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“Wait here,” he told his mother, looking at the butler who remained standing beside the door, even though he looked as though he wanted to whisk right out at the sound of whatever was going on. “Please stay with my mother while I check what is going on.”
The butler, though he looked reluctant, nodded and stood to attention. He only moved to open the drawing-room door to allow the earl out. Though he was still feeling quite weak from the illness, the suspicions aroused by Miss Pritchard and Miss Walker had left him wary of all the food brought to him and so since the day before; he had refused to eat or drink anything he had not collected from the kitchen himself, careful to do so when he was sure there was nobody else around.
That was until that evening during dinner when he had noticed that even Barnaby was tucking into the food, and so he guessed it was safe.
Now he felt much better than he had before. Although his stomach was still very sore and he was weak with whatever was still running through his system, he was at least able to pretend like nothing was wrong and so he swept easily from the drawing room to check on things.
When he did so, he heard a louder commotion coming from down the hall in the direction of the library and the study beyond. Knowing that part of Miss Pritchard’s plan had been to get his cousin alone, the thought that the commotion might be his doing something to her made Gabriel run faster than he had ever run before.
The adrenaline that coursed through his body left him forgetting that he had ever been ill, and he soon rushed into the study to find exactly what was going on.
Shocked by the scene that met his eyes, he paused in the doorway. His brother and Miss Walker were desperately holding back the maid, who Gabriel now guessed had been the one to run first one way and then the other past the drawing room. The rolling pin she wielded above her head was enough to tell him as much.
She was trying to swing it in the direction of Barnaby, who was cowering away from her. And behind him, pinned against the earl’s desk, was Miss Pritchard, who looked as though she was desperately attempting to get out from between him and the furniture.
“I won’t let you hurt her!” Barnaby exclaimed, clearly yelling the words at the maid.
“Her? Why would I hurt her? It is you who has betrayed me!” the maid screamed back at him and the light in Barnaby’s eyes changed. “You tricked me! You made me part of your plan and fooled me into believing you loved me just so I would hurtthemfor you!”
Barnaby’s eyes darted from Jonathan to Gabriel as though he had only just realised they were even in the room.
“Don’t listen to her!” he hissed at them. “She is entirely mad. She has no idea what she is talking about.”
“Perhaps we should release her and see what she has to say?” Jonathan threatened and Gabriel watched his brother make a show of releasing the maid’s arm for only a moment, allowing him to take another swing at Barnaby with the rolling pin before he grabbed hold of her again.
Gabriel held his breath for a moment as Barnaby dodged out of the way, dragging Miss Pritchard with him.
“Come, my love, we must leave now before she attacks me! They’ve all gone mad!” Barnaby shrieked, grabbing Miss Pritchard’s wrist.
Anger boiled deep in Gabriel’s stomach to see him lay any kind of hand on her, but he was relieved the moment he saw her eyes darken. She snatched her wrist free of his cousin and took several steps away. Instinctively, Gabriel rushed to her, putting himself between her and Barnaby, leaving a path open for his cousin to run from the room. He looked as though there was a fire on his tail as the maid continued to screech after him.
“Debbie! Debbie, please be calm,” Miss Walker called over the maid’s shrieking, but for several moments Gabriel feared the woman was too far gone. Then, as if Barnaby’s departure had left her feeling weak, the maid dropped both her arms and sank onto the floor between his brother and his fiancée, looking as though she had quite lost the will to live.
“I… I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry!” she cried, and tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I never would have… I never would have agreed to any of this if it weren’t for him!”
At that, Miss Pritchard slipped past Gabriel. His heart raced as she brushed her fingertips against his arm, urging him out of the way. He could do nothing but watch with bated breath as she gently dropped into a crouch before the maid and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“There, there, sweetie. Nobody blames you, but you must tell us what happened or we will not be able to protect you from him,” Miss Pritchard said in a voice so sweet and caring that it was as if she were talking to a child. And for the first time, Gabriel noticed just how young the maid truly looked. Though she had to have been eighteen, she looked as though she were little more than a girl.
The anger that Gabriel felt at the thought one of his own servants had been a part of a plot to harm or even kill him was quickly overwhelmed by the sympathy he felt seeing her cowering and crying as she was. He was no stranger to the manipulation of noblemen, and he could only begin to imagine how his cousin had manipulated and used her over the last few months.
Perhaps if I had been less willing to trust him over what he said about our grandmother, I may have seen the warning signs,Gabriel thought even as Miss Pritchard gently urged Debbie from the floor and guided her, as though she were a blind woman, over to the nearest couch.
"Please, Debbie, you must tell us everything," she persisted gently, clutching hold of the maid's hand and Gabriel was forced once more to think of how unlike any other noblewoman she was. He couldn't imagine that there were many who would enter into a conversation with a servant, let alone touch one in such a way.
She is off limits;he reminded himself firmly.
"If you tell us, then no harm shall come to you," Miss Pritchard assured the woman when still she simply continued to weep. The beautiful woman turned a pointed look upon Gabriel and he knew that it was his time to step in.
Holding his breath, he moved across the room and dropped down into a crouch before the maid, relieved that his joints were aching less than before.
"Debbie, my brother and I need to know truly how much danger we face," he said softly, hoping that the disgust he felt at the entire situation did not register in his tone. "If you do not cooperate, then we will be forced to go to the authorities to get to the bottom of this."
Miss Pritchard looked horrified, as though she was concerned he had said the wrong thing. But his words seemed to finally get through to the maid and she looked up, sniffling terribly, her eyes bright red and still streaming with tears.
Instinctively, feeling Miss Pritchard watching him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief to hand to the maid. She looked startled and reluctant for a moment, but then she took it and dabbed her face before she began to explain.
"I… I was a fool. At first, I didn't want to do what he asked of me. He wanted me to make life difficult for you both. He said he wanted to encourage you back to Italy and said your presence here was upsetting the dowager Lady Sutthers," Debbie explained, and her lips quivered at the mention of his grandmother. "He said he only wanted to see her happy again and we all so dearly loved her when she was lady here."
