"Don't reckon I know. Jest overwrought, I guess," came Jimmy's uninformative reply.
"Were there any other servants who have been sent away recently?" Philip continued to question the man.
"Sure as there was, melord, a groom and a stable boy. Hired 'em on here. Right good workers they are too. Glad to have 'em. Ridley's loss is my gain, don't ye say, melord?" The good-natured landlord grinned, seemingly without a care in the world. Philip felt his patience slipping but endeavoured not to let it show.
"Might we speak to these two men, Jimmy? They might know something about the missing young lady that would be very helpful in our search."
"I don't see why not, melord. They should be busy out in the courtyard. After you two gents have had your meal you jest go on out there and talk at 'em all ye want. Makes none of my never mind," finished the landlord confusingly.
"Thank you, my good man," replied the earl. "We'll most likely be returning for the night, so if you could hold a couple of rooms for us we'd greatly appreciate it."
"That would be me pleasure, melord!" The gleeful Jimmy grinned anticipating the extra coins he would soon have in his pocket. With that he finally left the two alone to discuss their plans.
"Well isn't that interesting? Edwin is sending away the servants. Is it because he's such a pinchpenny, or did they know something he did not want them to tell us? What do you think, James?"
"From what we have learned of the viscount, it really could be either possibility. He is such a louse that he could turn away the long-time servants. Since it’s the only property he inherited, it’s possible he cannot afford to keep it fully staffed. Or knowing his background, they could have found out some of his secrets and he needed to be rid of them. We can’t really be sure until we speak to them ourselves," replied the secretary in an effort to be fair.
"Okay, let us go speak to the former groom and stable boy. Maybe they will know where we can reach the old nurse. Then after we've spoken to them, we'll ride out and speak with Ridley and some of his servants. With luck we can be finished with this blasted search without any more delay."
"Let's hope you are right, my lord," was James' heartfelt answer. Both men had other matters to deal with and were finding this search to be wearing on their nerves.
Unfortunately the groom and stable boy were not of much help. They were unsure why they had been let go from the estate. They also knew very little about the nurse or where she would have gone except to tell them that the housekeeper at Ridley would probably know where the sister lived. From their conversation, Philip was sure they probably knew something, but they didn't know what they knew. Philip needed more information in order to be able to ask them the right questions to find the answers he needed from them. It was a frustrating situation to say the least, and Philip’s nerves were wearing thin as they rode out to Ridley's estate.
They were expected this time and received a much warmer reception than the first time they came. The butler appeared nervous but quickly ushered them into the library where Ridley would receive them. Ridley stood and came out from behind his desk to greet his two visitors.
"How good to see you again, Lord Yorkleigh. We've been expecting you today, and any of the servants in residence who knew the young marchioness are prepared to speak with you. I myself took the time to question them and I have to say that I do not think any of them know anything that will be of any use in the search for Lady Emmaline. Regrettably I think you will find this to be another dead end." Despite his best efforts, he didn't actually sound that regretful, but Philip decided to ignore his insincerity and take him at face value.
"Thank you for making your servants available to us. We would like to get started right away, but before we do, I would like to ask you again, are you sure you have no idea where the young lady is?" Philip tried to be gentle in his asking, but he knew he no doubt sounded quite fierce. He was then surprised by how sincere the viscount's answer sounded.
"I can assure you, my lord, I have absolutely no idea where the lady is. And I have to say that I resent your implications. I have actually been losing sleep over the matter of my missing cousin. I fear we may never find her."
Philip believed at least some of what Ridley was saying. Even if he had something to do with the young woman leaving, he genuinely seemed to be unaware of her whereabouts at this time. He actually seemed to be saddened by her loss.Of course,thought Philip,he could be saddened by the loss of her wealth. If it were determined that she was in fact dead, all her holdings were set to revert to the Crown, and Ridley was no doubt enjoying having her funds to dip into to line his own pockets while she was missing. Despite his cynicism, he replied more kindly to the viscount.
"We'll do all we can to locate her for you, you can be sure. Now, we would like to first speak with any personal maids the marchioness would have had at her service."
"My lord, the marchioness didn't have a lady's maid, as she had barely left the school room when her parents passed. Her closest servant was her old nurse. The poor woman was so distraught over the disappearance of the Lady Emmaline that I had to give her leave to go visit her family." By the conclusion of this little speech insincerity had again crept into his voice and Philip knew he was lying.
"Where does the nurse's family live? We shall need to speak with her."
"I don't rightly know where they live, my lord. It's none of my business where the servants go on their time off," replied the viscount haughtily.
Realizing he would get nowhere with Ridley, Philip sighed and asked to speak with the housekeeper and butler. These two were shown in individually and were questioned. As the afternoon droned on into the evening it became quite clear that all the servants were frightened of their new master and would be hard pressed to reveal anything even if they knew it. None of them had any idea where the young lady would have gone. They only confirmed what Philip already knew. Lady Emmaline was the only child of only children and her grandparents were long since dead. The closest relative the young woman had was the new viscount, and he was no prize. The marquis and his wife had been content to live retired with their small family and did not socialize much. None of the staff could hazard a guess as to where Emmaline would turn if she needed an escape. When they were questioned about the missing nurse, some of them got very uncomfortable and would only admit that she had been very upset when she departed. The only real lead they got was from the housekeeper who finally admitted that the nurse probably went to stay with her sister's family near Bath.
By the time they had spoken to nearly every member of the staff on the estate and even a couple of the tenants, it was nearly fully dark and Philip and James decided to call it a day and return to the inn. They fell silent as they rode through the dark, both absorbed in their own thoughts. They clattered into the courtyard and threw their reins to the waiting hands before climbing the stairs into the inn to be greeted by Jimmy.
"Any luck, melord?" he questioned amiably.
"Not much, Jimmy. Could you please serve us a warm meal as quickly as possible? We could really use some sustenance."
"Didn't show you any 'ospitality did they, melord?"
"No Jimmy, they did not, and we are quite famished," Philip answered quite wearily.
"Comin' right up, melord."
Philip and James were glad for some quiet and a warm meal and tucked right in when Jimmy returned with their supper. They made quick work of the simple fare spread out before them. Both men were exhausted from the long ride and the many hours of questioning and were ready to be shown to their rooms before long. They realized they would not be able to find any new information here and were discouraged by their lack of progress.
"We should head back to London tomorrow and get caught up on our own business for a couple of days before striking out to Bath. It seems the old nurse will be our last chance at finding out what happened to the marchioness," concluded Philip before bidding James a good night.
