Page 70 of His Duchess in Disguise
Reggie turned to his dinner companions. “I am quite overcome, gentlemen,” he said. “I must retire and think upon this. Please, avail yourselves of the library and the brandy cabinet. The butler will, I’m sure, be glad to assist you. But I beg that you will excuse me.”
With that, Reggie slipped away from the others and went to his room. There, he found a very agitated Mr. Blank waiting for him.
Chapter 47
Leo lay down on one of the beds in the widow’s guest rooms. Leo’s thoughts and emotions were in a jumble, and his head ached as if a blacksmith’s hammer had struck him. Hamilton lay on the other bed, his knee braced and wrapped in a plaster cast. His left arm and shoulder were similarly encased in bandages that had been soaked in a mixture of egg whites, clay, and other liquids that the doctor produced from his bag.
The doctor had then dosed Hamilton with laudanum for the pain, so Leo’s secretary now snored away in a deep sleep. The doctor had offered laudanum to Leo, as well, but Leo had refused it in favor of keeping a clear head.
Lying down helped the pain and his thoughts slowly grew more orderly. There was only one person he knew of who would want to snatch Emma, and that was Percy Harlow. It was just like the blaggard to resort to abduction when he could not get what he sought by any other means.
Now, why would he want Emma? It was unlikely that his reasons included an attraction to the young lady’s sweet disposition, sharp wit, and ready sense of humor, nor her habit of dealing compassionately with those around her. It, therefore, had to be something that Putrid Percy would gain through marriage and that he could not get any other way.
Emma had mentioned something about a small dowry, a ramshackle dock on a small cove that opened out toward the Channel. Could that be what Percy Harlow wanted?
Leo shifted his weight on the bed. He felt like tossing and turning, but his head responded to any movement with a sharp stab of pain. Perhaps the bullet had cracked his skull as well as creasing his scalp. It was hard to say.
But if he was right about what Percy wanted…Leo carefully eased himself into a sitting position, then slowly stood upright. His head still throbbed, but it was no worse than it had been while he was lying down. He walked out into the widow’s little dining hall and found her there. She was stitching away at something, and a pot burbled on the hearth.
“Oh! Your Grace, you startled me,” she said. “Did you need something?”
“Paper, and something to write with, and a messenger that I can send to Bristol,” Leo responded. “I need to contact my friend. He will be worried when we do not show up.”
“Certainly, I’ll get some for you.” The widow set her sewing aside and hastened to a small sideboard. She drew out a little writing desk, set it on the table, and opened it for him.
Leo hastily penned a note, and held it out to her.
“I’ll send it right away,” the widow said. “Mary Carver’s boy, Sid can take it. He’s restless, and it will give him an opportunity to go into town.”
“Impress upon him the importance of delivering it first. It is extremely important that Captain Douglas should receive it before morning light.”
“Do not worry, Your Grace. He is a good lad, and will see to it, right and tight.” The Widow hurried away.
Leo sat at the table, his head in his hands. The trackers had not yet returned, and although he thought he knew what might have happened to Emma, he still did not know where or in what direction she had been taken.
The widow bustled back in. “Does your head ache, Your Grace?” At his slight nod, she went on, “I have just the thing for it. I didn’t want to say anything while the doctor was here. He does take on so about folk medicine. But I have a tisane of willow bark put by. It will help the ache in your head without making you sleepy the way laudanum is likely to do.”
“Thank you,” Leo accepted the cup of tea she handed to him after putting a few drops from a brown bottle in it.”
He sniffed it, then sipped, tasting the familiar bitter flavor of willow. “Gah,” he said. “Sorry. I’m not ungrateful, but the stuff always tastes ghastly.”
The boy Jessup entered then, with his father close behind him. Rags hopped up beside the Duke on the bench where he sat, and Red flopped on the hearth. “We lost them, Your Grace, but we’s a good idee which what they went. They was headin’ back t’ords London Town, but they left the main road. The trail was cut across by a herd of sheep, and Red couldn’t pick it back up after. Like as not, they changed horses then. Come daylight, we’ll get up a search party and spread out across country. They’ll be hard put to get by us, and we’ll find any sign they left.”
Leo groaned. “It is like fighting a phantom. I need to do something, but there is nothing to be done until we can learn where she is or at least where to look for her.”
“Drink up your tea, Your Grace,” the widow said gently. “Then go lie back down and try to get some rest so that you will be fresh at first light.”
The widow’s willow bark tea seemed to take the edge off the ache in his head, and at length, Leo slept.
At first light, he was up. The widow’s excellent breakfast was set out, and the trackers were already partaking of it while standing and laying out plans with a paunchy fellow who had the look of a farmer about him.
When Leo entered the room, Jessup’s father turned toward him, a polite smile creasing his leathery face as he strode over. “Your Grace! You are up betimes. I had thought you might sleep a while yet, injured as you were. I’m Gabe Barner. We met yesterday, but neither of us were thinking about introductions.”
“T’was only a graze, Mr. Barner. Have you a plan for the day?”
“Indeed, I do, Your Grace. I know you are anxious for your lady. We will make a line across country from where Jessup lost her trail last night, and we will look for sign. Mr. Showers over there is the closest thing we have to a mayor. He has organized the farmers and their families to take part. We’ve lost folk before hereabouts. The land is still wild in places, and we know what to do.”
“I’ll ride out with you,” Leo affirmed. “I’ve had enough of sitting and waiting. It is likely that I will have reinforcements coming out from Menhiransten in short order.”
