“I know.” She smiled at him, but it disappeared quickly. “I have been trying to think as to what can be done next, but until another note arrives, I fear that we are walking in the dark!”
“Except I received another one.” Instantly garnering the attention of both of the ladies at once, Rupert told them both about the previous evening and what had happened. Lady Eleanor’s eyes grew wide, as did Lady Catherine’s, but Rupert’s heart sank low as he finished speaking about what he had done. “The money left in the hackney and was swallowed up in the shadows,” he finished, with a sigh. “My brother and I both watched it leave, as instructed and – ”
“You said that you were given the name of the hackney driver.” Lady Eleanor stopped in an instant, turning to face him as she dropped his arm. “Is that not so?”
Rupert nodded, not sure why she now sounded so very excited.
“Then all we need to do is find him and speak with him about who gave him those specific instructions,” she exclaimed as Rupert’s eyes flew wide, his heart skittering in his chest. “It would not be a street urchin who told him to do such a thing, I am sure! It would have been the perpetrator for such instructions were imperative for them to get the money from you.”
“Indeed, you are right!” Rupert exclaimed, reaching out to grasp her hand. “I do not know why I did not think of that myself!”
“There are a lot of hackneys in London, however,” Catherine said, slowly. “I do not mean to dampen your spirits, but how are you ever to find such a person?”
Rupert exchanged a glance with Eleanor, seeing the steel flickering in her eyes – the very same determination bolstering his own heart. “I will ask and ask and ask andaskuntil I find the right person,” he said, firmly, seeing now that there was, finally,a path forward. “And once I do, I will find out all he knows about the person who gave him that instruction.” Looking into Lady Eleanor’s eyes and realizing that he still held her hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it gently, wishing that he could do more. “Wonderful, beautiful, marvelous Eleanor,” he murmured, as a blush lifted her cheeks. “You said you wanted to be of assistance to us in this, and now look at just how much you have done!”
“It is only a little thing,” she protested, but Rupert shook his head no.
“It is far more than that,” he said, his path ahead now lit by beacons of hope. “I have something toactupon, something that might very well lead us to the right person – and to an end of all of this… and think just how incredible an ending that would be.”
From the softness of her smile and the flush of color heightening even more in her cheeks, Rupert knew that she was thinking just as he was – that the ending they had hoped and prayed for might finally now be in reach. Suddenly, he was filled with an urgency and a desperation to quit their company at once and hurry away from the park and begin his search at this very moment!
“You wish to go?” Lady Eleanor smiled at him, pressing his hand and then dropping it back to her side. “I can tell from the flash in your eyes and the way your jaw has set that you very much want to go and start looking for this hackney driver at once.”
Rupert put one hand to his heart. “You know me better than I know myself, it seems,” he said, marveling at just how much she could tell of him simply from the way he looked. “Yes, that was my thought.”
“Then go,” she said, gently, her eyes holding to his. “See if you can find a way out of this darkness so we might walk along the same path, together.”
15
“Ithank you, Lord Ashworth.” Eleanor stepped away from the gentleman just as quickly as she could, having been taken by surprise by his sudden company. She had just finished playing the pianoforte as part of Lord Gateshead’s soiree and, in stepping away from it, had found herself confronted by Lord Ashworth. For some reason, he had taken it upon himself to come to the front of the room, had put out his arm, and walked with her back to her seat. “You are most kind.”
“Of course.” Lord Ashworth beamed at her, then lifted an eyebrow. “I see there is a vacant seat beside you, is there not?”
Eleanor glanced at it. “Oh, no, there is not,” she said hastily, praying that her aunt would return very quickly from wherever she had gone. “My aunt – ”
“And now, Lady Florence?” Lord Gateshead welcomed the next young lady to the front and, before Eleanor could protest, Lord Ashworth came to sit down in the empty seat next to her.
“I shall remove myself once your aunt returns,” he whispered, as Lady Florence went to sit at the pianoforte. “I am sure she will not mind.”
Eleanor closed her eyes, but not before noticing the interested look her father was giving to Lord Ashworth. He had not taken a good deal of interest in any of the gentlemen that Eleanor had been in company with of late, having been assured by Lady Cumbria that all was well, but this, Eleanor knew, would be of note to him. Her throat closed up as she clasped her hands tightly in her lap. She did not want her father to think that Lord Ashworth was a gentleman worth considering, and certainly did not want him to push her towards him! Not when Lord Finchley was so near.
And still, so very far from me.
Looking down at her hands, Eleanor only half listened to the music as it filled the room, thinking about Lord Finchley and the hope that had been in his eyes when he had realized that there was, now, a single piece of information that might lead him towards the truth. Her own heart had filled with expectation at his urgent desire to go in search of the hackney driver, and she had wanted to cry out for joy as he had hurried away, fervent in her hope that this would lead them back together again. But still, there was the chance that it might come to naught, that he would continue to stay back from her and her future, therefore, would lie elsewhere.
I cannot bear that thought.Closing her eyes, Eleanor’s body trembled for a moment as a vision of her future without Lord Finchley passed through her mind. That would be dreadful indeed, for it would have none of the love nor the happiness that she had at present, simply by being in Lord Finchley’s company!
“Are you unwell, Lady Eleanor?”
Opening her eyes, Eleanor slanted a glance towards Lord Ashworth. “Not at all, Lord Ashworth,” she said, just as quietly. “I am closing my eyes to listen to the music, that is all.”
“Ah.” He smiled, but the lines on his forehead from his frown did not disappear. “Lady Eleanor, I was hoping that I might call upon you very soon. I presume you would be amenable to that?”
Eleanor’s heart began to hammer furiously, although she was saved from answering by the gentle applause that came in support of Lady Florence’s performance. She swallowed thickly, seeing his expectant look but struggling to find an answer.
“Lord Ashworth, if I might?”
Relief poured into her like cold water as her aunt returned to her seat, Lord Ashworth vacating it very quickly indeed. She did not look up at him, did not thank him for his company or the like, but instead, simply sat quietly and looked straight ahead as the next performer was announced.
