“On second thought, I’d rather not see you looking daggers at me across the table.It may give me indigestion.I suggest you retire and contemplate your situation.Properly.When I next see you, I expect the sunny, malleable Lise I’m accustomed to.”
After taking a few steps, he added.“I’ll send word to Pastor Müller at once.”
Lise stood frozen, disbelieving, watching the back of his head as he disappeared along the hallway.Knowing she had caused this herself didn’t make it any easier.
Back in the bedchamber, Lise found Anna staring out the window, doing nothing.
“I’ve discovered I’m not good at this leisure time, Fräulein.I actually long for both Frau Kemper and Frau Becker giving me orders.”
Lise closed the door and leaned against it, trying to buoy her own spirits with a single hopeful thought.And failing.
“We have to leave,” she whispered.Then immediately, she added, “Yet we mustn’t.”She didn’t want to say aloud her fears for Henrik and her parents.
Closing her eyes, she considered how the men in her family had always been able to handle any matter.She should have let them do so this time, as well.
“My mind is whirling, Anna.I wonder if he will let you leave by yourself.”
“What are you saying?I cannot leave you here.I never would, but I do think we should go.Today,” her maid said.“Now, if possible.”
Lise nodded.“I agree.”Would that it were possible.If Friedrich did have any sway, and she somehow escaped, then he would make sure Jonathan never made it out of Lübeck alive.
Anna smiled, not understanding.“I’m relieved, Fräulein.Shall I go tell that creepy Herr Clausen to have our horses brought round?I can stuff everything into the sack, and we can leave within —”
Her maid stopped, noticing that Lise was shaking her head.
“Herr Albrecht won’t let me simply ride away.But you, perhaps, could sneak out.”
Anna was white as a fresh linen sheet.“Herr Albrecht has trapped you here?”she asked.“But why?”
“He wants to marry immediately.According to him, it’s too late for me to leave with my reputation intact.”There was no point in telling Anna about the threats.“If I go home and marry him later, he says it will stainhisreputation, too.He might be correct about the whole matter, but I think my parents won’t welcome this rushed ceremony.”
Lise crossed to the window looking down at the side yard.They were on the second floor, too high to jump, but a tree was growing as high as the roof.
“It’s a sturdy linden tree,” Anna said, following her gaze.It was close enough that they could lean over the casement sill and touch its branches.
Lise considered it.She’d made a series of errors.Climbing down a tree and being unable to reach their horses without getting caught might be another one.Angering Friedrich into some rash retaliation against her family, that would be the worst mistake of all.
“If we wait until dark, Fräulein, we might be able to slip into the stable, too.”
But Lise knew only Anna could leave.Perhaps she could hire a horse at the posting inn.If her maid could just get out of Lübeck and make her way home —
“Fräulein von Ostenfeld!”It wasn’t Herr Clausen but a female voice calling from the hallway, accompanied by urgent knocking.“Fräulein, your brother is here!”
Lise and Anna exchanged startled glances.Henrik?Here?
She opened the door to find Friedrich’s housekeeper.The woman had been neither friendly, nor standoffish, perhaps waiting to see whether Lise really did become the mistress of the house.
“Herr von Ostenfeld just arrived and wishes to see you.The master is with him in the drawing room.”
Lise’s relief at Henrik’s presence was immediately tempered by fear.She couldn’t imagine how Friedrich would react if she asked Henrik to take her home.
Descending the stairs, her mind whirled with terrible possibilities.Friedrich was capable of threats, but how far would he go?
Henrik stood in the center of the room, travel-worn and dusty, his face lighting with relief when he saw her.“Lise, thank God.”
“Henrik.”She wanted to run to him, to beg him to take her away, but Friedrich’s presence stopped her.He was a few feet closer to her than her brother was, his posture relaxed but his eyes watchful.And when he turned, only she could see his face.
“I just told Friedrich that I’ve come to take you home,” Henrik said, moving toward her.
