Her father sighed.“They were shocked when I showed them Lord Bowen’s letter.But they may choose to believe whatever story Friedrich tells them.Parents often forgive their children when the option is to lose them forever.It makes little difference one way or another.”
Lise nodded, but she couldn’t shake the cold dread that had settled over her.Her mother was undoubtedly correct.Friedrich hated to be thwarted.
And what of Jonathan?She prayed he was well into his voyage, perhaps already reaching Heligoland and freedom.
Two days later, a detachment of French soldiers returned.It was the start of a terrifying harassment campaign that seemed as though it would never end.Over the course of a month, the French soldiers continued to torment them, searching the estate repeatedly, questioning the servants, making it clear that the von Ostenfeld family would remain under suspicion.
Her father watched their livestock and their harvest and pantry stores requisitioned again and again to support Bonaparte’s occupying troops.Finally, he’d had enough.
Henrik’s wound had healed well enough for him to be summoned back to Britain in order to train with fellow KGL.By January, he would likely be fighting in Portugal or Spain.
“We will go to England with Henrik.”Her father made the announcement one evening.His decision had been made gradually, then all at once.“At least until this madness ends.”
Lise and Henrik had looked at one another.They understood he didn’t mean the madness of the harassment.He meant the madness of war.Therefore, their exile would likely last for years.
Seven weeks later, Lise let her brother hand her down from the carriage.She looked up at the house they would rent until her father found something he wished to buy.Larger, with a bit of land, outside the city.In the meantime, they were merely one street over from where she and Henrik had stayed in the spring, in London’s Little Germany.
Lise was surprised at how much this neighborhood felt like a homecoming.
Maybe it was the familiar aromas from the bakeries and the street sellers.Maybe it was the German voices, in both high and low dialect, all around them.Maybe it was knowing Jonathan was nearby.
Two days earlier, she’d stood on the deck of a merchant brig and watched the gray coastline of England emerge from the morning mist.She’d never imagined she would see it again, yet here she was, with her entire family, and she couldn’t help feeling ...excited.Any sadness was reserved for her parents.
Unexpectedly, Lise’s mother had taken on the task of packing up their Holstein house with relief, not melancholy.In less than a week, she had completed the task.Herr von Ostenfeld’s cousin had agreed to take over management of the estate, hoping a different family in residence would cause the soldiers to leave them alone.
They’d brought the trappings of their wealth with them: the Meissen porcelain dishes, the fine Bohemian glassware, and their favorite furniture, carpets, and linens.Everything that could be packed and transported had been loaded onto wagons and transported to the ship.All to her father’s satisfaction.
Then, after a very chilly crossing, they’d spent the night at a posting inn outside the city so their belongings could go on ahead with their house staff, those who’d wished to come.They would make everything as ready as possible for the von Ostenfelds’ arrival.
“Step aside, Lise,” her brother said when she stalled in the center of the modest foyer.“You’re already thinking of Bowen,” he guessed.Henrik was carrying their mother’s trunk as though it weighed nothing more than a small sack of flour.
He set it down carefully by the open door to what was obviously the drawing room.She spied their sofa already in place.
Henrik would hardly have a day to enjoy their new home, having to head out to the training fields of Hythe in Kent.The thought of him going into battle made Lise’s throat tight, but he loved being a soldier.
She answered her brother honestly.“Maybe I am.Anyway, are you glad to be back?”
“Yes, but probably not as pleased as you are.I’m surprised you’ve even come indoors.I thought you’d be heading over to his lordship’s home at once, by hook or by crook.”
Their mother had just entered.“Don’t be absurd.How shocking.We must get settled first, and then we shall see about visiting our neighbors and perhaps paying a call to the Earl and Countess of Castleton.”
Lise wasn’t sure how long “getting settled” might take.The question was how long she could bear being in the same city while not seeing him.
“Don’t dawdle,” her mother said.“So much to do.”
Her father entered then, strode to the staircase, and tried to rattle the banister.“The woodwork is good,” he declared.“But it feels as though we are living in a cupboard.I shall start looking tomorrow for somewhere with room to breathe.Maybe in Hampstead or Twickenham.”
Lise and Henrik grinned at one another.Their father hadn’t even toured the entire house or seen anything of London except from a moving carriage, yet he was already talking of moving on.And the towns he mentioned had been suggested by the innkeeper.
“I think this house looks comfortable,” Lise said.
“Perhaps I would agree if we could go farther than the entry hall,” her mother quipped.Just then Frau Kemper came rushing along the hallway.
“You are all here and safe,” she declared.
“Yes,” Herr von Ostenfeld said.“And ready for coffee.”
While refreshments were prepared, they toured their new temporary home.The rooms were well-proportioned if smaller than what they were accustomed to, and the furniture they’d brought from Holstein made it feel less strange.
