by Abigail Agar
The hours marched by as Jules wound her way through now familiar streets. She was still far away from the manor house, and the sun was starting to sink. Did Wyatt and Sarah know she was gone? Had the factory owners alerted them when she failed to show up?
Jules had spent the better part of the day darting between buildings or behind posts, always thinking that someone might have seen her.
As kind as Sarah and Wyatt were to her, Jules did not trust them. Someone had sent her there, and she had already learned that dressed as she was the word duchess on her lips was a surefire and certain trip to a ward where they chain people to beds. No. Jules would not go back.
Jules turned her feet towards the guildhall. It was close by, and there was sure to be help there, perhaps. Unless, of course, they too blamed her as David had. Jules swallowed down her fear.
All they could do was toss her out on the street. She was already on the street, and it would be no loss to be tossed back out again.
Still, the sight of the guildhall made her pause. She hesitated as she fought for courage. Her feet felt leaden as she struggled to lift them.
Perhaps it was not cowardice but simply the long walk, Jules told herself. Deep down she knew it was the coward in her. There was that old fear of not belonging, of being tossed aside.
She knocked on the door and braced herself. It took several long minutes before a boy answered. “Yes?” the boy asked warily.
Jules only vaguely recognized him, and she frowned. He was a newer apprentice. She winced thinking of apprentices. Jules bit back tears. She shook her head. “Never mind. Nothing,” Jules said hastily as she choked down the sob in her throat.
“Who is it, Tom?” came a familiar booming voice.
Jules fled down the steps. She could not bear to see the look on Master Foster’s face. If he looked at her with as much contempt as David had, then Jules thought she would surely die.
“Jules!” the man’s voice called out to her. “Come back!” There were feet following her.
Jules slowed and turned around as the tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry that I came back,” Jules sobbed.
Foster shook his head. “There is no need to apologize, and we have much to talk about,” the man said gently as he led her back toward the guildhall by her elbow. “Come in and rest. You are with family now.”
Chapter 13
Jules sat in one of the apprentice rooms at the Mason Hall. It was much as Jules remembered it from the time when she studied with Master Foster. She wore a pair of breeches and loose cotton shirt. For the first time in ages, she felt more herself.
The idea of returning to the manor house seemed fraught with peril to Jules. It was from that very world that she had been snatched, and she still had no idea why. There was a knock at the door. “Enter,” Jules said quietly from her perch in the wooden desk chair.
Master Foster poked his head through the door. “I’m glad to see you looking more like the Jules I recognize. You looked a poor sight at my doorstep,” he said kindly. The man’s cap just kept his fuzzy hair under control. He sat down heavily on the bed as it was the only other place to sit in the small rudimentary room. “Have you given any thought to sending word to His Grace about your well-being or whereabouts?”
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, more thoughts than I would believe I had in my head, but I still am chained up in doubt. I know you said that he came looking for me, but what if he only wants to find me so he can tie up loose ends?” Jules was riddled with doubts as she stared at her hands in her lap. “I still don’t know why I ended up in that place.”
Master Foster nodded. “I understand your doubts, but I can tell a man in love, child, and that man was desperate to find his wife, not a loose end,” Master Foster said softly. “Let me send one of the boys to him just so he knows you are safe.”
Jules pressed her lips together. She wanted to see Gregory, to know that he had not done this, but there was that fear again. Finally, she nodded hesitantly. “If he truly wants me, then he can come here, alone, and we can talk.”
“That sounds reasonable, but you must understand that there is something afoot, and he may not be able to accommodate you,” Master Foster said with a shrug of his shoulders. “We shall just have to wait and see, but I did promise that I would give him word if we saw you. It is my duty to fulfill my word.”
With a nod, Jules said, “I know, Charles.”
“I see you do remember my name after all,” he said with a grin. “Glad to see a bit of your fire back.”
***
“What do you think about our cousin?” Fredrick asked as he ate a bit of the food the cook had prepared that morning.
Gregory looked over at his mother who had a worried expression on her face before he replied, “I am not certain what to make of Cousin Boris, but I am also not ready to trust him blindly.”
“I do you wish you boys would be careful,” Lady St Claire said as she cupped her warm teacup in her hands.
Fredrick assured his mother, “We will endeavour to be so, Mother.”
“It is not as if we were the ones who set all this in motion. You act as if we have any choice but to respond,” Gregory said with slight irritation.
Lady St Claire sighed, “I miss Jules as well, Gregory, and I want there to be some justice for what has happened. I just want you boys not to take any unnecessary risks.”
“I have no intention of giving anyone an easy opportunity to get the better of us, but I fear there will have to be some risks involved,” Gregory said with a frown.
Footfalls heralded the arrival of Olly. “Your Grace, I was wondering if I could have a word,” Olly ventured. He stopped near the table with his hat in his hands and gave a bow of his head to Lady St Claire who eyed the young man curiously.
Gregory nodded and waved his hand towards the hallway. “I will meet you in the study,” he said. Olly ducked his head and quickly headed back out of the kitchen. Gregory smiled at his mother and Fredrick, “I better go see what he needs. Please, enjoy your breakfast.”
Lady St Claire gave her son a curious look but said nothing as Gregory exited the kitchen swiftly. When Gregory was gone, she looked over at Fred, “What is that all about?”
“I am quite sure that I do not know,” Fredrick said with a shake of his head.
Lady St Claire pressed her lips together and said, “So long as you keep your promise of being careful, then I shall stay out of the way.”
“We always intend on being careful, Mother,” Fredrick said before he dabbed his mouth with his napkin. “If you will excuse me, I think I would rather like a ride today. I shall go see about getting one of the horses ready.”
Lady St Claire watched her youngest son leave as well and sighed at the empty room wondering what the day would bring.
***
“So, what is it that you found out?” Gregory asked curiously as he rested back in his father’s leather desk chair.
Olly sighed and admitted, “Not much. Whatever else your cousin is, Your Grace, he runs a very tight household. The boys were antsy the minute we started talking to them. I imagine that means that their master told them not to associate with us for fear of them giving something away.”
“Ah,” Gregory said in dissatisfaction. He had been expecting as much. Boris might seem like a lovable jester to the outside world, but Gregory had known the man his whole life and knew Boris to have a shrewd mind.
Olly smiled and said, “But one of the younger boys did let it slip that your uncle had been there just a day before.”
“That means my cousin lied about that, but I figured as much,” Gregory said thoughtfully. “As much as I want to focus on figuring out Boris’ angle and why he is involved in this at all, I cannot let myself get distracted from finding the Duchess.”
Olly agreed, “As it should be. I just wish we could have turned up something more for you, Your Grace.”
Gregory waved his hand to dismiss Olly’s remorse. “You did what I asked,
which is more than some would have done. You and your brother have done me a great service, Olly. Go get some much-needed rest,” Gregory said with a smile.
“If there is anything we can do to help you, then we are at your service, Your Grace,” Olly said earnestly before he dipped his head and turned to take his leave. “I have to go see about getting the horses put up properly.”
Gregory nodded and assured the young man, “If I need you, then I know where to find you. Thank you, Olly.”
***
Fredrick had left to make some more rounds of the workhouses, though he expected to find nothing much. Whoever had put the Duchess into the workhouses had certainly moved her somewhere safer when they had gotten wind of Fredrick and Gregory’s search. Still, it never hurt to check.
By midday, Fredrick was just as discouraged as he expected to be. There were no signs of the Duchess and even the people he had spoken to about her were gone. Fredrick stopped by Barrister Dulock’s office and found the man’s desk buried in a pile of papers.
“I see that I chose a poor time to visit,” Fredrick said in jest as he waved to the barrister’s stack of papers.
Barrister Dulock sighed and assured Fredrick, “It has been like this ever since I saw Gregory last. It seems every case I have ever done needs to have the paperwork revisited by order of the House of Lords.”
“That certainly cannot be a simple coincidence,” Fredrick said thoughtfully. “I could have Gregory speak to them …”
Barrister Dulock waved off the idea, “It would only serve to anger them and would likely just make my life that much more unbearable.” The man eyed Fredrick and asked curiously, “I suppose that your being here means that the young lady is still unaccounted for?”
“Yes, unfortunately, she has disappeared once again. We get a lead, and then it vanishes,” Fredrick said in dissatisfaction. “I fail to see why anyone would want to kidnap her, to begin with. It seems a foolhardy plot and one that has no consequence on anything.”
Barrister Dulock’s shoulders rose in a helpless shrug as he agreed, “It does appear to be a futile if rather worrisome act.”
“Unless the benefit of the act is merely my brother’s constant distraction from whatever the perpetrators wish him to ignore,” Fredrick mused as he leaned against the leather chair in front of the barrister’s desk. Sitting down and getting back up was a bit troublesome, and Fredrick just assumed to stand since he was out alone.
The barrister frowned, “Well, I would say that his uncle is a good bet. Sir Lawrence stands to benefit a good deal if Gregory loses any more support within the Lords.”
“Yes, my brother is not one to charm and beguile for the sake of it. While I admire that about him, it also costs him a lot of goodwill from our peers,” Fredrick said with a frown. “I hope it just has not cost him enough to make it easy for Uncle.”
Barrister Dulock said thoughtfully, “I have not seen your uncle out in society as of late. I usually see him in the lounge or clubs. Don’t suppose that has anything to do with your abduction?”
“You are a shrewd man, Barrister Dulock,” Fredrick said with a laugh. “We do have our suspicions which have seemingly been confirmed by one of the men who participated in abducting me.”
The barrister nodded and said earnestly, “If you can find him, then I will do all I can to rally for him having his honorary titles and privileges stripped. There are few punishments as harsh as that to one such as your uncle.”
“If you could do that, then I would gladly sit in the audience and watch,” Fredrick said enthusiastically.
***
Jules leaned against the window seal and peered down at the street below. There had been a loud knocking a few moments ago, but Jules could not see who the person calling was.
There was no noise for a bit then she heard Master Foster’s voice saying, “I’m afraid you have come to the wrong place. We have no women here. You say she was seen entering here?”
“Yes,” a male voice said insistently. “If you are hiding her, it would be very bad for you.”
Charles laughed, “My dear Sir, my guild has been disbanded, and I am left with only a few apprentices in residence. I have seen no young lady.” Charles’ voice became stern as he said quietly, “I should remind you many people on this street still remember that no guardsmen or watermen came to our aid when the factory burned. I do not think you want to push this issue as everyone is so on edge that I can’t guarantee your safety, especially with it only being yourself and one other.”
There was a moment before the guardsman said in agitation to whoever was with him, “Come, let’s go back and get some reinforcements then, to ensure our safety.”
“I look forward to seeing you again,” Charles said in a friendly manner as the men left.
It was not long after that Jules heard footsteps coming up the stairs rapidly. One of the apprentices came into the room with barely a knock and gasped, “Master says you need to pack up your things and make sure you wear your apprentice guise.” As soon as Jules nodded, the boy was back out of the room.
She knew that Charles was asking her to put on her kit from when she portrayed herself as male. Swiftly, Jules did as she had been bidden, and before long she was sweeping her hair up into a cap. She stared at her reflection satisfied that she looked decidedly like a young man and not a Duchess at all.
She bundled up the dress she had arrived in and hurried downstairs with it. Jules found Master Foster in the kitchen wrapping up some sandwiches. “What do you want me to do with this?” Jules held out her dress to the man.
“Toss it in the wood stove,” Master Foster said as he finished wrapping up the sandwiches. “It won’t take them too long to get some fellows and return. You must be on your way by then.”
Jules put her hand on the man’s arm. “You could come with me.”
“And what of the boys? No. Jules, you must go and get distance between here and there. I sent Tom to give the word to the Duke that you were here. There’s a good chance that he has already arrived. If that is so, then you may just meet some of your fellows coming to retrieve you,” Charles said reasonably. “Besides it will look quite odd if I’m not here when they return, don’t you think?”
Jules nodded and sighed, “Be careful, won’t you?”
“Of course, and if you do by some chance see David again,” Master Foster said quietly, “hit him just once for me.”
Jules found herself laughing as she agreed and embraced the man, “I promise that I will show him no courtesy after his betrayal of the guild and myself.”
“That’s my girl,” Charles said with a chuckle. He stepped back and said sternly, “Now get going before they get back.”
Jules just nodded as she did not trust herself to speak any longer without letting the tears escape. Jules took the sandwiches that Charles had bundled up for her and set out quickly down the street, which was quiet and clear of anyone that might see her.
It would take a few miles before Jules could even hope to relax, and she set a strong, brisk pace. Being back among the guild, as few as they were, and knowing that the things David had said were falsehoods, brought Jules comfort. She and Gregory had set them free after all.
***
There was a knock at the door and the doorman, William, poked his head through at Gregory’s absentminded, “Enter.”
“Pardon, Your Grace, but your cousin, Sir Boris, is here to see you,” the man said with a disapproving look on his face.