They left the house by the back way and entered a carriage with curtained windows.The two men sat opposite, pistols at the ready.Eleanor felt a resourceful lady would find some way out of the predicament but could not for the life of her think of one.They did not travel far in any case.
When they left the carriage it was in a quiet mews.
They were directed to enter another, larger house full of the sound of music, as if an entertainment was in progress.But if it was, they saw no one as they climbed bare back stairs to the top of the house, where they were installed in a servant’s room in the attics.Eleanor’s watch told her it was just past four o’clock.Jim untied both her and Amy’s hands and the door was closed on them and locked.
They explored.There was a small gable window open to let in the breeze but secured with sturdy bars.It overlooked an alleyway, so there was little chance of attracting attention.The door was solid and the key had not been left in the lock.They could not even try to push it out.
A search through both their reticules produced nothing of use at all, not even a pair of scissors.
“How useless,” said Amy in disgust.“In a novel the heroine always has something more than a handkerchief and a card case.”
“I promise never to leave the house again,” said Eleanor, “without at least a penknife.”
The only furniture in the room was a narrow bed, a plain table, and two hard chairs, all firmly screwed to the plain wood floor.
“This has been used as a prison before,” said Amy as they sat on the chairs to await events.
Eleanor had to agree.She feared they were at Madame Bellaire’s establishment, and she had heard some poor girls did not go to brothels of their own free will.Perhaps this room was used to hold them until they submitted.With a nervous tremor she wondered what was to become of them.She worried about Amy, so innocently involved in this.She worried about her baby, stirring slightly in her womb.If they beat her she might miscarry.
When footsteps approached and the key turned in the lock she stood quickly, ready to defend herself if she could.
To her amazement, however, it was a uniformed maid with a tray of tea and cakes.Jim stood at the door, pistol in hand, and watched carefully as the middle-aged woman placed the tray on the table.The woman left, blandly indifferent to their fate, and then Jim bowed slightly and said, “Enjoy your tea, ladies.”He left and they heard the lock turn again.
Irrepressible, Amy giggled at the incongruity.“May I serve you tea, Mrs.Delaney?”
“Isn’t it extraordinary?”said Eleanor, biting into some very good plum cake, half expecting it to be poisoned.
She remembered the drink she’d been given on the night she’d been raped, but that had left a funny taste in her mouth.This all seemed to be perfectly normal food.
“Very nice china, too,” she said.
“But no silverware,” pointed out Amy.“If we wish to use the sugar in our tea, I don’t know what we’re supposed to do.”
On the whole, Eleanor found the development a relief.It was impossible to imagine this decorous tea being a prelude to brutality and murder.
“I wonder where we are?”said Amy.“Eleanor, you didn’t seem as surprised as I was at all this.What’s going on?”
Eleanor had dreaded the inevitable question.She couldn’t tell Amy of Nicholas’s foolishness.There was still a chance they might all come out of this safely.
“I don’t exactly know, Amy,” she said at last.“Nicholas is mixed up in something, and the less you know the better.You are here by accident, I’m afraid, but I think they want me as a hostage for his good behavior.”
“Do you really think they’ll let us go?”asked Amy, trying to conceal her anxiety.
“Yes, of course,” said Eleanor, more confidently than she felt.“They wish us no harm, and if we disappear it would cause a great deal of fuss.”
“Yes,” said Amy, brightening.“Peter will be in a panic already.The only trouble is he’ll probably do something stupid.”
It was the first disparaging comment she had ever made about her hero.
“Fortunately, then, there is nothing he can do.He will go to Nicholas, and Nicholas will take care of things.”Eleanor hoped to God she was right.She kept her voice cheerful.“Have another piece of cake, Amy.”
Chapter 12
The gentlemen arrived at Madame Bellaire’s and were joyously welcomed as old and favored clients.They went first to the dining room, where there was always an excellent buffet.They were immediately surrounded by pretty girls in charming dresses, only differentiated from the debutantes at Almack’s by their uniformly stunning attractions.It was noticeable, however, that though they fluttered attentively around these handsome young men, none of them approached Nicholas in more than a casual way.
He was known to be the property of their employer.
Soon the lady herself swept in, gloriously gowned in ruby silk, her dark hair piled high upon her head.She held out her hands to him.“My dearest Nicky.”
