A Bloom in Winter (28 page)

Her meaning was plain and there was nothing left for them to do. Clearly, Victoria wasn’t there.

By the time Rowena made it downstairs, Prudence was speaking to a young boy. Rowena saw Prudence hand the boy a coin.

“What was that all about?” she asked when Prudence rejoined her and Kit.

“Something was off about that whole situation. I don’t know if it had anything to do with Victoria or not, but I thought we could use some information on where Martha Long goes after she’s done here. I gave him a shilling and told him there would be more if he brought me the information tonight.”

Prudence waved a hand at where the boy had taken up watch on the other side of the street and then climbed into the car.

Rowena just shook her head and followed her.

“What now?” Kit asked when they were all in the car.

Rowena shook her head. “I shall go to my aunt and uncle. No one knows where she is and we need help in finding her.”

After dropping Prudence off, Kit had his driver take them back to Belgravia.

“You know, this isn’t going to be easy,” Kit said as they got out of the motorcar.

“That’s an understatement,” Rowena said. Sebastian was waiting outside for them as they walked up the steps.

He took one look at Rowena’s face and wrapped his arms around her. Colin opened the door behind them and Kit shook his head and went inside. Rowena stood for a moment in Sebastian’s arms.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

She lifted her tearstained face and he kissed her gently on the cheek. “Come on.” He jerked his head toward the house. “I’ll go with you.”

Telling her aunt and uncle turned out to be as terrible as Rowena had feared it would be.

“Are you telling us that you knew she wasn’t with Prudence last night and you didn’t tell us?” Her uncle’s look of disappointment and disapproval crushed her.

Her stomach sank as she realized that, once again, her inability
to take action had let everyone down. She could only manage a nod.

He shook his head and rose. “I’m going to the office to telephone the authorities.”

His wife put a restraining hand on his elbow. “Wait a moment. She rang a bell and the butler appeared. “Cairns, could you please take one of the maids and search Miss Victoria’s room? Look for any papers in the dustbins. If someone has already cleaned in that room, please look through the garbage. We are looking for a note that someone delivered yesterday. Thank you.” Lady Summerset looked at Rowena. “I’m disappointed. While I understand your desire to protect your sister from your aunt and uncle, I think in retrospect it seems rather unwise, doesn’t it?”

Uncle Conrad turned to his wife. “I really think we should notify the authorities.”

She nodded. “Of course. I just thought we might want to do some investigating first. If the girl ran off on her own, I would just as soon protect the reputation she and her sister seem to have so little regard for. Plus, her sister has already waited eight hours to inform us, with little regard for her sister’s safety, so I don’t think a few more minutes will hurt.”

Rowena lowered her eyes. While her aunt’s words were harsh, she deserved and expected little else. She had gambled on her sister’s safety and this was the result. She just hoped Victoria wasn’t paying for her stupidity right now.

Aunt Charlotte rang the bell again and a maid stepped into the room. “We need several pots of tea made, please, and we could use some sandwiches as well.”

She looked at Colin, Kit, and Sebastian, who flanked Rowena. “If we do have to send out searchers, they will need to
be fed. I suppose you three have friends capable of searching for a young girl?”

Relieved, Rowena sat back and closed her eyes as her aunt took over. Why hadn’t she just taken the whole mess to her aunt earlier?

“Now, Rowena. You can still redeem yourself. We need as much information as you can give us about your sister’s activities. Did she have a young man?”

Next to her Kit stiffened and without meaning to her eyes went to him. Her aunt must have caught the look because she raised her brows in comprehension.

Rowena shook her head. “No.”

Her aunt continued. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what her position with the Suffragettes for Female Equality is?” Rowena’s mouth dropped open and Aunt Charlotte shook her head impatiently. “Of course I know. She didn’t think she could canvass my friends for money and not one of them would mention it to me, did she? I shudder to think how much money they forked out on such an unseemly enterprise. She must have been very persuasive.”

Rowena nodded. “Victoria can be very persuasive if she chooses to be, though I had no idea she was asking for money. I knew she had taken a position, but not exactly what it entailed. Victoria is not a very forthright person. She never got over her childish love for secrets.”

Kit interrupted them. “You say she was canvassing for money? Were they giving the money to her or just sending to the society?”

“Both, I believe,” Aunt Charlotte said.

“I wish I had known about such goings-on,” Uncle Conrad said with a sniff. “I would have put a stop to this nonsense. If
Victoria needed an outlet for her energies, there are other, more respectable charities she could work for.”

Cairns came in holding a small blue piece of paper. He handed it to Aunt Charlotte, who read it and handed it to her husband.

“Do you know of anyone named Mary?” Aunt Charlotte asked while her husband read the note.

Rowena shook her head.

Uncle Conrad ran his hand over his face. “Oh, dear Lord. Cairns, please go to my office and bring me this morning’s newspaper.”

He sank into a chair with his hand over his eyes. Aunt Charlotte moved swiftly to his side. “Conrad! You’re scaring me. What is it?”

“I think I know where she is.”

Kit stood, his hands clenched by his side. “Then let’s go get her!”

Uncle Conrad shook his head. “I’m afraid it may not be that easy.”

Kit snatched the paper out of Uncle Conrad’s fingers and Rowena stood up to read the note with him.

Dear Victoria,

Here is a chance to prove yourself. Please meet me at the National Gallery at two this afternoon. Tell no one.

Mary

Rowena’s stomach clenched, more from her uncle’s reaction to the note than the note itself. “I don’t understand. The National Gallery? What does that have to do with anything?”

Cairns reentered the room holding the newspaper. Her uncle
glanced at the front page and then held it up to show the rest of them. Rowena read the headline.

“ ‘Suffragettes Attack the Rokeby Venus at the National Gallery.’ ”

Rowena would have fallen to her knees if Kit hadn’t caught her. Sebastian came up next to her and supported her while he read the next line.

“ ‘Mary Richardson, a notoriously hard-line suffragette, and an unidentified woman slashed Velázquez’s masterpiece
Venus at Her Mirror
yesterday afternoon at the National Gallery.’ ”

Rowena shook her head. “No. Victoria wouldn’t do that. She’s foolish, but she wouldn’t attack a priceless masterpiece. She had too much respect for the arts to do something like that.”

Her uncle looked at the note again. “I hope you’re right. But still . . . if she was in any way involved in this, I’ve no doubt she’s been taken to prison.”

V
ictoria must have finally fallen asleep once more, for when she awoke, sunlight was streaming in through her small window. She looked out the window and her heart sank at the sight of the empty yard. Once again, there was no one to hear her screams.

She was going to die here. Cold waves of helplessness flooded over her. All of her work, her attempt to become an independent woman, to make a difference . . . it was all for nothing. She would die here without ever having made an impact, without ever having left her mark. Her family would never know what had happened to her and she was so, so sorry. Why had she kept so much from them? Maybe she was just as childish as everyone thought her to be after all.

Just then a click in the door made Victoria sit up in alarm. The door opened and she stared at it in disbelief.

A guard in gray stood there, her hand on another woman’s arm. The guard looked confused.

“What are you doing in here? This room is supposed to be empty.”

Victoria’s throat still ached from screaming. “They . . . forgot me,” she managed to croak.

“I’ll say. Hold on a minute. There must be some kind of mix-up.”

The guard shut and locked the door before Victoria could beg her not to leave her alone again.
Please, God, don’t leave me alone
.

Victoria wrapped the blanket around herself and stared at the door fixedly. When it opened, Eleanor stood before her with the guard.

Upon seeing a familiar face, Victoria burst into tears. Eleanor immediately wrapped her arms around the girl. “Good God. What kind of muck-up was this?” She turned to the guard. “I can’t trust you with any of my patients, can I?”

“It wasn’t my muddle,” the guard muttered.

“Make yourself useful and get her some food.”

“But—”

“Now!” Eleanor let go of Victoria and brought her the white towel. “Make yourself presentable. We’re going to go see someone as soon as you eat.”

Victoria did as she was told, her hands trembling. Eleanor took her pulse and felt her forehead. “How long have you been in here?” she asked.

“Since shortly after you left. They didn’t seem to know where to put me.”

Eleanor shook her head. “That would be my fault, I’m afraid. I talked the doctor into requesting a private cell for you because of your medical condition. I was afraid the shock of being in the general prison population might trigger another breathing attack. Probably one wasn’t open and they brought you down here. We don’t often use these cells except for patients with consumption.”

The woman came in with a small loaf of rough brown bread and another pitcher of water. Victoria tried not to stuff her mouth the moment the food was in her hands. “Why did you come back?”

“I was asked to work the morning shift and I was curious about you. We didn’t have your name because you came in so sick. When I tried to find out where Jane Johnson was placed—that’s what we call no-namers—no one remembered. After a bit more digging, I realized that no one had any idea where you were, so I put out an alert. Of course, if the guard hadn’t tried to put someone in here, I don’t know how long it might have been before we found you. No one was much interested in finding a no-namer who seemed to have disappeared.”

“So why were you?” Victoria asked with her mouth full.

Eleanor shrugged. “I don’t know, if the truth be told. Perhaps because I heard you reciting such lovely verses to yourself to chase the bogeyman away. Stuck with me, I guess. At any rate you’ve been found. Now I’m going to take you to the wardress. You haven’t even been properly processed yet. Have you seen the judge or the magistrate yet?”

Victoria shook her head.

“What is your name, anyway?” Eleanor asked.

“Victoria Buxton.”

Eleanor led Victoria down a long hallway. She felt her body warming with each step she took away from her cell. Then they entered what looked to be the administration part of the prison, as it had offices on either side of the hall. Eleanor had an officer watch Victoria while she slipped into one of the offices to speak with the wardress.

Unlike in the actual prison or the clinics, the doors were not soundproof and Victoria heard Eleanor’s raised voice: “I can tell
she’s posh just by the sound of her! Someone is going to be very angry when they find out how she’s been treated. She hadn’t even seen the judge yet!”

A few moments later, after a small, mousy woman came rushing out on an errand of great import, Victoria was escorted into a rather worn office consisting of two desks and rows of filing cabinets. The woman behind the desk intimidated by sheer size, not to mention the steel-framed spectacles she wore over a disdainful nose and stern mouth.

She stood when Victoria came in. Eleanor shook Victoria’s hand. “I may not see you again, Victoria, if you don’t have another breathing episode. It was nice to meet you.”

Victoria resisted the urge to beg her to stay. As soon as Eleanor left, the wardress bade her to sit. “My name is Mrs. Liddell and I am the wardress of Holloway Prison. It is my understanding that a mistake was made and you spent a number of hours alone with no food or basic care. But while I feel badly for that, as we do not make it a habit to lose prisoners, I do not apologize. I did not make the choices that led you to this situation.”

The mousy woman who had rushed out earlier returned and handed Mrs. Liddell a sheaf of papers. She then took a seat at the other desk and began typing. Mrs. Liddell leaned back in her chair and began reading the papers. Ignored, Victoria watched the small woman typing with a speed that made her ache with jealousy. She would never be able to type that fast.

Mrs. Liddell cleared her throat and Victoria jumped to attention.

“Your accomplice, Mary Richardson, received six months for her crime against property owned by the Commonwealth.”