Devotion (15 page)

Lips thinned, Molly said, "I seen '
im
comin
' from yer room three night ago—all flushed and bothered
. '
Is piece was hard enough for me to see at the opposite end of the bloody hall."

"Don't be daft!"

"Will
ya
deny
ya
give '
im
a peek at yer bottom while
ya
was
bathin
'?"

Her face coloring, Maria backed down the stairs.

"Well, Miss Goody-Goody Reverend's Daughter? I reckon I've got
ya
backed into a pig's pit, ain't I? Deny it and
ya
lie; admit it and show yerself for wot
ya
really are—which is wot I've
tol
'
ever'one
all along—yer naught but a—"

"Molly!" screeched Gertrude from below, and Maria let loose a sigh of relief as the inebriated servant made a clumsy grab at her lopsided cap and staggered down the winding staircase, the heels of her too-large shoes clomping against each step. "Silly bugger," Gertrude exclaimed. "
Ye've
been
pintin
' it down at the Hound and Stag, ain't
ya
? No wonder
ya
didn't come when I called." Looking up the staircase at Maria, Gertrude shook her head. "We'll be beggin' yer pardon, love. We've got ourselves a
bituva
tiddlydoo
—"

"What's happened?" Maria lightly, swiftly, descended the stairs after Molly, who grumbled and sneered before stumbling over Gertrude's toes. "I'm certain I heard a woman crying."

"It were travelers wot got laid low by them damn thieves—"

"Thieves!" shrieked Molly and clutched her flat bosom.

"
Ye've
got naught there the lot of cutthroats would have," Gertrude exclaimed, and shoved the girl away.

"The travelers, are they all right?" Maria asked.

"There were a woman and her two daughters, miss—"

"Were they injured?"

"Purses filched and a bauble or two. Seems they conked the driver on the head, though. He ain't come to yet. But that ain't the worst of it, I fear. All this took place just down the bend—"

Molly let go a shriek that made Maria and Gertrude grab their ears. "They'll be
comin
' 'ere next!
Stormin
' through them doors and
takin
' us hostage. They'll be
usin
' me body for their pleasures—"

"More likely you'll be
usin
' theirs," countered Gertrude angrily. "God help '
em
. . ."

More softly Maria said, "Is there danger?"

Gertrude nodded somberly.
"'Tis well-known that 'Is Grace is in residence and . . . poorly.
Take a good look 'round
ya
, love. There's a king's ransom in silver alone tucked away in chests. We'd be wise to unlock the arms room, I think. Maybe pass out a few weapons to the lads. Thaddeus is down at the stables," she said more loudly for Molly's benefit.
"Seeing over the
foalin
' of His Grace's favorite mare.
I'll make certain he shutters the lower windows and barricades all the doors."

Maria nodded. "I'll dress and see to our guests."

Lady Draymond wept into her hankie. "It was horrible. Horrible, I
tel!
you
. The fiends came at us from the dark—at least a dozen of them, their heads covered in black masks, their eyes leering at us through those terrible slits. I feared for my precious daughters' lives . . ."

Maria glanced toward the pair of rotund young women dressed in velvet and
ruching
who appeared to be around the same age as
herself
. Unlike their distraught mother, their attentions were on the plate of confections Gertrude had coerced from the cook's store of sweetmeats, as well as on their surroundings. "There,
there," she comforted the Viscount
Draymond's
wife. "Tomorrow this will all seem like a bad dream."

"If we all live to see tomorrow," Molly interjected as she plunked a tray of teapots and cups on a table. "If
ya
asked me, they
was
all lucky to get away with their lives."

The
viscountess
let out a shrill rail again, and with an exaggerated gasp for effect, collapsed back in her chair in a swoon.

"
Gorm
," muttered Gertrude as she shot the now hung- over Molly a scathing look. "Fetch me
a vinaigrette
and be quick about it." To Maria, she added softly, "I might do well by
leavin
' her out. I ain't so sure I can put up with much more of this
caterwaulin
'. I ain't so certain Cook is
goin
' to be pleased 'cause his stores have been depleted; by the looks of them two there won't be a crumb left in this house by the time they finish."

" '
Twould
be cruel and unchristian to turn them out," Maria said.

"I didn't say aught 'bout
turnin
' them out, love. I had more in mind of
gaggin
' '
em
."

Molly returned with the smelling tin. "This could all be a trick as far as we know," she pointed out. "Could be naught more than a ploy to get inside—
"

"
Aye,
and I'm really King George in masquerade," Gertrude declared with a roll of her eyes, then to Maria said, "I'll see the lady to a room,
luv
, then I'll make certain their driver is comfortable. Will ye see to her daughters?"

With Maria's nod, the Viscountess Draymond was hefted from the settee and ushered from the room. A
scattering
of sleepy-eyed servants stood around, staring first at Maria, then at the Ladies Charlotte and Florence, who continued to mutter to one another between mouths full of sweetmeats and cast disdainful glances at Maria.

"Mayhap the ladies would care to adjourn to a bedchamber," Maria said. "Considering the misfortune which has occurred tonight, I'm certain your ladyships are much wearied and eager for a respite."

Florence, her cheek bulging with a sugar-coated almond, made
a moue
with her full lips
thai
were dusty with sugar sprinkles. She appeared to consider the offer before turning to Charlotte. "Who is she, do you think?"

"No one of import I should think, not dressed in that manner," replied Florence who was a thinner version of her sister, but no less pompous.
"A scullery maid perhaps."

They giggled and brushed crumbs from their velvet- skirted laps onto the floor,
then
Florence glanced at her empty tea cup, which sat directly beside the sweating pot. "I should like another spot, and this time I'd like more sugar,"

A moment's hesitation, then Maria moved to the tray.

Charlotte reached for another almond. "Imagine our finding our way to Thorn Rose. A few months ago I might have been terrified, considering what became of His Grace."

Maria heaped two
spoonsful
of sugar in the bottom of Florence's cup, willing her hand to cease trembling.

"Shocking!" exclaimed Florence and swept up a petit four. "Lady Penelope Farnsworth-
Shrrversion
mentioned the last time she called on His Grace after the accident he was a total loon—that he attempted to choke her and railed unintelligibly at her in so raised a voice she burst into tears. If that weren't enough he looked like some disgustingly filthy mongrel one would leave starving on the side of the road."

"Often," Maria said softly as she poured milk from a tiny pitcher into the cup, "'tis the good-hearted soul who offers kindness to the stray who finds themselves the beneficiary of the animal's lifelong devotion. I cannot
imagine
anyone
with .
.
, conscience leaving even an animal to starve beside a road."

"Regardless," Charlotte said with a toss of her brown curls, "the duchess did right by confining him in that dreadful sanitarium. Not a fortnight ago I spoke with Lady
Rothblatt
and she said she heard from Lady Adeline
Gloag
who heard from Lady Lily
H
arte up that Lord Drabble had reason to visit an acquaintance at St. Luke 's and while there actually happened on His Grace. They came face to face, Drabble declared. Salterdon was bound in leathers and howling like a cur. I shan't go into more detail, but I assure you the very recounting of the sordid moment engraved upon my memory a most horrifying image that I shan't forget soon. And to think Mama once entertained the idea of my marrying him. I shiver to imagine. Why, I would rather have been ravished by those dreadful thieves than to be forced to spend one night with such a monster as Salterdon."

"There, there, sweet sister." Florence patted Charlotte's chubby hand reassuringly. "There's nothing to worry over now. He's far, far away from here--"

"Actually," Maria interrupted, her lips forming a flat
smile as she offered over the cup of steaming oolong. "His Grace is not so far away at all."

The sisters blinked. "No?" they said in unison.

"Just up the stairs,
m'ladies
."

"Here?" Charlotte's mouth dropped open.

"At Thorn Rose?"
A nut slipped from Florence's fingers and bounced off the china saucer in her lap.

"Locked away in his dark chamber . . . I'm certain you'll hear him once the house has grown quiet again. If I were you . . ." She lowered her voice and frowned. "I would hurry to your own rooms before . . ."

The women leaned forward, eyes wide, jaws dropped.

"As for
myself
," Maria turned toward the door. "I will leave you in Gertrude's capable hands and return to my own chambers—"

"Wait!" The Ladies Draymond leapt from their chairs, scattering cake pieces and almonds, and clattering china. Skirts and curls bouncing they hurried after Maria, gripping one another's hands and muttering between
themselves
.

He awakened from a fog.

Light came to him in a pinpoint at first,
then
grew, little by little, forming shadowy shapes that, like a twisted kaleidoscope, swirled with confusing colors and sounds.

No. No, not again! It was better there, in the dark and silence. Sleep was the elixir. No pain. No shame. No uncontrollable anger. Buried in his catacomb of unconsciousness there were no pitying faces weeping for what he once had been . . . would never again be, according to the string of physicians who had paraded through his life the last year.

Why couldn't they understand? He simply wanted to be left alone with the thoughts in his head. There, at least, he could hear his own voice, not that belonging to an idiot who could not seem to make his mouth move correctly, who could not hold on to a thought long enough to communicate it.