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“That cannot be, Bridget,” Oliver was unwavering. “I understand how you feel, and why you wish to defend him, but believe me that I know what I saw. I know whom I saw, and it could not be anyone else but him.”
Bridget finally realized that Oliver was too distraught to see reason. Convincing him of anything else other than what he believed was an impossibility right now.
She turned to Sarah, who was still holding her hand. “Could we please go home now?”
“Of course, let us just–” Sarah started, but she was interrupted by Oliver, who would not be pacified until he saw justice done, or whatever he deemed to be justice.
“We are not leaving this place until I find Joseph and demand retribution!” Oliver thundered.
Bridget turned pale. This fear was unlike any other she felt before, igniting her very being, decreasing her ability to think and even her self-control. She knew what Oliver wanted to do. He wanted to find Joseph and challenge him to a duel. Oliver would never allow such disgrace to befall either of his two sisters, and for them, he was ready to die. With him, there was no life in humiliation. It was better to be dead.
“Oliver!” she squeezed his name through clenched teeth. “Please don’t do something we might regret…” Her voice was on the verge of breaking. So was her mind.
“We already regret what has been done, Bridget. You are merely too sweet and innocent to realize that this man has been using you.”
She did not consider herself the sweet and innocent victim in all this. If nothing else, she was to blame as much for this as Joseph was. However, in this mysterious affair, neither she nor Joseph were to blame. Rather, it was the mysterious stranger who had arranged all this somehow then disappeared without a trace, leaving an innocent person to take the blame.
“Please, Oliver…” She clutched at his hand, tears glistening in her eyes. “Please, listen to me. It was not Joseph…” She kept repeating those words over and over again, but they never reached Oliver. If they did, they dispersed against the heavy brick wall of his disbelief.
Instead, she felt him bring her hands to his lips and press a soft kiss upon them. “You are too distraught to see reason now, but you will thank me for this later, Bridget.”
“No…” she whispered as she felt their hands separate like a torn chain which would never again be brought together.
She heard him running away, his shoes hitting the floor underneath heavily like a punishment.
“Quickly!” Bridget turned to Sarah, the icy fingers of dread holding her heart in their grasp. “We must follow him!”
Chapter 23
“… so, I’m afraid that the price of coal might continue to plummet at least until we–” Joseph was enjoying the distraction of his conversation with Lord Henley until a rather strong grip on his shoulder made him cut his sentence short. The pain shot up his neck, rendering him unable to breathe, let alone speak. He immediately turned around, his eyebrows knotting in an expression of disgruntlement.
“I beg your pardon for interrupting this conversation, gentlemen.” Joseph’s gaze met Oliver’s, who was speaking through clenched teeth and stiff jaw. “But I need the Duke’s attention rather urgently.”
Joseph’s disgruntlement disappeared instantly and was instead substituted by concern.
“Is everything all right?” Joseph immediately asked. Seeing his friend in such an utter state of disarray, the worst thoughts started to plague his mind. Perhaps someone in his family had suddenly gotten ill and needed to be taken somewhere urgently. He could only hope that someone was not Bridget.
Oliver replied by grinding his teeth and squeezing Joseph’s shoulder even harder. “Would you please accompany me to the garden?”
“Of course, but… what is it about, old chum?”
There was nothing chummy about the way Oliver was staring at him. A man who always refrained from violence of any kind, Oliver now seemed to be barely able to control his own rage. Joseph could not venture a guess why. He had done everything Oliver asked of him. He refrained from speaking to Bridget, and only asked Sarah to dance because his mother insisted it of him. He did not have the heart to refuse her. If she had not made it into a personal favor, he would have remained as far away from both Sarah and Bridget as the ballroom allowed. Being within eyesight of Bridget and needing to exercise self-control was extremely difficult, something he was barely accomplishing, but he respected his friend’s wishes and wanted to assure him that he took the advice to heart.
“I would rather discuss this outside,” Oliver spoke calmly, but that was solely because his entire face was clenched, his jaw tighter than the strings on a violin, about to snap any moment.
“All right then,” Joseph concurred, turning to Lord Henley, who seemed equally perplexed regarding this sudden and rather discourteous interruption of their conversation. “Please excuse me, Henley. I seem to have urgent business to take care of.”
“Do not worry; I shall be here upon your return,” Lord Henley smiled benevolently, lifting his glass at Joseph.
“Follow me,” Oliver grunted, and all Joseph could do was obey, curiosity giving way to more concern with each passing moment.
He followed Oliver through the crowd of ball guests, nodding to a few of them as he passed them by. Oliver, however, seemed in a hurry to reach their destination, unwilling to stop anywhere, even for a single moment. Joseph considered trying to speak to him, to probe him into revealing the reason behind all this drama, but he quickly opted against it. It was obvious that Oliver was deeply distraught, so Joseph believed that he would simply reveal the reason for such great distress at the right time. Joseph would, in the meantime, do as he was told and try not to antagonize his friend further.
Once they were outside in the garden, Oliver glanced around, assuring that they were alone. Joseph almost chuckled out loud. All this seemed ridiculous, not to mention utterly unnecessary. Why all the secrecy? It was just the two of them outside if one was not counting all the trees and neatly trimmed bushes. The soft night sounds filled the air around them. Had it not been for Oliver’s look of utter distress and scorn, Joseph would welcome being taken outside, away from all the other guests and the sole reason his own inner turmoil.
“All right then,” Joseph inhaled deeply, placing his hands on his waist casually. “Would you mind telling me why you dragged me outside without any explanation?”
Oliver gave him a deep, long stare, one Joseph could not make sense off. His eyes flared up with fury the likes of which Joseph had never seen in his friend, whom he had known for many years. This was unlike Oliver. Just as Joseph was about to speak, it happened.
