Page 59 of The Curious Story of the Missing Lady
“I would like to have a word with the prisoners if it’s all the same to you.”
“Of course.” The constable snapped his fingers, and a junior officer snapped to attention. “You there, take His Lordship to see the prisoners.”
“Yes, sir. Which prisoner, sir?”
“Oh, right.” He turned to Ambrose. “M’Lord, the prisoners are separated.”
“I shall begin with Lady Elizabeth if you please.”
The constable snapped his fingers once more, and the lad said, “Right this way, M’Lord.”
#
The cell block was dank and pitiful. Three jails occupied the tiny room, two of them empty. Lady Elizabeth sat on the bench, hunched and dejected. The smell was nearly stifling, filthy and abhorrent.
“Right,” the court-appointed officer said full-voiced. He emphasised this with a tap on the bar with his baton. “Wake up, you. You have a visitor. This is His Lordship the Earl of Stamford, and youwilltreat him with the respect he is due, or I’ll come in there and douse you proper.”
Lord Ambrose rolled his eyes. These theatrics of the Stamford penal code were quite unnecessary.
“She’s all yours, M’Lord.”
“Thank you, er ...?”
“Johnson, M’Lord.”
“Thank you, Johnson. I’d like to be alone with the lady if you don’t mind.”
The officer's eyes shifted right, then left. “M’Lord?”
“Please. If it’s my safety you’re concerned about, I tell you the concern is most appreciated, but unwarranted.”
The officer stiffened. “Right, sir, er, M’Lord. If Your Lordship should desire assistance of any kind, or if the prisoner ...” He shifted a poison glance over at Lady Elizabeth. “... should overstep her bounds in any way, shout for Johnson, M’Lord, and I’ll be there quicker than you can say, or shout, ‘Jack Robinson’.”
Lord Ambrose smiled. “Thank you, Johnson.”
Johnson clicked his heels. “M’Lord!” And turned to exit swiftly.
He didn’t like the way she would not look at him.
“Would it be too much to assume you’re suffering from some form of shock that I am here?”
Slowly, her gaze turned to him. There was sadness in her eyes that he’d never seen in the eyes of any soul.
“Shock? Would that please you?”
“Elizabeth,” he said, the name feeling strange on his tongue after so many years, “I need you to help me understand. Why? That is the only question on my lips. The only question I will perhaps ever have.”
She gave a kind of wicked chuckle. “Do you not know by now, Ambrose?”
“LordAmbrose.”
“Then it’sLadyElizabeth,” she said nastily.
“I repeat: Why?”
She gave the same chuckle and turned her head back to the wall in front of her. “I will not entertain you with my answer. If you don’t know, Ambrose, then there is no point in explaining my actions.”
“Then hear this,” he said bitterly. “You have caused my family and me great suffering. Since you won’t give me any answers, then I shall speak my own heart to you. If contempt for your person was a drop of water, there would not be enough in ten floods of Noah to equal the contempt I have for you. I intend to see you rot in this cell, Elizabeth. Good day to you.”
