Redemption (11 page)

“I
know,” Lizzie sighed. “But I have to admit that I am curious to
know what he is after.”

With one
last look at her aunt she carefully broke the seal and unfolded the
parchment. Unfortunately, the candle light was insufficient for her
to read the small writing. It was crammed onto the single sheet of
parchment that was as grubby as it was tattered and almost
ineligible. She frowned as she read what she could. Her stomach
fluttered nervously as she stared at the missive in
disbelief.

Her
first instinct was to indeed throw it in the fire. She felt dirty
just holding it, but was shocked by what she had just read. Aware
that her aunt had moved to sit beside her, she lifted her
gaze.

“He says
he is in jail and needs to speak with me as a matter of
urgency.”

“In
jail? Doesn’t surprise me,” Patty snorted. “He is an oaf, and
doesn’t deserve your time. Whatever scandal he has gotten himself
into, he should be the one to get himself out of it, don’t you
think?”

Lizzie
thought about that and nodded, but inside she couldn’t help but
feel a little guilty that he was in such a dire predicament and
might need help.

As if
she had just read her thoughts, Patty threw her a warning
look.

“He
never gave one thought for you when he threw you out of Pendlebury
House,” Patty declared, patting the back of her hand in a motherly
fashion. “Why should you rush to his aid? Why, he could have been
up to anything while you have been gone. If he wants help then he
should call upon those friends he spends so much time gambling
with.”

Lizzie
nodded. She knew her aunt was right. In spite of Patty’s
difficulties, Lizzie had discussed what had happened, and her
step-brother’s boorish behaviour, with her aunt during many a quiet
evening in front of the fire. Patty was right in that Julian had
more than enough friends to call upon; gambling friends who were
just as selfish as he was. Why should she make an unnecessary trip
to London, even if she could afford the expense?

Patty
had done more for her in a handful of weeks than Julian had done in
several years. Why, if it was left to Julian then she could be
living in a gutter by now; or out on the Dales in Derbyshire. If it
wasn’t for Patty, Lizzie’s future would have been entirely
different. If she had to be ruthless, her loyalties had to lie with
the woman who had become a very dear friend and companion, not the
man who had so cruelly torn her life apart.

“I know
you are right,” Lizzie whispered sadly. She folded up the parchment
and accepted the second missive received only a couple of days ago
from Patty with a smile. This too was from Julian, but she opened
it with far less nerves, and more determination to dismiss whatever
its contents were.

“He says that he has been arrested for my murder, and needs
me to go to London because there is something he needs to tell me
about Pendlebury House. Our lives depend upon it.” This time
she
snorted in
disbelief.

“Poppycock. Theatrics. It’s nothing more than theatrics;
that’s all, dear. It is a ruse to get you to go there. You mark my
words. If you go there you will be completely wasting your time.”
Patty frowned and looked at her. “Of course, given our current
circumstance here, at least at Pendlebury you will have a roof over
your head. I cannot provide one any more, I am sorry to say.” She
began to sniff sadly into a tissue. She looked so aged, so frail
and so solemn that Lizzie suddenly felt furious at the unfairness
of it all. This was Patty, who was already battling enough in her
life. To be thrown out onto the streets just seemed so unfair.
Whatever circumstance had befallen Julian, he at least had
Pendlebury House, and a large group of friends. All she and Patty
had were each other.

“We have
nowhere else to go,” Lizzie declared quietly. “At least if Julian
isn’t there, we could reside in Pendlebury House while we decide
what to do.”

“What
then?” Patty asked with a frown. “I don’t know how to get to
London. I shouldn’t know what to do even if I could find my way
there.”

Lizzie
squared her shoulders, determined to take her future into her own
hands - again. A small tendril of a thought began to formulate at
the back of her mind and built into a determined plan faster than
she had ever expected. It felt bold. It felt daring, and she rather
suspected that Patty wouldn’t approve should she ever find out.
However, this was Julian; the self-centred egocentric step-brother
who didn’t care one jot about anyone other than himself.

If he
wanted her help, then she would give it – but at a cost.

“Come
on, let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow we are going to have a busy
day,” she declared firmly, her thoughts whirling.

She
stood and held the covers back and motioned for her aunt to get
back into bed.

“Why?
What are we going to do?” Patty asked curiously as she did as she
was told.

“Get
some help, a place to stay, and some money to live off. If Julian
wants my help then I shall give it.” She held up a hand to halt
Patty’s instinctive protest. “But it will come at a price. If he
wants to get out of that jail he can provide us with the means to
get by. If he doesn’t then he can remain in that dingy hole and rot
as far as I am concerned.”

Patty
stared at her for a moment. Lizzie wondered if she was going to
object, or admonish her for being so wayward. After a brief moment,
she suddenly beamed at her with delight.

“I
haven’t been to London in an age,” Patty declared somewhat dreamily
once they had settled down.

Lizzie
rolled her eyes. “It is noisy. It is dirty, and full of snobby
people and cutthroats,” she warned.

“Pendlebury House?” Patty asked ruefully.

Lizzie
sighed and rolled her eyes. “London.”

“Oh,
what an adventure,” Patty enthused with an unrepentant
grin.

Lizzie
watched her aunt settle down into bed and tug the covers up to her
ears like a small child, and shook her head in disbelief.
Strangely, she wasn’t entirely sure who was going to bring more
trouble to her life; Patty or Julian. Either way, right now she at
least had a way of getting another roof over their heads; however
temporary that might be. Now all she had to do was find out what
her wayward step-brother had been up to.

As she
settled down to sleep, she couldn’t help but wonder what a
decidedly handsome gentleman of the more noble variety had been up
to while she had been away. Hopefully, before she left London again
she would be able to find out and at least see him
again.

Once in
London though, events were soon taken out of her hands. She stepped
down from the chaise and looked hesitantly at the huge front façade
of the resplendent Colonnade Hotel. It was a rather austere
building that screamed of wealth that quite frankly Lizzie knew she
didn’t have.

“We
cannot stay here,” she whispered to Patty in alarm. With funds
being as tight as she suspected they were for both of them, she was
uncomfortably conscious of the fact that she couldn’t afford to
even take tea in such an establishment, much less take up
residence.

Wondering whether Patty had gone off on one of her mental
wanderings again, she squinted at her aunt who appeared completely
at ease. She smiled at the coachman and handed him his fee before
she stood back to watch the man drop their bags at their feet.
Before Lizzie could offer even a token protest, a rather efficient
doorman swooped down upon them and carried them into the vast
lobby.

“Patty,”
Lizzie whispered as she followed her somewhat determined aunt up
the stairs.

Patty
turned toward her with an unconcerned smile.

“It’s
alright, dear. We are only staying for one night,” she whispered
out of the corner of her mouth. She nodded politely to a dapperly
dressed gentleman who was just leaving, but ignored him when he
looked at her and scurried away without replying.

Lizzie
watched him go and felt more out of place than ever. “Patty, I
don’t have the funds for this.”

“Oh,
hush now dear. I am not expecting you to have funds for somewhere
like this,” her aunt chided.

Before
Lizzie could say anything, she watched Patty hurry toward the desk
and lean over it slightly as she spoke to the clerk. The man nodded
and clicked his fingers at a footman who disappeared up the stairs
with their bags leaving Patty and Lizzie to follow in his
wake.

“Patty,
what are you doing?” Lizzie gasped, glancing around furtively in
case anyone had overheard her.

Not
wanting to raise issue with the fact that they had very little
money on them, Lizzie glanced around the empty reception area and
followed her aunt in concerned silence. However, with each step she
took her worry grew and grew. By the time they entered the lavishly
decorated room, she was positively burning with worry and
disbelief. She watched her aunt glance around the room and nod with
satisfaction, and turned around in time to watch the footman close
the door behind him.

“Patty,
can I just ask you something?” Lizzie asked.

The room
was rather pleasant and she had to work hard to ignore the lure of
being able to stay, even temporarily, in such luxury. In the end
she sighed in dismay at the thought of the trouble they would get
into when it became evident they couldn’t pay the bill.

“You can
ask me anything you like dear,” Patty assured her, with far more
clarity than she usually did.

Lizzie
eyed her suspiciously. “How do you intend for us to pay for
this?”

“We are
not,” Patty declared firmly, bouncing on the bed as a child would.
“Julian is.”

Lizzie
lifted her brows and snorted quite inelegantly. “You couldn’t get a
stone out of Julian if he was standing in a garden full of them.
Unless you have mystical powers of some kind you are not going to
get him to pay for something like this. Not given the current
situation he is in.”

“Oh, he
will pay my dear,” Patty declared firmly. “Especially if he wants
to be let out of that prison.”

Lizzie
studied her aunt and felt a tingle of relief begin to blossom
within her. It wasn’t just relief that she wasn’t going to have to
deal with Julian all by herself, but also relief that her aunt
wasn’t as away with the fairies as she had first thought. Clearly
at some point during their journey to London, Patty had thought
carefully about what to do. However, how she planned to persuade
Julian to pay the hotel bill was yet to be seen. Somehow Lizzie
didn’t think she would manage it, and that left her with a deeper
worry about what she was going to do when that time came and she
was required to pay. They could hardly sneak out of the back door
like common criminals but, without any way to pay they could end up
in debtor’s prison, or worse – out on the streets.

Of
course, there was the possibility of residing at Pendlebury House
but, having been ordered out of that place she knew it was foolish
to even consider the possibility of returning.

“We are
going to get into trouble if Julian won’t pay.”

“He
isn’t going to know about it though now is he? Not until the bill
turns up at Pendlebury House. I told the man at the desk to send
the bill to Pendlebury House, for the attention of Julian
Pendlebury. It was enough to secure us a room for as long as we
want, along with anything else we need. By the time the manager
gets around to sending the bill out we are going to be on our way
back to Derbyshire, or somewhere new. Unless Julian is going to
chase us and force us to return and pay the wretched bill
ourselves, he will have to incur the debt. Given that we are here
at his request, he can hardly complain about having to accommodate
us, now can he?”

Lizzie
giggled, but couldn’t fault her aunt’s logic. Patty was right. By
the time Julian realised he would have to cover the cost of
accommodating them both, they would be back in Derbyshire, or
indeed somewhere new. He could send the bill on to them once they
settled in their new location, but Patty was right. They had made
the arduous journey at his request and had to be accommodated
somewhere. It was entirely right that Julian should be the one to
cover the cost. She couldn’t actually return to Pendlebury House
because Julian had thrown her out and hadn’t actually invited her
to return to it. What else could they do?

“Well
then, I think if that is the case we should stay here for a couple
more days. You know, just to make sure that Julian is perfectly
happy before we go,” she grinned.

Patty
coughed and nodded solemnly, but her eyes twinkled with mischief.
“What did he say in his letter about the need to see
you?”

“He is
in prison and needs our help.”

“Well
then.” Patty looked out of the window at the darkening skies. “I
think it is time for dinner. Tomorrow, once we are quite refreshed,
we can go to see your wayward brother and find out what he has to
say for himself.”

Lizzie
felt her stomach flip nervously at the thought of having to face
Julian again, and suddenly had second doubts about coming to London
at all. She had forgotten how claustrophobic and, well, just plain
noisy the city was. Not only that, but the snooty reaction of the
man on the front steps was a warning that she was now required to
adhere to the strict social etiquette that was expected of everyone
able to stay in such luxury.