He took off in a sprint.
*
George hardly knewwhat to think. He’d been intent on discovering Miss Yardley and Lord Glendower and interrupting whatever tête-à-tête they were engaged in. Now he was informed that Miss Yardley had left and Glendower himself was at a run.
My God, had Glendower insulted the lady? Had she returned to Lady Heathway’s house to escape him? What was going on?
He’d chased Glendower out the front doors and tackled him on the street. As they rolled on the cobblestones, George said, “What is the meaning of this, Glendower? What have you done to Miss Yardley?”
As George pinned the man facedown to the ground and used his forearm to put pressure on the back of his neck so he could not overturn himself, he thought it ominous that Glendower would not even speak. Was he so ashamed of whatever he’d done that he could not speak? Had he groped her in some way?
The thought of that sent a rage through his body and he leaned ever harder on Glendower’s neck until the man was choking for breath.
He would make him speak. He would know all of what occurred.
George used his left hand to grab at Glendower’s mask and pull it off.
Then he fell back. It was not Lord Glendower at all. It was Jacobs.
A crowd had begun to form round them. Lady Heathway pushed her way through, followed by the duchess, her crown rather askew.
“Mr. Jacobs!” Lady Heathway cried. “But you…you are supposed to be Lord Glendower!”
“It was just a funny ruse,” Jacobs said. “It was my costume, I came pretending to be Lord Glendower.”
George grabbed Jacobs by his collar. “Where is Miss Yardley?”
“Put him upright, Lord Gresham,” the duchess said imperiously. “Lady Heathway and I will get to the bottom of this. I can assure you, if he has harmed Miss Yardley, I will borrow Lady Featherstone’s scepter and beat him to death in front of all!”
Lady Heathway nodded vigorously and seemed all too willing to help in the murder.
George eased off of Jacobs and hauled him to his feet.
“What have you done with her?” Lady Heathway said in a rather deadly tone.
“I did nothing,” Jacobs said. “A messenger came and she said she was going to Kent in Lady Marilyn’s carriage. At least, that’s what she said. I only came to have some fun, I had nothing to do with her…sprint.”
“Who is Lady Marilyn?” the duchess asked.
“I don’t know,” Jacobs said, “somebody who wanted to give her a lift.”
“There is something wrong, I am certain of it,” George said. “And equally certain this scoundrel is at the bottom of it. I will ride after her.”
“Yes, do George. I don’t like to think of a young girl alone in a carriage at this time of night!”
“Lymington,” George said, “take charge of Jacobs and don’t let him go anywhere. Tie him up and take him inside.”
“Indeed,” Lady Heathway said, “he is not to go anywhere. The duchess and I have quite a few questions.”
Lord Lymington did not look particularly enthusiastic to have been assigned jailer, but he nodded and went off to get some rope.
Lady Heathway and the duchess peppered Jacobs with questions while they waited. They did not get much out of him, though. Miss Yardley had received a letter by messenger and had got into a carriage owned by a Lady Marilyn. That was all he knew. Or so he said.
Meanwhile, George could already hear the whispers around him. Was it true Miss Yardley had sprinted? Did that mean she’d done it the first time? Had she really gone alone, or was there someone with her?
Lymington finally came back with a rope. George handed Jacobs over to him, though the fellow was now loudly complaining that he was being abused yet again because of Miss Yardley.
George ignored his complaints and sprinted across the green to his house. He would need Mercury—he was both swift and had endurance and they might just be able to overtake Miss Yardley’s carriage. He would keep him at a canter and change horses at Eltham. God willing, he could change to a horse just as swift as his own, and God willing, Miss Yardley had not met with danger. He did not know what the truth of this scheme was, but he did not believe Lady Barlow was dying. If that was not true, then there was a plot afoot and that mad, lovely girl had fallen right into it.
