Page 34 of The Gentlewoman Author

Chapter Fourteen

Daniel woke to thoughts of Mrs. Allen. Their conversation on the balcony the night before stayed with him. While he could not judge the circumstances that led her late husband to a remote estate, her regret over wasting their days together resonated. Their ability to find absolution and unity in their differences, he admired. Their marriage must have been one of the happiest.

On slippered feet, Daniel passed through the apartment and into the room that served as both sitting and dining room. On the table lay a plate of bread, cheese, and cured meat, the edges of which were curled and dry. A half-empty mug of ale beside it. Tobias must have wakened early and left in a rush.

Tobias seemed agitated of late. When Daniel questioned him, his friend responded in harassed tones, as if being pulled from a deep thought. He was a gambler, as Daniel had learned shortly after they’d embarked on this journey together, but when questioned about his losses, Tobias made jokes. Perhaps Tobias had left town in a hurry to avoid paying his debts.

He sat down to fresh eggs, and the valet entered with the post.

“Thank you, Jeremy. Will you bring the carriage to the front of the house? It’s a fine morning.”

Jeremy bowed, and Daniel opened a letter from his mother. His father had had an accident, and Daniel should return home as soon as may be. The details were not explained. Indeed, the handwriting was not the looping scrawl he was used to seeing from his mother but illegible and a very short missive. Were it any different, he would assume his father was playing another trick on him.

Daniel pushed his plate away, an image of his father, pale and suffering, rising before him. He groaned and closed his eyes against it. Though he did not trust his father, he did love him. He was the sort of person who would give away his shoes. When Daniel was a child, his father took him on adventures, fishing, hunting, teaching him all he knew about science and anything else that caught his fancy.

After the investment that had left the family penniless, his father spent more rather than tell the family they were paupers. When debt collectors had come to possess Almery and threatened debtors’ prison, Daniel’s mother sold her jewelry, and Daniel left for Smith’s bank. Notwithstanding that deception and all of its consequences, Daniel hated the discord between them. If Father was seriously ill, Daniel wanted to restore their relationship before it was too late.

A door opened and closed, bringing him back to the present. It had taken very little time to ready the horses. “Jeremy, a change of plans. Please pack my trunk. I must return home immediately.”

The valet entered the room, a shade paler than when he’d left. “Sir, the horses are gone. The carriage too.”

“Gone?”

Tobias. Had he taken the horses to pay his debts? A decent bit of coin he’d get for them. Daniel groaned. How was it possible that everyone he associated with betrayed him?

“I can do nothing about that now. My father is ill. Go to the posting house and get the best pair available. I’ll pack myself. Be quick about it. I’ll need to bid farewell to Mrs. Allen and Miss Thorpe.”

Mrs. Allen and Miss Thorpe.

There would be no resolution to the dispute with his father without Miss Thorpe. If his father passed into the next world before Daniel returned, the entire estate would go to his brother-in-law. He opened his trunks and began shoving his belongings inside, tucking the jacket he’d worn the evening before into a corner. Miss Thorpe had rested her hand against the arm of his coat, and though no feeling accompanied the memory, he believed their union inevitable. He must trust that all would be well at home and the marriage with Miss Thorpe would go as planned. Very likely his parents had it all arranged.

“Ready, sir?” Jeremy asked. Together they carried Daniel’s things down the stairs and out the front door. While the trunks were strapped to the back of the borrowed carriage, Daniel told the housekeeper he was leaving. She would inform the landlord. The rooms were paid for another three weeks, so there would be no dispute.

The door clicked closed. He would never return to Bath and would not see Mrs. Allen again, unless she came to his wedding. Heavy sorrow twisted the already unsettled sickness in his gut. The rolling bounce of the carriage did nothing to soothe his nerves, but he soon arrived at Mrs. Eliot’s townhome.

Inside the salon, heavy curtains covered huge windows, lending the room a funereal ambience and reminding him of his mother’s somber letter. If, heaven forbid, his father’s injury resulted in death, Daniel would live out his life in battle against remorse. For ten years he nursed a grudge against his father, planning to make amends as soon as his father apologized. That would never happen. Daniel would have to soften his own heart and tongue.

Mary rushed into the room, her face drawn and pale. She took his hands in hers, squeezing them as if they could save her. “Do you know where they went?” Her voice was unsteady.

“Who went?”

“Louisa and Savage.”

“I don’t understand.”

She dropped his hands and slumped into a nearby chair. “They left, eloped.”

Savage and Miss Thorpe? He sat down and put his hands over his face. But how was Mrs. Allen? Daniel more than half expected to find her melted into a puddle of tears, but when he met her eye, she was statuesque. “He took my horses, but I did not know he took Miss Thorpe as well.” Worse and worse. Tobias Savage was a greater scoundrel than Daniel had ever suspected.

“From Louisa’s letter, I assume they are on their way to Scotland. To Gretna Green.” With a deep, unsteady breath, she continued. “Unless he is a greater villain. In which case, they could be anywhere.”

It was hard to look at her. The vivacity he admired in her was gone, and her eyes appeared bigger, her face more child-like. He longed to take her in his arms and assure her all would be well, but it was not his place, and he could make no such promise. He should have told Mrs. Allen about the conversations he’d overheard between Miss Thorpe and Savage weeks ago. If only he had intervened. The scoundrel! How dare he compromise Miss Thorpe. She would be ruined or saddled to a miscreant. And to what end? What was he really planning? Why run away?

“I will go after them. I was on my way home as it is, and the road to Scotland is the same as the road to Chesterfield.” From Bath, the journey to Scotland would take weeks. What was Savage thinking? Was Miss Thorpe so foolish?

“Do you really think they can be found?” A glint of hope sparked in her eye, tempting Daniel to be untruthful.

“I do not know.” If Daniel was anything, he was honest and would not give her false hope. “I can do my best. Mr. Savage is an injudicious whip. He is sure to tire out the animals and be forced to stop.”