“Papa?”Julia urged when her father seemed momentarily at a loss for words.
He drew in a steadying breath at the same time as he straightened his spine and braced back his shoulders.“Hutchings has just informed me that Mr.Masterson has returned on foot and wishes to speak to me.”
“He arrived on foot?”The marchioness sounded horrified at the idea.“But where is his carriage?”
“That is no doubt what he wishes to tell us,” Julia’s father dismissed.“Hutchings has put him in the library for now, along with a decanter of brandy.The young lawyer is apparently in a very emotional and disheveled state.He does not seem to be making much sense at all, according to Hutchings.”
After failing to make sense of the information, Julia stared blankly at her father.
Mr.Masterson had left Foxburgh Manor several hours ago, and yet the butler said the lawyer had returned in a less-than-composed and emotional state.Something that gentleman had not seemed capable of after he had read the will of Julia’s grandmother and Julia had reacted so viscerally.
Not only that, but where had the lawyer been since he left here all those hours ago?
“Do you suppose he had an accident in his carriage and that is why he has arrived back without it?”She surmised this must surely be the explanation for Mr.Masterson having returned in such a state.
Hutchings gave a pained grimace.“I believe that to be the case.But the young gentleman is not making a great deal of sense about anything at the moment.”
“In what way is he not making sense?”Julia’s father demanded to know.
The butler winced.“In the way, my lord, that he keeps repeating that we must send someone to rescue the Earl of Wolfingham.”
The earl appeared puzzled.“Rescue him from what or where?”
Hutchings made a face.“According to Mr.Masterson, the earl was inside the carriage when it went off the road and tumbled down a steep embankment.”
“Wolfingham was in Masterson’s carriage with him when it crashed?”Julia’s uncle clarified.
The butler looked less than convinced in his description.“That does seem to be what he is saying, yes, my lord.”
“What of the driver and groom?”Julia prompted, remembering those two young men jumping lithely onto the carriage earlier.
“Both dead, according to Mr.Masterson.”
Julia’s brows rose.“Dead?”
“Yes.”
“Both of them?”
“Mr.Masterson seems to be of that opinion, yes,” the butler confirmed.
“What of the horses?”the marquis, a keen horseman, demanded.
“Apparently, Mr.Masterson was able to release them from their harnesses, but they then immediately ran off.”
“Was Mr.Masterson injured?”Julia’s mother voiced her concern.
“I do not believe so, my lady.”
“What on earth was Wolfingham doing in Mr.Masterson’s carriage in the first place?”the marchioness asked the question they were all no doubt intrigued to know.
“We will none of us learn the answer to that, my dear, until after we have spoken to Mr.Masterson,” her husband announced impatiently as he stood.“Which I suggest we go and do this very moment.”
CHAPTERSIX
Mr.Masterson’s appearance and clothing were every bit as bedraggled as Hutchings had said they were.
Dirt streaked the lawyer’s pale and gaunt features, his hat was absent, and his hair was in disarray.The dark material of his suit looked to be covered in dried mud.
