“None of us have seen her ladyship since some time last week,” the woman declared.
Theodora continued to speak for them, “Such is understandable. Our Emma was attacked on Monday evening of this week. She was badly injured.”
“Where?” the woman asked. “Shall she live?” The other two women took a step closer, as if to hear what Theodora would say.
“She shall live,” Dora explained. “My friend here,” Theodora gestured to him, “found Lady Emma on a side street in Covent Garden. Bloody. Bruised. Alone. An apparent robbery.”
“Lady Emma would not go to Covent Garden alone,” the shorter of the three said.
“I swear there was no one else around,” Richard said calmly, though he studied the women carefully. He had seen all three with Emma previously.
“Lady Emma said a man has asked her to the theatre,” the youngest of the three shared. “She did not say when. That was a little over a week ago yesterday.”
“But there are no performances on Monday,” Dora reminded them. “What we were wondering was whether Lady Emma was frightened of any of her acquaintances?”
“Should not her ladyship be speaking to her fears rather than any of us?” the older woman asked suspiciously.
Dora kept control of the conversation. “Lady Emma was struck about the head several times and is having difficulty keeping the facts straight.”
“Oh, my!” the youngest gasped. Richard was beginning to see the similarity in the countenances of the eldest and this girl. Mother and daughter perhaps. “Could it be that awful Lord Davidson? Lady Emma was afraid his lordship might attempt to force himself on her to demand a marriage.”
“We have considered Lord Davidson,” Theodora explained, “but his lordship claims an agreement with Lord Donoghue. Lord Davidson would not be required to beat Lady Emma into submission if her father had signed a marriage settlement.”
The older of the three said, “My money is on the man sending her messages.”
“What type of messages?” Richard asked, though he should have permitted Dora to continue to lead.
“Just... just bizarre. We all thought it was some former friend of her father’s, for the person sending her the notes knew what Lady Emma had done when her cat died and who was her best friend when her ladyship was five. Those sorts of details that the average person would not know. None of us knew those facts, did we?” she asked the others, and both women shook their heads in the negative. “And we have known Lady Emma for several years.”
“Since her governess left her?” Richard asked, though he already knew the answer.
“Yes. One day she came into this office and offered to assist us. We were suspicious at first, but she was so young and full of hope that I could not resist permitting her to stay and assist in rolling up the flyers we distribute around the city. After that, she came regularly. I suspected she was more lonely than she was ready to fight for the rights of women, but, eventually, she came to listen more than she spoke and took up the cause herself.”
Dora asked, “Has Lady Emma ever spoken of the yellow lilies in her garden?”
“Her mother sent them to England with Lady Emma,” the elder woman said. “Her ladyship tended them herself. She would rarely permit anyone even to hoe around them.”
“They have been ripped from the ground,” Richard explained. “The garden has been altered to disguise their absence.”
“Are you assured?” the youngest asked.
“Absolutely. I have viewed their absence myself.”
“We could ask around?” the eldest offered.
Richard placed a sack of coins on the counter. “Discreetly.”
Meanwhile, Lady Theodora placed her card beside the bag. “Send word of even the slightest bit of information, and I will come immediately.”
The three women nodded their assent. “We protect each other. Provide Lady Emma our best wishes. You shall hear from us soon.”
“If you holdno objection, my lady,” Lord Beaufort stated, “Graham and I thought to do some hunting—shooting, actually.A few birds. It would make our story of coming to hunt more believable if we are viewed by the locals in the fields.”
Emma looked from one man to the other. “I do not understand. You surely do not require my permission.”
Lord Graham explained, “We did not wish you to feel as if we had deserted you. I suppose what Beaufort means for us to know is whether being alone for a few hours will be too daunting of a task for you at this point in your healing.”
“No one else is in the house?” she asked, looking about her. Emma’s breathing quickly became more labored.
