Page 34 of Weave me a Rope
Uncle Josh waved to a chair, and she sat, as did the two men. “Ye will not let this go, Cordelia, will ye?” her uncle asked. He looked tired, Cordelia realized. She had not seen him close enough to really examine his face since her sight began to return.
“I love Lord Spenhurst, Uncle Josh,” she replied. “I will search for him until I can find him.”
Her uncle sighed. He had lost weight and the dark shadows under his eyes hinted he wasn’t sleeping. “Even though the Marquess of Deerhaven has made it known his son is to marry Lady Daphne Ashburton, daughter of the Earl of Yarverton?”
Cordelia ignored the pang. “Lord Spenhurst has refused that marriage, Uncle Josh. He will marry me or no one, he says.” She trusted Spen. Shehadto trust him.
“That’s true, sir,” Fielder offered. “I heard him meself.”
“Aye, Fielder, so ye said.” Uncle Josh sighed again. “Very well. Tell my niece what ye found out for her.”
Cordelia eagerly turned her attention to Spen’s former gaoler. “Did you discover where Spen is?”
Fielder shook his head, pity in his eyes. “No, Miss. I’m sorry, Miss. The coachies won’t talk about it, but one of the footmen told the maids they had taken his lordship nearly to Wales and left him there. They had him chained in the carriage and in the inns at night, the footmen said. But he wasn’t hurt or starved, like at Deercroft.”
“That is something,” Cordelia mused.
Fielder hung his head. “That’s all I could find out, Miss. That, and where the coachies drink when they has time off. I figured I could maybe buy them a few drinks…?”
Cordelia still had plenty of pin money. She could afford a few drinks. She looked at her uncle, who was regarding her with sad brown eyes. “Uncle Josh, would you let Fielder…?”
“Who do ye work for, Fielder?” Uncle Josh asked the man. “Who brought ye to London and gave ye a job?”
Fielder frowned as if thinking. “You pay me, Mr. Milton. You made me your stable hand and I am grateful. I do my work. But I am Lord Spenhurst’s man. He was kind to me even though I was his guard. Even though I beat him at the marquess’s command. I will always owe him for what I did to him. I came to London because I couldn’t go with my lord, and Miss Milton is his lady. I serve him by serving her.” He met Uncle Josh’s glare with a set chin. “Lord Spenhurst is a good man, Mr. Milton.”
Uncle Josh nodded, but more as if confirming a thought of his own than agreeing.
“He is,” Cordelia told Fielder. “I appreciate your service, Mr. Fielder. I do not know what would have become of me if you had left me at the foot of the tower.” It wouldn’t hurt to remind her uncle of Fielder’s rescue.
Uncle Josh was scribbling a note. “Give this to the head groom,” he told Fielder as he handed it over. “It gives ye my authority to spend the time ye need to find out where Deerhaven’s coach took his son.” He opened a drawer and pulledout a leather purse, which he weighed in one hand and then passed over. “This will cover yer drinks. Food, too, if need be. Report to me each morning. To my niece, if I am not available.”
Fielder bowed to each of them as he left. Cordelia stood up. “If that is all, Uncle Josh…”
“It isn’t,” her uncle said. “Sit down, my girl. We need to talk.”
She sank back into her chair.Does he know? Has my maid been talking?Cordelia had done her best to keep her condition a secret, but Gracie had cleaned away her used slop buckets and had not been required to deal with the rags Cordelia used during her courses. She had made no comment, but she must know.
Cordelia prepared herself to lock horns with her uncle once again. She was keeping her child. If Spen was not able to marry her before the birth, she would manage. She would have to.
Uncle Josh’s first words proved her suspicions about the maid were correct. “Does yer condition change yer mind about my offer, Dee? I can find ye a husband to wed in the next couple of months and give yer baby a father. A marriage will protect both the baby and ye from talk.”
That was fairly conciliatory, for Uncle Josh.
“The baby has a father,” Cordelia pointed out. “Help me find Lord Spenhurst so he can marry me before the baby is born. He will reach his majority in less than two months and will marry me as soon as he does not need his father’s consent.”
“Ye’re that certain of him,” Uncle Josh noted.
Cordelia nodded firmly.
“Then we had better find out where he is and get him back. Fielder will do his part, Dee-Dee. Let me tell ye what I know so far.” He pulled a stack of papers towards him and took a sheet from the top. “Here is a list of all the places Deerhaven owns. Or, at least, all the ones I know of so far. I’m sending a person to each one to find out if Lord Spenhurst is there, and if so, where he is being held.”
He handed the list to Cordelia, whose eyebrows lifted as she saw how long it was.
“I’ve also, just today, confirmed the reason Deerhaven is so keen on the marriage with Lady Daphne.”
The next sheet of paper, taken from the top of a thick folder, listed sums of money owed. Astronomical sums, and all owed to the Earl of Yarverton, father of Lady Daphne.
“Deerhaven has been neglecting his lands and tenants, dabbling in trade and canals and the like without understanding what works and what doesn’t, and spending like there is no tomorrow to buy votes and support for the protégés he has in the House of Commons,” Uncle Josh explained.
