Frances quickly placed herself between Christopher and Sally. She looked up at him, her eyes pleading. “Christopher, please, we need her help to find the boys. She’s trying to do the right thing now.”
Christopher’s fists unclenched, and he took a deep, shuddering breath, struggling to rein in his anger. “Where is this estate?” he asked, his voice still hard but more controlled.
Sally nodded, grateful for Frances’s intervention. “It’s called Blackwood Hall. It’s about an hour’s ride from here, to the north. The Dowager Duchess has been using it as a retreat, away from the main estate.”
Christopher turned to Frances, his eyes blazing with anger still. “We need to leave now. We can’t let her send them away.”
Frances nodded, her heart pounding with urgency. “Go. I’ll gather what we need.”
Christopher turned on his heel, striding towards the door with purpose. “Prepare the horses,” he called to a nearby servant. “We leave immediately.”
As he left to make preparations, Frances turned back to Sally, who stood trembling in the doorway.
“Why did you do this, Sally?” she asked gently, her voice soft with compassion. “Why did you wait until now to tell us?”
Sally wiped her eyes, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. “I’ve worked for the Dowager Duchess for so long. At first, I believed she was right to keep an eye on the children. But then I saw how happy they were here, how much love surrounded them. I wanted to leave her employ, but she threatened me. Said she would ruin me if I betrayed her.”
She was trembling with fear.
“You do realize that by doing this, you have been an accomplice to a kidnapping? Do you understand how serious that is?”
Sally nodded. “I know that if I had to keep myself without blame, I should not have said anything. But… my moral compass did not allow me to keep it in any longer.”
Frances reached out, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You’ve done the right thing now,” she said softly. “You’ve helped us when we needed it most.”
And then she paused. It was moments like this that showed the true character of a person, and Frances had always been soft-hearted.
What Sally did was not right, but she had come clean. That had to mean something.
“We’ll protect you from her. I promise.”
Sally looked at Frances, shocked. “Do you really mean that?”
“I do not wish to be a tyrant, like the Dowager Duchess. It does not mean that you are forgiven, but you will not be punished by the law, at the very least.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Sally whispered. “But there’s something else you need to know.”
Frances frowned.
More bad news?
“What is it?”
Sally took a deep breath, steadying herself. “The Dowager Duchess… she mentioned something about Peter. About the accident. She said it wasn’t… it wasn’t entirely accidental. She wanted to get rid of Lydia. Peter wasn’t supposed to be there.”
Frances felt a cold chill run down her spine. “She… planned it?”
Sally nodded, her tears spilling over again. “Yes. She didn’t mean for Peter to be hurt, but she wanted to separate him from Lydia. It went wrong, and he died with her. She’s been trying to cover it up ever since.”
“Oh my God…”
It was even worse than Frances had anticipated.
Just then, Christopher re-entered the room, his face set with grim determination. “The carriage is ready,” he announced. “We leave now.”
Frances turned to him, her face pale but resolute. He noticed the change in her expression.
“What happened?” he asked and then turned to look at Sally with an accusatory expression. “Did you do this?”
