106. Love's Dream in Peril Page 13

  He felt such terrible guilt and pain for letting her down again. Yet what else could he have done?

  Digby tossed and turned restlessly. Now he could hear voices down below on the stairs and the sound of hurrying footsteps.

  What was going on? The footsteps came closer, thudding on the wooden stairs that led up to the attics.

  And then there was a thump on his door and a loud voice calling his name.

  “Digby? Are you in there?”

  Digby’s heart turned over. He knew that voice so well. His old friend, Lord Ranulph!

  He struggled into his dressing gown and went to open the door.

  “Is she here?” Lord Ranulph’s voice was breathy and urgent. “Has she come to you?”

  His dark hair was rumpled and sweat gleamed on his face.

  Behind him on the landing Digby could see Jane’s slender figure. Her eyes were wide with anxiety.

  “Ranulph? Steady, sir,” Digby said, taking hold of his friend’s arm. “It’s good to see you after so long. But what’s going on?”

  Lord Ranulph shook his head dumbly. He seemed in great distress.

  Jane came forward.

  “Adella is missing!” she said, a quaver in her voice. “She is not in her room and she has not been seen since this morning. Both she and her maid have disappeared.”

  On this hot summer night the attic, high under the roof tiles, was very warm. But Digby was suddenly cold with shock.

  “It’s true,” Lord Ranulph was saying. “Her uncle sent for me this evening to see if she had come to me.”

  “Why would she go to you?” Digby was confused and beginning to feel worried too.

  Lord Ranulph told how he had spoken to Adella and released her from any obligation to be engaged to him.

  “But her uncle will not accept this. He is half crazy with anger. He thought that she must have changed her mind and agreed to marry me after all.”

  Digby blinked, struggling to clear his head.

  “But she didn’t?’

  “No! Her uncle raged at her, but she did not give way. And now – she is gone.” Lord Ranulph’s face was ashy with strain.

  “Digby, have you seen her? Have you spoken to her?” Jane asked.

  “No. Oh, God!” Digby put his head in his hands.

  “What is it?” Jane tugged at his sleeve.

  Digby groaned in despair.

  “I am afraid this is all my fault. I turned my back on her yesterday. She called out to me from the Square gardens and I just walked away.”

  Lord Ranulph looked aghast.

  “Why the hell did you do that?”

  “The Judge had told me I should leave her alone. He told me she would be very rich when she came of age and, as I have nothing, I would be called a fortune-hunter and Adella’s reputation would be ruined if she and I – ”

  “You idiot!” Lord Ranulph struck out at Digby, catching his friend’s arm with his fist. “I gave her up for you! Don’t you know how much she loves you?”

  “Stop this, please,” Jane caught Lord Ranulph’s fist and held him back. “Please!”

  “I’ve been so stupid,” Digby groaned. “Oh, God!” He dropped his head into his hands again.

  “Listen to me, both of you,” Jane stipulated. “It’s no use looking back and blaming ourselves, although I am sure that we are all responsible in some way for Adella’s disappearance. If I had only understood how afraid she is of her uncle. We must find her before she comes to harm.”

  “Yes!” Digby shook himself and stood up.

  “Do you have any idea where she might be?”

  Digby was struggling into his trousers, which he put on over his nightshirt.

  “I don’t. No idea at all. I cannot bear to think that she might still be with us if only I had spoken to her.”

  “Hush!” Jane cautioned.

  Lord Ranulph sat down on the bed.

  “You do love her, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Yes.” Digby buttoned his coat. “I love her. I only wanted what was best for her when I walked away. I know that I have no hope of ever being with her at least not until I have made a fortune for myself. But I do love her.”

  “You gave her up, just like I did.”

  “I could not do anything that might compromise her happiness or her reputation, but I think I made the wrong choice.”

  “Please!” Jane said, her voice clear and sharp. “You may sit here all night and debate, but it will not help Adella one bit. We must find her!”

  “I am ready.” Digby turned to her.

  “Lord Ranulph, Mr. May told you that her maid was missing too?” Jane asked.

  “Neither of them has been seen since the morning.”

  Jane thought for a moment.

  “Then we should speak to the maid’s family.”

  “Jane, you are a wonder!” Digby cried.

  “We will ask Mr. May’s housekeeper for the maid’s address,” Jane said. “And reassure Mr. May that we are doing everything we can to find her. If we don’t, he will call the Police, and – ”

  “That would do nothing for Adella’s reputation,” Lord Ranulph finished.

  Jane’s calm words seemed to have inspired a new strength in him.

  “We have to find her ourselves and bring her back to safety. Miss Hartley – after you.”

  He stepped back respectfully to allow Jane to leave the attic.

  Digby’s tiredness had vanished. All he could think of now was that Adella might be in danger. She was so innocent, so young and inexperienced.

  And worse than that she now believed that he did not care for her.

  He must find her as soon as he could and then he would not let her out of his sight again, no matter what the Society gossips might say about him.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Oh, Miss Adella. I wish we’d stayed at Ma’s,” Beth whispered, looking round at the dingy room in East London where she and Adella had hidden themselves.

  “Beth, your mother’s little house is the first place they will come looking for us!” Adella cried.

  She felt as if she hardly dared breathe in this place, a filthy bedroom on the first floor of The Britannia Inn, but at least no one would think to find them here.

  A strong smell of beer and tobacco smoke seeped up through the floorboards from the taproom below and she could hear men’s voices shouting and laughing.

  Beth had been so good to her, helping her to escape from Dorset Square.

  They had travelled all the way to East London on a crowded omnibus that seemed to take forever as it trundled over the cobblestones pulled by two slow horses.

  Beth had not left her side for a single moment and Adella could not bear the thought that Beth might suffer for what she had done.

  “You could go back to your Ma’s now, Beth,” she suggested. “I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

  “Miss – I can’t! What if your uncle comes after me? He’ll guess what I’ve done, helpin’ you get away.”

  “Tell him I forced you to help me and then I ran away and you don’t know where I am.”

  “No, miss. I couldn’t. I won’t leave you.”

  There was a burst of laughter and a crash of heavy footsteps on the landing outside their room and then there was a loud thud on the door.

  “’Ello! Anyone at ’ome, ladies?” a man’s hoarse voice shouted and there was more laughter.

  Adella gasped with fright and Beth put her arms around her.

  “Don’t worry, miss. The door’s bolted. They can’t get in. I ain’t leavin’ you, miss. We’ll be all right.”

  She could then feel Beth shivering as they clung together, even the tough little maid was afraid in this awful place.

  The door bulged and creaked as it was kicked with heavy boots.

  “Beth, I don’t think we should stay here,” Adella said. “It isn’t safe. I don’t think the door will hold.”

  “Miss, we can’t get out. The only way is through the tapro
om.”

  The roars and shouts from down below seemed to be growing louder.

  Adella went over to the grimy little window that looked out over the narrow dark street.

  A cart full of empty sacks stood under the window, abandoned for the night.

  “Come on, Beth. We can get out this way.” Adella opened the window and threw her bag out.

  It was not such a long drop down to the cart.

  Beth went first, easing her small body out through the window and Adella followed.

  No one noticed the two of them hurrying away over the dirty cobblestones and the men in the inn were having far too much fun and making far too much noise to notice anything outside the smoky taproom.

  It was late, far into the night and all the warehouses around The Britannia Inn were silent and closed.

  There was only a glimmer of light from the new moon to guide Adella and Beth as they made their way down to the River Thames.

  “We’ll hide down there, miss, under these arches,” Beth whispered. “It won’t be long now until mornin’ and then we can go somewhere else. We can go to Kent to the countryside.”

  “We could even take a boat, Beth, and go to France. No one would ever find us there.” Adella pushed away the feeling of panic that was surging inside her.

  “Yes, miss. Wherever you like.” Beth’s warm hand caught hold of Adella’s. “Come on, we’re nearly there.”

  Ahead of them a thin line of moonlight glinted on black water. They had come to the River Thames and Beth led Adella to a low brick archway that smelt of mould.

  “We can rest here, miss.”

  They had to clamber over a mound of broken bricks and rubbish to get inside and Adella thought that they were alone until a bundle of rags that lay against the wall stirred and groaned.

  It was an old woman.

  “Beth, who is that?” Adella asked.

  “I don’t know, miss. There be all sorts live down here by the river.”

  “Live here?”

  “Yes. Perhaps she ain’t got nowhere else to go.”

  Adella sat down on the damp earth and gathered her skirts around her.

  The comfortable house at Dorset Square with its clean bright rooms seemed to exist in another world.

  Only the memory of Digby, of the golden bliss she had felt when she believed he had loved her, seemed real.

  And yet that sweet heavenly dream was just a lie.

  Adella dropped her head onto her knees and let her tears flow.

  *

  Lord Ranulph raised his hand and knocked on the battered door of the little cottage and, although it was the middle of the night, the door opened instantly.

  “Oh, thank Gawd!”

  A large woman in a patched cotton dress wiped tears from her plump face as she greeted them.

  “I’m goin’ out of me mind with worry!” she said. “What will become of them? Sirs, miss, thank Gawd you came.”

  Jane stepped into the tiny cluttered parlour, which opened directly off the street.

  Lord Ranulph and Digby followed and stood by the door as there was very little room inside the cottage.

  “You must be Beth’s mother,” Jane said, taking the woman’s hand.

  “Do you have any idea where Miss May and her maid might be?” Lord Ranulph asked.

  She flinched at the sound of his urgent voice and began to cry again.

  Jane looked at him and pressed a finger to her lips.

  “Mrs. James,” she said. “We need your help.”

  Beth’s mother struggled to control herself.

  “What will become of them?” she wailed.

  Jane frowned.

  “What is it?” Digby asked her.

  It was hard to stand still and do nothing, when his body and soul were longing to run out of the cottage and search everywhere, anywhere, for Adella.

  “I am thinking, if I was Adella, what would I do?” Jane quizzed. “Where would I go?”

  “She has no carriage,” Lord Ranulph interrupted, impatiently. “She cannot go far.”

  A voice spoke from a chair by the fireplace, where an elderly man was sitting, hunched over a long clay pipe.

  “Ha! There ain’t no carriages round ’ere. Not for poor folk like us,” he said and gave a cackle of laughter.

  “Pa! Shhh,” the large woman looked embarrassed at his rudeness.

  The old man snorted.

  “I know what our Beth’d do. She’d go down to the river,” he said. “She might find a boat down there to take her away.”

  Jane’s eyes were shining.

  “Where by the river?”

  “It’s no place for a young lady,” Beth’s mother’s voice trembled. “There’s sailors, stevedores and drunkards of all types roamin’ about.”

  Digby stepped forward.

  “Please think, Mrs. James. Where would Beth take Adella so they would be safe?”

  “Is there an inn or a tavern?” Jane asked.

  The old man gave another cackle of laughter.

  “Safe? A pretty young lady at the inn? Ha, ha!”

  “Pa!” Mrs. James shouted. “Give over!”

  He grumbled under his breath and coughed.

  “They’ll be at the arches,” he said. “That’s where the waifs and strays go of a night. No one bothers ’em there.”

  Digby’s heart gave a great leap of joy.

  “She’ll be there, I know it,” he said and headed for the door, as Jane asked the old man for directions.

  Lord Ranulph gave him a look of doubt.

  “How can you be sure?”

  Digby gripped his arm.

  “I just have a feeling,” he cried. “Come on! Let’s not waste another moment.”

  And the three of them then set off through the dark streets towards the River Thames.

  *

  Adella did not want to lie down on the damp hard ground under the arches.

  But she must have slept, sitting there with her head resting on her knees, for when she looked up she saw there was a faint grey light creeping into the night sky.

  Morning was coming. Beth was still fast asleep, curled up on her cloak by Adella’s side.

  Something had woken Adella. A shuffling noise.

  She shuddered as she saw the outline of a large rat creeping along by the water’s edge.

  The shuffling noise was getting louder. It was not the rat, it was something much bigger than that and it was getting nearer, approaching from the entrance to the arch.

  Adella shook Beth’s arm, but the little maid just sighed and turned away, lost in a deep exhausted sleep.

  There was more movement and then the sound of a match striking.

  The flicker of a flame danced over the damp brick walls and Adella’s heart stopped as a shrill unearthly shriek split the air.

  She staggered to her feet. A shadowy figure was bending over the pile of rags by the wall.

  Someone was trying to wake the old woman who lay there and it was she who had cried out.

  A scream flew up into Adella’s throat as well and stuck there frozen, as she was completely paralysed with fear and shock.

  Uncle Edgar had come to find her. He would seize her and smash her to pieces, just as he had done to his Fort.

  Now more people were coming and she could hear them climbing over the pile of rubble to get inside the arch.

  And the shadowy figure had seen her. He was now coming after her, his hands held out to catch her!

  There was nowhere for Adella to go but towards the river, where the grey light of dawn showed oily ripples of black deep water.

  She caught up her skirts and stumbled as fast as she could towards the muddy shore.

  *

  Digby’s stomach turned at the smell of this filthy place. To think that people actually spent the night here!

  He could just about make out the shapes of bodies lying on the earth.

  Lord Ranulph was braver than him. He was boldly stepping over the filth that bloc
ked the entrance to the arch.

  His Lordship went up to one of the bodies and then it seemed to Digby that all hell broke loose.

  A terrible scream rent the air, as a crazed wild creature, covered in rags that looked like tattered feathers, hurled itself at Lord Ranulph, seizing him by the throat and shaking him.

  And a slender ghostly figure rose up from the floor and drifted towards the dark River Thames.

  A girl, a young woman. As she moved away, her hood fell back and the candlelight caught her golden hair.

  “Adella! Wait!” Digby shouted.

  He ran to follow her, but something caught at his legs and knocked him flying, so that his face struck the wet earth with a smack.

  “No you don’t! You just leave her alone!” a girl’s voice cried.

  “Beth? Stop!” Digby gasped, rolling onto his back as the little maid pummelled him with her fists.

  She stopped at once.

  “Oh, sir, it be you, ain’t it? Mr. Dryden? I’m so sorry! I didn’t see in the dark it was you. I thought you was tryin’ to kill us!”

  “Adella!” Jane’s voice echoed against the domed ceiling as she scrambled inside the arch. “Wait, it’s us. All is well!”

  Adella kept on walking towards the river as if she was in a dream.

  Beth’s eyes grew wide with horror.

  “Miss!” she yelled. “Stop! The mud! It ain’t safe. It’ll take you, miss! Come back.”

  But Adella seemed not to hear. She staggered on, a pale figure in the grey dawn light and Digby saw her slip and sway, as if she had lost her footing.

  Jane came to Digby’s side and helped him to his feet.

  “The mud is like a quicksand,” she warned.

  Digby saw that the mud was over Adella’s ankles and was sucking and dragging at her feet as she tried to walk faster.

  He called to her and gave every drop of his being to his voice as he cried out,

  “Adella! Come back!”

  And she stopped and turned her head.

  “Adella, I love you!”

  She must have heard him, for she made as if to start going back to the arch, but she could not free her feet from the mud. It was almost up to her knees now.

  Digby wanted to go her, to pull her free, but Jane grabbed his arm and pulled him back.