Page 120 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
Lady Wells shrugged. ‘Stop making such a fuss and do as your father bids.’ She picked up the necklace. ‘It is so beautiful. Do you not realise how fortunate you are? Come here. I will fasten it for you.’
Barbara glanced at the door. Lady Wells had asked the footman to wait in the hall. There was no point in making a run for it that way. At least, not until the woman left. And Barbara needed her to leave.
She tried to look meek. ‘You think I am fortunate?’
‘I do. The Count is as handsome a young man as you could wish for, and very pleasant.’
Hah! That was what she had thought about his brother. ‘Well…’ she said doubtfully.
‘All will be well. Did your father not say so?’
Her father only cared about whathe wanted. ‘I suppose so.’ Barbara joined the woman at the dressing table.
‘That’s better.’ Lady Wells smiled at her, draped the necklace around her neck and fastened it. Then Barbara put on the rest of the parure, the bracelet, the tiara. It was a beautiful set. No doubt about it.
Together they looked at her image in the mirror.
‘Lovely,’ Lady Wells said.
All Barbara could see were bonds where once she had seen the chance to live her own life.
Her stomach felt hollow, her chest empty. Would she ever be free? Rage rose up like a hot tide.
How could Father do this to her? Again.
She would not let him.
‘Wait here until we are ready for you,’ Lady Wells said. ‘Do not try to leave—Jack will remain outside until I come for you.’
Barbara nodded and sat on the chest at the foot of the bed, hoping her anger was not visible on her face.
The moment Lady Wells closed the door behind her, Barbara ran to the window and quietly pulled back the curtain.
Aha! Not a window. A French door leading out to a balcony. She pushed the handle down. The door did not budge and there was no key in the lock.
She glanced at the door out to the hallway. She would have to be very quiet if she did not want to arouse her guard’s suspicions and have him poking his nose in here.
She glanced around. Would the key be in the room,or would it be with the housekeeper? In her experience, because maids had to sweep down the balcony when they cleaned the room, the key was likely to be somewhere handy for the maid as well as for any guest using the chamber.
She opened the drawers in the dressing table. Nothing.
Then she checked the mantel above the fireplace. And there was a key sitting in the drip tray of a candle holder.
It fit the lock.
Quietly, she unlocked the balcony door and crept outside. Blast! It was still raining. She went back inside and covered her head with her shawl. It wasn’t much but it would help.
She stared down over the balustrade. It was a long drop. But one didn’t live most of one’s life at boarding school without learning the make-a-rope-from-bedsheets trick in order to leave by way of a window.
Not something Father would think of, since he never had a ha’p’orth of interest in anything Barbara had ever done.
One thing she did know, she would not have long, and she would need to get as far from here as possible before they noticed her missing.
She stripped the bed, used the nail scissors in her reticule to snip the hem, and tore both top and bottom sheet into three lengths that she tied together.
She secured the end to one of the stone balusters and tossed the rest of the linen over thetop of the rail. It didn’t quite reach the flower bed below but was not far off.
Climbing in skirts was never easy, and already the sheets were becoming sodden, but she carefully balanced on the railing and eased herself over. Having lowered herself down hand over hand, she dropped the last little bit.
