Chapter 31

Marie shut the front door behind her, placing her coat on the rack beside the door. She was almost certain that she knew the truth, but she hoped that she was wrong.

A scuffling sound from the kitchen drew her attention, causing her to look up with a frown. "Grandmamma, is that you?" she called out.

The sound of glass shattering against the floor, urged her forward as she hurried into the kitchen. "Janey?!" Marie cried out as the pale girl slumped into a chair, her face whiter than a sheet.

"I'm sorry, miss. I didn't mean to break it; I was just in a hurry…" her thin voice trailed off as she shut her eyes and began to cry.

"So, I can see." Marie shook her head and sighed as she took in the sight before her.

The kitchen was in a mess with all the shelves of food and herbs having been disturbed. The kitchen table was laden with food such as bread, cheese, eggs, and jams that lay beside a large white sheet. The broken jar lay shattered at Janey's feet which were clad in her traveling boots.

Taking a seat opposite the girl, Marie pursed her lips and folded her hands. "I think we had better have a talk before you just disappear. Where were you planning on going?" She glanced at the amount of food on the table that would have been enough to feed her for a week.

Janey sniffed a few times before responding. "I swear I wasn't going to just take the food, miss. I calculated the amount I was taking and placed the money's worth in the jar on the shelf where your grandmother keeps her savings. I was headed to the docks where I would be able to catch a ship to someplace far away, like Scotland, perhaps."

Marie felt her heart dropping into the pit of her stomach as her suspicions were all but confirmed. "Why, Janey?"

She seemed to panic a little before settling back down. "I didn't mean for any of it to happen. I was angry, you see. I had heard you speaking to Mr. McFunnugh in the shop. You said to him that you would be able to get more money if you let me go and ran things on your own. Or at least, that is what I can remember; everything has gotten so fuzzy for me in the past few days."

"But you weren't in the shop on that day…" Marie suddenly realized that it must have been Janey who had knocked over the cup in the kitchen. She had thought that it was the stray, but it made more sense to her now.

"I wasn't thinking straight, miss. I had been working so hard, and I was tired. Not that it's an excuse, I went to the market and began talking to the other servants. Before I knew it, the rumors had begun to spread like wildfire. Everyone was talking about Arabella Arrindell and the Duke, and there was no way I could stop the rumors that I had started." Janey cried freely now, wringing her apron in her hands.

It all began to make sense to Marie now as she watched the girl fidget with her clothes. Her apron had always been neat and tidy, yet she had begun to run the fabric through her fingers the day after James had visited the shop. She had been so caught up with everything regarding the Duke that she hadn't been paying attention to the signs.

"Why didn't you come to me with the truth?" Marie's voice was soft as she looked up at the ashen face of her maid whom she had considered a friend and confidant. She wasn't sure if she was angry, hurt, or even saddened by the betrayal.

"I was so ashamed; I thought that perhaps I could make things right and tell the rest of the servants that it had all been a lie, but they didn't want to listen. They had all trusted me for years and thought that you were forcing me to correct the rumors that I started. I tried so hard." Janey wrung the edge of her apron until the fabric clung together.

No wonder everyone has been avoiding me.

Janey's rumors had not only ruined her reputation as a matchmaker, but her attempts at rectifying the situation had inadvertently painted her as a monster.

"I tried to go as far out of London as I could to drum up new business, but the rumors had already reached the estates. Doors were shut in my face before I could even say a word." Janey sucked in a sharp breath, beginning to heave when her crying didn't cease.

"That would explain why you were so tired all the time. You must have run all over the countryside." Marie shut her eyes, running her hands over her face as the fatigue of the past few days began to set in.

What do I do now?

She felt at war within herself. She wanted to scream at the girl, to send her packing, yet she had been the one who spoke without thinking. She had been in such a panic that she had blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Miss? I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am, I know that I must have caused you a great deal of pain and trouble. I thought that things may come right when it seemed as if the Duke honestly wanted to marry you, but I think my rumors may have damaged that as well." Janey tried to stop her tears but failed.

"That was not your doing, Janey; the Duke and I were not compatible from the start. The business may very well be going under because of you, but you are not to blame for the Duke." She lost her temper and snapped as the weight of the situation overwhelmed her.

Janey shrank back after swallowing hard, trying to make herself as small as possible.

Looking up, Marie took pity on her. "I would like to say that everything will be fine, yet I can't bring myself to lie to you. If you had stopped after the Lady Arrindell story, then perhaps people would have come to trust me again in time. Yet your stories about the Duke and my supposed plans to trap him into marriage with me have shattered any and all hope. You see, a story where I helped a young lady follow her heart can be forgiven in time. One where I am the villain who uses other's heartache for my gain is unforgivable."

Janey began to sob uncontrollably as she leaned forward with her arms on the table and sobbed while burying her face.

How had things gotten so out of control?

Marie thought of all the years that she and Janey had worked to build the business. The girl had been right at her side from the start when Nicholas and Emma had been their very first successful match. It was Janey who had come up with the idea to blend in with the crowd and gather as much information as she could.

She had thought that their silent partnership would last forever, but even that had proved to be breakable.

Everything always comes to an end.

"Come now, there is no use in crying over spilled milk. What is done is done. All we can do now is look to the future and place one foot in front of the other." Marie stood and made her way over to the shelf where her grandmother kept her savings.

Janey looked up and sniffed a few times, blinking back the onslaught of tears that had left her breathless. "I don't understand, are you not angry with me?"

Marie gave her a sympathetic glance before retrieving a pouch of coins from the jar. She had seen Janey use the black pouch to keep her earnings many times at the end of each month.

"I can't say if I am angry right now. Shocked, yes, disappointed, maybe, but I have far too much going on right now to make any kind of final judgment on my feelings." She walked back over to the table in placed the money back in front of her maid.

"Are you kicking me out?" Her brown eyes widened with shock as she looked from the pouch to Marie.

"No," Marie shook her head. "It's too dark to send you on your way. You should stay the night, and we can come up with a solution in the morning. It won't do anyone any good to run away or throw anyone out."

"I don't deserve your kindness, miss." Janey reached for the pouch of coins and drew it back toward herself.

"We all make mistakes, Janey. Now, I don't think we should talk about this any further this evening. We will be able to see things more clearly in the morning. I suggest you clean up this mess before my grandmother gets back, but promise me that you won't run away and leave us to deal with the aftermath," she spoke sternly and placed her hands on her hips.

The girl nodded and tucked the pouch into her apron before standing. "Are you heading out again, miss?" Janey asked with a frown.

"I was going to turn in for the evening, but I don't think I will be able to sleep. I'm heading back to the shop; I need to work on a few things." She caught herself right before telling the girl that she felt the need to find herself a suitor as soon as possible.

She wasn't sure what would happen moving forward or if she would keep Janey on. There was a very real possibility that there wouldn't be a shop to salvage in the coming weeks.

"Should you be walking alone at this hour, miss?" Janey glanced out the back door at the darkness that had set in.

"Thank you for your concern, but I still have the carriage. It would seem as if the Duke has given it to me for life or at least for the foreseeable future." She thought of the surprise she had received when she'd locked up the shop and saw the carriage outside on the street.

The footman had informed her that he was to squire her around London until otherwise instructed by Dominic or his grandmother. She had also been handed a note with a warning that said she would have the dowager duchess to deal with personally if she refused the offer.

"Perhaps there is hope that he will still marry you?" Janey spoke to her as she had always spoken to her, yet Marie couldn't bring herself to see her in the same light.

"I don't think there is, but that doesn't matter now. We must carry on." She tried her best to smile, yet she could tell that Janey knew things had changed between them forever.

Dominic raced toward her house; he had run all the way from White's and was quickly beginning to regret his decision as his breath ran out. Doubling over he stopped running and rested his hands on his knees before looking up and swearing under his breath.

His carriage wasn't in front of her house, but he reassured himself that there was every possibility that she had refused the help his grandmother had sent.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up straight and jogged the rest of the way to the front door. He was quickly greeted by a tearful maid who looked up at him in shock.

"Your Grace?" She seemed panicked as she glanced at the street over his shoulder.

"Is Miss Webster home?" He frowned when he saw the stains running down the girl's cheeks. It was obvious that she had been crying for hours on end.

"She isn't, Your Grace," the girl said in a meek voice.

Fear gripped his chest at the look of anguish in her eyes. "Has something happened? Are Miss Webster and her grandmother well?" He felt like shaking the girl for an answer.

She shook her head after a long pause. "They are both as well as can be expected, Your Grace. Miss Webster has gone back to her shop, and her grandmother has not yet returned from her evening outings."

"Oh, then are you ill?" He looked her over, feeling his pulse return to normal. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he couldn't help but feel a wave of relief at hearing that Marie was well.

The bags under the girl's eyes gave her the sickly look of someone who was recovering from a long illness. "I am well, thank you, Your Grace. I suspect that I will owe you an apology in time, but if I am correct, you have come here to see Miss Webster? If so, you will find her at her shop."

"An apology for what?" Dominic tilted his head to the side in question. He'd never paid any particular attention to the girl, yet her behavior at present certainly seemed odd.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter now; all that matters is that you tell Miss Webster what is in your heart." She looked right through him as if she could see into his soul.

"How do you know what I want to say to her?" He felt strangely drawn to her wide brown eyes.

"I've never really been one that stood out, Your Grace, yet I have always been there in the background, quietly paying attention to everything and everyone. You have the look of a man who just realized that he is in love. You have that glow about you that says you will have the rest of your life to show her just how wonderful and magical she makes the world around you seem. I've seen it time and time again; it doesn't matter what the circumstances are, love will eventually conquer all in the end."

He looked her over, getting a strange feeling that she would be around in the future. "What is your name?"

"Janey, my lord. I have been a maid and a friend to Miss Webster for many years. I haven't always deserved the kindness she has shown me, but I am grateful for it." She pursed her lips into a sad smile and shut the door.

Dominic wasn't sure if he understood anything the girl had said at all, but there wasn't any time to waste. He turned around and headed back up the path. Hopefully, Marie would be waiting for him at her shop, but if she wasn't, he would traverse all of London to find her, even if it took him all night.