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There had been a discharge of blood during her bath that had worried Amy while her poor lady’s maid had thought that her mistress was deathly ill.

The cramping that she had played down when she spoke to Tom earlier was ever present.

Seeing that her maid was very distressed, Amy mollified her somewhat when she explained what she had woken up to that morning, and why it was now necessary to remove the bedding as well as her nightgown.

Her maid felt badly that her mistress had lost her babe, but the understanding of what had transpired helped her to relax a little.

After her bath, Amy felt a considerable increase in the amount of cramping that she was experiencing.

Tom saw her wincing from the pain and was concerned enough that he insisted on a doctor being summoned to which Amy acquiesced with little argument.

When their meals were placed in their sitting room, he requested that the footman inform the housekeeper that she was needed.

He also requested that their Graces the Duchess of Hertfordshire and the Dowager Duchess of Derbyshire join them in their sitting room when it was convenient to them.

The footman bowed and departed to do as he was bid.

Not ten minutes later there was a knock and on being bade to enter, Mrs. Horton presented herself before the Duke and Duchess of Bedford.

Tom informed her that his wife was indisposed and to summon the local physician.

Without comment, the housekeeper left in order to send a groom to inform Mr. Riddell Benson that his services were required at Falconwood.

A half hour after the housekeeper departed, there was another knock and this time it was Ladies Sarah and Anne. As soon as the door was closed Amy burst into tears with sobs racking her body. Tom explained what had occurred although both matrons suspected that something of the nature had occurred.

“Amy,” Lady Sarah soothed her daughter-in-law, “I am so very sorry for your loss.” As she spoke, she rubbed Amy’s back softly.

“I assume,” Lady Anne said gently, “that I was summoned due to my experience with disappointments of my own on more than one occasion?” Amy who had calmed a little, while still crying tearfully nodded her head.

Lady Anne sat on her other side while Tom looked on with concern knowing that there was little that he could do to alleviate her current suffering.

That knowledge frustrated him, but he would not let Amy see that.

He was the one who was supposed to protect her, and he did not delude himself that there was anything he could have done or not have done that would have prevented what happened from happening.

“Amy, I know that you feel a deep sense of loss and are blaming yourself and will do so regardless of the fact that you did not do anything that caused this to happen,” Lady Anne said as she held one of Amy’s hands.

“Every time this happened to me, do you not think that I had the same thoughts?

I questioned God; why He would allow me to become with child only for me to lose it.

“My George helped me see that it was purely a matter of chance.

Some women, like your mother-in-law, birth their children with nary a problem, but then there are others, like me, and your sister Marie, who like you, suffer this event like you have.

At least you know that you are able to become enceinte , as there are those like Aunt Rose who never achieve that state.

“Nothing that I am saying will minimize the pain that you feel over your loss, nor is it intended to. My only aim is to help you see that you bear no blame in what has happened. It was not to be this time, but your time will come, just as mine did when I was gifted with Georgiana.”

“I am sure that my son has already told you that you bear no fault in what happened Amy,” Lady Sarah said with surety.

Amy, her tears now at a trickle, nodded that it was so.

“As Anne pointed out, I never experience what both of you and Marie have, but it was always a worry for me, and until the midwife placed each of my darling children in Thomas’s and my hands, I had no way of knowing what the result would be.

“As you know Amy, childbirth is fraught with risks and unfortunately you experienced one of the more common ones. I wish that you, Marie, Anne, or any other woman never experienced a miscarriage, but it is one of those things that we have no control over.” Seeing that Amy was about to interject, Lady Sarah continued before her daughter-in-law spoke.

“Are there things that we can choose to do that increase the risks? Of course, there are! Now ask yourself Amy, if you partook in any risky behaviour before this happened.”

Amy thought for a while and was not able to come up with anything that she had done that would have been considered risky. “I have not,” she said quietly, barely at a level that the other three could hear.

“Then my love,” Tom said lovingly, “you have no blame, as mother said, it is one of things that we cannot control.”

“I know that intellectually Tom,” Amy said with a little more strength in her voice, “but it does not relieve the sense of loss.”

“You will mourn, and you alone will know when you are ready to move on Amy,” Lady Anne told her as she squeezed the hand that she was still holding.

“Each time it was different for me, when I had my still born son it almost emotionally killed me, but I was surrounded by a loving husband and family, just like you are. We will be here for you as you need us.”

“Do you want to talk to Marie, Amy?” Lady Sarah asked, “It could be cathartic for both of you as Marie’s miscarriage was much more recent. We will not inform any of the others unless you give us permission to do so.”

“You may inform them,” Amy said as she dried her eyes now that the tears had ceased. “I would like to talk to Marie, after the doctor has seen me. Mother Sarah, will you remain with me when he examines me?” she asked.

“Of course, I will Amy,” Lady Sarah said unequivocally. She thought for a moment and then added, “Would you like us to ask your mother to join us at Pemberley? By the time a letter gets to her we will more than likely be back there or a day or two away from decamping here.”

“I would like that,” Amy said, “I will write to her after we have seen the doctor.” Amy still felt the physical and emotional pain of her loss, but she was quickly coming to see that she bore no blame in the uncontrollable event.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Younge, Johanna álvarez, and their ‘men’ had entered Derbyshire an hour or two earlier.

Following the directions that Wickham had imparted to the late Karen Younge, the party made its way to the hunter’s cottage in Pemberley’s forest. As they followed the track that led to their ‘secret’ hideout, the men riding in front and behind of the carriage were very much aware of something that the occupants of the hired chaise we not.

From the second that they had crossed onto the estate’s land they were under constant watch.

The carriage came to a halt at the small cottage where one of the men handed Mrs. álvarez down after Younge alighted the vehicle.

Johanna wrinkled her nose at the degradation of having to stay in this little abode with no servants to boot.

She was well aware that she would be required to perform functions that she had not had to since before she married the Spaniard .

As distasteful as the thought of menial labour was to her, she was willing to perform them in service of the massive amount of money that she believed she would soon possess.

Younge agreed that the men should reconnoitre the area and once everything was secure, they would commence their watching of the occupants of the great house on the morrow.

Jones was pleased that Younge had accepted his suggestion without argument as it would give him time to make contact with one of the watchers to get a message back to the Earl so that they would know to start the charade in the morning.

The cottage was a little more than two and a half miles from the manor house.

It consisted of a small room that was used as both the sitting room and the dining area, and a sparse kitchen to one side.

There were two small bedchambers that Younge and Mrs. álvarez would occupy.

The group had brought some tents for the “crew” as sleeping quarters while on the estate.

Three men were left to guard the site, others were tasked with hunting, and the rest went to become familiar with their surroundings.

Jones’s task was to find the best vantage point near the manor house where the men who would be watching could situate themselves without detection.

This particular task allowed Jones to be gone for some hours without raising Younge’s suspicion, explaining that he would only ride to within a half a mile of the house, tie his horse off, then walk the rest of the way.

After a few minutes of riding, he was surrounded by three of the men who had been tasked with guarding the area.

One of them was a former marine who had served with Jones, so his identity as one of the Dennington men was established speedily.

Jones was told that the gentlemen were at the main house while they rode toward the stables.

Douglas knocked on the family sitting room door and informed the men that Mr. Jones was waiting to see them.

He was not awed, neither was he intimidated by the peers of the realm he saw before him after he was shown in.

Following his master’s request, Douglas introduced Jones to the men in the sitting room.