Duncan ignored the maid’s question. “Where did you and my daughter leave Lord Almano?” Duncan growled. His face was taut with worry.
“The young mistress swore me to secrecy, my lord,” the maid said nervously.
“You heard me,” Duncan hissed. “And if you value your position, you will not waste one more second of my time!”
Alexander interpreted, “The count has taken your mistress. We must find her.”
Winston nodded her understanding. “He said he would find a means to even their encounter.”
“I require a quick explanation, Winston,” Duncan ordered.
She turned to them. “Originally, my lady and the count were to view the Elgin Marbles, but he set his gig for a different destination. When Lady Theodora finally realized our traveling so far, she ordered him to return her to this house. We were in the country, my lord. About three miles just outside the city,” the maid explained while wringing her hands in obvious worry.
“What was his destination?” Duncan pressed for more information.
“I cannot say with assurance, my lord,” Winston said solemnly. “Lady Theodora demanded he stop the gig, and, when he would not, I convinced him with my Queen Anne pistol.”
“Which road?” Duncan asked as he led the way to his office to retrieve his guns.
“At the corner. To the right. No turns,” Winston described as she followed her master about the room. Meanwhile, Alexander also claimed several of the guns Duncan did not use, along with a box with the necessary ammunition. “No turns, sir,” the maid repeated. “Past the jeweler where Lord Orson’s telescope was engraved. Past the houses rimming the city. Finally, thinned out significantly.”
“Any milestones?” Duncan questioned.
“Charing Cross the opposite way. Two towards Newham,” the maid said.
Alexander was impressed with how well Winston kept her composure.
“Anything else you can recall?” Duncan asked as he headed towards the main door.
“When Lady Theodora demanded the count turn the gig around, the count said there was a lane up ahead where he could turn the gig about. Afterwards, I wondered how he knew of the lane if he had recently arrived from Sardinia.”
“And you were where?” Duncan implored.
“Past West Ham Marsh and on the left-hand side—my left as I was facing the back of the gig—there were three cottages close together, all a pinkish white,” the maid provided. “Lots of flowers before them, as if they had all been planted by the same person.”
“No one is to speak of this to anyone inside or outside this house,” Duncan ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Fields said as he followed on Duncan’s heels, expecting more orders.
Mr. Peters brought the horses around just as Alexander opened the door for Duncan. “We will find her, sir,” he assured.
“If not, you will be required to dig two graves,” Duncan said as he stepped up into the stirrup. “Theodora’s and mine.”
Alexander belatedly realized he should have asked if Duncan was well enough to ride, but his lordship had already kicked his horse’s sides and set off at a gallop, ignoring complaints of many on the street.
Theodora had donewhat Count Almano had said. She had not spoken—not criticized—nor threatened. He had driven in the same direction as previously, though the route was not as direct as the last time, until they reached a lane, likely the one he had previously offered as their destination.
“You presented me with no alternative,” he had said several times as an excuse.
“There are always two sides to every coin,” she remarked, at last.
“I had no choice,” Almano repeated his supposed regrets. “I had to act. Too many vowels to pay.”
“You could quit gambling,” Theodora countered. “But I suppose my dowry was meant to solve that problem.”
“I wanted to…”
Theodora was not to learn what he intended to say, for a figure stepped out upon the porch of the cottage found at the end of the lane. When the man left the shadows, Theodora noted that the occupant of the cottage had painted his face all black, which was most odd, but there was nothing she could do at this point. The man wore a dark set of clothing, as one might wear for the theater and a cape with a white satin lining. Dora’s mind flashed to a similar man, only his cape had been lined with red satin. Richard Orson had spotted the stranger in Covent Garden the night Dora’s brother had rescued Lady Emma Donoghue. They had all assumed the stranger outside the Covent Garden bordello had been Mr. Palmer, the Donoghue butler, who Richard had finally killed in order to save Lady Emma, but the coincidence was not lost on Theodora.
