Page 55 of The Bridal Quest

"I expect that Cecil mishandled the search," Lady Odelia commented. "He always was one to let his anger blind him to good sense."

"Odelia!" her sister cried out indignantly. "How can you say such a thing? Cecil did everything he could. Why, he sent Owenby all over the countryside looking for some clue to where they had gone. How could anyone be expected to track down the ruffians, with no idea who they were or where they went?"

"How were Lord Radbourne and his mother taken?" Irene asked the old woman gently.

"How?" Pansy looked at her blankly. "What do you mean?"

"Were they stolen from the house? Were they out for a stroll?"

"Oh. I ... um ... I'm not entirely sure. It has been so long." Pansy looked down at her hands, knotted together in her lap. "It was such a dreadful time. Poor Cecil was so overset."

Lady Odelia let out an inelegant snort. "I imagine he was! No doubt he strode about all over the place, shouting and slamming things and getting nothing useful accomplished."

"Odelia!"

"I am sure he was most upset," Francesca told Pansy soothingly.

Irene added, "Then you do not remember if Lady Radbourne and her son were in the house or were taken outside?"

"Outside," Pansy said quickly, nodding her head. "Yes, it must have been outside. No one would have been able to just burst in here and grab them. They were in the garden—yes, that is it. They were in the garden."

"Did no one see them taken?" Irene continued.

"No. They were quite alone. The kidnappers got away clean as a whistle."

"How did you learn what had happened to them?"

"What? Why, Cecil told me."

"But how did he come to know? Did he receive a note?"

"Oh! Oh, yes, he told me that they had sent him a letter, demanding that he hand over the Bankes rubies for his son—and Selena, of course. Beautiful necklace, given to the family by Queen Elizabeth herself. Part of a treasure trove captured from the Spanish queen."

She stopped after that, and finally her sister said impatiently, "Well, go on, Pansy, what happened after that? What did he do with the necklace?"

"Oh, well, he gave it to his man, Owenby. You probably don't remember him. He was Cecil's valet, had been with him from the time Cecil was barely more than a lad. Owenby was someone whom Cecil could trust absolutely."

"So Cecil did not think that this chap took the necklace himself and merely pretended to give it to the kidnappers?" Lady Odelia asked.

"No! No, of course not." Pansy looked shocked. "Owenby would never have done anything to harm Cecil. Never. He— he took the necklace and gave it to them, but they did not return Gideon."

"Or Lady Radbourne," Irene added.

"Yes, of course."

"Do you mean that this valet met the kidnappers face-to-face?" Irene asked, her voice tinged with surprise. "Was he able to recognize them?"

"What? Oh, no, of course not. I believe he left the necklace ... somewhere, and then they were going to let Gideon go, but they did not. Gideon was supposed to be, um, up by that large old oak. The one along the road into town. So Owenby left the necklace for them, then went to the tree, but Gideon was not there. Owenby waited and waited, of course, but the boy never appeared. When Owenby went back to where he had left the necklace, it had been retrieved."

"What did Lord Radbourne do then?" Francesca asked, her interest obviously aroused.

"Why, he sent Owenby to look for them, of course. He looked everywhere. Went to Liverpool and Southampton, all the ports."

"The ports?" Irene asked, surprised. "He thought the kidnappers had taken them out of the country?"

The elder Lady Radbourne stopped, blinking, and color seeped into her cheeks. "Oh, well, I—I'm not sure. I suppose they would not have, would they?" She glanced around, as though seeking answers from the room.

Her sister fixed her with a firm stare. "Pansy, stop being so featherbrained. Where did Cecil send Owenby to look for them?"