Page 22 of The Duke and the Spinster

Lady Delbarton fell back against her pillows, suddenly afraid. It would not do to have lost her elder daughter, not at all. What if Juliana had run off with some man – although… that seemed unlikely. What if… Lady Delbarton could not, in fact, think of any explanation. Juliana was the quiet one, the obedient one who avoided society, and would prefer to stay home with a book. This made no sense at all.

“Help me dress, Mary, and we’ll look into this further.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

“Once I’m ready, go and get Lady Eleanor up and dressed as well, and tell Hobbs to assist Lord Delbarton as soon as possible. We will gather in our private parlour here and discuss this strange occurrence.”

Everything happened far faster than usual, and soon, the family sat in the small parlour of their suite of rooms, discussing Juliana’s disappearance. Lord Delbarton was as puzzled as his wife.

“My dear, I simply can’t see it. Our Juliana is the last girl I’d expect to run off. Why she’s barely spoken to a man all the time we’ve been here, except for the Duke, of course – and I certainly don’t think he’d need to run off with anyone!”

“No. He wouldn’t. Any woman here would accept his proposal in a moment and their family would be happy.”

Eleanor’s tone was wistful as she spoke the words.

“Nonetheless, it does look rather as if she has run off, somewhere, for some reason we don’t understand. And she didn’t even do us the courtesy of leaving a note!”

Lady Delbarton fanned her face, feeling overheated and frustrated, and somewhat betrayed – she would never have expected trouble from Juliana, never. Lord Delbarton looked at her, and reached across to pat her hand.

“I’m sure we’ll find her my dear. We just have to work out where to look. I just can’t countenance the idea that she’s run off with a man. So, if she’s run off for some other reason, where might she go? We have to think it through.”

“I truly don’t know – Eleanor, do you have any idea?”

“I don’t. She’s never spoken of wanting to go anywhere… never. But… what shall we do today?”

“Well… much as I hate to say it, we certainly can’t go up to Hallingbrook Grange. What would we say if someone asked where she was?”

Eleanor looked a little sulky, at the thought of missing a day of adoration from the eligible men. Then brightened as she had an idea.

“We could say that she was ill, and had stayed back here.”

“No. I don’t want to lie, unless there is utterly no other choice – that will only lead to mistakes. We must stay here, and concentrate on working out where she might have gone. The fact that she took a valise is encouraging – for it means that it’s unlikely she was taken by some man and her unwilling.”

At Lord Delbarton’s words, his wife shuddered, real fear appearing in her eyes for the first time.

“You don’t think… surely no-one would kidnap her, or worse!”

“No, I don’t, I think she’s gone somewhere of her own choice. But I don’t know where, or why.”

They called for food to be brought, and kept talking as they ate. But all to no avail – by late afternoon they were no further forward with ideas for where to seek Juliana, and all were aware that the longer they waited to act, the greater was the risk to her reputation, the greater risk that she was ruined, wherever she was. Saying that she was ill was beginning to look like a necessity.

Eleanor was on the edge of tears from the frustration of it all, and a growing true concern for her sister, when there came a knock at the door of their rooms. They heard Mary in the little entryway, then moments later, she showed the Duke into the room.

“Your Grace!”

They rose, startled at his having come to their rooms in the Boarding House.

“Good afternoon, my Lord, my Lady. Please excuse my intruding on you, but, when none of your family were to be seen at Hallingbrook Grange today, I became concerned. Is all well?”

His kind tone and apparent sincerity was the last straw for Eleanor. She burst into tears. Her mother rushed to hug her, and the Duke looked perplexed, and more concerned.

“No. Nothing is well. My sister is missing!”

Eleanor’s voice shook and she raised her tear stained face to the Duke.

~~~~~

Lady Eleanor’s words cut through Garrett like a knife. Lady Juliana was missing? His first thought was that Fondleton had stolen her away, but no – he had seen Fondleton at Hallingbrook Grange – and for most of the day. He needed more information, now – the thought of her in danger cut into him, and he wanted to rush out the door to find her, to keep her safe – as he had promised to do, the previous evening, and had already failed to achieve, it seemed. But rushing off with no information would not help him find her.