A freight wagon appeared suddenly, startling his mount and sending the horse rearing. Jasper was thrown off, and he barely had time to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him before the wagon ran over him.
Pain he had never felt crushed him, and a part of the conveyance hit his head, plunging him into blindness.
He remained laying there, still, in the icy snow, as his breaths came in short and rapid releases.
Over the next moments, his bare hands felt as if they frosted, and his body grew numb, beginning from his outer limbs, with the sensation gradually thawing away to his core.
He released a final breath that soothed him into an empty darkness.
This was it. At five-and-thirty, he was meeting his ineluctable fate.
Chapter 34
Ignominy could not describe what Natalie walked out of Amsthorne Manor with. Oliver had succeeded in soiling her family’s name in society's eyes at last, but the evening bore some light in the end, because they returned home to find her father's former solicitor waiting for them.
“I had to come when I received your letter,” Mr. Alcott said to George. “Lord Ecklehill has no claims over this house. The late Earl never signed any agreement. He never acted without my advice, and he would have told me about this. He also could not have given it to him because the property’s entail ended the week he passed away.”
Natalie held Hannah’s hand tightly, feeling some hope at last.
"Thank you, Mr. Alcott," George said, his spirits elevated, too. His eye was bruised, and so was his jaw. "We received an offer for the house, and I believe it would be wise to accept it," he added.
Natalie suggested that they get down to it immediately. London felt stifling, and she wanted to escape. They could find another home soon and move away, and since George owned a small cottage that was quite habitable in Hertfordshire, they decided to travel tomorrow to stay there for a while. Although they were waiting for Hannah to make progress with Wessberg, it was not enough for them to stay. There was peace to be found in the country, even if there was none for her heart.
After Alcott’s departure, Natalie decided to visit Mary and bid her farewell. She lived above her shop, and Natalie had one more dress to give her. She donned her cloak and rode the carriage to Bond Street.
“I was not expecting you,” Mary said as she ushered her into the shop. She was working late with her assistant. “Especially on the night of the ball.”
“Can we speak alone?” Natalie asked, and Mary led her to a room in the back. They sat by the fire, and Natalie told her all that had happened, and that they were leaving town.
Mary hugged her. “I am so sorry, Natalie…”
Mary's brother, Albert, walked into the room just then and set down a bag before taking a lantern. Natalie and Mary noticed his urgency, and his sister stopped him.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry, Albert? In this bad weather, too," Mary asked.
“The Duke of Amsthorne was run over by a wagon on the road to his manor. I was told just now and I want to go see for myself. It was ghastly, and they might need help moving him.”
Natalie stopped breathing, and she felt as if her spirit had left her body and was observing the exchange between Mary and Albert.
“Some even say that the Duke is dead," he continued. “It happened near a farmhouse midway between here and the manor.”
Albert is wrong,she told herself. It could not be Jasper. When Albert asked Mary not to wait for him, something awakened inside Natalie, and she bolted to her feet. “I have to see him,” she said to no one. “He needs me.” She looked at Albert. “Are you riding?”
“Yes.”
“I am coming with you.”
“But—”
“Please,” she implored, tears streaming down her cheeks, and as soon as he nodded, Natalie ran out of the shop to her family’s carriage, asking the driver to tell George and Hannah where she would be. Then, Albert helped her onto his horse, and they rode quickly toward Amsthorne Manor.
As their mount covered the distance, her insides knotted painfully while her nails dug into her palms. They saw a wagon moving along the road, but she thought nothing of it until she saw a figure under a pile of blankets.
“Jasper!” she called, then tapped Albert. “That is the Duke! Stop!”
She dismounted and ran to the wagon, which slowed on her approach. “I am Lady Natalie and I know this man. He needs me.”
She did not wait for the man driving the wagon to answer before she climbed in and reached under the blankets for Jasper's lifeless hands.
