“Well then, we wouldn’t find ourselves in this horrible situation then, would we?” Matthew finished. He noted the look of insult on Lydia’s face and stopped.
“I am so terribly grieved that marriage to me is such a horrible situation, My Lord,” Lydia said in a steely tone.
“Lydia, that is not what I meant to say, I only meant—”
“Do not trouble yourself with an explanation, My Lord, it will only make matters worse,” she interrupted. Grabbing her satchel and reaching for the door, she opened it wide. “You had said you would be sleeping in the carriage. This is as good a time as any for you to depart.”
Matthew looked at Lydia for a long time, but she refused to meet his gaze. No amount of remorse in his expression would win her over, nor any placating words of empty apologies. She still looked away as she heard him gather his things and sweep past her, closing the door softly behind him.
What have I done?Lydia screamed silently as she fell upon the narrow bed and wept.If I was not already ruined before, I most certainly am now. And to think how little time and distance it took for Matthew’s true nature to reveal itself! Now that there is no hope, no returning home unsullied in name, he becomes the brute I first knew him to be when I saw him before the ball. What will become of me?
Chapter 13
Throughout the morning, Julius sensed something was amiss. There was a suspicious air about the house, a feeling that something was not in order. He went about his morning as usual, waking in his chambers and unceremoniously taking his usual breakfast of toast in the adjacent study. He read the papers while drinking his tea, but even without ever leaving his chambers, he had some prescient thought of doom.
You’re only bothered by this whole matter with Lydia and Lord Lockwood,he thought, rubbing his neck where it pained him.He’ll come to his senses soon enough, and she will gratefully do as I bid in order to avoid scandal. All will be well.
But no matter how many times he’d repeated those thoughts over the previous day, he still remained unconvinced. Even if Lockwood decided not to wash his hands of the girl and seek a different wealthy heiress elsewhere—a possibility that was growing more and more grim by the hour—who was to say that the ton would even accept her as the Countess of Lockwood after word got around?
After knocking at the door and being bade to enter, Mr. Turval entered, closing the door behind him and eyeing Julius’ unfinished tray. “Good morning, My Lord. Are you prepared to dress now, or shall I return later?”
“Now is as good a time as any, I suppose,” Julius replied. “I have a number of places to call upon today and should likely get started.”
He pushed back from his desk and entered his bedchamber, followed closely by the valet. While he waited for his clothes to be laid out for approval, Julius said, “Turval, have you heard of anything unusual happening at Bronson Manor?”
“Unusual, My Lord? I’m sorry, but in what way?” the man asked without halting in his duties of assembling socks and trousers and assorted items.
Julius took each item as it was held out to him and slipped it on, only pausing to add, “I don’t know, only anything… odd?”
“Odd?” Turval repeated questioningly, and Julius took note of how the valet always started his reply by repeating what he himself had only just said.
“Yes, odd!” Julius replied a little more sharply than he’d intended, unable to shrug off the feeling that Turval was intentional in his lack of answers. “Weird, strange, unusual. Anything at all?”
“Well, Mrs. Bigsby did crack an egg into the bowl this morning and exclaimed over there being two yolks in it,” the man answered skeptically, “but I don’t know that I would call that ‘odd.’ It’s been known to happen from time to time.”
Julius stopped himself before replying in a rude manner. It was not this man’s fault that he was feeling out of sorts, and he could not expect the man to know his mind. He finished his toilet and left his chambers, only to be met on the stairs by his younger niece and her governess.
“My Lord,” Elsie squeaked in that childlike voice, bobbing an awkward curtsey as her governess must have taught her. “I need your help.”
“What is it, my girl?” Julius asked absently, already delayed and not wishing to be held up any further.
“I cannot find Lyd—” She looked up to her governess and saw the reproachful expression there, then corrected herself as she had undoubtedly been instructed time and time again. “I cannot find Lady Lydia anywhere.”
“Well, run along, I’m sure you’ll find her sooner or later,” Julius replied, smiling in a way that he hoped appeared grandfatherly, and not criminally insane. He had never been fond of children, and his brother’s daughters were no exception.
“But that’s just it, Uncle! I mean, My Lord!” Elsie cried, tugging on the edge of his waistcoat. “I have looked. She is gone!”
“That cannot be possible, little girl,” Julius replied, turning and looking down at Elsie’s tearful face. “Young ladies do not simply disappear into the night like…” His voice trailed off and he was hit with the sudden realization. He now understood why he had felt so unnerved.
“Uncle?” Elsie asked in a quiet voice. He did not answer.
“Come along, Lady Elsie. You have interrupted your uncle and he must be on his way,” the governess said, taking the girl by the shoulders and turning her away.
Julius watched in stony silence as the sad little girl departed, clearly steered back to the nursery by her governess. He was numb. It was not possible, there was no way Lydia would do such a thing, not when so much depended on her proper behavior.
Turning and racing up the stairs to the third floor, muttering the whole way, Julius’ heart pounded so hard that he heard it in his ears. With so much at stake, this would be unthinkable.
“Lady Lydia?” Julius shouted as he threw open the door to her room. Silence. “Are you in here?”
