Lady in Rags

Chapter Seventeen: The Woman Who Could Return

The great doors were open when Verity limped up the front steps of the manor, and she entered into the silent hall feeling unsure and vaguely unwelcome.

"Mr Prothero?" she called, seeing no servants. "Mr Armiger?"

There were footsteps from above. A maid put her head over the banister of the mezzanine, saw Verity, gave a shriek, and ran off crying something in French. A moment later, Mrs Prothero came to the mezzanine, saw Verity, and came trotting down the stairs with a cry.

"Ma petite enfant!" she cried, taking Verity's arms. "You are safe! The men go to look for you – but you are safe! Come!"

She gave a directive to the maid in French, and dragged Verity off with her to the kitchen. Within minutes, she had Verity safely rested on a kitchen chair, wrapped in a blanket, with a cup of mulled wine in her hands, and was assuring her that a hot bath would be on the way in her room.

Warm and comfortable at last, Verity suddenly felt the overwhelming emotions of the situation hit her, and tears began to roll hotly down her cheeks. Until now, she had not cried once – not when she had first realized she had been left behind, not in the long dreary wait in the rain, nor even in that terrifying walk through the woods – but now she cried, as though her heart would break.

Mrs Prothero patted her shoulder delicately. "You are home now, home now," she said kindly. "You are safe."

Shakingly, Verity swallowed her wine, which was too hot and strong, and burned her throat and made her head swim. She wiped the tears from her eyes with muddy fingers, and looked sadly at Mrs Prothero.

She wanted to ask how she had come to be left in the forest, but she could think of no way to frame it that wasn't an accusation. Perhaps Mrs Prothero understood though. She launched into a broken explanation of the fact:

"It was because Henry falls in the water," she said. "He falls in the water, and Mr Armiger rescues him. We go home, Henry, Lord Armiger, I. Cloe, Mama, George, stay in the forest. They think you go with us. We think you go with them. When they come back, Mr Armiger says, 'Where's Verity?' and no one knows."

After some parsing, Verity understood, in a basic manner, what had happened. It hadn't been on purpose, she realized. Of course not. She had known that. Unfeeling logic had told her that people do not deliberately abandon guests in rainy forests, even if the people are French and the guests are English. But her feeling heart had not quite believed that logic.

"Are they looking for me now? Is Mr Armiger gone with them?" she asked.

"Yes, yes," Mrs Prothero reassured her. "They go. I send Cloe for them, to bring them back. Soon, soon, Mr Armiger returns."

She patted Verity's hand, and Verity gave her a watery smile. Not too soon, she hoped. She did not want him to see her like this: wet, and miserable, and dirty.

"He goes to look for you last night, and does not find you," Mrs Prothero added, sensing some reservation and mistaking the cause of it. "Where were you?"

"I – I got lost." Verity drank the last of her wine, and let its heady strength get to her head. "He came for me?"

"He goes as soon as George returns, and comes back at midnight, alone."

Verity put her head in her hands, and began to laugh, her entire, exhausted body shaking. He must have just missed her, somewhere on that dark road – and she had been too proud and unfaithful to wait!

"What is wrong?" Mrs Prothero asked. "What is wrong?"

"Oh. Oh, it doesn't matter." She rolled her head up to look at Mrs Prothero. "But I'm dirty – I don't want him to see me all dirty like this, when he comes back. Is the bath ready?"