Page 58 of Tutoring a Lady into Sin
She sighed wistfully. “I cannot tell you how many times I wished that I could change my situation.” Her delicate fingers balled into fists, and she added resolutely, “I should have owned my feelings for Felton long ago. I should not have allowed myself to be seduced by finery or in having the approval of theton. He was a good man, and he deserved more from the woman he loved.”
“Felton was perhaps the very best of us all,” Phineas murmured.
“He was,” his mother agreed, “and that is why I think it would fill him with a great deal of pride to know that you wish to carry on his legacy.”
Phineas stared at his mother in a bit of a stupor as he was wholly surprised by not just her admission, but by her words. “Then, are you saying I should reveal the truth? I should become the Earl of Linfield, thereby subjecting you to the ridicule of Society?” He took a step forward and laid a soft hand on his mother’s shoulder. “Do you know what that will cost you?”
“I know that I have spent far too long hiding my feelings,” she whispered. “I cannot stand to see both of my sons repeat my mistakes. Even if it tortures me to have my own name dragged through the mud, I cannot live with myself knowing that I have doomed both you and Percival to a life riddled with woe.”
“Then, I should…?”
“You should speak to Lady Christianna,” his mother suggested. “Before you make any concrete decisions about this whole wedding business, you must straighten out matters with her. If she really did tell Percival she would remain devoted to him last night, you will not know that for certain until she reveals all to you herself.”
“I think you are right, Mama,” Phineas said as he let go of her shoulder and allowed his hand to fall back to his side. “I will find Christianna at once and—”
“Doctor Radcliff! Your Grace!” Phineas looked up at the sound of Christianna’s voice. She was dashing across the lawn, and her lady’s maid was trailing along behind her. The two women dodged through the hedgerows expertly, and Christianna made it to Phineas’ side a second later. She was panting as if she had galloped a mile to find him. “I have…been searching everywhere.”
“Whatever is the matter, my lady?” Phineas asked as he watched Christianna’s pulse jump in her neck.
“Have either of you seen the duke?” she panted. Her lady’s maid joined them then, and she clutched at her chest but said nothing.
“You are running about like this because you cannot find Percival?” his mother asked in a most incredulous way. She was looking at Christianna and her lady’s maid so that her disapproval of such behaviour was rather evident.
“He…His Grace is missing,” Christianna said as she tried to suck in a deep gulp of air. “We have looked…for him…but he is just…gone.”
Chapter 25
The look on Phineas’ face was inscrutable. While it was apparent that the dowager duchess was taken aback and perhaps even a little appalled by Christianna’s words, Phineas just stood there for a long moment, looking pensive. “You say you have looked for him?” he asked at length.
Christianna nodded vigorously. “I have checked all his usual haunts,” she reported. “We started by searching in the parlour, and Miss Fitzroy suggested we might even swing by the conservatory. While we found plenty of wedding guests, His Grace was not with any of them.”
Phineas pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Did you check the stables…or see if he had called round for a carriage?”
“You think he went into town?” the dowager duchess asked sceptically. “The day before his wedding?”
“He might have done so,” Phineas replied. He made a face as if he was trying to decide whether he should expound upon this point or not, but then pushed forward. “He ran into a spot of trouble with a man named Mr Windler. He might have felt compelled to see to matters and get all well-handled before his nuptials.”
“That seems highly unlikely,” the dowager retorted.
“Just the same, we should send someone to the stables,” Phineas said. “Miss Fitzroy.” He looked right through Christianna when he addressed her lady’s maid. “Please be so kind as to run down to the stables and speak to the master there. He will know if His Grace has taken a horse or perhaps summoned a carriage.”
“Yes, my lord,” Miss Fitzroy whispered obediently, then she dashed away, moving just as quickly as her legs could carry her.
The dowager put both hands upon her hips. “I understand that you are troubled, Lady Christianna, as you need to speak with His Grace post haste, but I think you may be overexaggerating the severity of this situation. Our home is quite large, and Percival could be anywhere.”
“But that is just the problem,” Christianna replied defensively. “He is not to be found anywhere. He has disappeared altogether.”
The dowager shot a disbelieving glance at Phineas, but he was not looking at his mother or Christianna either, for that matter. Instead, he gazed at the ground, and said so quietly that his words were barely audible, “Did you…did you go to his bedchambers, Christianna?”
She knew not why his expression was tortured so greatly but answered his question promptly. “Miss Fitzroy and I sought His Grace’s valet, so we could have him check the bedchambers, but we were unable to locate his manservant, either.”
The dowager huffed indignantly. “Did you, at the very least, go and knock on his door?”
“We did,” Christianna admitted as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I know we are not permitted to be in the hall that belongs to the gentlemen, but Miss Fitzroy and I did go and peck on the door.”
“Obviously, he did not answer your summons, but that does not mean he was not within,” the dowager said, and her tone carried a bit of a scolding with it. “Come,” she said as she lifted her chin, “we must go check Percival’s room once more.”
The trio tromped back through the garden, quickly skirting up the pathways, with the dowager duchess most surprisingly leading the charge. Christianna wished to hang back so she might have a private word with Phineas, but he would not deign to look at her.
