AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Patience walked with her as they left the bedchamber and made their way in the opposite direction of the foyer. Reaching the back staircase, Patience led the way, taking Elizabeth through the kitchen and out the back into the garden, the gentle smell of herbs wafting through the summer breeze. There was a road behind the estate, lined with weeds and grass, one where Elizabeth knew she might be able to come upon a hackney carriage. As for her destination after that, she hadn’t a clue.
Walking away from her home was more difficult than she’d expected. She knew she had to in order to get somewhere to find a hackney carriage, though she was wholly determined to find William, and she could only think of one place to go. From there, she would make her next move.
A part of her wished she didn’t have to leave. She wished it had all been easy, that William had not left her so suddenly and had become the man she’d hoped he would be.
She remembered the last time they’d planned to see each other with such clarity—before his mother had passed and everything had gone wrong. It had been a few days before the start of the Season, when she had been twenty years. She’d meant to debut, a year later than she should have in light of her mother’s death a few months prior. Despite the lingering sadness for death, Elizabeth had been eager to come out to society—even more so knowing that she would been courted by William openly.
Once she could muster up the courage to reveal her feelings, of course. She’d planned it all out. She would meet with him at the park, while her father believed she was going shopping for gowns. She would tell him that she’d been in love with him for years, and that she hoped he shared the same feelings. She would suggest that they court, comfortable enough with him to do such a thing despite it being very out of ordinary, and then they would be married by the end of the Season. And for the entire morning leading up to that meeting, Elizabeth had tried to build her courage, to make sure she said the words the way it should be.
One day we will be married, Beth.
He had said those words to her so often over the years that Elizabeth hadn’t considered it would not happen. And she’d never gathered the courage to tell him how she felt about him.
Is it regret? Is that why I cannot let him go?
She’d asked herself that question so many times and was still no closer to the answer. She could only wish that day had gone the way she’d hoped.
Nothing had worked out the way she’d planned it and seven years had passed so quickly and Elizabeth had been left with questions and unfulfilled dreams ever since.
Without realizing it, she’d gone quite a distance from Gillet House, now moving along under the light of the moon above. As luck would have it, a hackney carriage happened to be coming down the street. Elizabeth quickly flagged it down and it rattled to a stop beside her.
She could not see much of the driver’s face, but she could tell he was scrutinizing her. “What is a lady doing out here on her own?” he asked.
“I wished to head somewhere,” she explained, smiling to ease his mind. “But I do not think I can make it on my own. Could you assist me?”
He said nothing for a moment, then jerked his head towards the carriage. “Get in. And be lucky I’m the one who came upon you. Any other man and they might think you’re another type of woman.”
Elizabeth’s face went hot at his words. She supposed only ladies of the night would be out so long after dark. She thanked him gratefully and climbed in after telling him the location. Then she settled in and tried to calm her heart.
It was a long ride, undoubtedly expensive, but Elizabeth didn’t care. She asked him to bring her to the closest neighborhood to the outskirts of London, hoping she would be able to begin her search from there.
When they arrived on a lonely street, and she paid the driver, Elizabeth faced the darkness around her. She’d never been out so late at night on her own, and her heart began to race as the carriage rattled away. She was utterly alone now, with only dim gaslight streetlamps around to chase the shadows away. A chill ran over her skin but she tucked her arms into her cloak and began walking down the street, in the opposite direction the carriage had come.
She walked for a while, her steps the only sound to accompany her. Within the span of a few minutes, and after a few twists and turns that led into a different area, Elizabeth came to a stop. “Oh,” she whispered under her breath. “This may help me.”
