‘You can be sure that I will make that clear, but I will say, my lady, that I am confident that none within this house would let out so much as a word, unless it were perhaps after too much ale, which is the only risk I perceive.’
‘Very good. The next thing is to try and find out where Miss Susan has gone. You must find out if any of the servants were given a note to deliver, to a house, to a posting house, perhaps, these last few days. It is possible that she went off with no idea where she might go, but it would be an act so desperate, and she seemed quite calm at breakfast.’
‘I shall endeavour to find that out, my lady. Is there any young person with whom she has perhaps formed a friendship at social functions, some other young lady …?’
‘Miss Susan does not have friends among the other young ladies, I am sorry to say, Bembridge. I fear if anything she might have turned to a gentleman of her acquaintance. Sir Esmond Fawley would bring her straight here, I have no doubt of it, and,’ she paused only for a moment, ‘the same is true of Lord Rothley.’ Would a rake reject a ripe plum falling into his clutches? He might not, but whatever had been said, Sophy could not quite believe the Lord Rothley they had come to know would act in such a manner. ‘I will write to them if I must, in case they should hear something, but later. Lord Bollington … No. Sir Edward Wittenham I can also discount, but … Lord Pinkney, oh if any missive has gone to him then I fear we know where to seek her.’ Sophy was talking more to herself than the family retainer, and remembered his presence with a slight flush. ‘I am sorry, Bembridge, my mind is disordered. Would you please send tea up to Lady Harriet’s room, and send Thomas here to await a note I must send round to Lord Tyneham, immediately. Then see what we can find out. If there is no knowledge of Miss Susan writing a letter or note to anyone, we must send manservants to the most notable posting houses, and starting points for the mail coaches, with her description and that of the valise.’
Bembridge went to set these things in motion, and Sophy set aside the letter to her parent, and taking a deep breath, began to write to her cousin, Lord Tyneham. She felt that what had happened was best explained in person, so restricted her missive to a request that he come as a matter of urgency to speak with her.
Lord Tyneham arrived some considerable time later, in response to her urgent request, having been neither at his lodging nor his club. He was expecting to hear something reprehensible about Susan, but was understandably shocked to find out that she had actually disappeared.
‘How could a young woman in your care just … wander off?’
‘I hardly think she did anything as aimless as “wander off”, cousin. You make her sound like some dreamy infant. The truth is that she planned whatever she has done, since she had a ready answer to any questioning about why she had the maid carry a small valise with her.’
‘She left with a valise?’
‘A small one. She said that after visiting Hookham’s Library she wanted to take a dress for alteration to the dressmaker in Conduit Street, and that she wanted to be present so that it could be fitted to her. My sister had no cause to think this untrue. How could she guess that Susan was planning to run away?’
‘It should not even take a few weeks, let alone two months, for you to discover that anything is possible with that girl,’ snorted Tyneham. ‘Despite this, you let her out with only a chit of a girl and a maid for company.’
‘What would you have preferred, my lord? A troop of dragoons?’ Sophy was in no mood to be conciliatory. Had her cousin seemed even slightly concerned for his sister’s welfare it would have been different, but he was not.
‘You should have kept her indoors, except under your own supervision.’ He shook his head. ‘I hold you responsible, Cousin Sophronia, though it grieves me to say so.’
‘Oh yes, you have stood back from the moment we arrived in London, simply waiting to look important and give your consent when my mother, or latterly I, myself, managed to find a suitable husband for her.’ Sophy made no attempt to hide her contempt. ‘You have not been responsible at all. In fact, the only thing you did was most irresponsible, and that was flaunt her dowry to every fortune-hunter in Town so that we have had the likes of Lord Pinkney swooping in like crows to carrion.’
There was a knock, and Bembridge entered, with a missive.
‘No reply is requested, miss,’ he said, sympathetically.
Sophy did not recognise the writing, which was in a neat, but rather small hand. She almost tore open the sheet and then sat down rather heavily.
‘Thank goodness! Bembridge, we need not send to the posting houses, after all.’
‘No, my lady. Might I say as that is a blessing.’
As the butler closed the door behind him, Sophy looked to Lord Tyneham.
‘She is safe. Lord Edward has taken her to his sister, the widowed Lady Holt, at Gerrards Cross. It seems Lord Edward is not as easily brought about Susan’s finger as she thought him. According to this, Susan threw herself upon his mercy, with a tale of being forced into marriage with Lord Pinkney, whom she has now come to fear, and with nowhere else to turn. She even threatened to throw herself in the Thames if he did not “save” her from her plight. He was not convinced by the tale but was unsure of what to do. I can only assume that Susan believed that throwing herself at him would mean him taking her to Gretna and marrying her, little fool, but instead he is taking her into Buckinghamshire and Lady Holt. By the time they made the first change he was completely certain that what she had said was a complete hum, and sent this by messenger. Lord Edward describes my cousin as “having a dangerous combination of ignorance and guile”, which I frankly consider generous, and requests that a member of the family collects her, since he has no faith in his own ability to return her here without her absconding, and if he did so and was seen, it would be considered most peculiar. Indeed, it was that which prevented him returning with her immediately. He is quite right, for heaven knows what manner of faradiddle she would have concocted to persuade strangers that he was coercing her. It is a great relief,’ Sophy sighed, ‘though how I wish he had seen her in her true colours much, much earlier.’
‘He will have to marry her, of course.’ Lord Tyneham frowned.
‘No such thing. The world does not know of this, nor shall it. Poor Lord Edward was put in a very difficult situation and acted as a man of honour.’
‘As a man of honour, he must marry her.’ Lord Tyneham sighed, heavily. ‘I had hoped for better. A mere youngest son.’
‘Better? You mean wealthier? Lord Edward Wittenham deserves far better than Susan. I can scarcely imagine a better man in such circumstances. Besides, do you really think he could control her, cousin? Oh, I know you would like to wash your hands of her, but she will always be your sister, and if she married him, I would give it six months before she created a wild scandal. Now, I shall make immediate preparations to go to Gerrards Cross. I take it that it is not so far distant that I may not travel there and back before dark?’
‘No, it is perfectly possible. I will call here at ten this evening and await your return if you have not done so already.’
Sophy noted that his lordship did not leap to offer to accompany her. She would not wish to have him beside her all the way to Lady Holt, nor indeed see what would happen when he and his sister met, since the chances of them remaining civil, even before strangers, was slim. However, his washing his hands of her, and no doubt enjoying a decent dinner before coming to Hill Street, irked her intensely.
It was in an aggrieved mood with all those who bore the Tyneham name that Sophy set out, bearing the address of Lady Holt at Gerrards Cross, half an hour later.
Sophy had wondered how she was going to face Lady Holt, but in fact that lady made things very easy for her. She greeted her without Susan being present, and sat with tea things as if this were a standard morning call. Amelia, the Dowager Viscountess Holt, had been in black for some seven months following her husband’s unexpected death upon the hunting field. She was some ten years older than Sophy, and not so old that she felt any inclination to treat her as anything other than her peer.
‘I am sorry that you had to travel out so far, and at such short notice, Lady Sophronia, only I do not think any other alternative would avoid the sort of scandal one would wish to avoid. My brother is currently “on guard” outside the parlour in which Miss Tyneham is, well, confined.’ She poured tea from an elegant silver teapot. ‘I have not a huge admiration for my brother Edward’s understanding, but I think in these circumstances he has actually done quite well. It is amazing what seven years in the army has done for him.’ She smiled in a sisterly way. ‘Do you have male siblings, Lady Sophronia?’
