Chapter 14
“Tell me, do I pass as a man?” Ella said and looked at her reflection in the mirror before turning to look at Violet. “I think I do, but I cannot be sure.”
“Well, it will be dark, so I am sure that you will pass as a man. Quite a small man, but there are enough small men out there that you will not stand out.” Violet laughed. “I think you will manage.”
“How good of you not to try to dissuade me, Violet.”
“If I had any sense at all, Miss Winfield, I probably would. But since I do not, you are in luck.”
“Oh, my dear Violet. Are you absolutely sure that William does not mind?”
“Far from it, Miss Winfield, he is all excitement and looking forward to it very much.”
“Then he really does have a spirit of adventure.”
“As do you, Miss,” Violet said and stood back a little to take in every detail of her mistress’ curious outfit.
Ella was wearing black breeches and men’s knee boots that were just a little too big for her. Over the top, she wore a white shirt which had seen better days, a black waistcoat in similar circumstances, and a black tailcoat that was far too big across the shoulders.
As men went, she would not make a particularly well-dressed one, but she did not need to be well-dressed. All she needed was to not be out of place outside the gentlemen’s club on the edge of the largest town in the area in the dead of night.
“You really did very well finding all these clothes for me, Violet.”
“William did most of the hard work if I am honest. He found much of it in the attic, and I can only assume that they used to belong to His Lordship when he was very much younger. Perhaps when he was a boy at Eton. They are a little out of date, but not so much so that you would draw attention.”
“No, I certainly do not want to draw attention to myself.”
Ella reached up and scratched her head, finding the multitude of clips that Violet had used to keep her long thick hair up out of the way rather trying. They were tight, and they pulled at her hair just a little.
“I am afraid that this is the only hat I could find,” Ella said and handed her a somewhat battered top hat. “But it will hide your hair very well.” She placed it on top of Ella’s head without ceremony and, as the two women turned to look at her reflection in the mirror, they both laughed. “Oh, yes, you really must not be caught. There is no way that you can ever explain this if you are; you do know that, Miss?”
“The only explanation I could give would be that I had lost my reason,” Ella said and pressed the hat down tightly. “And you know what my stepfather would do about that!”
“Please, do not even say it,” Violet said, her Cupid’s bow lips pursed in anxiety.
“Do not worry, I will not be caught, and so my stepfather will have no reason to have me sent to the Bedlam.”
“You must not laugh about it, Miss Winfield,” Violet said, despite chuckling a little herself.
“I know; I think it is nerves.”
“If you are not sure, you must not go through with it.”
“Oh, but I am sure. And I cannot think of another way of doing it.”
“But the Duke was adamant that he would keep your secret, that he would not give you away and say that he had met you at Lady Brightwell’s. Surely you could tell him the truth now and be assured that he would mention none of it to your stepfather.”
“But I cannot be entirely sure, Violet. After all, if I told him everything now, he would know how I had lied to him on the last two occasions we met.”
“But surely he would understand the necessity of it.”
“I dare not take that risk, Violet, not yet.”
“Yes, you are quite right.” Violet gave in. “But you really will be careful, won’t you?”
“Yes, I promise I will be careful.”
“Now, it is half past nine and probably time you were going. I am sure that dinner will be over in another half an hour, and you do not want to risk being caught by anyone who quits the table early.”
“No, indeed.”
“And what time did Lady Brightwell say that the Duke attends his club?” Violet said, requesting information which she had already been given several times over.
However, Ella could easily forgive it; her adorable little maid was as nervous and excited as she was.
“She says that he spends every Wednesday evening at his club having dinner, then he plays a couple of hands of cards, and generally leaves before eleven.”
“Then he will be one of the first out, for I believe that many gentlemen are in their clubs gambling until the early hours.”
“Yes, and that was exactly as Lady Brightwell put it to me after the Duke left the bridge afternoon. She said he is only a little sociable and not a man who would gamble his night away in a degenerate fashion. She likes him very well.”
“And it would seem that Lady Brightwell knows him very well, Miss.”
“Yes, I could not get to the bottom of it all, but I was left to assume that Lady Brightwell had been a great friend to the old Duke and has known the current Duke since he was a boy.”
“Then she is very well placed to declare him to be a man of good character,” Violet said, her nod indicating that she was satisfied with the situation.
“She thinks very highly of him, that much is clear.”
“Well, I think the time has come. Now, you are absolutely sure, Miss Winfield?”
“I am absolutely sure, Violet. You go ahead and see if the coast is clear.”
By the time Ella had made her way out of Dandridge Hall, her heart was thundering hard. She felt strangely out of breath and yet, at the same time, more alive and alert than she had done since the night of the masquerade ball.
She had not encountered a single person on her way out of the hall, with both her family and the servants very much concerned with the ongoing dinner. She only hoped that her return to the hall would equally be without incident.
“You made it, Miss,” William said with the brightest and most excited of smiles. “Or should I say, Sir? ”
“You just see that you’re careful, William.” Violet chastised him in a way that only a young woman very much in love could do.
Ella had long suspected William and Violet’s regard for one another, but now she was sure that they must have, at some stage, declared their love for one another.
“I will be careful, Violet, don’t you worry,” William said with a laugh. “Now we’d better set off while the going is still good.” He quickly jumped down out of the cart and lifted Ella up into it.
“Take care,” Violet said to them both. “I will be waiting for you to come back.”
As the little cart slowly trundled away into the night, Ella felt suddenly purposeful. Ever since her meeting with the Duke at Lady Brightwell’s, she had been determined to help him.
The fact that the Duke did not realize he needed any help would, undoubtedly, make the whole thing that much more difficult. But he was being gravely misled, that much she knew.
When she had discovered that he was to attend dinner the following week at Dandridge Hall, she wondered just how much sway Henry Mercer really had in the Duke’s life. He no doubt trusted the man greatly, just as she trusted Violet and William. But it would seem that he did not have cause to trust Henry Mercer in that way, and she felt angry on his behalf.
He had been so concerned for her and so kind to her that Ella knew she could not let things rest.
While she knew that she could not be open and tell him everything, still she could not leave him entirely in the dark.
Knowing that she could not give him the full facts, she had decided upon a way of at least alerting him to the idea that things were not always how they seemed.
And so it was that she had decided to pen him the briefest of notes. She knew that she could not name names and put facts down on paper, just in case he decided to question the people concerned. All she wanted to do was to put him on his guard, to make him aware that he should take a greater interest in his own affairs. It had taken her several attempts to get her note just right, but as the ramshackle old cart rumbled towards town, Ella was content that she had struck just the right tone.
“Your Grace,
Take great care in the matter of your own matrimony. Forgive the intrusion, but all is not exactly as it might seem. There are those who would seek to steer and deceive you, and you must be on your guard against such things.
With kindest regards,
A well-wisher.”
As mysterious as the note was, Ella thought that she was very well distanced from its contents. Furthermore, she was convinced that the Duke would at least pay a little more attention to what went on around him regarding his search for a bride.
When they finally reached the outskirts of town, William left the cart in a dark alley some streets away from the gentlemen’s club that the Duke frequented. He tied the horse to a post, and the two of them walked in near silence to find the club itself.
“There it is, Miss,” William said in a whisper when they were just a few yards away. “When the time comes, I will wait for you around the corner.”
“Quite so, William,” she whispered back. “And I will just hand him the note and hasten away from him before he even has a chance to read it.”
“Yes, and if you speak to His Grace, you will need to use a deeper voice than that one.” William grinned broadly. “It gives you away, not that you look much like a man as it is.”
“Thank you, William,” she said and then lowered her voice. “Thank you, William,” she said again and raised her eyebrows for his approval.
“That’s it, Miss, but just don’t say too much. Keep it brief.” She could see his shoulders shaking in the moonlight and knew that he was greatly amused.
The two of them turned and hid around the corner in silence for some time before the Duke finally came out of the club and onto the street. His own carriage was parked on the opposite side of the street and, as he made to cross towards it, Ella hurried over to him.
She was glad to have had a little time to get used to her masculine attire and, by the time she strode towards him, she did so confidently, and a little ungainly, just as a man might.
The Duke turned to look at her quizzically for a moment, and she was careful to keep her head down just a little. She reached out to hand him the note, which he took by instinct.
“Message for you, Your Grace,” she said in the same deep tone that she had used on William before.
“Thank you,” he said without really looking at her.
Ella was amazed at that moment that he did not recognize her at all. For the second time in her life, she was in his company without him having the vaguest idea who she was, and she found the whole thing curiously exciting.
As the Duke broke the seal on the note and opened it out to read it, Ella realized that she ought to have already left. She did not need to be there to wait for an answer, and turned and scurried away, reaching the corner and peering back just in time to see the Duke look up to see where she had gone.
Without a word, William gripped her hand and set off running hard. He had obviously watched the whole thing and had the good sense to get her out of there as soon as possible, lest the Duke’s curiosity get a hold of him and cause him to follow. When they reached the cart, he almost threw her in without ceremony and, after untying the reins, dived in on the other side and drove off hastily into the night.
They had gone some distance before he slowed enough for them to both talk again, and when he did so, William laughed heartily.
Without explanation or knowing why, Ella laughed too. She threw her head back and laughed loudly, feeling all the exhilaration and freedom that her curious little outfit seemed to afford her. So, this was what it was like to be a man.
“Oh, William,” she shrieked when she managed to get her breath back. “I really do not know why I stood there for so long. I think I was so amazed that he did not recognize me that I seemed to be waiting for him to do just that. It took me so long to come to my senses.”
“I honestly thought you were waiting to take a return message, Miss Winfield,” William said between bursts of hearty laughter.
“What a good thing you were waiting for me, ready to get me away so quickly.”
“I felt sure he was going to follow; I was just certain of it. I thought we were done for, Miss.” William was laughing, despite the near danger they had been in.”
“Thank goodness we managed to go unnoticed.”
“Let’s just hope we can do the same when we get back to the hall, Miss.”
“Yes, we cannot truly relax until I am safely back in my chamber again.”
“Have no fear, Miss, Violet will be ready for us. She will sneak you up the servants’ staircase and along to your own room without anybody knowing it, believe me.”
“Yes, I am beginning to think that Violet can arrange almost anything.”
“That she can, Miss. That she can,” William said, and they both laughed again as the cart rumbled through the moonlight.