Page 69 of The Book of Lost Stories
… found a young girl called Sarah here at Templeshore in great distress, but unharmed … Fear my old friend Lord Chase has become quite unhinged and does not know what he is doing … Wish to restore her to her friends, so pray come at once. My carriage awaits you and I have asked Bella to keep you company, for fear you do not trust my intentions after I behaved in so unmannerly a way …
The rest of this flowery apology was lost on Alys as she flew to get her spencer and bonnet and ran out of the house.
‘Oh, Bella,’ she exclaimed, as soon as she was in the carriage, ‘I do not understand what is happening in the least, and Mrs Rivers cannot come for she is gone out, but has Nat then really found the missing child, Sarah?’
‘Yes, so he wrote to me,’ Bella said, ‘but from old friendship with Lord Chase he wishes to avert a scandal if he can. And I was glad to be of service,’ she added earnestly, ‘for I feel that I have been spiteful and childish towards you, and I am very sorry for it.’
‘Thank you, but you had cause to feel yourself slighted by my appearance on the scene. Yet I earnestly assure you that I do not have any expectations that my grandfather will take any further interest in me, for I have made it plain to him that I will not marry Nat, and mean instead to retire and live quietly out of Town.’
‘It is very kind of you, but I know I have not behaved as I should.’
‘Then let us put all that behind us,’ Alys said kindly. ‘We are cousins, after all, and should understand each other better.’
The carriage seemed to be picking up pace, and, looking out, Alys recognized landmarks. ‘We are going to Kew? Is Sarah then still there? But surely not at Lord Chase’s house?’
‘No, but quite nearby.’
‘I suppose I had better read his letter again, for I was in too much of a hurry to take it in the first time,’ Alys said. But when she did, she did not find that it told her much more, apart from a lot of flowery commonplaces.
She looked up, puzzled. ‘You know, it is very odd that heshould send word to you, rather than to Mrs Rivers, who is directly concerned in the matter. In fact, the more I think about it, the odder it seems. Where exactly did you say Sarah was?’
‘In the grounds of Templeshore. There is a summer house near the gate on to the road and Nat said he would stay there with her until we arrived.’
‘Why should not Nat restore Sarah to the Red House himself, immediately?’
‘The girl insists she will only get into a carriage if you or Mrs Rivers are in it. She is quite hysterical. Also, I believe Nat wished to consult with you and Mrs Rivers about what is best to be done to avoid scandal.’
‘I do not see how it can be avoided. Lord Chase must be quite mad and should be confined. I only hope it is true that he has not harmed her.’
The more she thought of it, the stranger it all seemed, but when she asked Bella another question, Bella begged to be allowed to be quiet and close her eyes for a little while. ‘I am afraid I am one of those unfortunates in whom the motion of the carriage induces a feeling of strong malaise after only a little time.’
‘I understand,’ Alys said. ‘It is doubly kind of you to come with me, in that case.’
Bella could not have been asleep, for she sat up once they reached the edge of Chase’s estate and rapped on the panel. The carriage drew up next to a little postern gate.
‘This is the spot. I recall it from a Venetian breakfast last year, when Lord Chase’s sister and her husband were staying here. I was not then out, but Nat persuaded Mama to let me come. I was wearing a white muslin dress embroidered withsmall blue flowers …’ she continued, while Alys marvelled at the recuperative powers of youth.
Alighting, they passed through the gate and found themselves on a narrow path leading through a shrubbery. It was silent except for birdsong and the slight rustle of the breeze through the leaves.
‘Do you know,’ Alys said, following Bella onwards, ‘if this was dusk, it would be just the sort of place my heroine would be lured to on some pretext! Youarequite sure that Lord Chase is safely—’
Some slight noise warned her – or perhaps the rushing movement of the air – but too late to avoid the blow that struck her senseless.
Bella looked with horror at the crumpled form on the ground. ‘Oh, Nat, I did not think you meant to hurt her! Is she dead?’
‘Dead? No! As neat a bump on the head as you could wish.’ He bent and picked Alys up in his arms with an ease that belied his dandified appearance. ‘You have done your part, Bella. Return home, and if anyone asks you later what became of Alys, you know your story?’
She nodded, looking slightly frightened. ‘Yes, that she asked me to drive with her, but then confided in me that she was to meet a lover and meant to run away with him that very day. And she made me leave her in the City, where there was a post-chaise waiting, and that is the last I saw of her. And I was too frightened to tell Mama or Uncle.’
‘Very good,’ he nodded. ‘Stick to the story. Do not be tempted to embroider it, although you may turn on the waterworks as much as you please. Now, off you go.’
*
Jarvis rode past the carriage until he had turned a bend in the road before tying up the horse and, after climbing over the wall, making his way back in time to see Nat Hartwood carry off the unconscious form of Miss Weston, her bonnet missing and her long chestnut hair hanging loosely.
Bella Hartwood stared after them for a moment, then turned and headed back towards the carriage. Jarvis stealthily followed her brother.
He came at last to a small folly in the shape of a temple overlooking the river and went inside and Jarvis, hard on his heels, peered cautiously round a white pillar in time to see him pass through an iron door set into the back of the building. He vanished into the darkness of some void beyond and there was the sound of a bar being drawn across the door.
