“How did youcome to bring Lady Emma Donoghue to Duncan Place?” Thompson asked as they all settled among the chairs in the library.
Richard sighed, for he did not wish for more explanations. He would prefer this situation could be resolved with as little fanfare as possible. However, he began, “I accompanied Sir Hunter Wickersham to Madam Ahrens’s last evening. Hunt and Miss David will marry this Friday, and he thought to sow more of his freedom before then. I was still a bit out of sorts with us having few leads in Duncan’s attack, as well as the hours at the Lords listening to first one and then another speaking for the latest funding bills for our military. I know otherwise, and I truly understand the reasons behind this madness of sending money to other countries to pay them to fight at Wellington’s side. Yet, have we not enough men to do the job properly?”
“The obvious,” Thompson said. “The war efforts would not be so popular among British citizens if our people were showing up on deceased lists with some regularity.”
Richard did not argue, though he suspected his friend was correct, so he simply continued. “I left the Lords and went to White’s, only to find Lady Emma and her contingent again blocking the door. So, between the insentient debate in the Lords and Lady Emma’s efforts to shame all of London’s most prestigious gentlemen and no movement on Duncan’s situation and a strong belief that Sir Hunter is making a gigantic mistake in marrying Miss David, I simply could not stay any longer at Madame Ahrens’s house. My God, the woman employs a woman who calls herself ‘Chastity.’”
“So you left?” Beaufort summarized. “Then what?”
“There was a man at the end of the alleyway on the main street. Dressed in theatre garb, but it was a Monday night and the theatre was closed. Basically, he was all in black, but the cape had a red satin lining. He appeared purposely to walk away from me, so I followed him all the way to the theaters where he hailed a hack and was gone. I started back towards where Sir Hunter’s coach was waiting. I was going to take it home and then send Hunt’s driver back to Madame Ahrens to rouse out the baronet. I was still thinking about the man in black and his odd behavior, and so I made a few wrong turns and ended up on a street with which I was not initially familiar, where Lady Emma Donoghue managed to fall into my waiting arms. She fought me for a bit, but she was too far gone to provide much of an altercation. I sat her on the entrance steps to a boarding house while I looked for her attacker or even her reticule or evening shoes, neither of which was still on her body.
“The lady says she must have been attending the theatre and become lost when she left. Yet, as I just said, there are no productions on Mondays. Not until the end of the week.Moreover, when Rheem first attended her, Lady Emma became quite frightened when she noted the surgeon’s red waistcoat. I am at wit’s end to know where we might begin to find her assailant. I could use your expertise in this matter.”
“You have it,” Thompson swore. “Let us begin again and take each part of this mystery apart.”
Richard nodded his thanks. “Oh, I forgot to include how Lady Emma said, ‘I must find three...’ She does not recall what three things for which she searched, but they were important enough to drive her deep into Covent Garden’s less colorful neighborhoods where she was beaten close to death and would have known God’s mercy if I had not found her.”
His conversation withhis friends already had Richard more distracted than he wished to be for the tea party honoring Hunter and Miss David. More so upset, after the bizarre nature of Lady Emma’s staff’s response to Theodora’s request that they prepare several small trunks for their mistress’s use while the lady recuperated.
“Though this appears to be Lady Emma’s script, I was not aware that my mistress held you in acquaintance,” Emma’s butler responded when he was presented the task.
Irritated by the man’s response, Richard snapped, “I did not realize Lady Donoghue thought it necessary to report her whereabouts to her employees nor with whom the lady spends her time. How convenient to possess such an intimate relationship with your mistress!”
The man pulled himself up to stand stiffly before Richard and Theodora. “I have served Lady Donoghue for some twenty years, my lord.”
“Lady Donoghue?” Richard had asked before turning to Theodora. “Such is where we erred, my lady. We should have asked to speak to Lady Donoghue. If we had realized her ladyship’s presence at Donoghue House, we could have saved ourselves a great deal of embarrassment, my dear,” he continued. “May we ask for an audience with Lady Donoghue or even Lord Donoghue, though I had heard nothing of his return, had you, Theodora?”
“No, none of us has heard of the Donoghues’ return, and my father is in charge of both foreign and domestic affairs,” Dora said sarcastically while staring down the butler.
“We should make arrangements for Lady Emma’s return to Donoghue House. I imagine Lord and Lady Donoghue are quite distraught with the knowledge of their daughter’s absence.”
“Any father would be,” Theodora stated in innocent tones, but Richard knew the girl was unbelievably capable if he required her assistance.
“I did not say either Lord or Lady Donoghue is in residence,” the butler assured, but the man’s irritation was still evident.
“Then you have no reason not to follow Lady Emma’s orders. Lady Theodora and I will return, say, in two hours, to claim Lady Emma’s belongings.” Richard wished to throttle the man for his inactions, but he held his temper. “Are we, at last, speaking in accord?”
“All will be prepared as Lady Emma has ordered,” the man had said grudgingly.
A half hour later, Sir Hunter saddled up next to Richard. “Where is your mind?” Hunt asked. “I rarely see you so self-absorbed.”
“Nothing in particular. Just a few errands I must run for Duncan Place,” Richard lied. “A bit exhausted after all our ramblings last evening.”
Hunter smiled and squeezed Richard’s shoulder. “I understand from Sprig that you saved ademoiselle en détresselast evening.”
“The woman had been attacked by street thieves. She wandered too far away from her friends. From what little I learned, she had argued with her escort who flirted with another. She meant to claim a hack but stepped to a side street and became the victim.” For all Richard knew, what he had just described could be the truth, though he could not conceive of any man with Lady Emma Donoghue on his arm who would think to flirt with another woman.
“Then I am glad you were the one who came across her. Someone else might not have been so heroic,” Hunter observed.
“I am glad Sprig was able to drag you from the lovely blonde’s bed last night,” Richard remarked to switch subjects.
“Shush!” Hunt warned. “I do not wish Eliza to hear your words.”
“Naturally, we must keep Miss David’s innocence intact,” Richard confirmed. But he could not shake the feeling that one of his best friends was making a disastrous decision. Naturally, Miss David would be enjoying Hunt’s fortune, and Hunt, Richard supposed, the woman’s connections to the aristocracy. However, for as long they had known each other, Richard and Hunt had spoken of marrying for love, not a financial arrangement. Now, his best friend was going against everything they had promised each other. Moreover, Richard had the feeling that if the situation was reversed, Lady Emma would have known empathy if she had learned of a similar attack on Miss Elizabeth David, whereas Miss David would be repelled by viewing a woman as beaten as had been Lady Emma Donoghue. Miss David would blame Emma for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“What are Alexanderand the others executing for you today?” Theodora asked once they had retrieved Lady Emma’s trunks from the woman’s household and set out for Duncan Place.
“The expected,” Richard responded. “Looking for clues in Covent Garden. Lady Emma’s shoes, perhaps, will show up in one of the many street markets. A woman’s evening shoes would likely match her gown, so I suggested they look for something in a yellow tone. Of course, any fancy evening slippers at a street fair would likely be notable. We could determine better where she was before I found her. Alexander and the others will ask around to learn if anyone heard something unusual last evening, though, in truth, I suspect Lady Emma was attacked elsewhere and left in Covent Garden.”
