by Paula Paul
“She was, me lord.”
“And she told you to come for me?”
Artie was silent.
“You snuck away,” Nicholas said.
Artie hesitated again. “Had to. I had to tell ye so’s ye could find ’er.”
“Nancy must have been beside herself when she discovered you were gone.”
“But I took ol’ Zack. She knowed ’e’d watch out fer me.”
“You said he left you,” Nicholas said. “Said he went home because he was sick, but he’s not here. If he were, we’d certainly hear his bark.”
“I called for ’im to come back to me when ’e left me. Called ’im over and over, but ’e just kept chuggin’ on with that heavy ol’ walk ’e has. Ye knows how ’e does. ’E was goin’ back home. Lookin’ for the doc, I guess. But ’e ain’t here. Maybe ’e died,” Artie said, his voice choked.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Nicholas said, although the possibility that it could be true not only for Zack, but for Alexandra and Nancy and Rob as well, was already stalking him.
“Jump wot?” Artie asked.
“Never mind,” Nicholas said. “Get back in the carriage. Our job is to find all of them.”
“Ye thinks we can find ’em? All of ’em?”
“Of course,” Nicholas lied. He urged the horses forward. “We’ll retrace her route. Go to the patient nearest to the house and see if she ever made it there.”
“That must be wot Rob done. ’E’s smart like that.”
“Nancy may have done the same,” Nicholas said, as much to himself as to Artie.
“Yup,” Artie said. “Nance ain’t missin’ too much in the way o’ smarts.”
Nicholas was silent for a long time, trying to decide on the best plan for the search. The moonless night would make it difficult under the best of circumstances, and the lighted lanterns at the front of the carriage did little to coax away the darkness.
“Turn here,” Artie said.
It took a moment for Nicholas to realize they had come to a crossroads.
“Here?” Nicholas asked, as he gave the reins a pull to guide the horses to the left.
“No, t’other way,” Artie said. “They’s a house up that way where that girl lives that the doc had to cut the baby out of ’er.”
Nicholas pulled the horses to a stop. “She would have gone there first. That makes sense. And Nancy and Rob would have most likely gone there as well.”
“Yup,” Artie said.
Nicholas was silent for another moment. “We’ll start at what was supposed to be the end of her journey and work our way back this way,” Nicholas said. “No use going over plowed ground.”
“We ain’t got time for no plowin’,” Artie said. “Anyhow, it’s too dark to plow.”
“You are certainly correct,” Nicholas said. “Now, do you know the way to the other patient’s house?”
“Ol’ Vern? ’Course I does. Ye goes down that road there. The one you started down a minute ago. ’Tain’t too far, but ’tain’t too close, neither.”
“You’re exceedingly helpful, Artie.” Nicholas aimed the carriage down what he hoped was the right road. Except for the feeble glare of the lanterns on the carriage, the only light was from the pinpoint stars. Though they populated the heavens profusely, they did little to illuminate the world around them. Trees and brush tangled themselves together at the sides of the lane, menacing, waiting in the darkness. Not a single light shone from a cottage along the way.
They drove on in the oppressive cloister for several minutes until Nicholas spied something ahead. A light, pathetic against the thickness of night, appeared in front of them. Nicholas stared at the blinking image. When Artie sucked in his breath, Nicholas knew he had seen it as well.
“Wot is it?” Artie whispered, as if the faraway shimmer might hear him and disappear.
“Not sure,” Nicholas said, also in a whisper. He urged the horses onward. When he was a few yards closer, he called, “Who goes there?”
“ ’Tis a person, ye thinks?” said Artie. “Not a ghost or a demon?”
“A person, yes, I think so. I believe he’s carrying a lantern.”
“He? Could be a woman.”
“I don’t believe so,” Nicholas said.
“Not Nance or the doc?”
“It appears to be someone riding a horse, judging by how high the light is above the ground.” Nicholas called out several more times, asking the unknown figure to identify himself or herself. Finally, an answer came.
“Who goes there yerself?”
“Rob!” Artie cried, and tried to stand up in the carriage, but Nicholas pushed back with his arm, forcing him to sit.
“Is that you, Rob?” Nicholas called.
“I heard Artie. Who is it yer wif, Artie?”
“ ’Tis me and Lord Dunsworth,” Artie shouted.
The light of Rob’s lantern bounced in an irregular pattern as he spurred the horse he rode toward the carriage. “By God, I was hopin’ that’s who ye was,” he said as he came upon the carriage and held his lantern high to discern their faces. “I fear they’s somethin’ terrible wot happened.”
Nicholas felt his chest tighten. “Something terrible? What, exactly, do you mean?”
“I found ’er medicine bag, but I ain’t found no sign of ’er. Sam Malcolm says she was at their ’ouse and took a look at ’is wife and babe. Ol’ Vern never seen ’er, though ’e was expectin’ ’er. Found ’er medicine bag, I did, ’tween the Malcolms’ ’ouse and ol’ Vern’s place.”
“If she dropped her bag, someone or something must have frightened her,” Nicholas said. “She’d never leave her medicine bag unattended.”
“I knows that, same as ye does,” Rob said. “Been lookin’ fer ’er all over the place, I has. Ain’t found ’er as ye can see. Somethin’ terrible happened, I knows it!”
“Have you by any chance seen Nancy?” Nicholas asked.
“Nancy? Why, she’s home wif Zack, I’m guessin’. Left the two of ’em and Artie there together.”
“She ain’t there,” Artie said. “We can’t find ’er, and Zack’s runned away.”
“Ol’ Zack? Naw, he’d never do that.”
“I’m afraid it’s true,” Nicholas said. “They’re all three missing, Dr. Gladstone, Nancy, and Zack.”
Rob shouted his anger and fear. “Damn and hellfire! They was all there when I left. Artie, you best tell me wot happened, boy.”
Artie relayed the story of his leaving and of Zack’s disappearance. “Then Nance was gone when I gets back to the ’ouse,” he said, sounding sheepish.
“I ought to wallop ye good,” Rob said. “Ye was supposed to all stay there where you was safe. If I know Nance, she struck out to look fer ye, and she got into some kind o’ trouble, and ’tis all your fault, boy.”
“I didn’t mean nothin’ bad to happen,” Artie said, his voice trembling with the tears he was trying not to shed.
“Ye ain’t got no sense, so I’m gonna knock some sense into ye,” Rob said, about to dismount.
“Calm yourself!” Nicholas commanded. “Artie only did what he thought he had to do, same as you. For that matter, you ought to be glad he went off to find me. Now there are more of us to search.”
“Don’t matter how many they is, ’cause we don’t know where to look.” Rob sounded tired, and Nicholas thought he detected a tremble in Rob’s voice as well.
“I think it best we wait until morning, since we can’t do much good in the dark,” Nicholas said. “At first light, we’ll search in a grid pattern, and we’ll get Constable Snow and as many others as we can to help us.”
“By first light, they’ll all three be dead,” Rob said, sounding wearier than ever. “I ain’t givin’ up ’til I finds ’em. Just got to go back to the stable and get t’other lantern. This un’s outta fuel. And I got to put poor ol’ Lucy up for the night. She’s had all she can take. I’ll do the walkin’ this time.”
“You’ll be was
ting your time to go back for the other lantern,” Nicholas said. “It’s not in the stable. Nancy must have taken it when she left.”
“Then I’ll lift one from somebody’s barn.” Rob had already started up the road, on his way to steal a lantern.
Nicholas watched Rob, feeling conflicted, as the boy and the mare disappeared into the night. He was as eager as Rob was to keep looking until they found them, even if he knew waiting until first light was by far the more prudent choice.
“Lor’,” Artie said, shivering in the damp air, “I just hope they ain’t all dead. If they is, ’twill be me own fault.”
Chapter 16
As Rob rode away, Nicholas heard a familiar sound that startled him at first. It was a dog barking. Zack’s bark!
He’d moved the carriage only a few yards when he heard the sound of Lucy’s hoofbeats. It was hardly more than a minute before Rob rode Lucy back to the carriage.
“Ol’ Zack!” he said. “Mayhap he’s found ’em. We got to look for ’em. Follow the sound o’ ol’ Zack’s bark.”
“But we can’t find him without light,” Nicholas said. “Yours has run out of fuel, and I can’t take the carriage into those brambles.”
“Well, sure as the fires o’ hell, I’m goin’ to try,” Rob said.
“Don’t be a fool,” Nicholas said. “Didn’t you just see how hard it is to find your way anywhere in this darkness?”
“Call me a fool if ye will, but if that’s ol’ Zack and he found ’em, I ain’t leavin’ them out there to…” He trailed off, as he apparently noticed the same thing Nicholas had—that Zack was no longer barking. It would be impossible to follow a sound that wasn’t there.
“Get in,” Nicholas said. “But tie Lucy to the back first.”
Rob hesitated for a few seconds before he complied. When Lucy was secured, he grabbed the side of the moving carriage and hoisted himself into the seat, maneuvering himself next to Artie.
They rode in silence until they reached the road leading to the Gladstone house. Nicholas picked up the reins and tried to lead the horses toward the house. “I’ll leave the two of you here and return to Montmarsh for a lantern before I go back to search,” Nicholas said.
“You ain’t leavin’ me nowhere, Dunsford.” Rob’s voice was snarling. Artie, by this time, had fallen asleep, leaning his head on Rob’s shoulder.
Nicholas looked at Rob, knowing he couldn’t leave him at home without a fight. Without another word, he dropped the reins again and gave the horses their heads to move toward Montmarsh and their own stable. He didn’t want to keep pushing them hard because they’d moved at a furious pace through most of the night. The horses walked an agonizingly slow gait up the hill toward the mansion. It was not until they were almost there that they accelerated to a brisk trot. Nicholas could make out the dark mass of the grand house, and he could see lights glowing in the front hall. Stokes must have waited up for him.
A stable boy carrying a lantern appeared out of nowhere and followed the carriage as Nicholas drove it to the walkway leading to the front door of Montmarsh. “You’re a welcome sight, my lord,” the stable boy said. “We was all worried at this late hour.”
“Feed and stable the mare I’m trailing,” Nicholas said. “Then I shall need another pair of horses, as well as two more lanterns for the front of the carriage and an extra lantern to take along. Make sure they’re all full of oil.”
“You going out again, my lord?”
“I am,” Nicholas said.
“ ’Tis late,” the stable boy protested.
“It is indeed,” Nicholas said. He disembarked the carriage, along with Rob, and reached for Artie to carry him inside.
Stokes met him at the door, clearly alarmed to see him with the boy in his arms.
“Lord Dunsford, what have we here? Is the child ill?”
“Not ill, Stokes, just exhausted. See that he’s put to bed, and feed him if he awakes. I know he’ll be hungry.”
“My lord, I’m afraid I don’t know…What I mean is, I have no experience with—”
“For God’s sake, Stokes, get Pickwick up here. She’ll know what to do.”
“Of course,” Stokes said and hurried away to find Mrs. Pickwick, the cook. Nicholas was often criticized by his mother, Lady Forsythe, for not keeping a full staff at Montmarsh. However, since he was not there full-time, he found that Pickwick, the stable crew, and an overseer were sufficient. He’d taken to bringing Stokes along to Montmarsh only recently.
While he waited for Stokes to fetch Pickwick, a pleasant, motherly woman who was good friends with Nancy and equally reliable, Nicholas carried Artie into the library and settled him on one of the sofas with a pillow under his head. He turned to Rob, who had followed him.
“Wait here with Artie until Pickwick arrives,” Nicholas said. “She’ll provide you with something to eat, even if Artie doesn’t awaken enough to eat. You know Pickwick, don’t you?”
Rob nodded. “Knows ’er, all right. Knows ’er good as I does Nance. Comes to the surgery to gossip with Nance, she does.”
“Yes, of course,” Nicholas said. “Now, stay here and help take care of young Artie. I’ll be back as soon as I find them.”
“I’m goin’ wif ye,” Rob said.
“I need you to stay here and take care of Artie.” Nicholas turned quickly and left the room, making sure to lock the door so Rob wouldn’t follow. He met Stokes in the front hall.
“Not going out again, are you, my lord?”
“Yes. Dr. Gladstone and her maid are missing. It’s threatening rain now. I must find them as quickly as possible before the weather gets even worse.”
Stokes wore a troubled look on his face. “But, my lord—”
“No time to argue, Stokes. Every minute counts.” Nicholas moved quickly toward the door.
“I wasn’t going to argue, sir,” Stokes said. “I merely want to suggest that you change into dry clothes.”
Nicholas started to protest, but Stokes’s remark made him remember his soggy clothing. Wearing something dry, along with a substantial raincoat, would likely aid his effort. “Very well, but we must hurry.”
“Forgive me, my lord, but I’m sure you know I’m well practiced at hurrying.”
Stokes had already started upstairs, taking them two at a time. Nicholas knew his butler was right about his adeptness at moving quickly in a crisis.
Within a few minutes Nicholas came down the stairs, still buttoning his own shirt. He hadn’t waited for Stokes’s help. Nevertheless, Stokes slipped a cape over his shoulders as protection against the rain as he left the house. He was pleased to see the carriage waiting with fresh horses and brightly burning lanterns just as he had requested.
For several minutes, he drove the horses harder than he knew he should have before he stopped at a crossroads, trying to remember which route he had taken before. He was grateful the rain had stopped, but there was a chill in the air. Winter was still battling with spring for dominance. He pulled his cape tighter and turned the carriage on the path he was almost certain he had taken in his initial search. He pulled the horses to a stop just after he started the turn.
He heard something.
Not a bark, as he’d hoped, or a human voice, but a distant rhythmical, thumping sound. Within seconds he recognized it as the sound of an approaching rider. He hesitated, not certain whether it would be friend or foe. Ultimately, he decided it was best that he go on with his mission, and he once again started in the direction he had gone earlier. He had ridden for several minutes when he heard Zack’s barking, as before.
He reined in the horses to listen closer, so he could determine the direction from which the sound came. While stopped, he heard again the thud, thud, thud and knew it was approaching hoofbeats. Closer now. So close, in fact, that the carriage horses were sniffing the air and dancing in place. Nicholas wasn’t sure whether their reaction was because they recognized the approaching horse or because they did not. Nevertheless, he urged them o
n. Only a moment later, he heard shouting.
He kept the carriage and horses moving forward. The approaching rider came even closer, and Nicholas heard him shout again at the same time he heard another of Zack’s barks. He stopped the carriage, and the rider was soon next to him.
“Damn it, Rob!”
“Ye heard the bark?”
“I heard it. That’s one of my horses you’re riding, and one of my saddles you’re sitting in.”
“It’s Zack’s bark, all right. We got to ride toward it.”
“You can’t take a horse through those brambles.”
Rob dismounted. “Then we’ll walk. Give me one o’ them lanterns.”
“I told you to stay with Artie.”
“He’s sleepin’ like a baby, and Pickwick will watch ’im like ’e was ’er own.”
“Damn it, Rob!”
“Yeah, I knows.”
“I ought to—”
“Come on, me lord, ye ain’t got time to be mad at me. Hear that? ’Tis Zack.”
Rob had already started making his way through the brambles. Nicholas followed and soon caught up with him, the two of them following Zack’s barks. By the time they reached the embankment and saw the huge Newfoundland standing at the top, the first weak hint of dawn was creeping across the edge of the sky.
Zack hurried toward Nicholas with his familiar awkward gait, but instead of snarling and nipping at his heels the way he usually did, he grabbed the edge of his cape and pulled him.
Alexandra lay on the wet ground, her hair and clothing soaked with rain. Something was curled in her hair.
“My God!” Nicholas said as he looked down.
“ ’Tis a serpent!” Rob whispered, as if he were afraid of awakening the creature.
“We’ve got to get it away from her,” Nicholas said. He scrambled down the embankment, followed by Rob and Zack.
“Careful, me lord. ’Tis an adder. If ye wakes it, the thing could bite her.”
Nicholas hesitated, uncertain for a moment of what to do. He saw a long stick on the ground next to Alexandra and picked it up. Gambling that the morning was cool enough that the cold-blooded animal could not move quickly, he slipped the stick under the snake’s curled body and lifted it and then, with a quick movement, flung it over the top of the embankment.