No one sat down. Lady Mary handed the pistol back to Wilson and held up the purloined painting to examine it. “The Fragonard!” she howled. “This is an extremely valuable painting — irreplaceable.” She turned a wrathful eye on Lorna, looking her up and down from her tousled hair to the old shawl over her shoulders to the ill-fitting riding habit. “You’ll go to gaol for this, Miss. What else do you have in your pockets, eh?”
“Nothing,” Lorna said boldly, “seeing as you have removed my bits of jewelry out of their case.”
“So you admit you came to steal jewelry.” She turned to Wilson, “Make a note of that, Wilson. Very interesting.” Then she turned back to Lorna and said, “Turn our your pockets.”
Lorna ignored the order. “Fortunately I had Mama’s little pearl ring with me the night the Gypsies snatched me, or you’d have stolen that proof too,” she said.
“The little ring you claim your mama gave you. I must insist you turn out your pockets.”
Lorna gave a sneering smile and did as she was ordered, but being unfamiliar with Mama’s riding habit, had difficulty finding the one little pocket in the skirt. When she pulled it out, a handkerchief with a dainty lace edging fell to the floor. I seemed to recall Mama warning me it was ill luck for the person who dropped a handkerchief to pick it up herself. We had had enough bad luck for one night. I picked it up and put it in my own pocket.
Lady Mary did not order me to turn out my pockets, nor did she actually search Lorna, and heaven knows she might have had any number of valuables concealed under the bagging bodice of Mama’s riding habit. I felt Lady Mary had only insisted on the pocket searching to shame Lorna.
“How did you break in?” was her next question. Maddie kept up her twittering and trembling throughout the ordeal. Wilson just smiled.
“The way I did when I was young,” Lorna replied in her usual bold way. “Up the vine and through my bedroom window.”
“That’s a black lie. I’ve had that window nailed shut.”
“We came in by the library door, the way Sukey used to,” I explained.
“So you actively aided and abetted this criminal, Kate.” She gave a tsk of disgust, then said to Wilson. “You will put a stout lock on the library door tomorrow, Wilson.” Then the hostile eye returned to me. “I can’t believe you would lend yourself to such disgraceful, criminal behaviour as this, Kate. What will your poor Mama think to see you led into court in manacles?”
I cringed at the very thought. “Please, you mustn’t!” I cried. It would be the death of Mama. She was the sort of lady who cared for the good opinion of the neighbours. “I’ll do whatever you say, but don’t tell Mama. We didn’t steal anything — well, except the painting, and Lorna’s papa gave it to her for her sixteenth birthday.”
Maddie began crying. Real tears ran down her cheeks, and she didn’t have a handkerchief. Lady Mary, on the other hand, was enjoying herself hugely. “Pooh, this creature isn’t Lorna. Do you think I wouldn’t know my own niece, that I practically raised? Well, what are we to do with the pair of them, Wilson? Tie them up in the cellar until Acton returns? Now stop your bawling, Maddie.”
Maddie whimpered and wrung her hands but didn’t dare say anything. “I’ll get some stout ropes,” Wilson said, but he didn’t leave.
Lady Mary turned to Lorna. “What have you to say for yourself, Miss whoever you are?”
Lorna didn’t say a word. She just stared with her head held high, angry and defiant, at Lady Mary.
“Not so loud in your claims now, I see! If you care to apologize and sign a written statement that you are not Lady Lorna, I will consider letting you go free, on the understanding that you leave the neighbourhood for good, at once.”
Lorna lifted her chin even higher and replied in a loud, bold voice. “I’ll take my chances with the constable, Auntie. It might be the quickest way to get you into court.”
Lady Mary flinched, but whether it was at that bold “Auntie” or the mention of court, I could not tell. She didn’t react verbally to the taunt. She turned to me. “You run along home, Kate. You were a fool to let this creature talk you into breaking into our house to rob us, but you are young and green. You have had no dealings with common criminals such as this low creature. Let it be a lesson to you.”
There was nothing I wanted so much as to escape that house. But as I looked into my own heart, I knew it would be a craven thing to go and leave Lorna behind. She, brave soul, wasn’t giving an inch, even when caught red-handed. I took courage from her bravery. So obvious was Lady Mary’s hatred of her that I feared she might even have Wilson shoot her. Why did she hate her so much? Was she afraid of her? Did she fear Lorna could indeed prove who she was?
“We didn’t come to rob you, Lady Mary. Lorna only came to look for mementos. We both go, or we both stay,” I replied, not boldly but firmly.
Lady Mary uttered a reluctant laugh. “You didn’t get your spirit from your Mama,” she said. “I might consider letting you both leave if this woman will promise not to leave the neighbourhood until I have spoken to Acton.”
“Why I thought you were eager to see the back of me, Auntie,” Lorna said. She threw in that “Auntie” at every chance.
“I have changed my mind. A lady’s privilege.”
“Well, I have not.”
“I said a lady’s privilege.”
Lorna ignored the taunt. “You need have no fear I’ll leave, Auntie.” I wished she would not repeat that “Auntie”, that obviously infuriated Lady Mary. “I’m not leaving until I get what’s coming to me.”
“You’ll get that right enough. The law knows how to deal with your sort.” She turned to Wilson. “Show them out, Wilson, and make sure you lock the door behind them. Check all the doors and windows. And do something to that library door this very night.”
Maddie sighed her relief, and even attempted a watery little smile in my direction. I was extremely grateful to be leaving, but hoped to discover what the immediate future might have in store for us. “Will you tell Mama?” I asked.
“I see no reason why Lady Simmons should be worried sick over your outrageous behaviour, though it is half her fault for harboring the creature. Let us hope your guilt and recriminations will be sufficient to show you the folly of your ways. What the constable might decide to do about your house guest, I cannot say. Now go, before I change my mind.”
Wilson actually poked Lady Lorna in the back with the nose of the pistol. She turned a fiery eye on him, but didn’t tarry in getting out of the room and soon out of the house. I wasn’t two steps behind her.
I was too overcome to speak at first as we wended our weary way home. We went by the road. Thankfully we didn’t meet any of our neighbours returning from parties to which we had not been invited. Going by the road was nearly twice as long as the spinney route, but I couldn’t face the dark woods again.
After perhaps a quarter of a mile, Lorna said, “You see how they are. They won’t listen to reason. She knows perfectly well Papa gave that painting to me.”
“You shouldn’t have mentioned the jewelry, Lorna.”
“I wanted to let her know I knew she had stolen it.”
“And why the deuce did you keep calling her Auntie, when you could see how it galled her?”
“That’s why I did it,” Lorna said, and laughed. “Oh come on, Katie. It’s not the end of the world. I’ve been in worse pickles than this.” But I had not, and I was overcome.
“Mama is bound to hear of this. I wonder what she will say.”
“Do you think she’ll turn me out?” Lorna asked.
“If you’re in gaol, she won’t have to.”
“Pooh! The old bint won’t call the constable.”
“She might, Lorna. She’s very high in the instep.”
“And she hates me. But she’d have done it while her anger was at the pitch if she meant to do it at all. No, she’s not that sure of herself. Plus it would have to involve you. How did you get in so tight with her? Is it because of Acton? Is he sweet on you?”
I hadn’t mentioned Acton, but I admit he had been on my mind, right from the moment I saw the little group awaiting us at the bottom of the stairs. What on earth would he make of this?
“I doubt if she would approve of his offering for me. She’d prefer a titled lady, but as neighbours, I’ve known her forever. She doesn’t seem to dislike me as much as she dislikes some others.”
“She doesn’t like herself, that’s the trouble. What a curmudgeon she is. I shan’t live there when I prove who I am. I’ll take my dowry and get away from here. London, perhaps. You must come and visit me often. As I robbed you of your Season, I’ll have a big ball just for you and invite all the most eligible partis. Won’t Acton be jealous to see you the belle of the ball.”
Despite the offer, I wasn’t too sorry to hear she meant to leave, nor did I particularly anticipate future visits. In fact, I was becoming a trifle disenchanted with Lady Lorna, despite her heroism. Not everyone was cut out to be a brave heroine like her. My quiet life had not prepared me for so much excitement. I vicariously enjoyed reading about such ladies. Reality was different. Such rash acts as we had performed that night involved not only ourselves, but Mama as well. A heroine should think of others, not just herself. In fact, Lorna really should not have involved me. And I should not have let her talk me into it. I must watch it, or I would become a Maddie to her Lady Mary, doing her bidding.
We entered the house quietly and tiptoed upstairs to avoid waking Mama. I didn’t close my eyes until dawn was showing around the edges of my window hangings. I dreaded the coming day worse than a visit to the tooth drawer. And it was every bit as bad as I feared. Worse, in fact.