Diamonds Fall (16 page)

Annabel spent the rest of that day in and out of consciousness, her body unresponsive to even the simplest of movements.

When she finally woke the room was swathed in darkness and she was alone.

Looking around her she noticed the window was still slightly ajar, letting in a cool breeze. The oil lamp was turned on low. The light glinted off of a silver tray housing dry bread and water.

Annabel turned her face away from the sustenance. If her parents were going to play this game, she would play it right back.

Shifting until she was in a seated position Annabel pulled open the drawer in her bedside cabinet. Removing the carving she cradled it in her palm, tip toeing to the window seat where she sat amongst the cushions, tracing her fingertip over Daniel's tiny features. She imagined him sat beside her, his warm breath on her face, his earthy smell surrounding her completely.

She figured she must have fallen asleep for the sound of the wind, bending the trees into dangerous angles in the forest, snapped Annabel back to consciousness. It must have been early morning as there was a dim light attempting to force its way through the heavy clouds. Torrential rain now hammered down whilst her curtains ballooned into the bedroom. The window was smacking rhythmically into the wall as the wind blew it off the latch. Annabel jumped up and forced the window into place. She stepped back, her entire body shivering.

"Nice night ain't it."

Annabel's heart stopped.

"Knew you'd forget `bout the idiots soon as you got `ome."

His voice was more steady than usual, the smell of liquor not quite as strong. Whirling around Annabel came face to face with Tom.

Rain dripped off of his scraggily hair and beard, leaving muddy marks on the cream carpet. His face was set into the hard expression of rage.

"Ya think you could jus' run away an' I'd not find ya? You're stupider than I thought."

Annabel didn't say a word, her mind had gone blank and nothing in this useless room of finery would make so much a cut on him. The oil lamp was the only thing of substance but that would surely burn down the whole house.

She staggered back, her body still trembling.

"I - I have maids right outside my door. You won't be able to lay so much a finger on me without being arrested."

Tom laughed but the sound was anything but pleasant. His lips sneered, whilst the laughter came out dull and menacing.

"I've checked, stupid! It's jus' you and me, all alone."

The room was suddenly illuminated as a bolt of lightning pulsed through the air, quickly followed by a deep rumble of thunder. The lightning glinted off the golden rope beside Annabel's bed which was attached to a wall of bells in the kitchen. She dived to the side, catching hold of it just before Tom grabbed her from behind. In the far distance the bell jangled at her touch, Tom growled. He let go of her, smashing his fist into the side of her face. Her mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood as he threw her to the ground. Red droplets landed on the pale carpet from her split lip, to the same rhythm as the rain pounding the ground outside. She let out a yell which was quickly followed by the sound of running feet.

"Wha've you done?" Tom screamed. "Who's comin'?"

Annabel said nothing, remaining crouched on the floor. Just as Tom reached out for her again a maid, in a thin nightgown and slippers, burst through the door. Seeing the foul man standing over her bleeding mistress she let out a loud, chilling scream and ran back down the corridor at break neck speed.

Tom laughed. "See, told ya we're alone."

However, within seconds a stampede of feet could be heard. It was Annabel's time to smile now as she saw Tom, from the corner of her eye, surveying the room for a hiding place. Before he had the chance to pick one at least ten male servants, all still in their pyjamas, flew into the room. Without missing a beat a black haired, Italian looking man, grabbed hold of Tom's broad shoulders, throwing him to the ground. There was a pistol in his hand which he pointed square between Tom's eyes. Tom froze, genuine fear on his features for the first time, though he tried his hardest to hide it with another menacing grin.

Annabel rolled onto her back, her breathing heavy. The hot trickle of blood was still leaking from her lip, running down her chin and spreading across the neck of her nightgown.

"Miss Annabel!"

She heard her name called several times but seemed to be listening to the voices from a distance. She squeezed her eyes closed as tears leaked down from the corners of her eyes. Someone touched her shoulder and her eyes snapped open.

"We have sent for the police already Miss. Should I get a doctor?"

"No, please -"

"What on earth is all this ridiculous commotion?" She heard her father's voice boom through the halls before she had a chance to reply. "Does anyone in this house possess a watch? It is four in the bloody morning!"

The elder man rounded the corner into his daughter's bedchamber and froze, taking in the scene in front of him with wide eyes. Lord Hoddington simply stood in the doorway, his gaze flitting between his daughter, bleeding on the floor and Tom pinned at the other end of the room.

"Is this him? This is the brute you wish to marry over the most eligible bachelor in the country? I can't say I'm surprised that he's hit you Annabel." Looking now at Tom he said, "I do not know how you escaped prison but let me make this clear now, you will never see the light of day again, understand?"

"Father - no, it's not-"

"I've heard and seen enough Annabel. Be quiet." He looked around the room, glancing at the staff. "Are you all incompetent? Someone send for the police!"

"It's - it's already been done Sir," came a shy voice from the corner.

"Right, well-"

"Father, this is not Daniel!" Annabel shouted, unable to stay quiet anymore. "This is my captor. This man kidnapped me. Daniel helped me escape."

Her father took another step back from the room. He didn't like being proved wrong.

"Still," he said. "That's not the sort of family we are to be associated with. Daniel is staying where he is. This man will hang."

In reply Tom simply spat in the general direction of Annabel's father, laughing as the saliva landed on his velvet slippers.

It was an excruciating half an hour of near silence as they awaited the police. Annabel's father barked orders from a safe distance, as a maid tried to press a wet cloth to Annabel's face. Tom tried to fight, screaming out a string of profanities as he did so. He was overpowered every time.

Finally, the sound of hurried hooves filtered up from the drive, alerting everyone to the arrival of the police. Moments later Sergeant Link strode into the room, wielding a truncheon as if he were performing in a pantomime.

"That man, arrest him!" Annabel's father exclaimed, a look of disgust on his face. "And for God sake can someone get this damn room cleaned up, it looks a state!"

Annabel rose shakily to her feet as her father left the room. Approaching one of the officers she spoke in a whisper.

"This man is the one who kidnapped me, the one who took me on the thirtieth of May. The man you hold, Daniel Prince, he is innocent. Please believe me."

Tom screamed as he was placed roughly in handcuffs. He threw his weight around like a bull in a china shop, knocking over the officers in his attempt to break free. Some of Annabel's maids had now changed into their uniform and were clearing up around the struggle, studiously ignoring Tom. There was fear on all of their faces but they daren't disobey Lord Hoddington by ceasing their house work. One of them yawned and, catching Annabel's eye, quickly looked away as if ashamed.

"Here - I'll write it down," Annabel continued to plead with the officer, unfazed. She rifled through her bedside cabinet, pulling out a pen and small pad of embossed paper. She scribbled furiously until she had filled most of the pages in a matter of minutes. When she looked up the officers had gone. Fresh blood had now dried on her face, making the skin tight but she ignored her discomfort and ran down the hall.

"Officer!" she called desperately from the top of the stairs. Sergeant Link, who had been deep in conversation with Annabel's father, was the only one left. He turned around slowly, looking up at the young girl standing in a thin, blood splattered nightgown.

"Take this." Annabel shoved the paper into his hand. "I've signed it, it's my official statement. I will be prepared to testify in court if necessary. I know Daniel's not meant to have a trial but it's simply barbaric. Please see to it that he is released with all due haste."

The sergeant glanced at Lord Hoddington who gave him a pointed look. Link nodded and continued on his way. Annabel watched him leave. The spring in his step seemed strange. It was as if he had just received some good news. As if, perhaps, he had just made a particularly fortuitous deal. Annabel turned to her father.

"What have you done?" she whispered, her expression incredulous, whilst his was entirely passive. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

As the dim sunlight, fighting against the grey rain clouds, pilfered through the window the next day, Annabel only vaguely recalled how her father's hand had struck her cheek. She had been shocked. Fury raged inside her like an inferno. Not long afterwards the same elderly doctor had bustled up the steps. No matter how hard she fought she was still too weak to throw off the doctor, her father and an army of butlers before the sedative was forced into her veins.

Coming back to the present Annabel shivered and finally swung her legs onto the carpet, imagining Billy, Patsy and Genevieve sleeping outside in this weather. Not thinking about the fact she was still in her nightclothes, her hair loose around her shoulders, she strode down the corridor, climbing down the east stairs and back up the west ones into her father's huge office. The office had two separate rooms to it, the first was a small sitting room housing two leather sofas, one on either side of a dark fireplace. Annabel pushed open a door to her left, finding her father seated behind an enormous, solid mahogany desk. The olive green walls were covered in books and files relating to various aspects of business Annabel had never inquired about. There were two leather armchairs on Annabel's side of the desk, matching the sofas in the sitting room. Her father was sat with raised eyebrows. He gestured for her to sit, leaning back in his own chair to give her his full attention. He crossed his hands over his rotund belly. His wedding ring shone as it caught the flickering light of his candle. There were no windows or electricity in this room of the house. Her father preferred to work in the dark, gloomy atmosphere.

"Have you quite recovered?" He looked her up and down as she sat there in her night clothes, her bare feet resting on the hard wood floor. She nodded although she could feel the throb of a bruise covering the lower portion of her face and knew her lip had swollen to twice its original size.

"Quite, I just took a slight turn is all. Being confronted with the man that kidnapped me Father, it was frightening. Anybody would have reacted the same way. He could have killed me, I hope you're aware of that. I was wondering though, about the friends I told you about."

He sighed in exasperation, not even acknowledging the information that she could have been murdered. He seemed under the impression the last few weeks had been a voluntary expedition for Annabel.

"If this is about that boy, we've already been over it Annabel. There is no chance of him being freed. I have paid off some officers and they have agreed to keep him comfortable. When his time is served he'll be given a job in the army. That's a respectable career for any man, especially one of hisºbackground."

Annabel swallowed all of her foul retorts and tried to remember the current purpose of her visit.

"I wished to discuss Patsy and her brother Billy. They had a baby named Genevieve with them. I wanted to know what has become of them and I want them to have rooms in the manor."

"How did I create such an insufferable daughter? There is no way peasants can have rooms here unless they are employed-"

"Then see to it that they are." Annabel stood up. "Billy would work best with horses. Those people are the single reason I am alive Father, remember that when you are judging them so harshly."

He rubbed his hand over his eyes in a fake expression of exhaustion.

"I'll set some people on it at once but do get some rest Annabel, you look a fright."

"Summon me as soon as they are found and make sure it is prompt."

Lord Hoddington closed the door behind her with a little more force than was necessary when Annabel was ushered out only seconds later. She immediately made her way back to the east wing to bathe and dress. The maids laid out a white cotton gown with thin pink pinstripes. The fabric reached up to her neck and down to her wrists. Once she was dressed she made her way back downstairs and into her own writing room. In contrast to her mother and father's dingy domains this room was filled with pale furniture, fur rugs overlapping each other on the wooden floor. She sat behind her desk somewhat tentatively and composed a letter to the only person she could think of, Daniel. His face, as he was dragged away, trying to hold it together whilst he was clearly frightened and confused, filled her mind's eye constantly. Annabel knew there were no words to express all that had happened to them both in the last few weeks but after several attempts, she settled on this:

My dear Daniel,

I feel as if I have led you into a trap from which you cannot escape. I have been careless and selfish. For that, I must apologise from the very bottom of my soul.

I cannot even begin to fathom the idea of forming a life outside of you, especially when you are suffering so many unknown horrors. Have you not suffered enough? What kind of God would condemn such a beautiful man to this life?

I have sent Father to look for Billy and Patsy. I assure you I will find them as soon as possible. The entire town will be looking for them if I have my way. I will let them stay here; to live with all the riches they could ever want – especially Genevieve, she’ll be spoiled more than any child ever was. I will fight for you to be a part of our lives with every ounce of my own. I have tried to tell the police everything about Tom and Trevor, in the hope they will see you for the innocent man you are, but I fear the statement will deliberately go astray. Nothing I do now can right the wrongs I have done you but regardless I will keep trying. Until we next meet, which I hope to be soon, I give you my whole heart.

Yours forever,

Anna

She slid the letter into an envelope, sealing it with a kiss before passing it to a servant with strict orders and a shiny penny she had stolen from her father's desk.

Her mother found her several hours later sitting in the now cold room. She walked over to the wall next to Annabel's desk, pulling a string that was attached to a wall of bells in the servant's quarters.

"Why are you sitting in here without a fire? You're supposed to be in bed and you need some lunch. What are you doing?"

"Thinking," she answered.

"About what child? Don't mumble, it's not becoming."

Annabel raised her head.

"About the innocent man who is being condemned to a lifetime of misery as we speak."

"Oh Annabel, please let it go."

"I can't let it go Mother, it's unjust."

"Since when did you care for such things?"

"Since I realised what a horrid person I was."

"You've never been a horrid person my dear, you have just known your position in society was higher than everyone else's."

"Do you hear yourself Mother? Why are you here anyway?"

Her mother sat down on one of the heavily stuffed arm chairs, her face flushed with pride.

"I have written to Lord Brogan with regards to your return and he is as excited as us for his son to see you. Theodore is a really perfect man Annabel, please try to like him. He will arrive in time for a late dinner in a week's time. Time enough for you to be looking at your best again." She sighed deeply, looking at Annabel's swollen face, which had crumpled into a dejected expression of misery, and placed her hand on her only child's.

"I do love you Annabel, please try to remember that."

She strode out of the door without offering any more reassurance, her posture as erect as always, unaware of the guilt she had instilled in her distraught daughter. Annabel felt as if she was being pulled in different directions by everybody, unable to please anyone without destroying the other.

Did she fight for the man she loved and destroy the lives of her family or destroy the other half of herself to please her blood and class? She wiped her eyes, accepting a tray the maid had brought into the room. As she nibbled absentmindedly on the plain food, taking the gulp of medicine left in a small crystal sherry glass, there was a knock on the door and Annabel looked up as the maid, now finished with the fire, opened it. Cuthbert, the head butler, walked in bowing.

"Miss," he greeted her.

"Cuddy," she smiled. He was a kind, jolly fellow that she had always been fond of. He smiled at this shortened version of his name, originating from an age when Cuthbert was too much of a mouthful.

"There are some visitors for you in the second parlour Madam."

"The second - did they leave a card? Who is it?" She shot to her feet.

"Well Miss they aren't...your father insisted you would want to-"

She grinned, joy spreading through her body. She sprinted past Cuddy and down the stairs, skidding to a stop just in front of the parlour door. She tore it open to reveal Patsy sat awkwardly in the chair closest to the door and Billy rocking Genevieve by the fire. She threw her arms around each of them in turn, squeezing so hard she feared she may break them.

"Can you bring us some tea please Cuddy?" she asked the butler who had followed her and was therefore now wheezing in the doorway. "And some plain ham sandwiches, you must be starved." She directed the last utterance towards her guests.

"Miss...aren't these people-"

"Do as I've asked please Cuddy, don't question me. These people are the reason I am alive and should be treated with reverence not disgust."

He bowed, backing out of the room. Annabel grinned at her friends.

"Oh and Cuddy, a bottle of milk for the baby as well, thank you."

"What happened to you?" Patsy broke the silence and Annabel's smile faded.

"The police found us, they assumed Daniel was my kidnapper and arrested him."

"No, we found tha' out ourselves. Wha' happened to your face?"

"I was visited by Tom last night."

Patsy gasped, clapping her hand to her mouth.

"It's alright, he has been arrested. He is locked up now, he shan't hurt you again Patsy. I can promise you that at least."

"Thank you," Patsy whispered. Her shoulders slumped as if in relief and her eyes clouded over slightly.

"Please don't thank me. I've torn your family to shreds. Look at Daniel, locked away for crimes he never committed just because of his association to me. Which reminds me, you must adopt another surname, you cannot be Prince anymore, it's too dangerous."

"I don't want that name anyway," Patsy replied with her old fire.

Annabel sighed in relief at their cooperation.

"But, what about Daniel?"

"I don't know Patsy. I've tried everything I can think of. I've spoken to the police and to Father but I fear it will be no good. No-one will let me leave, they think my mind has gone. They are keeping me sedated. I couldn't leave even if I tried. But I miss him so much."

Billy came over and patted Annabel's head gently, she smiled up at him.

"You're pretty," he muttered. Annabel reached up and took his hand.

"Thank you Billy," her voice was thick. "You're very handsome yourself."

He puffed out his chest proudly and grinned, looking back down at Genevieve.

"Your papa says we can't stay in the house, he said if we `ave to stay we'll sleep in the stable."

Annabel scoffed at Patsy's words.

"No you won't, you'll stay in my wing of the house. He simply can't object. I'll fill it with the best furniture I can find. I - I know it's not much but I can give you money if you want. If you don't want to stay I understand. I'll give you whatever you need."

The rest of her sentence was broken off as Patsy hugged her tightly.

"We don't want your things Anna, we jus' wanna see you."

"And you will, every day," she smiled. "Billy? Do you want to work with the horses? I told Father you're the best stable hand I ever saw. I don't want you to work for me, it seems so demeaning but Father...I don't know why he's being so difficult. I thought he'd understand."

The grin on Billy's face at the mention of horses was so large, she thought she might burst from the joy it caused in her breast.

"Billy work with rich horses?"

She nodded.

"An' live in the big house?"

She nodded again. "Jen will never go without anything."

She thought it impossible but Billy's smile grew even bigger, splitting his entire face in two. He was practically bouncing on the spot although Annabel felt she was giving them so little.

Just moments later, Cuthbert came back with a tray full of small sandwiches and a large pot of tea which Annabel made up for them. They ate greedily, Annabel watching them, happy she could at least give them some joy.

"Best food I've ever had," Patsy said, crumbs flying out of her mouth.

"You should taste the salmon," Annabel laughed, Patsy's forehead creased in confusion.

"Wha's salmon?"

"Oh um it's a fish. From - from the sea or river or something. It's really good, I'll bring you some soon but first you have to get used to less rich food. I made that mistake my first night back and was really ill so don't eat too much please."

They both stopped eating at the thought of getting sick. Instead they told Annabel all about how their horse had took off through the forest at some loud noise and they had found themselves in the main town. They had slept in an abandoned barn with holes in the roof for that first couple of nights, the weather being too bad to venture far. They had approached the big white house that very morning but been shooed away by the gatekeepers before they could even say their piece.

"Then a couple hours age some men in shiny clothes took us here."

"I told Father to look for you, I knew he would!"

"I don' think they like us much though."

"They don't like anyone much Patsy, trust me. They hate me with a passion. Follow me, I'll take you to my dressing room and get one of the maids to draw you up a bath."

Peeking out of the door, she ushered them out and up to her room where she rang the bell to get the fire lit, a bath drawn and two sets of clothes brought up. The maid looked shocked for a minute, glancing from Annabel to the two poor people and the baby sitting amongst the splendour of her quarters.