Page 56 of A Lyon’s Lesson

“Did you see him leave?”

“No, my lord. His Lordship must have saddled Sovereign himself in the dark, for the horse was gone by the time I rose.”

“Do you know which route he would have taken?”

“I imagine he would have headed south toward Church End Road and thence toward Luton,” said Pagette.

“Would any of the other servants have any knowledge to give about how he may have come to harm?” asked Hereward.

“Perhaps Mrs. Rawlins?” suggested Cecey, recalling something Rick had said once about Mrs. Rawlins being nervous when he first met her. As if she were afraid of something.

Hereward looked an inquiry and Pagette said, “I’ll fetch her, my lady,” said Pagette.

“Helen Rawlins is one of our tenants,” she said, for Hereward’s benefit.

Pagette left, and Cecey jumped up restlessly, too agitated to sit still, and paced to the fireplace, kneading the damp handkerchief between her fingers. Hereward and Reynolds were having a low-voiced conversation behind her, but her mind was so full of fear and worry, the sounds were just a mumble. She kept seeing Rick’s lifeless form sprawled on the ground, evicted from the saddle by some freak accident. But how this could have happened she couldn’t think, for Rick was an excellent rider and the weather was fine. Foul play seemed the likelier option.

Unless he had never intended to visit Hereward at all and had simply fled, so horrified by the prospect of Cecey’s pregnancy that he had elected to disappear. Would he do such a thing? The notion sent such a stab of pain through her heart that she gasped out loud and clutched her chest. Surely not? Yet the notion, once planted, wouldn’t be shifted, and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

Hereward appeared at her elbow and put a brotherly arm around her. “Don’t distress yourself so. We will find him,” he said with a gentle rumble.

“W-what if he d-doesn’t want to be found?” sobbed Cecey.

Hereward stared down at her puzzled. “Rick wouldn’t do that.”

“How do you know?” she demanded, wiping her cheeks.

“I know my brother.” His quiet conviction gave her pause.

“Truly?” she whispered.

“Truly,” said Hereward firmly. “He just needed some time,” he said gently. “I expect your situation was a shock, and I dare say he wasn’t ready for it.” He added apologetically, “Reynolds informed me of your news. Congratulations.”

She nodded in acknowledgement, swallowed and sniffed. “I was so angry with him for leaving without saying goodbye,” she said wretchedly. “If something has happened to him, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Well, you had grounds to be angry with him. He didn’t behave well, but I know Rick, and he will be sorry for that.”

She nodded, digesting that. She sighed. “How are we going to find him?”

At this point, Pagette reappeared with Helen Rawlins, who bobbed a curtsy and said in a rush, “My lady, I think I may know what has happened to His Lordship. Please forgive me, if I’d known the consequences, I would have broken my silence sooner, but I was afraid!” Her distraught manner alarmed Cecey all over again.

“What do­—”

“—you know?” Hereward’s question cut across hers.

“It’s about Sparrow,” she said with a grimace. “I believe that his disappearance and death may be attributed to the Baines brothers.” She then recounted what she had witnessed at the tenants’ meeting and the incident at the Dog two weeks later. “I was going to tell His Lordship about my suspicions, but I was afraid for my children. I have reason to know what they are capable of. There have been other incidents of intimidation over the years, and I was afraid of what they might do to me or the children. But this—” She paused and wiped her face with her apron, dabbing at her eyes. “I didn’t think they would go so far as to threaten His Lordship. But it seems that they feel they can do as they like and get away with it.”

“Rick,”—Reynolds corrected himself—“His Lordship had set me to trying to discover the details of the man’s death. We suspected something wasn’t right, but as an outsider, everyone closed ranks against me. I couldn’t get anyone to admit anything. Which is testament in itself of the stranglehold they have on the community. Someone must have warned them I was asking questions, and perhaps they feared His Lordship was going to London to lay a charge against them?

“Was he going to do that?” asked Cecey, her head reeling with these revelations. Rick had told her nothing of this.

“If I’d had the evidence, he would have, but I don’t think it was in his mind at the time he left, no.”

Hereward let out a breath through his nose and said, “Thank you for the information, Mrs. Rawlins. We need to discover where they may have taken him.”

“But how did they discover that Rick was leaving when he did? They must have lain in wait for him to catch him en route, surely?”

Reynolds frowned. “I suspect there may be a traitor in the household. Someone who alerted them.”