Page 54 of The Bridal Quest

There was more to this story, Irene thought, but at the moment she was too intent on the subject on her mind to pursue this secondary trail. "Still, doesn't it seem a bit strange that Gideon was not discovered before now? Even if the duke is a persistent man, one would think that Radbourne's father would have pursued his disappearance as diligently as a—what, second cousin?"

Francesca frowned thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose he would have. But it could be that when Radbourne was a child someone was hiding him, trying to keep anyone from locating him. But now that he is an adult, he is no longer hidden. Indeed, he is a successful businessman and therefore easy to find." She paused, then continued. "What does Radbourne think—that his father did not try to find him?"

Irene shrugged. "I am not sure. It seems unlikely. But I have thought about it a good deal since Radbourne mentioned it, and there were a number of oddities about the whole thing."

"Oddities?" Francesca frowned and leaned a little closer. "What oddities?"

"Well ... for instance, why did the kidnappers take both the boy and his mother? A child would be easy to handle. Less noticeable. But a woman and a child—one has two people to try to control. A woman is more difficult to conceal or to carry. And a mother bent on saving her child is certain to struggle, wouldn't you think?"

"Yes. But perhaps they could not snatch the child except when he was with his mother. He was only a little boy, so he was probably always with his nurse or his mother. They could also have presumed that they would get a higher ransom for both of them."

"Did they demand ransom for both?" Irene asked.

"I have no idea. I never asked about it."

"And what happened to his mother? If the boy was turned loose by himself, I can understand that he would not know where to go or what to do. He might not remember his home or be able to tell anyone where he was from or who his father was. And if he did, people might just assume it was a jest. But his mother would have come back here."

"Maybe he was not turned loose. Maybe they kept him and raised him."

Irene thought about this idea for a moment. She supposed that it was possible that the Jack Sparks Gideon had lived with could have been the one who abducted him. Still, that left questions unanswered. "Then where was his mother?"

"They may have killed her," Francesca responded.

"And why did they not give him back when his father paid the ransom? Everyone assumed that they had killed the boy, and that was why they did not return him. But obviously they did not."

"Give who back? What are you girls talking about?" Lady Odelia's voice boomed from across the room.

Francesca cast her an apprehensive glance. "Oh. Um. Why, nothing."

"Nothing?" Lady Odelia arched one eyebrow. "How can you talk about nothing?"

"We were discussing Lord Radbourne's kidnapping," Irene explained calmly. "Lady Haughston did not wish to disturb you."

Gideon's grandmother gasped, but Lady Odelia merely grunted and said, "Obviously you have no such compunction."

"It is my belief that if one asks about another person's conversation, then one must be prepared to hear about whatever that conversation was," Irene retorted imperturbably.

Humor glinted for an instant in the older woman's eyes. "I see. Pert young thing, aren't you?"

"Yes, indeed she is," Teresa put in. Irene had not noticed that Teresa had come into the room while she and Francesca were talking. Now Teresa walked over to sit down with the older women, at some remove from Francesca and Irene.

Teresa looked at Irene with disdain as she went on. "I find that Lady Irene also seems to be remarkably concerned with other people's affairs."

Lady Claire, who was just entering the room, colored a little and hastened to intervene. "I am sorry, Lady Odelia, I am afraid that Irene can be a mite too blunt at times."

"Nothing wrong with honesty, Claire," the older woman said. "Don't worry yourself into a taking. Always better to be blunt, I say, than to be one of those dreadful girls who cannot utter a plain statement. I find nothing wrong in a having a healthy curiosity." She cast a significant glance at Teresa before returning her gaze to Irene. "What were you saying about the kidnapping?"

"Everyone has heard about it, of course, but I have never really known the details. Perhaps it is simply that I do not know the full story, but it seems to me that there were some curious circumstances."

"Indeed?"

"For one thing, is it not peculiar that the Duke of Rochford, while obviously a very capable man, was able to locate the earl with so little effort, yet no one was able to find him before?"

Pansy's eyes widened, but Odelia simply nodded. "Ah, is Gideon wondering about that? I must say, it does seem that Cecil should have learned more." She shrugged. "I was not here at the time, so I don't know exactly what was done to find Gideon and his mother. I could not come, despite Pansy's pleading with me to, as my youngest girl was having her lying-in right about then."

She glanced around. "Pansy is the only one who could tell you about that time. It was long before you were here, Teresa."

"Actually, Lady Odelia, I was here," Teresa replied unexpectedly. When everyone turned to look at her in surprise, she added, "Not here at Radbourne Park. But my family lives only a few miles away. I remember all the excitement. Naturally I was still rather young—I had not yet made my come-out. I was— Oh, I must have been about fifteen. The abduction was the talk of the countryside for months. But of course, I did not know all the details of it, only the bits and pieces of gossip that I overheard. No one would speak to a young girl about such matters."