Chapter 30
Ella slept better that night than she had for more than a week. The little room she was in was quite bare but comfortable, and the mattress, although old, felt like heaven to a woman who had slept on old clothing for a full seven nights.
When they had reached Hillington Hall, they had crept in with as much care as they had crept out of Dandridge. Ella realized immediately that the Duke did not want to alert his own staff to her presence, and when she thought about it, she realized that it was a very wise decision.
He led her by the hand through the house and up the stairs, down corridor after corridor until he finally took her into the small room.
It really was dark, but the Duke had made his way to the nightstand and struck a match, lighting the lamp and turning it up just enough for them to see.
“You will be quite safe here, Miss Winfield,” he said in his normal voice.
“Are you sure that nobody will know I am here?” she said in a whisper.
“You are quite safe, I tell you. This part of the hall is closed down currently, and you will not be disturbed by anybody.”
Ella looked around and could see that he had taken some trouble to prepare the room a little. There was a long nightgown laid out on the bed, quite an old-fashioned one, and she wondered if it might be one of his mother’s, or an old aunt who had once stayed there.
And there was a heavy robe, but a man’s robe, and she wondered if it was the Duke’s own.
“This room has not been used for years, so the bed will be cold. But there are plenty of blankets, and you should be able to make yourself quite comfortable in no time. When tomorrow comes, I will bring in some wood for the fireplace and a good breakfast, and then we will work everything out.”
“My goodness, I can hardly believe that I am here. I can hardly believe what trouble you have gone to for me, and I do not know how to thank you for all of it.”
“You need not worry about that now, Miss Winfield. You have had an extremely exciting evening, and it is very nearly morning now, so you really must rest.”
“Thank you … thank you so much.”
“I will give you a chance to sleep and come back in the middle of the morning. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
In the event, Ella had woken quite early. Although she had not slept for long, she had slept so deeply that she felt fully refreshed.
For a while, she plodded around the room in the nightgown that was too big for her and the robe which was even larger still. There was something comforting about wearing his robe, pulling the fabric tightly around her, fabric which had lain against his own skin.
She knew now, more than ever, that she was truly in love with the Duke. He went far beyond her expectations, and if it were possible, even further than dear little Violet’s expectations. Her clever maid had proclaimed him to be a good man, but even she could not have known just how good, and how brave.
But regardless of her feelings for him, Ella knew that she would have to begin to plan for a future. In truth, she had already begun to do so as she had walked back and forth in that dreary attic for day upon day.
She had not seen the Earl again, only her own mother. Ariadne had been her sole visitor, bringing her two meals a day and everything she needed for her ablutions. And the worst of it was that Ariadne had seemed put out by it as if Ella was doing no more than causing her to have to work like a household servant. Not once did she apologize for helping to imprison her only daughter in such a vile place that she did not even have a bed to sleep in.
“Mama, I will never forgive you for what you have done to me,” Ella had said the last time she had seen her mother.
Ariadne had brought her up this simple meal which looked very much like the leftovers of the family’s own meal. Had Ella realized she was to be rescued that night, she would not have eaten a bit of it.
“Ella, you really must try to see things a little more sensibly,” her mother had said as if Ella was simply complaining about a harsh word or not getting her way in something.
“Mama, I have been locked in an attic,” Ella said incredulously. “I have been beaten by your husband whilst you stood by and watched.”
“What on earth do you think that I could have done about it? He is my husband, after all, and I would not have been able to fight him off,” Ariadne wailed.
“Fight him off?” Ella said, barely able to contain her own anger. “Far from that, Mama, you helped him. You told him that I had lied, and you seemed so pleased with yourself to be able to impress that evil man. And what did that do? That made him hurt me all the more. How dare you stand there as if I have wronged you? How dare you look at me as if I ought to apologize? I will never, ever forgive you as long as I live.” And Ella had meant every word of it.
“For heaven’s sake, it is not forever. You will only need to stay here a while, and then you will be out again. Just stay quiet and do as you are told, and you will soon be back in your own room.”
“You heard Ronald Belville yourself, Mama. I am to be kept here until one of his ugly daughters is married to the Duke. And both you and I know that that will never happen. The Duke of Hillington despises those girls, as he despises the Earl. They are manner-less animals to him, almost creatures of another species altogether.”
“You must not speak this way,” her mother said and looked worried, peering over her shoulder as if her husband might suddenly materialize.
“Why, what worse can happen to me now? Or do you truly believe your husband when he says he would throw me down the stairs and break my neck without a moment’s compunction? There now, see what you have married? Tell me, how does your current husband compare to the very fine one that you once had?”
“In time, you will see that …”
“No, I do not want to hear anymore,” Ella said and held a hand up in front of her. “I never want to hear you speak again. When I am finally let out of this place, I will leave Dandridge Hall for good, and I will never set eyes on you again.”
“Ella, I think that you will …”
“No, I do not need you; I do not need anybody. I will do whatever I have to do; perhaps I will even become a governess like you.”
“Ella, there is no need to be so spiteful.”
“You still think that that is an insult, do you not? Really, I have never thought badly of you for having been a governess. Especially when there is so much else wrong in your character to concentrate upon. And I would be proud and pleased to be a governess if only to stay away from you and your husband forever. I will abandon you to your fate, Ariadne Belville because believe me it will not be a happy one. You will be alone here with that man, and he will very soon tire of you as he tires of everybody else. And then your life will be a misery, and you will richly deserve it.”
Ariadne had turned on her heel and walked out of the room, her eyes welling with tears. At that moment, Ella had seen that her words had hit home, and she knew that every word she had spoken was everything that her mother feared would come to pass. Ariadne knew that she had made a mistake, had probably known it for some time, but something about her daughter’s words had somehow made it real.
For the briefest of moments, Ella almost felt sorry for her. And then she had looked around the attic and wondered how many years of her life might be spent in there. In the end, every ounce of feeling she had left for her mother evaporated into the ether.
“Miss Winfield?” came a voice from behind the door. “May I come in?”
“Yes, course,” she called back, wondering if she ought really to be standing there in night attire.
However, her only other option would have been to put the men’s clothing back on again, and she was not sure she felt entirely comfortable in that outfit either.
“How did you sleep?” the Duke said, entering the room carrying a heavily laden tray and appearing not to notice her attire for a moment.
“Better than I have done in a very long time, Your Grace.”
“I hope you are hungry,” he said and smiled ruefully at the enormous plate of breakfast food. “There are bacon and kidneys, there are eggs and toast, tomatoes and mushrooms, I think; oh yes, and some jam.” He laughed.
“It smells heavenly, and yes, I am ravenous,” she said and sat down on the bed as he lifted the nightstand to place it in front of her.
“I am afraid this will have to serve as a table for the time being.”
“It is certainly better than the attic, truly,” she said with a laugh, smelling the wonderful aroma of cooked bacon.
“You carry on, Miss Winfield, and I will return in a minute with a pot of tea. I could not quite manage it all at once; it would not fit on the tray,” he said with a laugh and disappeared so suddenly that it was almost as if he had not been there in the first place.
Ella was so hungry that she began to stuff bacon and toast into her mouth in a most unladylike fashion. She chewed quickly and swallowed, again and again, hoping that the Duke would not suddenly reappear and find her behaving so savagely.
Perhaps the excitement of the night before had done much to improve her appetite.
By the time the Duke returned holding a teapot in one hand and two saucer-less cups in the other, Ella had almost finished.
“I say, you have a hearty appetite,” he said with a laugh. “I am afraid there is no milk; I have only two hands.” He gave her that rueful smile again, and she realized once more just how handsome he was.
He placed the two cups down on the nightstand next to her tray and poured the tea before wandering across the room and setting the teapot down on top of a chest of drawers.
“How do you feel?” he said as he tentatively sat down on the bed next to her and reached for one of the cups.
“I ought to be scared, no, terrified … I ought to be terrified. But I am not, Your Grace. I am relieved, I can tell you, to be out of that house, even though I do not yet know what life holds for me. But I am pleased to know that it does not hold either the Earl or my mother. It does not hold Lady Patience and Lady Georgiana.”
“You really are very brave, Miss Winfield. Still, the way you climbed out of that window and swung in through the other one, it should not really come as a surprise to me.” He laughed and sipped his tea.
“Do you know, Your Grace, the Earl of Dandridge quite seriously threatened to throw me down the stairs of Dandridge Hall and break my neck? After that, I had not assumed that my life was safe at any point. And so climbing out of the window was easy; in fact, anything after that will be easy.” She laughed and reached for her teacup. “In fact, even the difficult things will be easy from now on.”
“Well, I will help you in any way I can,” he said with a smile.
Their old ease was back with them, and they were talking as if they were simply in Mrs Holton’s tearoom in the town, rather than on a bed in a deserted room at Hillington Hall. What a kind and handsome man he was, and how much he had risked helping her.
And he was still helping her now, feeding her, and keeping her safe. As much as Ella realized that he might never feel for her what she felt for him, still she would always be grateful to know him. Even if he married Lady Caroline and made the Earl of Mortcombe the happiest man in the world, still Ella would love him and be glad for him, as long as he was happy.
“I told my mother that I would get work as a governess and, in truth, I think that is what I will do. I know that it is not a happy position, as such, but in comparison to the life I would have had at Dandridge, it will be like heaven to me.”
“You sound as if you have already thought about it,” he said quietly.
“I thought about very little else in the attic. I did not even have a book to read to keep me occupied, and so I made plans of what I would do when I finally escaped from Dandridge Hall. And I decided I would make my way to an employment registry and find myself a suitable position as a governess. There, my accommodation and sustenance problems solved in an instant.”
“Well, perhaps you should rest a few days here before you make any big decisions, Miss Winfield. After all, you have been through a good deal these last months, have you not?”
“I should be very grateful, Your Grace. And I promise to keep to this room and not give you away to your servants.”
“I would not want them to say anything in town which might get back to your stepfather.” He smiled at her.
“Thank you.”
“And I will see what I can do about getting some of your clothes,” he said and began to chuckle as he looked at the worn-looking pile of men’s clothes that she had neatly folded and left at the end of the bed.
“I am sure that Violet can spirit away some of my things without anybody ever knowing. She is cleverer than all of them stitched together.”
“She most certainly is.” He laughed and rose to his feet to retrieve the teapot.
However, as he moved, he caught his tailcoat on the bedpost, and it tugged wildly at the fabric. There was a clatter as something fell out of the inside pocket of his coat and landed on the floor. They both looked down, staring at the little golden mask Ella had worn to the masquerade ball.
Ella began to laugh. She reached for it and held it in her hands, turning it over and over. As she did, the Duke turned and studied the little pile of dark clothes again. Slowly, very slowly, realization clearly began to dawn.
“Last night when I handed you the men’s clothes, you said it would not be for the first time, did you not?”
“I believe I did,” she said and kept her focus on the mask.
“You have worn them before, have you not?”
“I have,” she said but would not meet his gaze.
Ella knew that the truth was about to come out, all of it, and she realized that she no longer feared it. If anything, after all that had happened now, she had a curious feeling that she was about to burst out laughing again. Her shoulders began to shake with the effort of trying to hold it in.
“Was that you? That scruffy little man outside my club? Was that really you?” the Duke said, and finally, the laughter broke free.
“It was me, Your Grace,” she said between gasps. “You must forgive me, but I did it with your best interests at heart. You see, I had overheard everything, and I knew how your attorney sought to mislead you. But I had never realized how far he would go, and in truth, I can quite imagine that Mr Mercer himself had not realized it would all get so very out of hand.”
“And so it was you who sent me the second letter? You are my well-wisher ?”
Ella did not answer him; she simply raised the little mask to her face and turned to him.
“My goodness … it was you all along. You are my masked woman,” he said and stared at her, his dark eyes wide, and his handsome face a picture of surprise. “But of course it is you, who else could it be? What other woman of my acquaintance would be bold enough to sneak into a masquerade ball and tease a Duke?” And suddenly, without warning, he threw his head back and boomed with laughter.