Ilam knew he had spoken unfairly as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but Eustacia had turned away before he could take them back. David Crossley put his hand on the viscount’s arm. ‘No need for that, my lord,’ said the young man. ‘It’s no one’s fault but her own. She’s been fancying herself as her ladyship for a while now.’
‘Yes, and I, fool that I am, did not realize it,’ Ilam interrupted bitterly.
‘Even if you had done so, I doubt anything you could have said would have made a difference,’ David assured him. ‘The main thing now is to find her.’
‘I will go to the supper room and see if any of her friends have left,’ said Evangeline.
‘That’s a good thought,’ said Ilam. ‘You go too, David.’ When the young man seemed about to protest, Ilam added, ‘Miss Granby has been away in London, remember. There might be people that your sister knows that Miss Granby may have forgotten about.’
‘Miss Hope and I could make discreet enquiries of the landlady,’ said Miss August. ‘Perhaps one of the servants might have seen her.’
‘Perhaps,’ Ilam agreed. ‘In the meantime, I’ll go outside and take a look around. We’ll meet back here in, say, a quarter of an hour?’
Miss August took the lead in questioning Mrs Venables, whilst Eustacia stood by and tried to give her full attention to what was happening. Gabriel’s accusations had been unfair, but she knew that he had spoken out of anxiety. After all, they had both been taken aback by Anna’s sudden appearance. She still believed that Ilam would have been quite the wrong person to go after Anna at that moment. Nevertheless, it would have been much better for the wrong person to pursue her and catch her than for her to disappear in this way. If anything had happened to the girl, then she would find it hard to forgive herself for holding Ilam back.
Even whilst Eustacia was racking her conscience, Ilam was going through the same kind of exercise. He knew that he could easily have ignored Eustacia’s advice and run down the stairs after Anna. The fact was that he had not wanted to leave the woman who had been in his arms so recently, and whose kisses had had such a powerful effect upon him. He, who had prided himself on being cast in a different mould to his father, had allowed his desire for a woman to cloud his judgement!
Determinedly, he turned his mind to the matter in hand. The night was fine, and the moon was full. It was, in short, the perfect night for driving, riding, or even for walking, were one in the kind of mood to do such a thing. He made a sweep of the area around the front and the back of the inn, but found no one. Two grooms were about and he engaged them in casual conversation, trying to discover whether either of them knew anything. Neither of them did. He went back to the rendezvous anxious about Anna, but still feeling guilty about the way that he had spoken to Eustacia.
None of them had anything useful to contribute. Mrs Venables had not noticed anyone leaving in a hurry. She was not able to speak to all of the servants straight away, but promised to send anyone to the ballroom if she discovered anything.
On looking carefully at those consuming supper, Evangeline and David had come to the conclusion that all of Anna’s friends were still present. None of them looked anxious or preoccupied.
After Ilam had disclosed his own lack of success, they stood for a while wondering what to do. ‘Some of us, at least, ought to go down to supper,’ said Miss August. ‘The absence of such a large group will be bound to cause the kind of gossip that we are surely most anxious to avoid.’
‘I’d like to take a look outside myself,’ said David anxiously. ‘She’s only a child, after all.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ said Ilam. ‘The ladies should all go downstairs, I think.’
Eustacia was very reluctant to go, but could not think of a way of suggesting that she should help search outside without it sounding as if she wanted to sneak into a dark corner with Gabriel. Miss August and Evangeline made their way towards the supper room, but she hesitated. Before she could follow them, one of the servants came upstairs from the tap room. ‘Begging your pardon, my lord,’ he said, ‘but missus said to remind you that a young man that came with Mr and Mrs Granby left sudden a little while ago.’
‘Morrison!’ exclaimed Ilam, his expression hardening. ‘By God, if he’s harmed her!’
Eustacia hurried back to his side. ‘Morrison would not harm her,’ she said positively.
‘He did you enough damage,’ he retorted.
‘Yes, but that was through thoughtlessness. He would not deliberately harm a young girl in any way. Truly, he would not.’
Gabriel stared at her incredulously. ‘I’m amazed that you can defend him after what he has done,’ he said.
‘I’ve known him for over half my life,’ she replied simply.
‘Never mind that,’ interrupted David Crossley. ‘You told him to go to the next village, my lord. If Anna found out where he was going she might have begged a ride. Remember that my older sister is married to the doctor who lives there.’
‘I’d forgotten that,’ said Ilam, his expression lightening. ‘I’ll wager that’s where she’s gone. Come. With any chance we’ll be back here with her even before we’re missed.’
They strode to the door. Gabriel turned in the doorway, looked back towards Eustacia, hesitated, then in response to David’s urgent summons, he was gone.
Eustacia stood in the centre of the deserted ballroom, lost in thought. The two men might think that Anna had gone to her sister, but she did not believe it to be the case. Anna’s chief emotion would be grief from what she believed was a broken heart. Coming a close second to that, however, would be a strong feeling of humiliation and shame. She had obviously been boasting to her friends about how she would be marrying Ilam. Now that she had seen him kissing someone else, the last thing that she would want would be company. She would want to lick her wounds in private. Furthermore, she was certain that no young woman brought up by Mrs Crossley would get into a carriage with a young man whom she had never met before, however upset she might be.
Where would she go? A sudden inspiration caused Eustacia to look discreetly into the other chambers on the same floor in case Anna had hidden in any of those. This search unfortunately yielded no results.
Where else might the girl have gone? All at once she remembered how Anna and Gabriel had sat together in the arbour at the garden party. She was sure in her mind that it had been on that occasion that Ilam had attempted to tell Anna that he was not for her and the girl had completely failed to understand his meaning. If he had been very tactful indeed – and from her experience of him, Eustacia found this very hard to imagine – she might even thought that he was hinting that he was just waiting for her to grow up so that he could propose. Would Anna have gone there to sob her heart out? Eustacia felt that it might be possible.
At that moment, she heard the sound of people coming back up the stairs after their supper. Quickly, before she could be turned from her course, she snatched up her shawl, which she had placed on the back of a chair, and hurried down the stairs and out of the front door. As she stepped outside, she heard the sound of horses clattering down the street. That must be Ilam and Crossley leaving, she decided. On an impulse, she went back inside the inn and sought out the landlady.
‘I have an idea that the young lady may have gone to the arbour in the grounds of Illingham Hall,’ she said. ‘Will you please tell his lordship where I have gone when he returns?’
Thankful that it was such a bright night, she walked briskly up the main street to Illingham Hall. The main gates were closed and she did not try them, choosing instead to enter by a smaller one to the side. Thankfully, like everything else at Illingham Hall, it was well maintained and did not creak. It was only once she was well inside the grounds that it occurred to her to wonder whether there might be any dogs roaming free, in order to deter housebreakers. She stood quite still, listening, but no sound of barking or pounding paws disturbed the night. The only dog-like creature she saw was a fox, but he was about his own concerns. After a long unwinking stare at her, he slunk off on his way.
She was not sure how easily she would find the arbour at night, but as she stepped onto the lawn, the few clouds which had briefly obscured the moon drifted away, leaving the scene almost as brightly lit as it had been a few days ago when the company had danced by torchlight during the evening. Suddenly aware that she might be observed by some servant up late, she hurried to the edge of the grass and worked her way around so that she could approach the arbour from the side. As she came near, she could hear the murmur of a human voice. At first Eustacia thought that it must simply be Anna crying. As she drew closer, however, she realized that the voice was that of a man speaking. Who could it be, she wondered? Was he with Anna, or was some other couple enjoying a tryst in the moonlight?
Her question was answered when she heard Anna’s voice. ‘I can’t go home, I just can’t! Everybody will laugh at me!’ She sounded as if she was crying.
‘I doubt that very much, my dear,’ a second voice answered. It was a male voice, cultured and slightly familiar in its intonation.
‘But I have made such a fool of myself! I didn’t realize how big a fool until I saw—’ She broke off. Eustacia raised her hands to her cheeks in the darkness. She could well imagine what it was that Anna had seen that had so discomposed her.
‘You saw…?’ prompted the male voice.
‘I saw Gabriel and … and…. They were embracing!’
‘Indeed?’
‘It just isn’t fair!’ Anna declared. ‘I love Gabriel, and if she hadn’t come along, he would have been mine!’ She burst into noisy sobs.
‘Come come, my dear,’ said the man, his voice full of compassion. There was a short period during which the only sound was Anna’s muffled sobs, as if she might be crying into her companion’s shoulder. Then, as the sobs subsided, he said, ‘Here, take this.’ Eustacia guessed that he had handed her a handkerchief.
Eventually, the man said ‘You’ve known Ilam for a very long time, remember.’
‘All my life,’ Anna agreed. ‘Please don’t tell me that I cannot possibly love him for that reason. People do marry when they have known one another all their lives. Look at my mother and father.’
‘Yes, they do,’ her companion agreed. ‘Your mother and father were childhood sweethearts. There is a difference between them and yourself and Ilam, however.’
‘You’re going to say that I’m just a farmer’s daughter and he’s the heir of an earl, aren’t you?’
‘I wouldn’t dream of saying anything so blindingly obvious,’ the gentleman replied. ‘The fact is that your parents married, having known one another all their lives, never having been anywhere else or ever having had any intention of doing so. Ilam, on the other hand, has experienced a far wider selection of people than you have encountered.’
‘Other people do come here sometimes,’ Anna countered swiftly. ‘Miss Hope did.’
‘Precisely. She, like Ilam, has had the advantage of a wider society. It is not surprising that they should have been drawn together.’
‘But if she had not come—’
‘It pains me to be brutal, my dear, but if she had not come, I do not think that he would have turned to you.’
‘I was so sure that he loved me!’ Anna’s voice broke on a sob.
‘Why, so he does,’ said the man.
‘But as a sister, not as a wife. It’s so unfair.’
‘There’s love for you,’ replied her companion. ‘If you’ve found that out, you’ve learned a valuable lesson. I don’t suppose it’s much consolation to you at the moment, but it does work the other way, you know. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that there were several young men sighing over you this evening and wishing that you would look their way, even whilst you were sighing over Ilam.’
‘Do you really think so?’ Anna asked, sounding a little more cheerful.
‘Undoubtedly. You’re a very pretty girl, you know. Why don’t you permit me to escort you back to the ball? You might still be in time to have a dance or two. I might even dance with you myself. Now wouldn’t that be a coup?’
Anna gave a watery chuckle, then there was a rustling sound, as if the two were getting up. They moved out into the moonlight. Eustacia stepped back, hesitating. She would have liked to reveal her presence and walk back with them, but she was not sure how her appearance would be received by Anna. The girl seemed to have come round to a more reasonable way of thinking, but Eustacia feared that she might decide to flee again if she thought that she had been overheard by her rival.
‘I must look a mess,’ said Anna anxiously, as the couple began to walk away from the arbour, with Eustacia following at a short distance, still in the shadows.
‘Not at all,’ replied the man, who was now revealed to be tall, probably as tall as Ilam. Eustacia still did not recognize him. ‘The walk to the Olde Oak will enable your complexion to recover. However, I would advise a visit to the ladies retiring room. Your hair rather gives the impression that you have been abroad in a high wind.’
Anna chuckled again as the man gently tucked a strand behind her ear. It was at this unfortunate moment that Ilam came striding towards them across the grass. In the bright moonlight, he must have seen exactly what the man had been doing.
‘Get your hands off her, you depraved lecher,’ he said in threatening tones.
‘And good evening to you too, Ilam,’ said Anna’s companion suavely. ‘I see that your manners are much as they have ever been.’
‘Damn you to hell, Ashbourne,’ uttered Ilam, in the same murderous tone as he came ever closer. So this was Lord Ashbourne, Eustacia thought. She ought to have guessed. She became conscious of another figure running across the grass in their direction and surmised that it must be David Crossley. Dear heaven, she thought, there will be murder done if nothing happens to prevent it! Lord Ashbourne might be all that he was said to be and worse, but on this occasion he had behaved like a true gentleman, and she was a witness to the fact. She prepared to emerge from the shadows, but even as she did so, Anna took a step forward.
‘No, Gabriel, it wasn’t like that,’ she said urgently. ‘He was comforting me.’
‘Oh yes,’ replied Gabriel with heavy sarcasm. ‘And what else was he attempting to do?’
At this point David Crossley arrived on the scene, somewhat out of breath. ‘Gabriel … My lord, wait!’
‘It’s young Crossley, isn’t it?’ said Ashbourne, for all the world as if his son and heir was not breathing murderous threats at him. ‘It must be some time since I’ve seen you. Are you well? And your parents?’
‘Yes, very well, thank you, my lord,’ replied David, making his bow as he had been taught. Then he turned to Ilam again. ‘My lord, please.’ He laid a hand on Gabriel’s arm, but Gabriel shook him off.
‘You don’t know what he’s like,’ he said, his eyes never leaving Ashbourne’s face. ‘God knows what he would have done to Anna if we hadn’t chanced along.’
‘It’s not true,’ Anna protested vehemently. ‘He was going to take me back to the Olde Oak!’
Gabriel laughed derisively. ‘Is that what he told you?’ he said. ‘A likely story.’
Why doesn’t Ashbourne say something in his defence? Eustacia asked herself, before stepping forward and saying out loud, ‘It is quite true, Gabriel. I came to find Anna and overheard part of their conversation.’
Ashbourne turned and saw her. Immediately she recognized the man from the portrait. ‘I doubt if anyone will have the manners to introduce us, so I must assume that you are Miss Hope,’ he said, making a courtly bow.
Eustacia, well taught by her mother, curtsied in response. As she rose from her reverence, the incongruity of this behaviour, given their present situation, suddenly struck her, and she felt a giggle rising in her throat, in response to which Lord Ashbourne grinned.
Unfortunately, this little exchange was noticed by Ilam. ‘My God is there no woman you will not attempt to despoil?’ he exclaimed, throwing himself forward, his fists raised. Yet again, David caught hold of Ilam’s arm. Young Crossley was accustomed to farm work, and this time he held on tight. Gabriel, however, filled with ungovernable fury against his father, pulled himself free, turning at the same time so that the movement carried his arm round with some force. In the meantime, however, Eustacia had stepped between father and son, and so it was that Gabriel’s powerful clenched fist made contact with the side of her head and she fell senseless to the ground.