Page 61 of Her Duke in Shining Armor
“Yes,” Eleanor overrode. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.”
Aaron had no other choice but to grit his teeth and stay put.
* * *
She couldn’t believe she finally got there. Eleanor had known that Maria’s mother lived in a poor place but considering the surroundings, houses made with the cheap rotting board and patchwork slates, a house made of brick was a comfort many must have envied.
Maria knocked on the door and Eleanor stood anxiously waiting as she heard soft shuffling footsteps. The light from a candle was the first thing that hit her as the door was pulled in only a few inches. When the light hit Maria, the door was pulled open fully.
“Maria!” the woman nearly dropped to her knees to hug the child. “My baby, why are you here so late?”
Eleanor smelled the thin scent of burning chickweed, a bush used to allay the pain of an empty stomach. She realized that the woman must have not been able to buy infusions for her troubling stomach and had turned to herbs that she could find free of cost.
“I brought her here,” Eleanor greeted the woman, “to escape a vicious flogging. I am Eleanor, Lady Elizabeth’s daughter. I was told you were her lady maid.”
From the gauntness in the lady’s face and the spider thinness of her fingers, Eleanor knew the woman was not well. In fact, she looked like she would topple over at any moment. Eleanor took her and softly guided her over to the sole rocking chair in the room and eased her down.
“I don’t have much time but I will be back if I can,” Eleanor said while taking out the money she was giving to the woman. “My father should have stopped looking for her now so she should be safe here. Use this to buy some food and medicine.”
Maria’s mother looked like she was in the presence of an angel and grasped Eleanor’s hand. Her voice was hoarse, “Thank you, my darling. God bless you.”
She hesitated before asking, “Ma’am, Maria said my mother left a book with you. May I have it?”
“Maria,” the older woman croaked. “Fetch the book and give it to her. And I am Sarah, My Lady.
The girl knelt by the bedside and reached under it. She pulled out a book and slapped some cobwebs from her face. She then handed the old leather-bound book to her. Maria hugged her tightly.
“You…” the lady's voice broke. “You risked your life to bring my child to me…thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Eleanor said.
“You mother’s blood truly runs through you, My Lady,” Sarah said. “Be safe and take care.”
Eleanor tugged her hood back on, left the room and found the driver and the cloaked man at the carriage. The drunkard was gone though.
Stopping to look at the man who had accompanied her, she hugged the book to her chest, “Thank you.”
“Are you going to tell me why you sacrificed so much to carry her here?”
“She was my servant and my father was going to dole out a punishment that I knew she could not take so I decided to save her completely. She is just a child and there was no one else I could trust so I had to bring her here.”
The stranger held out the door and helped her in. As she went in Eleanor felt like his grip was strangely familiar but dismissed it. She sank into her seat as the carriage started off. As the cool night air caressed her face, Eleanor felt joy that she had saved Maria from a devastating end.
Running her hand over the worn leather, Eleanor spun it open to the see faded handwriting. Her eyes widened a bit.This is Mother’s diary.She felt giddy knowing that she had finally had eyes into her mother’s mind.
Tomorrow she would decide on what to do with Aaron. As the carriage passed ramshackle houses, Eleanor wondered how this stranger had suddenly appeared, out of nowhere, to give her a hand.
Were people like him still on earth? The man had pulled out a gun to her defense for God’s sake and even now, she still had not seen his face. Who was he? The carriage soon entered the Acre and then Piccadilly but just as she had expected him to stop at the same point he had met her and Maria, he kept going.
Fear almost overcame her and when the carriage stopped at Grosvenor Square, she hesitated but then pulled the inner handle. Warily, she stepped out and looked up to tell the stranger thanks again, only to see that there was only the driver there.
“He jumped off a mile back, Miss,” the man said. “But told me to take you outa harm’s way. This is the best I can do fer you.”
Eleanor was taken aback a little. “T-that’s…Thank You.”
The man tipped his hat, “G’night to you Miss.”
Still wondering who the annoyingly-familiar stranger was, Eleanor made it back to her home easily. She circled the house and began to climb to her window with the book tucked in the back of her breeches. It took her some effort but she managed to climb up to the window and scramble inside. Landing lightly on the floor, she sighed in relief.
