Page 42 of Weave me a Rope
“His lordship don’t care about you being happy, my lord, if you’ll excuse my saying so.”
“You’re right,” Spen realized. “It’s all about how it affects him.”
“Some folks are like that,” Marsh volunteered. “Other people don’t matter to them. It’s as if they don’t see the rest of us as real. Just checker pieces to be moved around the board.”
Spen had never imagined a day coming when he would be discussing the nature of man with Chatter. If nothing else came out of this exercise, at least he had changed the relationship with his guard.
“Does he plan to come and see me today?” he asked.
“Left after lunch,” Marsh admitted. “Said he would be back in a couple of days.”
The following morning, they continued with the lists, this time with all four guards plus the footman. They must have been talking for an hour when another footman knocked and was admitted. “Marsh, you are needed,” he said. Marsh’s face, which had been alive with amusement over Jim’s suggestion Spen might be able to get work as a footman, changed as if someone had wiped a cloth over it to remove all expression. His eyes flat and his face blank, he stood and left without a word.
Spen figured they’d done enough for the morning. He thanked Jim and the footman, and asked if they would mind sharing any more thoughts they might have, then went back to reading a rather boring book about agricultural rotation he’d been given by his tutor Morris.
Not that he could settle to reading, or even to planning for the future. He was too concerned about whatever might have happened to draw Marsh away.
*
Before he leftthe estate, the earl had spoken to Miss Faversham and informed her that she and her charge would remain. He had made it clear it was Miss Faversham’s task to ensure Lady Daphne was introduced to Lord Spenhurst’s bed where, the earl was certain, nature would take its course and Spenhurst, as a gentleman, would have no choice but to marry the girl.
“He seemed to think Lord Spenhurst would be eager to satisfy his male appetites because he has been unable to do so during his incarceration,” Miss Faversham explained. “But even if the young lord was too bloodless to…” she blushed. “I cannot repeat the words, Miss Milton, but I trust you understand. The earl said he could arrange Lady Daphne was not, er,intactso Lord Spenhurst would have no grounds for the annulment.”
She leaned forward, her eyes burning with outrage. “I cannot allow this. I have managed to put it off while the young lord was recovering, but the whole household knows he is now much improved.”
Cordelia’s heart stuttered in her chest. “He has been ill?”
“He was beaten, I have been told,” Miss Faversham explained. “He defied the earl, and the earl lost his temper. The marquess’s men had to intercede to rescue the poor man.” She returned to her own concerns. “I must get Lady Daphne away, but what can I do? We are well-guarded. The marquess’s men patrol the house and the earl’s men patrol the grounds. And even if we could escape, I have nowhere to go.”
“How did you arrange for the letter?” Cordelia asked. It was an assumption that Miss Faversham was behind the correspondence.
“I am sorry I could not be more specific,” Miss Faversham apologized. “I thought of putting in a note of my own, but, though one of the footmen agreed to post the letter in the village, he insisted on reading it first, and I was afraid he would simply take my bribe and hand the letter over to the guards.”
As the older woman spoke, Cordelia studied Lady Daphne, who was chatting cheerfully with John. An idea had occurred to her and as Miss Faversham finished speaking, she commented, “We are much of a height, and have similar figures,” she commented. “My hair is darker, of course. In my bonnet… I think it would work.”
“What are you thinking?” Miss Faversham asked, frowning in thought.
“How would Lady Daphne manage if I sent her away in my place, with my… my cousin and my servants? John and my maid Gracie would look after her, I assure you. They can take her to my uncle, who will keep her safe.”
Miss Faversham’s eyes widened. “You mean to swap places?” She pursed her lips as she looked from Lady Daphne to Cordelia and back again.
“The servants here might notice,” she mused. “They probably would. But they are sympathetic to both my lady and the young lord. The earl never looks directly at his daughter but past her if you understand my meaning, as if she is of no consequence… If I bleach your hair… Are you a good actress, Miss Milton?”
Probably. Hopefully.Cordelia nodded. “I can try. And you can take me to Spen’s room with an easy conscience, for we are betrothed.”
“If we do this, I shall be your chaperone,” Miss Faversham insisted. “After all, the lords are insisting on a wedding, and I take it you would not object, and nor would Lord Spenhurst.”
Cordelia’s mind had not gone there, but it was worth thinking about. “As long as my name was on the license,” she commented. How to achieve that was beyond her at the moment, but perhaps something could be managed. She turned to address the others in the room.
“Gracie, Fielder, John, Miss Faversham and I have had an idea,” she said.
After she had laid out the new plan and patiently countered everyone’s objections, she sent Fielder and John out while she and Lady Daphne changed clothes. Lady Daphne thought it a fine joke, and Cordelia was concerned the girl’s giggles might give them away. It occurred to her that perhaps they could manage to leave the house without being escorted by the butler.
When she opened the door to let the men back in, that minor worry was swamped by a larger one. Another man stood with them in the entry hall and followed them back into the room.
She looked anxiously at John. He and Fielder both looked cheerful. “Cordelia,” John said, “This is Marsh. He is Spen’s head guard, and he wants to help us.”
Marsh was ignoring them. Lady Daphne had danced up to him in her cheerful way and taken his hands, and he was listening to her insistence she was going to be Miss Milton for a while and Miss Milton was going to be her. “I have to go away from my Miss Faversham, but Miss Simpson is going to look after me, and so is John,” she explained. “I like John. He is kind. Like you, Marsh.”
