AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yet what she found as she slipped through the open side door of the stables, she would never have imagined. Her daughter stood with her back pressed against one of the wooden pillars that held up the stable roof.
Yet she was not alone; with her and pressing her back against the pillar was a young man. Though his back was to her, Agnes instantly recognised him by his clothing and stature as one of the grooms. What was worst of all was the fact that he was kissing Bertha.
Racing forward, Agnes grabbed hold of the back of the young man’s jacket and yelled, “You unhand my daughter!” Having taken both of them by surprise, Agnes was easily able to pull him away from her. “You shall get away from my daughter, or so help me, I will ...”
Placing herself between the two of them, she did not look back over her shoulder, glaring at the startled man as she asked Bertha, “Daughter, are you hurt? Has he harmed you in some way?”
“Oh, no, Your Grace! Never!” the boy responded, looking quite startled. His face was flushed, and the moment he met her gaze, he lowered his head, clearly not daring to look at her for too long.
“No, Mama, Thomas would never!”
“Thomas?Thomas?” Agnes snapped almost hysterically, “Are the two of you so familiar?”
Now she finally glanced over her shoulder at her daughter and saw that she, too, was blushing, unable to meet her gaze.
“Bertha, you will admit that this man was accosting you or so help me!” Agnes demanded, certain that she needed to hear the words from her daughter’s lips as she could not believe what she was seeing with her own eyes. “You shall tell me the truth, and he shall be punished. Do you hear me? Do not be frightened.”
Yet when Bertha finally lifted her gaze, there was defiance there, the likes of which Agnes had never seen before. It smouldered and smoked, and Bertha straightened up, glaring back at her mother as she admitted, “Thomas and I are in love.”
“No, no! This cannot be!” Agnes exclaimed. “How have you threatened her, boy? What have you done? Where also is Lady Daisy Lockhart? Have you also had your way with her?”
Even as she said the words, a part of Agnes was slightly hopeful. Though it would be tragic and scandalous, it would leave no doubt as to the fact that Lady Daisy was unfit to be in any kind of romantic entanglement with Mr Radcliffe.
Her entanglement with a groom, I can work with,Agnes thought, already certain that she had hooked Lloyd enough to take the girl either way.But I cannot work with this!She gulped past the lump in her throat, imagining the groom touching her one and only daughter, her sunshine, her everything.
“We are in love, Mama. Thomas and I are in love, and nothing you can say or spin will change that,” Bertha explained, her voice level, calm, and sure, so much so that it made Agnes feel sick to her stomach.
Instinctively, she hurried forward and grabbed hold of her daughter just above her elbow. Beginning to drag her from the stable, she announced, “We shall see about that!”
“Ouch! Mama, you are hurting me!” Bertha exclaimed, fighting back against her. They had just reached the door to the stable, the groom hurrying after them though seeming unsure as to what to do when they were all stopped dead in their tracks.
“What is the meaning of all this racket?”
Agnes’ blood turned to ice in her veins as her husband stepped through the door, outlined for a moment by the brightness of the early morning, making it almost impossible for her to see his face. Yet as her eyes adjusted, she saw him gazing from them to the groom and back again, with a clear look of suspicion.
“What is going on here?” he demanded.
Agnes did not allow anyone else to get a word in edgewise. She quickly stepped before her daughter, blocking the duke from looking at her as she threw an accusing finger at the groom. “This foul boy has attempted to defile our daughter! He must be punished! He must be removed immediately and punished!”
“Now, now, Agnes!” the duke insisted, lifting a hand to wave away her hysterics. “It is much too early for all this shouting. Let us all calm down and explain to me what is going on.”
“Papa, Thomas and I are quite calm,” Bertha insisted, stepping away from her mother and moving towards the groom. Agnes tried vainly to pull her away, but Bertha stood her ground, shaking off her straining grip. “He and I are in love, Papa. I am not ashamed to admit it, no matter how hysterical Mama may be.”
“How can you say that?” Agnes cried desperately. “George, do something! This man has defiled one daughter, and The Lord knows what he has done with the other!”
At that the duke’s shoulders tensed. “What of Daisy? Where is she?”
He glanced around as if he expected her to appear from one of the stalls, though he did not look entirely concerned.
“Yes, Thomas, where is she? What have you done with her?” Agnes demanded, turning an accusing glare on the young groom once more, hoping that her scathing look would burn him to cinders.
Bertha clutched hold of Thomas’ arm and whispered something inaudible in his ear, but the boy lifted his head, looking defiant. “My love, I cannot lie in the face of such a direct question. Lady Daisy is not here.”
“Where is she, Thomas?” the duke asked. His tone was far calmer and friendlier than Agnes would have liked, and she had to remember herself, biting her lip to stop from scolding her husband.
“She is not in Oxford, Your Grace,” Thomas admitted even when Bertha whispered to him again, clearly trying to stop him from implicating himself. “She has run away.”
Agnes gasped then though a part of her was encouraged by the news. If she had run away, then she had removed herself from Bertha’s path. It would take some time to settle the rumours, but they would figure something out. Yet Bertha’s accusation made Agnes’ skin crawl. “She has run away because of you, Mama. We know that you have been plotting and scheming all these weeks. We are well aware that you have been keeping her and Mr Radcliffe apart!”
