Page 73 of A Baron's Disguised Lady
“I won’t be told such things by a mere maid. You don’t have the right! I know the truth, Lavinia. He loves me, and you’re keeping him from me, just as Gwendolene kept him from me. But Iwon’t allow it. Not this time. I believed her before. I believed Gwendolene.
She told me to wait, to bide my time, but then… then she told I couldn’t have him. That there were others… oh, no… it wasn’t meant to be like this. If only he’d listened, we could’ve been together. We could’ve been happy, Lavinia. But Gwendolene ruined it, and now you’re going to ruin it, too,” she cried.
A sudden realization of horror now came over Lavinia—horror at what Wilhelmina’s words could mean. If Gwendolene had stood in the way of a match between Wilhelmina and Archie, then…
“No… it can’t be. You didn’t, Wilhelmina,” she exclaimed, as Wilhelmina’s eyes grew wide, gripped, it seemed, by the madness of her passion.
“I had to. I had to do what was right, Lavinia. I had to. It’s all for Archie. It’s always been for Archie,” she cried, and now she struck out at Lavinia, who screamed as she teetered on the side of the steep bank, the two of them jostling with one another.
“Wilhelmina, stop it, what are you doing?” Lavinia cried, but Wilhelmina now screamed at her, pushing her forward with a cry.
“I won’t let you take him,” she shouted, and as she did so, she pushed Lavinia down the bank… straight toward the river.
Chapter 27
Archie was searching frantically for Lavinia. There was no sign of her anywhere in the house, she had not yet returned from her visit to Penelope and had been gone for several hours. He had searched the grounds, too, imagining she might have taken a book out to the orchard, or another part of the garden, and he might find her reading in the sunshine. But there was no sign of her there, either, and the more he searched, the more frantic he became.
She has to be here somewhere. She can’t just have disappeared.
His fear over what he had read in Wilhelmina’s letters gripped him with terror. He feared what would happen if Wilhelmina continued her jealous quest, and now he could only be angry at himself for not realizing the dreadful truth the letters contained.
He had them in his pocket, and they told the story of a jealous woman, who would stop at nothing to secure his affections. She had begged Gwendolene to persuade Archie to marry her, and when Gwendolene had refused…
“I never thought for a moment she’d be involved. I’ve always kept her at a distance. I wanted nothing to do with her. I didn’t encourage her. One dance… that was all. We danced once. I don’t even remember the occasion. But now…”Archie muttered to himself while despairing at the thought of what the letters revealed.
Wilhelmina had been watching him all along. Watching and waiting for her chance to make him her own. She was a jealous, scheming woman who would stop at nothing to secure what she desired. Archie could hardly believe what he had read; how Wilhelmina had systematically thwarted his attempts at courtship with every woman he had ever shown interest in.
He remembered them all, the excuses they had made, the things that had prevented their plans from coming to fruition. It had all been Wilhelmina’s doing… an extraordinary set of circumstances, one Archie could hardly believe to be true.
“Thomas? Have you seen Miss Stuart?” Archie called out, sighting the gardener clipping at a topiary peacock on the far side of the garden.
Thomas looked up in surprise.
“No, my Lord. I’ve been here all morning. No one’s passed this way. Is she lost?” he asked, lowering his shears as Archie hurried toward him.
“I… I don’t know. I mean… she might be, yes. I’m not sure where she is. I’ve been looking for her. She went to see Penelope Havers at the lodge at the end of the east drive. But she should be back by now. I thought she might be here, in the garden. She loves the garden here…” Archie said, his words trailing off, as asudden terrible thought occurred to him… what if Wilhelmina had already found Lavinia?
He was seeking her out to warn her, to protect her, but if she had already encountered Wilhelmina, then…
“I’m sorry, my Lord. I haven’t seen her. If I do, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her,” Thomas said, but Archie was already running across the lawn, terrified at the prospect of his fears coming true.
If Laviniahadencountered Wilhelmina, she was in grave danger, and without a word to his mother, or Lavinia’s mother, Archie hurried off along the drive in the direction of the east lodge, praying he was not too late.
***
“Help me, Wilhelmina, please,” Lavinia cried out, scrabbling desperately at the roots growing out of the bank.
The river rushed below, and it was only thanks to a protruding branch that Lavinia had been able to prevent herself from falling into the water. The current was strong, and Lavinia could not swim. If she fell, she would be swept under the bridge, and then…
“Tell me you don’t love him. Tell me he’s not yours, that you don’t want him,” Wilhelmina cried out.
She was standing at the top of the bank, looking down at Lavinia with a mad look in her eyes. Lavinia glanced down at the waters below, then up again at Wilhelmina who showed no sign of attempting to help her. Lavinia had no doubt now as to what Wilhelmina had done. She had killed Gwendolene out of jealous anger at Archie’s sister’s refusal to help her secure the match she so desired. It was wicked, and it was madness.
“You’re being foolish, Wilhelmina. You don’t know what you’re saying,” Lavinia called back.
She was not about to deny she did not love Archie. Shedidlove him, and she did not believe Wilhelmina would show her any mercy, even if she claimed not to love Archie. No woman would stand in Wilhelmina’s way, not even Archie’s own sister.
“Say it, Lavinia. Say you don’t love him. Tell me you don’t love him. I’ll forgive you then. We can put it down to a misunderstanding. A silly misunderstanding, that’s what it is,” Wilhelmina replied, but Lavinia would not do it.
