“Are you all right?”
“Perfectly.Amy is upset, that is all.”
He smiled slightly.“And you are not?”
“Not yet.There is too much to do.Francis, I must know.Did Nicholas know we were kidnapped?”
“Yes.Peter came and told us.He went off prepared to do anything to ensure your safety.Were you held by Sir Lionel?”
“No, by Madame Bellaire.”
Lord Middlethorpe was dumbfounded, and it was at this moment that Peter and Amy, in one another’s arms, joined the discussion.
“But why should she?”Peter asked.“She had everything she wanted.”
There was no chance to answer as a new arrival was heard.Eleanor watched the door hopefully, but it was not Nicholas who entered but Lady Middlethorpe, come to gather her daughter to her bosom.
After a moment she turned reproachful eyes upon her son.“Francis, you could have come to support me through such an ordeal.”
“I was trying to find Amy, Mother.I couldn’t be in two places.At least they are now both safe.”
“Thank God!What happened?”
Eleanor told their story, adding a few realistic touches and receiving very strange looks from the gentlemen.They did not contradict her, however.Lady Middlethorpe wondered at length about the reason for it all, then swept a reluctant Amy away to her home.She hinted that her son at least should accompany them, but he put her off.
As soon as she was gone he demanded an explanation from Eleanor of the story she had told.
“Well, I don’t want my brother’s part in this to become common knowledge, and I doubt it is wise that Nicholas’s involvement be heard of either.I am sorry to lie to your mother, Francis, but I think it’s for the best.”
“Yes, you’re right,” he agreed, giving her a penetrating look.“But I hadn’t thought of it.You are become very formidable, Eleanor.”
She raised her chin.“I suppose you would rather I faint and weep and leave everything in the capable hands of you men?It is you who got us into the predicament in the first place.Now I want to know exactly what has been going on.”
He looked uncomfortable.“You mean in addition to you and Amy?”
“I mean everything.What difference can it make now?I gather things have come to their climax.”
He sighed and capitulated, giving her the outlines of the plot.“Nicholas was to get the names of the conspirators this evening and then take Madame Bellaire away.She believed he was fleeing with her to the Americas, but he intended merely to see her safe out of the country with ample money for her needs.”
“Poor woman,” said Eleanor.
“She is a double traitoress and a whore,” Peter protested, and then apologized for his language.
But Eleanor had not noticed.She had been absorbing the story she had been told.“Do you mean Nicholas was not part of the plot?Oh, what a fool I’ve been!”
“Part of it?You didn’t think…?”
“I thought he was deep in it.The pearls!”she said with sick horror.What would he say?Oh, what did it matter?“So he went there as arranged, and then what?Of course, she wanted proof that it was she he loved.She was listening and watching!”
The gentlemen looked at her in amazement as her eyes glowed and she laughed.
“Eleanor, are you all right?”
“I have solved it all!”she declared happily.“We were in Madame Bellaire’s house, as I suspected.Nicholas came into our room and acted a grand scene.It was quite unlike him.He was rude, he snarled, he berated me.I hated him,” she said with a reminiscent smile.“I told him so.But then he said a peculiar thing.He accused me of always pestering him and creating scenes.Well, it was completely untrue, and I thought it very strange.Then he tried to throttle me.”
“What!”they cried in unison.
“Not really, though I think Amy was convinced.He had his hands around my neck quite tight, but not so I couldn’t breathe, and he was tickling me at the back.I knew then it was all an act, but I didn’t know why.Now I realize there must have been a peephole and Madame Bellaire was watching.He was convincing her he had no feelings for me and was totally hers.I suppose a jealous woman is not quite sane.”
