Lise hesitated, just as Anna appeared a little out of breath from hurrying.Deciding she ought to tell someone, just in case, Lise said, “I’m going to Lübeck to speak with Herr Albrecht.He has a house there.”
Jacob’s mouth formed a perfect “O” of shock.“You won’t make it there and back, unless you ride in the dark.”
“Oh no, Fräulein,” Anna said, her brown eyes wide.“I can’t leave my duties that long.”
“When my parents aren’t here, I am in charge,” she said, more bravely than she felt.“I decide your duties.Obviously, I cannot go alone.We’ll make it in plenty of time and spend the night there, under Herr Albrecht’s protection.Or at an inn, if we must.”
“Fräulein Lise, you mustn’t,” Jacob said, fear lacing his young voice.“It’s not safe.”
“I’ll be careful,” she promised, taking the reins from him.“Assist Anna into the saddle.”
But Jacob looked particularly stubborn for a young man.“Whether you return safe and sound or not, your father will have my hide.”Then his face crumpled and he wailed, “I shall be beaten and then turned out.”
Lise bit her lip.“If anyone asks, you tried to stop me.Anna will vouch for you when we return.Besides, you can tell anyone who asks that I told you what I told Frau Kemper, that I was merely going for a ride around the estate.”
“Come along, Anna.”
Before Jacob could protest further, she urged her mare across the forecourt, not looking back to see if her maid was following.In a moment, she heard the horse’s hooves and felt relief.The entire trip was before them, perhaps three hours, perhaps four, but at least they were underway.If they rode steadily, they would reach Lübeck before full darkness had descended.
The journey seemed to take forever and yet no time at all.Lise’s thoughts churned as rapidly as her mare’s hooves on the road.What would she say to Friedrich?How could she explain her desperate concern for an Englishman without revealing too much?
She would have to be careful.Friedrich was practical, sometimes coldly so.Yet she’d also seen a hint of jealousy when she told him of her time away.She must appeal to his sense of honor.Or his desire to appear magnanimous.
Yes!She would frame it as a matter of Christian mercy, of helping a man who had done no real harm.And who had, in fact, befriended Henrik and others in the KGL while they were in London.
The city walls of Lübeck rose before her as the sun touched the western horizon.The sky was a fiery orange to the west behind the many spires, while to her left it was already inky shades of blue.In a flash, she was back in the Earl of Castleton’s study in London, with Jonathan showing her and Henrik the detailed engraving of this same city.
Slowing her mare to a walk, Lise passed through the Hüxtertor gate, suddenly aware of how conspicuous they must appear — two women alone, not traveling in an enclosed, private carriage.Anna, who’d barely spoken the entire journey, rode closely beside her.Suddenly, she made a sound of alarm.
In front of them were French soldiers, not exactly guarding the approach, but definitely intent on showing their presence.
Lise straightened her shoulders.There was no turning back now.Nor would she if she could.Jonathan was somewhere nearby, and although he didn’t know it, she might be his only hope.
Thus, she simply nodded as they passed the soldiers, who eyed them not with any hostility but with male interest.She didn’t stop until she and Anna turned the corner onto another street.Then she breathed more easily.
“We must ask if anyone knows Friedrich’s house,” she said.While Anna made a moaning sound of fear, Lise drew up her horse in front of a tavern where a group of men stood smoking pipes in the doorway.They looked up at her with curiosity and something else that made her skin prickle with unease.
“Pardon me, good sirs,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.“Stupidly, my maid and I managed to become separated from our escort.I’m looking for the residence of Friedrich Albrecht.Can you direct us, please?”
One of the men removed his pipe and pointed down the street.“Albrecht, is it?He bought the Meyerhofer place while the sorry bugger was scarcely out the door.That’s on Beckergrube, third house past the church.Large with blue shutters.You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you.”She urged her mare forward before they could ask questions.
The house, when she found it, was indeed impressive.Far grander than she had imagined.Lise reined in her mare before its tall façade of dark red brick catching the late light like banked embers.The dark blue shutters were already closed on the ground floor to block out the street.
A large door, its black paint dulled to a soft matte by years of wind off the Trave, sat flush with the stone threshold, its ironwork newly buffed to gleaming.Lise felt a flutter of doubt as she dismounted.
How had Friedrich been able to purchase such a place?
Tying her mare to the post outside, she waited as Anna did the same.Then together, they climbed the four wide steps.Lise knocked firmly on the door.
A servant answered, a thin man with suspicious eyes.After a long moment of scrutiny, taking in two women on the step, he said only, “Yes?”
“I need to see Friedrich Albrecht.Tell him Fräulein von Ostenfeld is here.”
The man’s eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline.“Fräulein von Ostenfeld?”
She couldn’t tell if he’d heard of her or not.
