“No.”Eleanor looked at the girl, knowing her faith in all mankind had been sadly shaken.She couldn’t help her yet.“Please, Amy, I can’t discuss it at the moment.I must know what’s been happening first.Don’t you see?If Nicholas knew we’d been kidnapped, then he would not believe we had gone there of our own free will.”
“But then why say it?”
“I don’t know.But don’t think too badly of him yet.It might have been the only way to get us out of there safely.But I still don’t understand.Why take us hostages only to let us go?I wish I had more facts.”
Suddenly Eleanor saw another problem.“Amy, we must think of a tale to tell your mother, and any other people who may have heard we were missing.I don’t think they should hear the truth.”
“But what tale?”
“An expert once told me to stick as close to the truth as possible,” Eleanor replied with a smile.“Let me see.I don’t want to involve my brother, though I’ll tear his eyes out if I ever see him again.We left his house then.What about Thomas?Heavens, I forgot all about the poor man.”
She rang the bell and made enquiries of Hollygirt.
“I was about to come to you, ma’am.He has just come in, having been knocked out and trussed up.He was dumped not long ago near here and managed to free him-self and make his way home.But he’s in a poor way, ma’am.”
“I will come to him.Amy, can I leave you here for a while?”
“Oh yes, Eleanor.You go to the poor man.”
Thomas was groggy and was sitting at the kitchen table having nasty weals on his wrists dressed.When he tried to rise Eleanor waved him to stay seated.It suddenly came to her how well they had been treated by the same ruffians who had done this.
“What happened, Thomas?”
He groaned.“I’m right sorry, Mrs.Delaney.I was taken like a fool.Knocked out from behind!I never expected anything there, though.”
“Why should you have?”Eleanor reassured him.“As you see, we are safe.You have had the worst of it.What happened to your wrists?”
“Well, ma’am, when they dumped me, they nicked the rope so as I would be able to break it, but it took some doing.It’s nothing much, ma’am.”
It looked terrible, and he winced as Mrs.Cooke dabbed at the swollen flesh with a cloth.
“You must rest,” said Eleanor, “but I need to speak to you for a moment.Alone.”
When all the servants had left she asked, “Have you told anyone where you were attacked?”
His brow furrowed as he thought.“Don’t reckon I have, Mrs.Delaney.I wasn’t up to saying much as would make sense until a minute or two ago.”
“Well, I would rather no one knows we were abducted from my brother’s house.It is rather embarrassing.”
“Yes, ma’am, I see.What should I say then?”
“I think we should say we were attacked as we walked to Lady Middlethorpe’s.Will it hold water?”
He nodded.“There’s a treed walk thereabouts.It could have happened there.”
“Excellent.You have a good brain, Thomas.You were knocked out there and know nothing else.Now get some rest and don’t worry.You did your best.”
She told Amy of the story.“Oh, Chestnut Walk.Yes, it could have happened there.I have always disliked it, so dark and damp.”
“Well, today I insisted we walk that way, and we were abducted—blindfolded, I think—and we don’t know where we were taken.”
“What of our escape?How do we explain that without mentioning…”
Eleanor’s heart ached to see the girl couldn’t even bear to mention Nicholas’s name.“We climbed through a window,” she explained.“We were kept on the ground floor, you see, by very careless kidnappers.We fled until we came to streets we recognized.We were far too distraught to notice where we were held.”
The sound of arrivals brought them both to their feet.
“At last,” said Eleanor, as Peter and Lord Middlethorpe burst into the room.Peter hurried over to Amy, who flung herself into his arms and burst into tears.Lord Middlethorpe took a more restrained but comforting hold of Eleanor’s hands.
