Page 40 of Highland Jewel
“They wanted Fiona,” Maisie cried. “They took no one else buther. And it’s all my fault. My fault. She should have been home… with her girls. But she came and…” Sobs choked off the words.
Niall let go of her and stepped away. The pressure in his head was growing stronger. Quickly lighting a candle, he strode to the chest where he kept his pistol and sword and flung it open.
“I cried for help on the street. I begged people. We could have stopped them from taking her away. But everyone was deaf and blind to what was happening in front of them. They had no… no feeling. No courage. They didn’tcare,Niall!”
He took the pistol from its case and began to load it.
She was beside him in an instant, her voice shaking. “You can’t go after her by yourself. You can’t fight your way into the castle.”
Niall didn’t care for his own life. He’d gladly trade it for his sister. He tucked the pistol into his belt and picked up his sheathed sabre. She grabbed for the weapon, clutching it with both hands.
“Please, Niall! Listen to me. Think. There must be a better way to get her back. If you die, she’s lost. I’m lost. You need to use reason. You can’t free her with force.” Her breathing was ragged as she pulled at the weapon. “At the very least, they’ll take you too. How will that help Fiona?”
He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to see past the flashes of rage that threatened to blind him. He’d feared this. He’d known it was only a matter of time before one of the two women he loved would fall prey to this. He’d warned them. How many times had he lectured them?
The meeting with Burney and Tolley came back to him. Right here in this room. That was the start of it. Since then, he’d heard enough stories about them. Their organization was in place. They were actively putting their own people into the reform committees. Extorting compliance from other radicals, turning them into government informers. Plans were in place for entrapping leaders. And they were actively arresting and holding ordinary citizens with no regard for guilt or innocence. Burney’s mission wasn’t to keep the peace but to terrify and intimidate. And that would only happen by cutting into every level of society and making an example of those who would not meekly accept their authority.
Women. Reformers. He’d known it. It was only a matter of time.
He released his grip on the sword, and Maisie laid it into the open chest.
“A lawyer,” she suggested quickly. “I can help. I have some savings. I’ll ask my sister, I—”
Niall pressed his fingers to her lips, hushing her. He pulled her tightly into his arms. She held him, her face pressed against his heart.
“Why?” she croaked. “She was sick. She shouldn’t have been there tonight. Why didn’t they take me?” A new wave of tears let loose, and her body shook with sobs.
As he comforted her with his embrace, his mind began to race. Vague plans began to emerge. He knew people in high places and low. The castle had its own cells, but Bridewell was the prison where many people now were held after an arrest. Someone he knew had to be able to get him inside to his sister.
Maisie drew a shaky breath and pulled back, looking up at him. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
“Listen to me, my love.” He cupped her cheek, looking into her swollen eyes. “I’m going to take you back to your sister’s house. And you’re to go inside and stay there. No matter what happens. I need to know you’re safe until I come back for you.”
“What about the girls? And Mrs. Johnston? They don’t even know where Fiona is tonight. They must be sick with worry.”
She was right. He had a great deal to do. “I’ll take care of them.”
They’d arrested Fiona. There was no saying that they wouldn’t come for Maisie. “Listen to me. If someone comes to your family’s house and asks for you, the servants must say you’re not at home. You’ve gone to the country. Or back to visit family in Wurzburg. Anywhere.Go and hide if you must, but don’t let them take you. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” She pressed her face against his chest again, holding him tight. “Don’t worry about me. Just bring back Fiona safely.”
CHAPTER15
For two days, Maisie kept mostly to her room, sitting by the window, scanning the wet, windswept March street for some sign of Niall. For two nights, wrapped in a blanket, she kept her vigil there as well, praying to see him come to their door.
Downstairs, the household was in a constant state of chaos. Whereas Archibald’s meetings with the weavers and other radical groups were occasional, men were now coming to the garden door nightly. During the day, he was often away from the clinic, off to unspecified events. Isabella worked tirelessly with the students from the university at her side, seeing to her patients, as well as to her husband’s.
No one asked why it was that Maisie kept to her room. She was home, out of sight, out of mind. That was enough. And it suited her, for she was in no state to be sociable, and she was not about to pour out her troubles to anyone in the family.
She was responsible for Fiona’s arrest. If only Maisie hadn’t gone to her house in the afternoon. If only shehadn’t tempted her to come along. If only. The thought of how different the night could have ended was constantly on her mind. After going to Niall’s apartment, she’d discovered that all the flyers, the letter, the newspaper article had all been stuffed into Fiona’s satchel and not hers. Her friend had been taken with enough proof to justify the arrest. She’d told Niall all of this.
The promise she’d made to him weighed heavily on her. She felt guilty hiding herself away while it was quite likely that her friend was being subjected to unimaginable abuse at the hands of her captors. And what of Fiona’s daughters? She had no idea where they were. Niall said he’d take care of things, but no word from him had arrived, and she feared the worst.
Finally, on Friday afternoon, a rider descended from his steed and handed the reins to a neighborhood urchin to hold for him.
Niall.
Maisie’s feet barely touched the floor as she flew to the stairway and down to the foyer. She reached the front door at the same time that a manservant arrived to open it. When he looked up at her, his eyes wide with surprise, she took a breath and nodded for him to proceed.
