Page 25 of Choosing Her Earl at Last
Michael turned to face Colin, shame flooding his mind and heart for his behavior. The sight of his cousin’s agony was more than he could bear. “Forgive me, Colin. Of course, Rebecca is the priority. I spoke from a place of anger, and I apologize.”
Colin deflated, collapsing into the nearest chair. “It is my fault. I never should have left her side that night. How can I ask her to marry me when I cannot keep her safe?”
Emmeline moved across the room to lay a reassuring hand on Colin’s arm. “It is not your fault. It is not anyone’s fault but the person or persons who took her. I was sitting in front of her and heard nothing. Mother was sitting next to her and saw nothing. Are we to blame as well?” She shot Michael a warning glare not to say anything.
Colin shook his head. “You and your mother are blameless.”
“And so are you,” Emmeline reassured him gently but firmly.
In that moment, Michael could not help but feel admiration for her kind treatment of his cousin. Sighing, he released his pent-up anger and silently vowed to not allow it to cloud his judgment again in the search for Rebecca. Walking over, he handed Colin a glass of spirits.
“Drink this. It will restore you.” He lowered himself down into the chair across from his cousin. “I apologize for my behavior. It has been a long day filled with fruitless efforts.”
Emmeline, seeming to accept his apology, took the seat nearest Colin. “I, too, have had no luck in obtaining any further insight. I have stared at this locket and handkerchief all day and have yet to determine its meaning.” Emmeline pulled the handkerchief and locket from her reticule and handed them to Michael for examination.
“Perhaps there is no meaning behind them. Perhaps she simply dropped them in the attempt to free herself,” Michael offered unhelpfully as he took them from her.
Emmeline shook her head. “I am certain that they are a message.”
“What good is a message if the person that it was left for cannot decipher it?” Michael asked pointedly. He turned the handkerchief over in his hands, finding no evidence of a message.
While he admired Emmeline’s tenacity for finding any clue that might lead them to the recovery of Rebecca, he did not see how following false leads would do anyone any good. “I am sorry, Emmeline, but I do not see a message here.” He handed the cloth and locket back to her, true regret in his heart.
Emmeline took them from his hand; no sign of the earlier anger remained in her eyes. “Do you remember when we were children and father would create riddles for us to solve?” She met his gaze with determination.
Michael nodded his head. “I do. I remember us enjoying them so much that we would make riddles of our own in an attempt to be half as clever as your father. I believe that I still have some of them in a box around here somewhere.”
Emmeline spared him a small, nostalgic smile before continuing on. “If we look at this situation logically,” Emmeline began as if she were solving such a puzzle, “we know that this handkerchief was in Rebecca’s reticule. The only other place that she ever kept it was in her…” Here, Emmeline stopped, blushing slightly.
“I believe that we understand your meaning,” Michael replied gently, giving her the room to avoid further embarrassment.
“Just so.” Emmeline nodded in gratitude. “So how did it get on the ground, dirty, and ripped asunder?”
“Fabric is easily damaged in an attack,” Michael noted. “Especially something as delicate as a lady’s handkerchief.”
“But how was it out of its place to begin with?” Emmeline continued to press on.
Michael leaned back in his chair, furrowing his brow in thought as he silently mulled over the possibilities. “It is possible that she had it out of her reticule at the time that she was taken.”
“She was taken from her seat at the concert. If it had been out and fallen when she was taken, we would have found the handkerchief near her chair, not on the next street over,” Emmeline reasoned pointedly.
Michael was once again struck by Emmeline’s keen intelligence and swift reasoning. “That is true, unless she was clutching it the entire time.”
“Would you continue to clutch a handkerchief in your hand if you were being attacked?” Emmeline demanded pointedly, as if she expected better of him than that.
“I would not,” Colin answered for him ardently. “I would be beating the other man senseless.”
“Precisely.” Emmeline nodded in approval at her sister’s suitor. “Rebecca may be a lady of theton, but she has a fierce, passionate nature that would not allow her to be taken demurely. She would have fought back.”
Michael nodded, beginning to understand Emmeline’s stubborn resolve about the handkerchief. “If this were one of your father’s riddles, what would you do first to solve it?”
Emmeline’s lips pursed in thought. “We would first read the words of the message, but there appear to be no words on either the locket or the handkerchief.”
Michael nodded in agreement.
“If there were not a written message, then we would move to the other elements of the clues. Father would place objects in unexpected locations, such as salt in a teacup near a carafe of water to represent the sea, a flower in the library pointing to the garden, a riding bonnet on the bed with the ribbons leading to the stables. Each misplaced item served as a piece of the solution.”
“For example, the locket being made of silver or the handkerchief being made of cloth might lead us to another item or place,” Colin volunteered.
