Page 98 of The Enigmatic Governess of Buford Manor
“Forbidden from visiting us? Why?”
They swallowed visibly and Nicholas was consumed with a feeling of apprehension.
“Speak!” he ordered. “Tell me what has happened!”
Harry stared at his hands, adjusting his spectacles nervously as he waited for his sister to explain what they knew.
“You have been ill for days, Nicholas,” Betsey told him. “We were told to leave you to rest for your sake as well as ours.”
“By whom?”
“Her Grace but I believe it was Captain Balfour who truly wished to keep us apart.”
Nicholas tensed instinctively at the mention of the man.
What has been occurring with mother and Balfour while I have not been around to monitor their comings and goings?He wondered with bitterness. The children were much too young to understand and he could not ask them.
“Yet you are here now,” Nicholas said, realizing that they had disobeyed the duchess’ orders to be there.
“You were ill for so long, Nicholas, we began to wonder if you were not truly – “
“Betsey!” Harry interjected, horrified at what his sister was suggesting. Nicholas felt a pang of sadness as he saw how afraid his cousins were of losing yet another person they held dear.
“You cannot rid yourselves of me so easily,” Nicholas told her lightly, despite the hurt he felt in his heart. “Have you seen Miss Rose?”
Again, the children stared at one another and the regret Nicholas was feeling was replaced by concern.
“We tried,” Betsey confessed. “But her apartment is locked. She does not answer when we knock at the door.”
Nicholas was unsure what to make of that information.
“Perhaps she simply wishes to maintain her privacy. I will visit her today.”
“Nicholas…”
He stared at Betsey expectantly.
“I do not think she is seeking solitude. I believe she is much worse for wear than any of us were.”
She is being fatalistic. She cannot know for certain what has become of Rose if she has not seen her.
“You must not think that way,” the duke told her softly. “Run along now before you are caught and punished for being where you are not meant to be. If you were to fall ill again, I would not forgive myself.”
“We shan’t,” Harry mumbled. “I do not believe we were ever truly ill.”
Nicholas cocked his head and stared at the boy.
“Whatever do you mean by that? Of course, we were ill. I can attest to that!”
“We do not believe we have been sick with fever,” Betsey explained nervously. “We believe that Captain Balfour has been keeping us subdued through slyer means.”
“That is ridiculous,” Nicholas snapped but his heart was beginning to pound as he thought about the circumstances of their illness. Instantly, he remembered how he had tried to protest the doctor’s finding of spoiled food when there was no possible way they had all eaten from the same source.
If they are correct, Balfour is a dangerous man. What has he planned for my mother? Moreover, what has he done to Rose? I must see her at once.
“You must leave now,” Nicholas told them, an urgency in his voice. “And do not speak of your visit to anyone.”
The cousins stared at one another but there was no time for Harry and Betsey to react. As if on cue, the door to his chambers opened and Theodore appeared. He started when he saw the children.
