Chastity wanted to hit him. Couldn’t he
see
what nonsense
that was? “I tell you, Fort, Verity didn’t want to marry Sir William,
and would cheerfully have gone to Nathaniel in her shift. You know her.
Has she ever been interested in titles and fortune?”
Fort did look shaken, but said, “It makes even less sense for Father to have encouraged such a match.”
“He encouraged one between me and Henry Vernham.”
Fort laughed bitterly. “Only after the weasel had been found naked in your bed!”
Chastity gaped. Did he really believe that? He clearly did. The
futility of trying to correct the error overwhelmed her. It was like
trying to move a mountain with a spoon, especially as she would first
have to convince him their august father was none so noble.
She abandoned the argument and pursued something Fort had said. Once
she had believed what had happened to her had been a mere twist of
fate, but recently it had become clear that there had to be a pattern.
It was probably too late to salvage her own reputation, but if she
could understand the events, perhaps she could save Verity’s.
“What did you mean about Sir William’s fortune?” she asked. “You said ‘no matter how gained.’ What did you mean?”
But Fort was looking at her clothes with a pained expression. “If we
don’t want Father to skin you, we’d better find you some decent
garments.” He went to the door and shouted for Lindle, but another
voice called back that the man was out.
“Never mind, Fort,” said Chastity. “It won’t make that much difference. What about Vernham’s fortune?”
He shook his head. “Just that it’s common knowledge that he came
into a lot of money after the ‘45. He was one of the special
investigators sent to look into accusations of Jacobite sympathies, and
everyone knows there were some Stuart sympathizers ready to pay to have
their activities overlooked.”
Chastity remembered that Verity had remarked on the same thing, but
there didn’t seem to be anything in it to explain events. She went to
the window. It overlooked a small garden shielded from other houses by
tall trees. Again, very private. A guard stood in the garden watching
her. So much for that escape route. “How do you come to be here?” she
asked her brother.
“Where do you expect me to be? Lounging in a coffee house? I’m here
looking for Verity. When we found you’d disappeared, I thought she must
be with you and reasonably safe. Now, I’m worried all the more. Do you
swear you don’t know her whereabouts, Chastity?”
Chastity reminded herself that she didn’t know Verity’s exact
whereabouts. She could be in any room of Mrs. Garnet’s house, or in the
garden, or even out of doors if well-disguised. “I swear,” she said
firmly.
Fort accepted it. He paced restlessly. “And I’d go odds Frazer was telling the truth when we asked him.”
“What was his reaction?”
“Great concern. He wanted to set off in search himself, but we
persuaded him to stay here in case Verity tries to seek his help.
Though why the devil she’d go to him, not us, I don’t know.” He turned
and glared at Chastity. “I don’t know why you couldn’t stay where you
were put, or why you’d want a worm like Henry Vernham in your bed—”
“I didn’t!”
“Then why the devil was he there?” he bellowed.
“How the devil would I know?” she shouted back.
He slapped her. “Watch your tongue, you trollop.”
Chastity covered her stinging cheek, tears in her eyes. During her
masquerade she’d grown used to expressing herself as no young lady
would.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m half out of my mind with worry, too, Fort.” Then she said, with all the intensity she could, “I
didn’t
invite Henry Vernham to my bed. I swear it. I
detest
the man. He tried to rape me!”
He was unimpressed. “So you claimed at the time, but it won’t wash,
sister dear. No one heard a scream out of you until you were caught.”
“I was asleep until you all burst in!”
“You expect me to believe that a naked man climbed into your bed and half undressed you without you waking up?”
“Yes, I do. Others may not believe me, but you should, Fort. I’ve
always slept sound. Don’t you remember the time you carried me fast
asleep into the corridor and put me under the dragon-stand, so I
screamed the house down when I woke to find its jaws about to engulf
me?”
A smile twitched his lips. “True, but you were only ten then.”
“I’m still the same.”
He frowned over it. “But Henry Vernham could hardly have known that.
If you didn’t invite him, he could only expect you to set up a screech,
and he’d be a dead man. Look, Chastity,” he said quite kindly, “you
doubtless made an error of judgment. No one would condemn you utterly
for that, and he is a handsome man if you like that style. But you
should have married him. It was your only choice.”
“‘Even if he sneaked into my bed with just that plan in mind?”
“How could he know he’d be interrupted, or that Father would take the kinder view and think of marriage?”
Because Father arranged it so, Chastity wanted to scream, but Fort
would never believe it. “He had offered for me and been approved by
Father.”
“Because you wanted him. You can’t play hot and cold, my girl.”
“Who said I wanted him?”
“Father.”
“Father was—” She bit back the word. “He was mistaken. Oh, Fort, believe me.
Why
would I want to marry Vernham? I don’t find him handsome, and he didn’t even have wealth and a title to sugar the dish.”
He frowned, and she thought she had finally made an impression. “Are you saying you’re still untouched?”
She opened her mouth to say yes, but then closed it and swallowed.
She’d give up the past night to be able to say yes, but her innocence
was gone. “No,” she whispered.
She saw the pained disappointment set on his face. “But not
Vernham?” he commented bitingly. “How busy you’ve been. Who then had
the honor of my sister’s deflowering? Give me a name and I’ll see him
dead.”
“I can’t.”
He grabbed her. “A name!”
She stayed mute. He shook her, then threw her onto the floor. “Did
you roll in the hedgerow with a stranger, then? How many have there
been since? God, you sicken me! Where did you come from, to be like
this?”
He loomed over her, rage darkening his face, hands in big fists
capable of smashing her bones. She thought he’d thrash her. Then he
turned and slammed out of the room. She heard the key turn. She sank
her head in her hands.
Unless her father condemned himself in his own words, neither Fort
nor anyone else would believe the tale. It was just too incredible. She
almost doubted it herself.
And now she had to worry about Cyn. If his part in this mess ever came out, Fort would tear him apart.
She had to get away. She doubted she could hold out against her
father again, and she mustn’t let Cyn’s name pass her lips. She checked
the chimney, but as she’d thought, it was too narrow. Only the smallest
climbing boy could work his way up there.
Without much hope she considered the door. A squint down the keyhole
showed the key was still in there, but she doubted it would do her much
good. To test her hypothesis she knocked on the door.
“Yes, milady,” said a man quite respectfully. As she’d thought, there was a guard at both window and door.
“I would like something to drink,” she said, to explain her action.
“Right,” the man said, but he didn’t leave. She heard him call out. “Oy, Jackie, Lady Chastity wants a drink.”
Within minutes, they brought Chastity a wooden beaker of water, and
some biscuits. No plate. They were being careful not to give her
anything that could be of use.
Alone again, Chastity regarded a Shrewsbury biscuit sadly, and ate
it slowly in tribute to Cyn Malloren. It wasn’t as good as the fresh
ones they had bought in Shaftesbury, but the memories were sweet.
Thinking of Cyn stirred her spirit. She wasn’t the bewildered girl
of months ago, when last she had been her father’s prisoner. Her
experiences had toughened her, but it was Cyn Malloren who had lit her
spirit. She knew now she had a right to be strong, a right to be angry.
Unfortunately, that didn’t stop her from being afraid. She knew her
father was a man to be feared. When she had opposed him over her
marriage, she had not realized the lengths he would go, the depths of
his cruelty. She had survived by a kind of numb fatalism. Now, she
trembled every time she thought of being once more in his power.
She hated to just wait, so she prowled the room again, but found no
escape. She remembered Fort’s comment about clothes and knew she would
be forced to change, doubtless into some ugly, penitential clothing.
That made her think of Lady Trelyn’s letter. She certainly didn’t want
it to be found on her. Her heart almost stopped at the thought of those
explanations.
Listening desperately for approaching footsteps, she looked for a
hiding place in the stark room. There were no loose floor-boards, no
nooks and crannies. She began to think of trying to eat the thing, but
then she found that the wooden mantelpiece had pulled a little from the
wall, leaving a gap. Shuddering with relief, she forced the letter into
the space.
She would retrieve it if she could do so safely, but if not it could
stay there, doubtless to titillate some householder in years to come.
She wondered sickly if there was any possibility of Fort recognizing
her as his dancing partner of the night before. That would be her end
for sure. How could she explain her presence at what was doubtless the
most notorious orgy of the decade?
She checked all her pockets again, making sure they held nothing to
make matters worse. Satisfied at last, she sat and leaned her head
against a wall. It was chill in the room and she was glad of the
groom’s clothes over Victor’s. She wished she had the riding cloak too.
It was very quiet. She wondered what time it was, and after a while,
heard a distant clock chime two.
With luck, Cyn and Nathaniel were on their way, but in case they had
been delayed, she must hold out as long as possible. She’d ridden hard
the day before and missed sleep last night. Despite her fears, she
dozed off. She dreamed of a shipwreck, of being thrown this way and
that…
“Plague take you, Chastity. Wake up!”
She blinked her eyes open to find Fort shaking her, and more with concern than anger. When he saw she was awake, he let her go.
“You really do sleep sound, don’t you?” He looked thoughtful.
Perhaps he was beginning to believe part of her story. She had little
thought for that now. Her father was here, Lindle at his shoulder. She
scrambled to her feet.
The Earl of Walgrave had married late in life and was now over
sixty, but he was a robust, impressive man with shrewd blue eyes, a
noble nose, and fleshy jowls. He was dressed plainly for traveling in
brown velvet, lightly laced with gold, and a gray bagwig, but
simplicity did not diminish his presence. He filled the room. He
carried an elaborate but light gold-headed bamboo cane. Chastity
remembered that cane.
“Thank you, Thornhill,” said the earl coolly. “You may leave.”
Chastity flung Fort an appeal with her eyes.
Perhaps he noted it. He still looked thoughtful. “I’d like to stay,
sir. If, as you think, she knows where Verity is, I’d like to be the
first to learn it. Heaven knows what perils my poor sister may be
risking.”
“Heaven, and any man of experience,” commented the earl in his
mellow voice. He sounded calm, but Chastity could tell he was
displeased by this development. She knew then that her instinct had
been correct. Despite his violence, despite the fact that he now
thought her wanton, Fort was her security in this situation.
The earl took two majestic steps forward until he stood before her,
then rested his hands on the knob of his cane. “You sadden me,
daughter. I confess, I am at a loss. To see you here in such shameless
garments, running from the protection of your home… And I fear you have
infected Verity with your wickedness. You have not come here in search
of your sister. You have brought her here in a petty attempt to spite
me.”
Chastity was as terrified as she had expected to be, but she found
she wasn’t paralyzed by her father anymore. Her wits were still
working. Her hope here was to make her father reveal something to Fort.
“Why would my bringing Verity here spite you, Father?”
A slight narrowing of his eyes and mouth acknowledged the change in
her, but he lost none of his dignity. “For my dear daughter to go
anywhere for help other than to me is a blow. I can believe that
Vernham may have done something to make Verity flee her home, but
surely she fled to Walgrave Towers to seek my aid. It was you, you
unfortunate creature, who persuaded her to this mad enterprise. What
did you hope to gain?”
Chastity almost fell into the clever trap and admitted the plan. “I
came to Maidenhead,” she parried, “because I knew if Verity went
anywhere other than Walgrave Towers it would be here, to the man she
has always loved. Perhaps she thought you would yet again prevent her
from marrying him.”
“Prevent?” queried the earl in astonishment. “She chose freely to marry Sir William.”
“Freely?” Chastity scoffed. “You bullied her into it, you hypocrite, just as you tried to bully me into marrying his brother!”
The earl shook his head sadly. “Come here and present your right hand, palm up.”
Chastity felt a chill run through her. She’d played into his hands.
Before her masquerade as a boy, before her freewheeling time with Cyn
Malloren. she would never have spoken to her father thus in any
circumstances. But she’d known it would come to the cane sooner or
later.
“Father,” said Fort in muted protest, though Chastity could see he was shocked by her words.
“My dear boy,” said the earl sadly, “she is wild and growing wilder.
I cannot permit it. It pains me to beat her, but you see for yourself
that gentler means are useless.” He looked at Chastity again. “Obey, or
you will be forced.”