by Abigail Agar
Together, Thompson and Gregory hobbled along the roadside with Fredrick braced between them. Fredrick winced in pain. “I think they got my head fairly well,” Fredrick said with a hiss.
“Cannot have harmed you much then, hard as your head is,” Gregory jested between breaths as he fought to keep moving.
Thompson chuckled, and Fredrick soon joined him. They kept going until they had found the horses. Gregory and Thompson helped Fredrick get his good foot into the stirrup so Fredrick could push himself into the saddle. Gregory got onto the horse behind Fred just as a noise from behind them heralded the arrival of the highwaymen.
“Thompson, go,” Gregory shouted, and the man was swiftly off in front of Gregory’s horse. The inn was a few miles back up the road. The farmer had been helpful, but Gregory had no intention of bringing the wrath of the highwaymen upon the man.
Thankfully, the men were on foot and quickly fell behind them. Their angry shouts faded, but Gregory would not rest until he was back at the inn at least. Fredrick shouted, “Where’s the Duchess?”
“I assume in London with that Larkin fellow,” Gregory shouted back.
Fredrick fell silent, and no one spoke anymore until they were back in sight of the inn. Finally, as they dismounted, Fredrick said, “It pleased me not how familiar the man was with the Duchess.”
“Yes, they came up through the ranks of the masons together,” Gregory said in dissatisfaction. “He was one of the few who knew she was a lady within their ranks.”
Fredrick hobbled to the door. “Those rogues took my cane. I wish I had it back so that I could beat them around the ears with it,” he grumbled as he swung his wooden leg up onto the next step.
Thompson said, “I’d settle for a rest.”
“I think we could all use one, but I do not fancy leaving the Duchess in London on her own with that mason fellow. Something about him does not sit right with me,” Gregory said with a frown as he followed his brother through the doorway with Thompson behind them.
The innkeeper was waiting for them. She clasped her hands in front of her chest with joy. “You found him,” she said with relief. “I am so glad that you are well, Lord St Claire.”
Fredrick nodded his head and gave the woman a smile. “I am glad to be found, good lady. Might I trouble you for a room?”
“I’ve saved some rooms, just in case some of your party returned tonight,” the innkeeper said happily. She looked over at the Duke. “Your Grace there are rooms just down from where your friends are sleeping.”
Gregory nodded and led the men up the stairs. He opened the door adjacent to where Talbert and Olly were sleeping. “Here, Thompson. We shall settle in the next room,” Gregory said as he held the door for the man who gratefully accepted.
Fredrick hobbled to the next room and was quickly through the door with Gregory behind him. Fredrick grimaced as he sat down on one of the two small beds in the room.
“I do hope that you are not planning on sneaking off the minute I fall asleep, Gregory. I insist that I go with you to London to fetch the Duchess, but I doubt you will make it the way your steps are faltering.”
“Truth be told, I am weary to my very core. I have been all over this countryside since early yesterday, and I am getting rather sick of the trees,” Gregory said with feeling as he sat down on the bed opposite to where Fredrick sat pulling off his boots. “Need help with the leg?”
Fredrick shook his head. “Too tired to even bother with it. I am going to leave the stump on,” he said with a yawn. “Get some sleep, Gregory. Tomorrow you have a fair maid to rescue.”
With a chuckle, Gregory leaned over and pulled at his boots. “That is if she wants to be rescued,” he sighed.
***
The room where Jules currently sat only had the one window. She had pondered whether she could get out of it but found it secured with bars. They were clearly used to keeping prisoners here before they were moved on to another jail.
Jules tried not to be surprised at David’s betrayal. She knew that people often turned to giving information against others in order to further protect themselves. Somehow, she had never expected it of David.
Growing up alongside the man, there had definitely been no indication that he was capable of condemning innocent men to their deaths for a few coins.
Even worse than her own fate, Jules pondered what her imprisonment might mean for Gregory. Would it hurt his position or the woman who had vouched for Jules? Jules hung her head down and cradled her knees with her arms.
She must have slept, but Jules did not remember it. However, her eyes blinked open to sunlight coming in the window.
There were the sounds of people outside, and for a brief moment, she considered shouting for help. “Bet people yell out their innocence all the time,” she muttered to herself as she stood up and dusted off her clothes.
Her deep green riding skirt and jacket were dirty from the night’s events, and Jules took off her jacket. She reached up and tried moving the bars of her cell. One of them wiggled, and Jules wrapped the jacket around it so she could use it as a pulley to help her loosen the iron bar. She had just managed to make a bit of headway when the door clanked open.
Henry chuckled. “You are a clever one,” he said in admiration. “Here’s breakfast, Duchess. You won’t have time to liberate that bar before the guardsmen will be here for you. So you probably should eat.”
Jules stared at the man until he left. He had made no effort to stop her physically from working on the bar, nor had he taken her jacket which probably meant he was telling the truth.
The bowl of food smelled vaguely of oats. Jules edged over and grimaced at the bowl. She was not hungry enough to worry with trying to eat whatever was actually in that bowl. It looked like the slop they served in the workhouses.
It was not long before the door opened again. Henry was followed in by a couple of men wearing guard uniforms. The men kicked the bowl out of the way, sending Jules’ breakfast against the nearest wall, which Henry voiced disapproval of. He apparently did not want to have to clean the wall.
“Julia Kelley, you are wanted by the King’s court for treasonous activity and inciting unrest among your fellows. What say you to these charges?” one of the guardsmen called out.
Jules took a deep breath and said, “I say that I am innocent. I did not speak of treason. I spoke only of fairness and justice, of which society is very lacking.”
“Mark it that she said she is guilty,” the other guard chuckled.
Jules ground out, “I am the Duchess of Thornton, and as such, I demand to speak with my husband and barrister.”
“Oh, you’ll speak with whomever you wish, Duchess,” the first guard said as he grabbed her arm. Jules shoved the man but found his fellow guard at her other elbow. Jules was swiftly escorted out of the room. David was nowhere to be found, and Jules wondered where the lecherous scum had gotten to.
The ride through the streets was at least a quiet one. She was tossed into the back of a wagon that only had slits for windows. It might have been suffocating, but at least no one would see her for the moment.
She had no idea how to get out of this situation. It was a situation of her own making, she reasoned. After all, she had willingly spoken out at those rallies.
When the wagon stopped, one of the guards opened the door and gave a wave of his hand. “Your castle awaits, Duchess,” he said with a leering smile.
Chapter 11
Henry O’Grady met the Duke of Thornton at his door around mid-morning. If this fazed Henry, then Gregory could not say. Henry said, “You must be very tired.”
“I am not tired, kind Sir. I simply want you to answer my question,” Gregory said reasonably. Fredrick, Thompson, and the two Dawson brothers eyed the large man with equal curiosity.
Henry nodded. “Well, you are welcome to look here, but we’ve no more prisoners at the moment. The last ones were shipped out this morning to Gates Prison. I do recall a woman calling herself a Du
chess, but we get those from time to time.
If she was in that lot, then she’ll still be in the holding cell there more than likely,” Henry said helpfully.
“I do not understand why she was arrested in the first place. She came here with a friend. What became of her friend David Larkin? Was he arrested as well?” Gregory’s patience with the man was wearing thin, and his voice showed it.
Henry shuffled his feet slightly and rubbed his head. “I don’t recall any names, but if you mean the young man that was with her, then it could be that he was arrested as well. I got called out to a situation a few streets over, and then all the transferring prisoners were gone when I got back.”
Gregory gave up on the man. “We’ll go to the prison in question. If I don’t find her, then I’ll be returning,” Gregory told the man firmly.
“Of course, Your Grace, I do hope you find her if there’s been some sort of a mistake,” Henry said apologetically. The speed at which the man closed the door on the four of them belied the fact that he probably was not too sorry.
Fredrick scowled, “I would not wager on his words being true. What do you think happened?”
“I think our Mr Larkin probably knows. He should hope for his sake that he is in jail as the guard said,” Gregory said. They turned their horses towards the West and Gates Prison which was so named for its location near the gates on that side of the city. Gregory swung up into his saddle and led the way through the streets.
Gates Prison was as full as any other prison Gregory had been in, and his hopes sank when he questioned one of the guards about incoming prisoners. Apparently, they got large batches of prisoners which they signed in, but oftentimes prisoners were leased out to local workhouses and subsequently forgotten.
Fredrick growled, “This place is not fit for a harlot let alone a Duchess.” Fredrick thumped Gregory on the shoulder and said, “Isn’t that your barrister friend?”
Gregory breathed a sigh of relief on catching sight of Barrister Dulock. He waved the man and begged his pardon, “I apologize for waylaying you like this, my friend, but the situation is dire,” Gregory said pleadingly.
The barrister took a look at Gregory and his company and frowned. “What is it that has all of your lot so upset?”
“My wife was unjustly arrested, and now I cannot find a trace of her,” Gregory hissed.
Barrister Dulock nodded. “Let me see what I can find out. Some of the guards are loyal still to nobler ideas,” the man said gently.
Gregory clasped the man’s hand in thanks, “You are a prince among men, Barrister.”
***
“I do not understand,” Gregory said as he stared at Barrister Dulock.
Dulock inclined his head. “It would be a hard thing for anyone to accept, Your Grace,” he said kindly. “But it does happen in the system. There are so many faces that come and go.”
“She is not any face, Dulock. She is my wife, the Duchess of Thornton. I demand that she be found. I demand there be accountability for this atrocious act,” Gregory shouted in the small room where the barrister had asked them to wait.
Fredrick had stayed by his brother’s side while the other men had gone outside the prison to wait with the horses. He put his hand on Gregory’s shoulder. “This is my fault,” Fredrick said. “I was to escort her. If I had done so then, she would not be in this situation.”
“You were set upon by men who had been paid to kidnap you,” Gregory hissed. “This is not your fault. This is the fault of whoever mistakenly put the bounty on her head. What charges could be brought against her?”
Barrister Dulock cleared his throat. “Apparently, she was mistaken for a young mason that had incited revolt and led rallies in the city. I know it seems absurd, but they claim that they thought she was merely pretending to be a noble to get out of her sentence,” Dulock said sorrowfully.
“We will not stop until we find her, but it may take some time. She is still due to be brought before a court, so she has to be found. Give us time, and I will contact you when she is located, Your Grace.”
“I will see this prison shut down,” Gregory growled as he stood up.
Fredrick heartily agreed, “I think fewer prisons would be all the better as they do nothing but besiege those who need it the least.”
“I understand your venom and frustration,” Barrister Dulock said as he rose as well. “I pray that she is found well, and we can right this horrible wrong, Your Grace.”
Gregory breathed in deeply to calm his frayed nerves. He had come here to get Jules, not to leave her here. Yet that was exactly what he was expected to do, what he had to do. “Please, hurry, Dulock,” Gregory said tightly. “I will go to the House of Lords with this if I must.”
The walk outside was a long one, and when they finally emerged, Thompson and the brothers looked at them expectantly. The men’s faces fell as they noticed the Duchess was not with the Duke and his brother. “The young miss?” Talbert asked warily.
“They cannot find her,” Fredrick said as he knew his brother did not wish to speak any more of it.
Talbert balked, “How do you lose a Duchess?”
“Apparently, it happens all the time,” Gregory sneered. “They will find her, or they will all pay the price for it.”
Olly nudged his brother and jerked his head for the boy to shut up and get on his horse. The ride to the manor house was quiet as no one wanted to draw Gregory’s ire again. They all exchanged glances of worry as they rode behind the enraged nobleman.
***
“This is an outrage! It is a pure slight against our family!” Lady St Claire howled after Gregory had told her of all that had happened. “My son gets accosted, and now your wife has been falsely accused of such horrible things. Someone is out to destroy us, Gregory.”
Gregory nodded. “Do you think Uncle had anything to do with it?”
“The man is obsessed, but to do such things. You really think he would have had your brother killed?” Lady St Claire shook her head as if she did not want to think about it.
Gregory tapped the dining room table that they sat around. “He very much intended me to go to war and die so that he could take my place. It is not that much of a leap, Mother,” Gregory said in irritation. “Besides we all know that he killed Father. Refusing to say it aloud does not change that.”
Lady St Claire bowed her head. “I don’t know what to do, Gregory.”
“There is precious little we can do, except to stick to our story about the Duchess’ origins,” Gregory said in dissatisfaction. “I have to go see the constable about the highwaymen that attacked Fredrick.”
Lady St Claire asked, “Have they been apprehended? I would like very much to look at them.”
“I got word sent to me this morning that they are being held outside the city until I can come and confirm they are the men who had Fredrick,” Gregory said. He gave his mother a nod and continued, “Mother, I really do not think that you wish to speak with the men who abducted Fredrick. Fred himself is not going for fear that he might try to attack them.”
Lady St Claire sat back in her chair and sighed, “Perhaps you are right. I might forget my raising and hurt one of them.”
Gregory smiled. “I can think of worse things to have to happen than one of those scoundrels getting hurt, Mother, but it would be best to preserve your reputation,” Gregory agreed.
Fredrick happened into the room, the clink-clank of his new cane on the floor announcing his arrival loud and clear. “Morning, Mother, Gregory,” Fredrick said solemnly. He looked at Gregory. “You are heading out to the country then?”
“I am indeed,” Gregory said. “I would be appreciative if you would stay close by the manor in case Barrister Dulock makes any headway. I want one of us to be at the ready to go retrieve the Duchess.”
Fredrick dipped his head in acceptance of this. “I swear I will be waiting at the ready for any word on her Lady’s whereabouts.”
Gregory stood up and walked over
to his brother. He put his hand on Fredrick’s shoulder. “No one blames you for what happened. I would, however, like a few words with Mr Larkin,” Gregory said.
Fredrick nodded. “No one blames me except for perhaps myself,” he said quietly. “Go swiftly and get those rogues sent to jail. Perhaps they will tell you who set them on me in the first place.”
***
Jules sat against a damp brick wall. She had no idea where she was and was only vaguely aware of the passing of day and night. Wherever she was, there were other women, but the women seemed to shun her due to her clothes. Jules just kept her head down and tried to avoid attracting attention to herself.