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Chapter Twenty-Five
Kenneth stood in the House of Lords a week later as the votes were about to be cast.
He was literally standing in a daze, waiting to hear which way the House had decided to vote.
He’d submitted the bill at the last session and made copies available for every Member of Parliament. He’d personally checked on the progress some Lords were making in their reading of his bill.
He’d even had another meeting with the instigators, one that had been orchestrated by his dear friend Leonard, in order to bring them up to speed and show them the progress that was being made. And now there was nothing else he could do but wait for the votes to be cast.
If the week prior to this had been pure bliss, this one had been the exact opposite.
Pure chaos!
To worsen matters, Leonard had turned up missing. After the meeting in the dingy warehouse four nights ago, he and Leonard had headed home together. They’d spent some time in the study before he’d retired to bed.
In the morning, Leonard had woken him up as usual and helped him get ready. He’d sent his valet then with a letter for Rose before he himself stepped out of the manor to attend to some business.
Apparently, Leonard had gone on the errand but never returned. Through some risky investigation, he had found out that Leonard had delivered the letter to Elsa. Somewhere after delivering the letter and coming back home, something had happened to Leonard and his dear friend was nowhere to be found.
Not even the Duke’s influence had resulted in finding his missing valet. His mind was agog with a lot of possibilities, chief of which were the unsavory characters Leonard had mixed up with on his behalf.
Could the instigators of the uprising have killed him?
Leonard would have had to mix with a lot of lowlifes in order to get the information that Kenneth had kept coming to him for.
Could any of these lowlifes have grown antsy and harmed my friend?
This was the first time in ten years that Leonard’s whereabouts where a mystery. Kenneth couldn’t help but feel so much guilt at the disappearance of his friend. A lot of things in his life had been put on hold, or grinded to a halt, with Leonard’s absence, making him see how much he had depended on his valet.
Even his correspondence with Rose was no longer possible and as a result, he hadn’t sent or received a message from her in days.
Overall, he missed Leonard.
“Lord Walsrock? Are you all right?” Someone beside him whispered. He turned to see Lord Rockgonie looking at him, concern etched all over his face.
“I’m fine,” he responded, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I heard about your missing valet. I sincerely hope he is all right and returns back safe,” Lord Rockgonie said, even though they both knew that such hopes were farfetched at this point. Leonard’s body probably lay in a ditch somewhere waiting to be found.
“I also have a message for you from you know who. In a loss for how to get across to you, he has reached out to me. They are concerned about you and want to meet with you,” Lord Rockgonie continued.
Kenneth understood the cryptic message that was being delivered.
“I have taken the liberty of arranging for such a meeting tomorrow morning at my manor. Be there at the usual time,” Lord Rockgonie said.
Kenneth nodded and smiled. It had been his first smile in days.
“Oh, good luck with the vote, not like you need it any way. This looks like a done deal already.” Lord Rockgonie smiled as he walked away to his seat.
“That’s right,” he heard Lord Calbrook say by his side. “This bill is already in the bag. On to the next one.”
The chamber suddenly quieted down as voting began. The voting took all of about one hour for the votes to be cast and counted.
By the time the votes were announced, an unprecedented upset lay in store for him.
The majority of the House had voted against the passage of the bill, stunning Kenneth and his friends. An inaudible rancor began to build slowly through the chamber after the results were announced and the focal point was Kenneth.
Slowly, the acrimony became audible as vile allegations and comments began to be directed his way. The Lords in the chamber had not only voted against his bill, they had begun to see him as the enemy within who was interested in rallying the commoners against them and their entitled lives.
