speaking quickly before she could think too much. “And perhaps some of the people could be also.”
“How, precisely, would you go about giving a fierce guard dog a sleeping powder?” asked Lord Macklin in a harsh, clipped tone.
“Put it in some meat?”
“Because you would be moving freely around this sinister place, and no one would notice you interfering with the creatures’ food?”
Teresa understood that his sarcasm came from concern, but it was difficult to hear nonetheless.
“The idea is ridiculous,” he added. “Impossible.”
It was much worse than that. He could not know how it terrified her—the idea of going back into captivity.
Or perhaps he did. His eyes were full of sympathy. “You cannot do this,” he said.
She looked away from that compassionate gaze before it could overset her. “What do you propose then? That we simply let this—whatever it is—go on?”
“Now that we have identified Lord Simon, we can warn the dancers to have nothing to do with him.”
“And the ones who are already gone?” Teresa felt a moment of hope. Lord Macklin sounded so authoritative. Might he have some other solution? But the earl said nothing. “We leave them to their fate?”
“We don’t know what they are…” But he couldn’t complete the sentence. They all knew the four dancers had not been spirited away for benign purposes.
All her history rose up and beat at her. She had been oppressed. No one had cared, still less tried to help her. She could not turn away, no matter how strong the fear. Her hands were shaking harder than ever. “I will not abandon them.”
“I won’t let you go—” began Lord Macklin.
“It is not your decision,” she interrupted.
“Alone,” he added. “I won’t let you go alone.”
This silenced Teresa. She stared at him.
“I will take you there,” he continued.
“Take me?”
“As Lord Simon did Jeanne. I will drive up to the gate with you at my side…”
“And simply demand admission?” Teresa asked.
“I will assume a right to it,” said the earl. “The thought that I could be refused will not enter my mind. Or anyone else’s. I can play the arrogant ass if I have to.”
“Oh, really?”
The earl gave her a slight smile. “I can also slip the guard a hefty bribe if necessary. Between the two things, I will get in.”
“We will,” she answered. His expression showed how little he liked that idea. “You might be recognized,” she added.
“Not by the sort of ruffian hired to man a gate.”
“Inside though.”
“We will deal with that if we must. But if you try to go alone, I will prevent you.”
“How? Shut me away yourself?” She knew he wouldn’t, but his insistence was rousing more bad memories.
“I will camp on your doorstep and follow you everywhere you go. Like a faithful dog.”
The picture was so silly she had to smile. “You have other things to do with your days.”
“Nothing more important.”
In her secret heart, Teresa had to admit that having him at her side would make all the difference.
Tom, who had been looking back and forth like an observer of a tennis match, said, “You ain…aren’t leaving me out of this.”
“On the contrary,” said Lord Macklin. “But since it seems this is not the sort of place you can enter, despite your skills, you will remain outside watching. We will need someone who knows where we are and can bring aid if necessary.”
“I don’t want to stand about doing nothing!”
“This is far from nothing. If things…go wrong, all our reliance will be on you.”
“You will rescue us,” said Teresa.
This seemed to mollify the lad. “So I’ll be waiting for a signal, like?”
“Precisely,” replied the earl.
Tom considered, frowning. “There’s a clump of trees not too far from one of the side walls. Room for me and my friends to lurk.”
“That is what you will do then. Lurk.”
“What’ll the signal be?”
“You will know it when you see it,” declared Lord Macklin.
“Meaning you have no idea?” Tom replied. “I don’t like that.”
“I don’t know what we will find inside that place. Or how we might reach you.”
This silenced them all for some moments. Then they gathered their resolve and carried on.
The rest of that day was spent making plans. Teresa’s eagerness to move vied with a sick dread. She wondered if she would actually have done this without the earl’s aid. In truth, she didn’t see how.
With all their arrangements put in place, they set off the following morning in Lord Macklin’s curricle with no groom up behind them. Ironically, it was a lovely warm day, with the country on