryside alone... anything could have happened to her...” The Countess began to sob uncontrollably again.
Alexandra recovered herself upon hearing those wretched sobs coming from the distraught Countess. “Your daughter is quite safe Lady Duncan.”
“How can you know?” the Earl asked.
“I can assure you both that she left here escorted by my husband, and a chaperone, our servant boy. They were going to see his uncle to straighten out some sort of misunderstanding.”
“To Ivy Clifton? But she was in that dreadfully small curricle...”
“They didn't have time to rent a coach and she insisted upon finding out the truth as much as my husband, so he, my husband, followed on horseback. Benjamin, our servant boy, rode alongside Lady Catherine. I'm certain they are just fine. My husband is very capable,” she said.
“Oh Walter,” the Countess breathed, beaming with joy. “This is good news indeed! Our daughter is alive! But such a long and dreadful drive to undertake in a curricle...”
The Earl looked happy to see his wife smile again. “I told you everything would be fine, Grace.”
“What if they are stopped on the side of some dirt road with a broken wheel?” Grace exclaimed. “Oh, dear, I do think I need my smelling salts...”
“In your reticule, Grace,” Walter said.
“Oh yes!” she said with a sigh, reaching into her reticule and producing the desired object. “Do forgive us dear. I just won't be satisfied until I am reunited with my daughter... our one and only daughter, Walter!”
“We'll find her, my love!” he said. “Breathe deeply.” The Countess inhaled and exhaled and grasped the table and seemed well again a moment later.
“It sounds as if you know the way to my husband's childhood home. You called it Ivy Clifton?”
They nodded simultaneously, the Countess still waving smelling salts under her nose.
“Perhaps... perhaps we should all go to Ivy Clifton at on
ce...” Alexandra said.
Chapter 18. 'Things Put Off '...
It only made sense that Alexandra take leave for Ivy Clifton Hall with the Earl and Countess of Duncan. If she was indeed married to a Duke, it was high time someone tell her. Lady Catherine obviously knew more about her husband than she did...and it looked as though she was not giving up easily.
Alexandra firmly decided it was her future at stake too and it was time for her husband to be done with his secrets and his testing of her loyalties and character, the only reason she could think of as to why he had not told her of his full identity. If William was a mere farmer, country Squire... or a Duke, it made no matter to her... he was still the man she loved. She wasn't quite sure when she'd begun to know that she loved him for certain in her heart... but she knew if she lost him, she wouldn't ever be the same again.
Everything was suddenly so clear to her; things she hadn't understood about her husband before now. Was she truly a Duchess? She wondered for a moment what her father would say now. She supposed he would be both pleased and proud, but she had best not count her chickens before the eggs hatched. First things first; she had to resolve the mystery of her husband and who he was. Then, there was this matter to overcome concerning the accusations and challenges of Lady Catherine Duncan.
They all fit snugly in the Earl's hackney coach. It was a bit of a bumpy ride in close quarters but the seats were cushioned and they'd brought extra pillows knowing it would be a longer journey than just one between neighboring villages.
She had packed a trunk in about ten minutes flat. She had also changed into a clean short sleeved muslin mocha and cream striped frock with three rows of cream colored lace trim at the hem, donned a light weight mocha spencer, put on her sensible brown boots, took off her sensible brown boots and packed them instead, slid into her mocha satin slippers, brushed and coiled her hair and finally-- tied her best cloth covered straw bonnet with the silk lining beneath her chin and flared the shimmery cream silk colored bow to one side of her reflection in the mirror. She located her fringed beige reticule and placed a few banknotes, one guinea, a crown, and a handful of shillings inside along with a small looking glass and comb.
Satisfied that she was presentable to meet the Duke's family and prepared for almost any small crisis during travel, she gathered and carried extra pillows and blankets for additional comfort to the little coach, and then quickly gathered up a few items which gave her daily comfort. She located her sewing basket, Bible, sheet music book, a history book she'd begun to read... and her sketching pencils and drawing book, and then squeezed these items into her trunk. The men were summoned and she was thankful they carried her trunk and portmanteau (with a convenient extra change of clothing) down the stairs and out to the coach-- all this in only about eight minutes.
She went back into the kitchen to prepare a basket of cheese, bread, cold chicken, sliced cucumbers fresh from the garden, a jar of blackberry preserves, corked cider and a generous amount of sweet green apples, enough for three. The Countess was happy to help her fill the picnic basket and they worked together to make rapid progress while the Earl paced. This had proven, (the food provisions, not the Earl's pacing) to be helpful indeed as the three travelers and one driver promptly pulled out onto the country lane at Hanwell Farm at a quarter past midnight and pulled into a town, hungry, somewhere north, at three o'clock in the morning, somewhere in or near the county of Gloucester-shire.
They thought they would be quite smart arriving at Ivy Clifton just before or after breakfast, if there were not too many delays on the road. It was a bit muggy and warm but by traveling at night they managed to stay cool. The Countess slept, and the Earl snored. Alexandra, seated across from them, tried everything in her power to understand why her handsome Duke hadn't trusted her fully with his true identity. She tried not to dare even think of herself as a Duchess and had to pinch herself a number of times.
Why she hadn't guessed the status of her husband before now did surprise her a little. She hadn't yet had a coming out ball nor traveled in fashionable circles to have known her husband prior to her first encounter with him. She imagined it an impossible task for a Duke to find a wife without finding one who wanted him for his status --or his possessions and worldly goods. This new information seemed to explain just about everything about her unusual husband. She had eight hours of bumpy roads to consider her husband in this new light. He had said he wished to talk with her... mentioned something he'd been putting off... and perhaps she had entirely misunderstood him, or had there been a double entendre in his words? Perchance he was ready to make her his wife and tell her he was a Duke... Alas, based on his last words to her, it did appear as though he had finally concluded he could entrust her with his heart.
When her husband's family seat finally appeared in the distance, it seemed her heart was skipping in time with the gallop of the four horses that pulled them. She was breathless with anticipation and excitement, anxious to see her husband and meet his family, her new family.
The grounds were sprawling and well maintained with plenty of trees and gently rolling hills; the house, equally spread out, a rather mansion-like castle, utterly magnificent. It was a large castle fortress with three main wings and protective walls. It looked strong, safe, stylish, made of bricks in warm and inviting tones, welcoming, but secure. She could see where over the years it had been expanded without taking away from the beauty of the original Norman style.
From the way the road that carried them closer and closer to the house, wound around from a great distance beyond the rear of the property and then around to a lane that led to the front entrance, she had been able to take in an excellent overall view of much of her husband's home. There were towers and turrets, grand windows, arched walled entrances, two courtyards and three or four garden areas, a set of grand steps with great fortitude, columns and a portico. She could hardly believe she was looking at what would be her new home. Nothing in the world could have prepared her for it except maybe their former trip to Blenheim Palace. No wonder her husband walked with such command of presence...
When the driver pulled the coach under the main arches and into the front landscape and courtyard, it seemed like they'd entered a whole new world. The coach followed a circular drive until they came to rest in front of an amazing set of steps leading to an enormous portico and heavy double front doors. This was it! She was about to embark on a discovery of the world of her husband... a world she hoped they would share together for the rest of her days.
Ormsby opened the grand doors to greet Ivy Clifton's guests, unknowingly welcoming the new Duchess of Ivy Clifton Hall. He granted them immediate entrance, recognizing the Earl and Countess as family friends at once. In response to their alarm, he assured them Lady Catherine was well cared for and resting and the Countess nearly collapsed into her husband's arms. “Oh we have found her! What a tremendous relief!”
“I see you've brought a lovely new face with you,” Ormsby said with a pleasant tone, bowing a slight nod toward Alexandra. His voice echoed slightly through the grand hall. He was smiling and she could see that although he was stiff and performing his duties with a bit of finesse and a perfunctory manner, he was an amiable butler. She supposed he knew how to handle all sorts of guest at the front doors to Ivy Clifton, making each feel welcomed. She smiled warmly back at him, glad to see a human face among all of the finery around her.
“There, I told you Catherine would be all right, and she is! We'll be having a pleasant day after all!” The Earl obviously doted on his wife. She recovered and nodded, dabbing a tear from the corner of her eye with a handkerchief she withdrew from her reticule.
“What Ormsby? Oh yes, yes... you haven't then met the Duke's newlywed wife,” Lady Duncan quickly remembered her manners. “You must forgive me. I've been in a harrowing experience worried for the life of my daughter. This is Her Grace, the Duchess Alexandra... of Gloucester.”
Ormsby's eyebrows shot up and he hesitated and then recov
ered his shock, and then gave her a more formal bow, and looked very oddly at the Countess, as if to say, really now?
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