19. The Schoolroom

Chapter nineteen

The Schoolroom

W hen Gyles reached the schoolroom, he discovered Solomon Digby bound to a chair and trussed like a fat pigeon while Miss Lymington stood guard, ruler in hand, in case the assailant should attempt to escape.

The girls explained that they had tripped him with a long length of curtain ribbon and bound him to the chair after he had been knocked unconscious. Gyles marvelled that the three of them had been able to lift the meaty blackguard into a sitting position.

Lord Kendall unfastened the makeshift gag and demanded to know why Mr. Digby had trespassed on his hospitality to assault his nieces and their governess.

"Governess!" Mr. Digby spat out, as if he had foul water in his mouth. "That's rich, Kendall. This girl here is none other than Louisa Lymington, the ward of the Duke of Warrenton."

Gyles looked at the governess to see if she would deny it, but her face merely settled into a marble mask .

"Indeed," said Lord Kendall coldly, confirming the identification. "What is that to you, Digby?"

Gyles blinked. He had known, deep in his bones, that Miss Lymington was the Incomparable. And it seemed that Lord Kendall had been aware of it as well.

Within minutes, the despicable Digby began blathering about how Lady Louisa had been promised to him by her guardian. "We're as good as engaged," he said with a squinty leer.

"I beg to differ," replied Miss Lymington. She raised the ruler. "I never agreed to marry you."

Gyles moved forward involuntarily and had to stop himself from interfering and standing between them. Of course she had not! Gyles could not conceive of a universe where a creature like Miss Lymington could be matched with a dog like Digby.

"Oh, come now," said the fat man in the mauve waistcoat. "You were sweet as cream to me the last time I saw you."

"That was to lull you into a false sense of security so that I could escape my uncle's house."

"Your uncle supported this man's suit?" demanded Gyles, his brow clouding even further. No wonder she was unused to kindness, to decency, to respect…to love.

"But why?" said Penelope, evidently of the same mind as Gyles on this matter. "Why would your uncle force you to marry this shocking excuse for a man?"

"Because my uncle is a greedy beast," said Miss Lymington, her tone clear and strong. "He inherited the dukedom two years ago when my father died, but the estate is bankrupt. My inheritance comes through my mother's side, and although I can't touch it until I come into my majority, neither can he. The only person who can is a husband. So, my uncle made a secret arrangement with Mr. Digby that if he allowed him to marry me, they would split my money once the marriage vows were said."

"But how did you become a governess?" asked Gyles. He had known that she was above his touch, but he could sense that the object of his affection was slipping even further out of reach now that her identity as a peeress was confirmed.

Miss Lymington—or as he should think of her now, Lady Louisa—explained how she had answered an advertisement for a governess in the wilds of Yorkshire and arrived to work for Lord Kendall. It would have suited her perfectly to have remained in Yorkshire, but when the Trafford sisters came to London for the season, she had been forced to travel with them. "And now that Digby has found me, he will go to my uncle Warrenton as soon as we release him. He will find me, and I shall be wholly in his power once again."

"Surely there is something we can do," said Gyles, racking his brain to think of some plan to protect Lady Louisa. He had saved her once from a cad at Carlton House, but a tangle of these proportions would require even greater ingenuity.

At this point, Miss Trafford proved her utter silliness by proposing the worst idea in the world since admitting a wooden horse into Troy. "I have it! Uncle Bertie must marry Miss Lymington!"

Gyles' eyes flew instantly to Lady Louisa's face. The scorn written across it was evident, soothing his worries that she would agree to Penelope's hare-brained scheme.

"But don't you see," continued Penelope, "it's just the thing! If Uncle Bertie married Miss Lymington, then Mr. Digby would be out of luck. And the Duke of Warrenton couldn't do a thing about it. How could anyone have any objection to that plan?"

" I object!" roared Mr. Digby.

Lady Louisa's fine eyebrows lifted. "I suppose Lord Kendall is marginally preferable. At least he doesn't wear shockingly hideous waistcoats, even though he is also old enough to be my father."

Gyles clenched his teeth.

"No. Absolutely not," said Lord Kendall, crossing his arms across his chest.

The three girls began to clutch at his elbows and plead with him until Lord Kendall shook them off in frustration. "I have no intention of marrying anyone other than Mrs. Audeley!"

"So that's the way the wind blows," said Gyles, locking eyes with him. Given his mother's constant presence at Kendall House—and the hint Mr. Heller had thrown his way at Angelo's—the thought of Lord Kendall as a stepfather should have occurred to him before now. But he had been too lost in his own concerns to see clearly. Now that he was considering it for the first time, he discovered that he rather liked the idea.

"Oh!" exclaimed Penelope, who was also fond of his mother. "If that's the case, then Miss Lymington had better find another gentleman to rescue her."

"I've done quite well rescuing myself so far," said Miss Lymington. Gyles looked at her with admiration. Yes, she had been incredibly resourceful. How many other young women would have had the wherewithal to run away to Yorkshire and hide from society as a governess? How many other young women would have kept their head about them when confronted by such a villain ?

It was at this point that the restrained Mr. Digby began to be very unrestrained with his language. "You'll not hide from me again, you little baggage," he began. "I'll leave no stone in England unturned till your Uncle Warrenton makes good on his promise to me. And Kendall can make an honest woman of his own trollop—" That last comment ended before it had fully begun as Lord Kendall laid Mr. Digby out cold with a blow to the jaw.

At this display of violence, the girls' squeals began to rise to the rafters until Lord Kendall ordered them all to bed. "Lady Louisa, we'll speak in the morning," he said sternly. "And Gyles, could you send two footmen up on your way out? When Mr. Digby wakes up, I don't want him anywhere near this house."

Gyles nodded and left the schoolroom to do the earl's bidding. The butler and remaining footmen were all belowstairs by now, so he descended to the kitchen where they were tidying plates and scouring and counting the silverware. The temporary staff, who had only been hired for the night of the ball, had departed and left their liveries folded neatly on the kitchen worktable.

The butler expressed a modicum of surprise when informed that there was an unconscious man in the attic schoolroom who needed to be disposed of. He sent two of the remaining footmen upstairs to perform the unpleasant task and then added a third footman when Gyles informed him that the intruder was ponderously heavy.

His errand finished, Gyles looked about for Lord Kendall to inform him that Digby had been dealt with. The earl was not in his study, so Gyles went further down the hallway to the library. That room was also completely dark except for a few coals still smouldering in the fireplace. Gyles would have left immediately, but a peculiar sound caught his ears.

Thump—scrape. Thump—scrape.

It seemed to be coming from behind the wall. Seizing a candle from a sconce in the corridor, Gyles walked over to the wood panelling and saw a little door begin to open. And that was when he discovered Lady Louisa sliding her brass-bound travelling trunk down the servants' staircase as she tried to make good her escape from Kendall House.