How much money did you owe him that would cause him to kill you? Rose thought mournfully, wondering how a man could fall into such a pit of debt. However much it was, Philip’s death did not pay his bill and Rose reasoned that was why Balfour had come to Dartford.
He was hoping to collect but he quickly realized that he cannot gather blood from a stone. Balfour found another way to recover his ill-gotten debt.
The governess was almost sick with the understanding that she had caused the upset inside the idyllic setting of Rosecliff.
Philip and I. We caused this. We are responsible for the death of the 5th Duke of Buford.
Nicholas had been in towns for the week when finally, the magnitude of her involvement became clear. Rose knew the duke needed to know the truth.
He will loathe me when he discovers what I have brought to this estate. I must say goodbye to Harry and Betsey for I will be banished from Buford forever.
The thought of losing the fragile affections she had developed for Nicholas after all the months was enough to knock the wind from her chest but Rose had decided. It was the only way to ensure that Captain Balfour did not do any further damage.
Yet suddenly we are all consumed with a terrible influenza. Balfour is not finished with us. No one is safe from that man’s manipulations. He will stop at nothing to get what he desires, even harming children!
It was no small wonder that the letter had vanished. She was certain that Balfour had taken it.
I must write Lieutenant Walters again and have him tell me again so that Nicholas can see what kind of man is Daniel Balfour.
“Miss Rose! You should not be out of bed!”
Rose lifted her head to watch as Duchess Buford entered the apartment, her emerald eyes bright with concern.
Could she be a part of the conspiracy? Would she have her own husband harmed?
Rose hoped not but she could not forget the night before the storm when she had seen the captain meeting with someone beneath her window.
Could that cloaked figure be Duchess Buford? Had they been lovers before the duke’s death?
“Back to bed with you,” Duchess Buford insisted, ushering her with swift hand movements but Rose noticed that she kept her distance.
“You should not be here, Your Grace. I would loathe to see you ill.”
“Nonsense, child. Who do you think has been tending to you and the children?”
Rose reluctantly crawled back under the blankets, studying the duchess’ face closely for signs of deceit.
“Your Grace, have you seen a letter laying about?”
“A letter?” she repeated. “There have been several, most of them responses to the gala.”
“You intend to see it through?” Rose asked, mildly surprised. She wondered if that was an indication of guilt but her head was not clear enough to make any sincere judgements.
It was impossible to imagine any mother purposely harming her child and certainly not one of noble breeding.
She cannot be a willing part of Balfour’s plot. She is an unwitting victim, I am certain.
“I confess, I was going to cancel the entire affair,” the duchess replied. “Yet as if he sensed it, the duke began to show signs of improvement yesterday and I have decided to see it through. Captain Balfour insisted that we see it through. He says it is a sign from God to overcome our weaknesses and prevail.”
Captain Balfour is quite the prophet. Why does he long to see the gala through? It can be rescheduled for a time when Nicholas is well. Tis his birthday, after all.
“His Grace still does not know about the event?” Rose asked and the duchess shook her regal head, smiling softly.
“No and no one must tell him. I will have an announcement of my own to make that evening.”
A shiver slid through Rose as she peered at the duchess.
“An announcement, Your Grace?”
The duchess pressed her finger to her lips as if she was a small child playing a game of Secrets.
“I believe that this party will bring closure to the gloom once and for all,” she offered in the way of explanation. She shifted her eyes toward the untouched soup and she shook her head.
“You must eat, Rose. I will not have you the only one unwell on Saturday.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” she whispered, reaching for the bowl. “Your Grace?”
“Yes?”
“I would like to see the children and the duke if possible.”
“Oh, my dear, I fear that is a terrible notion. The children have asked to see you and the duke also but I have forbidden it. Perhaps tomorrow? We must ensure that the fever had been eliminated lest we infect an entire crush of guests. You understand, Miss Rose.”
“I do,” Rose answered quickly. Arguing with the duchess was futile. She would need to sneak about in the night and visit the duke when the household had retired.
“Trudy will return for your tray, Miss Rose.”
She offered Rose a warm smile and the governess was suddenly embarrassed that she had ever thought the duchess to be anything but the honorable woman she had come to admire.
“Rest now. You will need your strength,” the duchess called to her as she left Rose alone with her thoughts. They turned back to Nicholas immediately.
With or without the letter, I must tell him what I know and permit him to do what he will with the knowledge. If he wishes me to leave, I will go without question. Harry must also tell him the truth. We cannot fight Captain Balfour apart. We must stand united.
Rose had no way of knowing if Nicholas felt the same way, but she could be silent no more.
Tonight I will find him and put an end to this once and for all.
When Rose woke again, darkness had fallen and there was nary a sound to be heard throughout the estate. Trudy had left two candles burning on the vanity but their light cast a small glow in the vast room.
Rose slipped from the bed and was happy to discover that her body did not seem as shaky as it had been earlier in the day. She sauntered toward the wardrobe and found a warm robe, encircling her slender frame against the material.
There was a slight chill in the air but nothing to warrant a fire and she slid her bare feet into a pair of slippers before padding toward the door. She listened before turning the knob and heard nothing in the hallway but as she turned the brass handle, the door did not open.
Confused, she glanced down and saw that the key was not in the lock. Again, she tugged on the door but it was locked from the outside. Dread swelled in her heart and she tried once more but there was no denying that she had been secured inside intentionally.
Who has done this? Duchess Buford? Captain Balfour? Trudy?
Rose swallowed the panic which threatened to escape her lips as she paced the room, rubbing her goose-fleshed arms for warmth. It had grown unspeakably cold inside the apartment, as if the dead were trying to warn her.
But it was too late. She had waited too long to tell the truth and now, Balfour was going through with his scheme, a plan which she was sure would not fare well for anyone in the household.
A hand flew over her mouth as if to stifle back a scream, the sleeve of her robe sliding upward as she did. It was then she saw the marks on her arms, small pinpricks along the insides of her elbows.
Rose extended her arm and peered at them closely, the flickering candlelight illuminating the skin. Bile choked her as she realized at what she was looking and shock pushed her back onto the foot of the bed.
They were needle marks. Someone had been injecting her with something and Rose was willing to wager that Nicholas and the Arlington children had same markings on their extremities also.
We have not been sick. We have been purposely incapacitated.
Chapter 32
The dreams had become so vivid, Nicholas no longer knew what was real and what was his imagination.
He saw the household flitter through his chambers, mumbling words which made no sense, pressing cold compresses to his forehead, forcing sp
oonfuls of tasteless liquid down his throat. He recognized the servants and his mother but when he saw Balfour and Peter Alderson, the duke was certain he was losing his wits. Nicholas was powerless to speak coherently and uncertain if it was genuinely occurring.
Abruptly, however, it all ended, almost as soon as it started and his eyes opened almost effortlessly one morning. Two sets of inquisitive blue eyes peered at him as if they had been standing vigil at his side.
“Nicholas!” his cousins chorused in unison, glancing behind them worriedly.
He attempted to raise his head but Betsey reached out and lowered him back to the mattress, shaking her dark head beneath a simple bonnet. She seemed to have aged since he had last seen her but that was impossible…was it not?
“Harry, fetch him some water!”
Nicholas watched as his younger cousin turned to oblige and rushed toward the basin, hastily pouring water from a pitcher.
“How are you feeling?” Betsey demanded, perching on the edge of his bed to study his face with concern.
I am not imagining this. She seems much more mature than a girl of ten and two.
Harry thrust a cup into the duke’s half-trembling hand and he drank it thirstily.
“I feel like ballocks,” Nicholas rasped when he finally pulled the water from his parched lips. The children chuckled but relief colored their faces.
“Why have you come here? You must not stay, lest I am catching.”
The siblings exchanged a glance and shook their heads.
“You are not catching,” Harry replied quietly, again glancing behind him to peer at the door. Nicholas realized they feared being caught.
“Are you a physician now, Harry? How long have I been asleep?” Nicholas asked, trying to insert a jesting note into his voice but he was in a great deal of inexplicable pain as if his bones had been depleted of all their moisture.
“We have also been ill,” Betsey explained, studying his face with concern. “But not for as long as you.”
She trailed off, as if wishing to say more but paused her thoughts. Suddenly, Nicholas recalled what he had been told and his brow furrowed. He raised his body fully, ignoring the wave of dizziness flooding him as he did. His body felt atrophied but he could not simply lie around, not when he had already lost so much time.
“How does Miss Rose fare?” he demanded, managing to sit against Betsey’s urging to stay in a resting position. The Arlingtons did not respond and Nicholas felt his pulse quicken.
“Have you seen her?” the duke insisted. “How long have we been ill?”
“It has been days,” Betsey sighed. “Harry and I recovered at precisely the same time, just as we grew ill together but you and Miss Rose…”
“I must see her,” Nicholas growled, tossing the blankets aside but an identical look of panic crossed their faces as they shook their heads in protest.
“You mustn’t,” Harry breathed, his complexion growing waxen. “You must remain here until…”
“Until what?” Nicholas demanded. “I am not to be commanded in my own house. What brings you so much fear?”
“Please, recover quickly, Nicholas,” Betsey said, urgency in her tone. “We need you at your best.”
“I am much better,” Nicholas insisted, rising but instantly, his knees buckled and he fell back against the canopied bed. He stared at his cousins, their concern suddenly palpable.
“What has happened while I have been ill?” he asked. “Where is the duchess?”
“She is in the gardens,” Harry volunteered but that was not what Nicholas had meant.
“Send for her at once,” the duke commanded but the siblings shook their heads together.
“We cannot,” Betsey sighed. “We have been forbidden from visiting you and Miss Rose.”
Nicholas stared at them, the words sounding strange to his ears.
“Forbidden from visiting us? Why?”
They swallowed visibly and Nicholas was consumed with a feeling of apprehension.
“Speak!” he ordered. “Tell me what has happened!”
Harry stared at his hands, adjusting his spectacles nervously as he waited for his sister to explain what they knew.
“You have been ill for days, Nicholas,” Betsey told him. “We were told to leave you to rest for your sake as well as ours.”
“By whom?”
“Her Grace but I believe it was Captain Balfour who truly wished to keep us apart.”
Nicholas tensed instinctively at the mention of the man.
What has been occurring with mother and Balfour while I have not been around to monitor their comings and goings? He wondered with bitterness. The children were much too young to understand and he could not ask them.
“Yet you are here now,” Nicholas said, realizing that they had disobeyed the duchess’ orders to be there.
“You were ill for so long, Nicholas, we began to wonder if you were not truly – “
“Betsey!” Harry interjected, horrified at what his sister was suggesting. Nicholas felt a pang of sadness as he saw how afraid his cousins were of losing yet another person they held dear.
“You cannot rid yourselves of me so easily,” Nicholas told her lightly, despite the hurt he felt in his heart. “Have you seen Miss Rose?”
Again, the children stared at one another and the regret Nicholas was feeling was replaced by concern.
“We tried,” Betsey confessed. “But her apartment is locked. She does not answer when we knock at the door.”
Nicholas was unsure what to make of that information.
“Perhaps she simply wishes to maintain her privacy. I will visit her today.”
“Nicholas…”
He stared at Betsey expectantly.
“I do not think she is seeking solitude. I believe she is much worse for wear than any of us were.”
She is being fatalistic. She cannot know for certain what has become of Rose if she has not seen her.
“You must not think that way,” the duke told her softly. “Run along now before you are caught and punished for being where you are not meant to be. If you were to fall ill again, I would not forgive myself.”
“We shan’t,” Harry mumbled. “I do not believe we were ever truly ill.”
Nicholas cocked his head and stared at the boy.
“Whatever do you mean by that? Of course, we were ill. I can attest to that!”
“We do not believe we have been sick with fever,” Betsey explained nervously. “We believe that Captain Balfour has been keeping us subdued through slyer means.”
“That is ridiculous,” Nicholas snapped but his heart was beginning to pound as he thought about the circumstances of their illness. Instantly, he remembered how he had tried to protest the doctor’s finding of spoiled food when there was no possible way they had all eaten from the same source.
If they are correct, Balfour is a dangerous man. What has he planned for my mother? Moreover, what has he done to Rose? I must see her at once.
“You must leave now,” Nicholas told them, an urgency in his voice. “And do not speak of your visit to anyone.”
The cousins stared at one another but there was no time for Harry and Betsey to react. As if on cue, the door to his chambers opened and Theodore appeared. He started when he saw the children.
“Lord Arlington, Lady Arlington, you should not be here!” the old butler cried, seeming distressed to see them.
“Tis all right, Theodore,” Nicholas called as the children turned to flee. “I am no longer with fever.”
The servant seemed uncertain as he hurried to place a fresh pitcher of water on the toilet.
“It is not my command, Your Grace,” he explained, appearing torn. “The duchess fears that – “
“Where is she?” Nicholas interrupted, nodding for the children to go. They scampered from the room, casting him a grateful look as they realized they were not going to face trouble for disobeying.
“I believe she is with Captain Balfour in t
he gardens, Your Grace.”
“I wish to see her at once. Have you seen Miss Rose in the past days?”
“No, Your Grace. Trudy has been responsible for her but I understand she is still quite ill.”
“Send for Trudy also.”
The Enigmatic Governess of Buford Manor_A Historical Regency Romance Novel Page 25