The Gamble by Joan Wolf

Author:Joan Wolf [Wolf, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical, General
ISBN: 9780759582163
Google: BVUtHQAACAAJ
Amazon: 0759582165
Publisher: Warner Books
Published: 1998-05-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

fourteen

WE REACHED LONDON BY TEN AND WERE INSIDE Mansfield House by ten-fifteen. Anna threw herself into my arms, weeping hysterically, and I took her upstairs, leaving Lord Winterdale to make explanations to his aunt. After I had got Anna calmed down, I left her with Nanny and went next door to my own room. I desperately wanted a bath and a hair wash and, as the tub was being brought to my room, Catherine came in the door.

She said, “I won’t stay more than a minute, but are you all right, Georgie?”

I ran to give her a huge hug. “Thanks to you, Catherine, darling, I am fine, and Anna is, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you! If you had not been there when Lord Marsh’s carriage went by, or if you had not decided to follow it . . .”

I could not control the shudder that went through me at this thought.

Catherine hugged me back tightly. “You must thank Williams as well, Georgie. He was the one who saw Anna in the first place.”

“I will be certain to do that,” I said fervently.

The tub had been set up in front of the fireplace and Betty came in the door now with two maids trailing behind her carrying cans of hot water, which they proceeded to empty into the tub. When the three of them had left to return to the kitchen to fetch more water, I said to Catherine, “I slept in my clothes last night, and I don’t believe I have ever felt more grimy in all my life.”

“Philip told Mama that you both spent the night at Marsh Hall,” Catherine said.

I nodded. “I froze all night long in an icy-cold bedroom, and then we left at four in the morning so that we could be back in London before anyone could suspect that we had been gone.”

“What a dreadful experience,” she said feelingly.

“Not as dreadful as it would have been if Marsh had got his hands on Anna,” I assured her.

“Well, that is certainly true.” It was her turn to shudder. “Poor child, did you know that she had been half-drugged to keep her quiet?”

At that point, the parade of maids with the water cans came once more in my door and Catherine left, saying that she would see me later, after my bath.

The hot water and hair wash revived me somewhat, and I spent the rest of the morning by the fire in my bedroom, letting my hair dry and reading a book. Catherine came upstairs and reported that Lord Winterdale had gone out to show himself around town, which I supposed was a good idea even though I was certain that we were safe.

After all, how was anyone to know that we had been gone together overnight? Under the circumstances, Lord Marsh was scarcely likely to say anything!

There was a ball at the Richwoods’ that night, and Lady Winterdale felt that it was imperative for me to attend. I had managed to catch a nap

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