Dipping her pen in the inkwell, she wrote the next line, determined to finish this chapter before —
A knock upon her open door interrupted her.
“Fräulein, you must come downstairs,” Anna said from the hallway, her voice tight with anxiety.
Lise felt her stomach drop.“What is it?”
But Anna’s frightened expression had her on her feet even before her maid spoke his name.
“Herr Albrecht is here.”
“The father?”Lise asked hopefully.
“No.”Anna looked miserable.
Lise’s heart began to hammer against her ribs as she rose on unsteady legs.
“Where is he?”
“In the drawing room.He asked for you, so I came here first.Hans is fetching your parents.”
Lise smoothed her skirts with trembling hands and followed Anna downstairs.She could hear that her mother had reached Friedrich before her.
“How dare you come here?”Frau von Ostenfeld demanded, her voice shaking with fury.
Her father appeared from the hallway, his eyes widening at hearing his wife’s tone.Lise entered just ahead of him, hating the fear that coiled in her stomach at facing Friedrich, despite her parents’ presence.His threats and his power seemed greater than all of them.
She’d hoped never to see him again, yet he stood near the fireplace, looking perfectly at ease in his fine dark-brown coat and fawn-colored breeches.As though he hadn’t held her prisoner.As though his servant hadn’t shot Henrik.
Friedrich offered a small bow when Lise entered before returning his attention to Lise’s mother.“Frau von Ostenfeld, I assure you —”
“You will leave at once,” she continued.“You will never bother my daughter again.”
“I’ve known you since I was a boy,” Friedrich reminded her.“My parents are your closest friends.How can you turn me away?”
Lise’s father spoke up.“My wife speaks for this household.You must never come back here.The door will not open to you again.”
Friedrich’s face fell, looking both disappointed and concerned all at once.“There has been a terrible misunderstanding.”His tone was calm, reasonable.Obsequious, to Lise’s ears.“I was merely trying to help this family.To facilitate the Englishman’s departure so he wouldn’t endanger any of you further.”
“Help this family?”her father’s bushy eyebrows rose into his hairline.“You put all of us in grave peril by speaking about horses in our stable.By telling tales to the French that were none of your business.”Lise noted her father said nothing incriminating, not even acknowledging Jonathan’s existence.
Friedrich spread his hands in a gesture of innocence.“How was I to know that any one of you even knew there was a spy in your stable?As far as I could tell, he was hiding here under your very noses.”He paused, his expression darkening.“Now it turns out he’s a murderer, too.”
Lise gasped, her hand flying to her throat.
Friedrich glanced at her with what might have been satisfaction.“You haven’t heard?A French captain was found slain near the waterfront in Glückstadt.Stabbed to death.The authorities believe your English friend was responsible.”
The room seemed to tilt around Lise.Had Jonathan been injured in the process?Had he escaped afterward?
“In any case,” Friedrich continued, “I wanted only to protect your family.I did not say where I saw those horses.I could have told the French soldiers exactly whose stable and stall.But I didn’t.”
Lise’s mother began to fizz with outrage.That was the best way to describe the hissing noises that emanated from her, while she was too livid to put her thoughts into words.
But her father was not so inhibited.“We don’t want your kind of protection,” Herr von Ostenfeld’s voice rose dangerously.“You threatened my daughter and shot my son.”
Friedrich’s expression shifted to one of surprise, although Lise could see the calculation behind it.
“I never threatened Lise.She misunderstood my intentions entirely.I only wanted to marry her, as was arranged between our families.I still do.”He gestured dismissively.“As for the shooting, my servant fired at what he thought were robbers or intruders in the night.A natural response to protect the household.”
