Page 28 of A Fortune Most Fatal (Miss Austen Investigates #2)
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Rather than return to the house, Jane paces the garden, hoping the scent of lavender will calm her jangled nerves. Bereft of his master, Conker shadows her every move. Riding hard over the fields, Jane calculates the men could reach Godmersham within the hour. Will Agnes be able to evade the gang until then? That is, if Fairbairn has not seized her already? She prays the girl has found somewhere safe to hide. Neddy is an excellent shot, and he has the assistance of two trained soldiers—but he is used to hunting game, not villains, and who knows if Armand is really to be trusted? Henry was right to send for the dragoons, but how long will it take them to provide reinforcements? Given Mr. Bridges’s warnings about the villainous Sea Salter Company and Mr. Skeete’s threat to cut out Molly’s tongue, Jane dreads to think what motley crew Captain Fairbairn has assembled.
Unable to find peace, she perches on the edge of the wooden bench in the arbour and worries the skin around her thumb with her teeth. Conker stretches out at her feet, resting his despondent head on her slipper. Even if Neddy is successful in rounding up the captain and his gang, Agnes may still be lost to them. Now that she knows the mansion is not safe, she may never return. She’s left before—Mrs. Knight said she disappeared once for hours. Has she ever wandered out of the park into the surrounding countryside? She may have gone out in the same way Fairbairn has been entering—presumably through the breach in the perimeter wall. Jane’s throat tightens at the thought of Agnes alone in this brutal world. The girl has no rank, no wealth. Worse, she has no kindly family and no friends, other than Jane and Mrs. Knight, who will seek to protect her.
“Where are you, Agnes?” Jane whispers to the stars. “Where can you have run to?” The night is so clear that Jane can identify all the familiar constellations floating above Kent. Orion, the warrior, wears his belt proudly while Virgo shimmers in the darkness. Libra, the scales, is just out of her reach. Beneath these giants of the night sky, Jane is a tiny, inconsequential being. Compared to the heavens, her life is short, and narrow, and completely devoid of any significance. But stargazing is a distraction.
Think, Jane. Think.
If Agnes has left Godmersham Park, where would she go?
Nowhere. When faced with horrors she cannot abide, Agnes leaves herself behind. It took Mrs. Knight’s gentle ministrations for her to return . The question then becomes not where is Agnes but who is Agnes? Would Biddy have the gumption to run? Not likely: she is fixed on her childish games, taking comfort in the repetition of her movements. Poor Nessa would scurry under the furniture in fear. Even Agnes said not to mind her— She wouldn’t dare be so bold if you were a real threat. She cannot be Eleanor. The princess would remain poised, daring any intruder to interfere with her. Besides, nobody has professed to having seen Mrs. Knight’s foreign princess roaming the countryside. But travellers along the road to Canterbury have reported someone even more incongruous …
Suddenly the answer to where Agnes goes when she absconds from Godmersham Park is so obvious that Jane laughs.
But it is miles away. She cannot make it there on foot and Neddy has not left a single horse in his stable. She has no choice but to ask for help. Jane stands and turns her head towards Goodnestone. Is it her imagination or are the faint clouds of smoke rising from the chimney stacks of the elegant house visible in the distance? There are no guarantees Jane’s plan will work, but she must try. Agnes’s very life may depend upon it. She grabs Conker by the collar and, using the silk sash of her gown, ties the whimpering dog to the arbour so he may not follow her on this foolhardy mission.