The Duke's Revenge (32 page)

The longer he stared at the painting, the
more he could feel the couple themselves pulling him in. The
woman’s smile was so familiar. He closed his eyes, and once again,
he was that lost, lonely boy.

He was in the farm tending to his small land
when he saw her running down toward him. She was so beautiful, and
when she smiled at him, there was light in his desolated life.

She was Grace Anderson and she had
befriended him. But she had changed and had murdered his twin
brother with her vile acts.

The longer he stared at the miniature
painting, however, the more he was confused. He could not match
this face in the portrait to that mad woman. It was as if they were
two completely different people.

His eyes lit up.

‘
It’s so funny how Papa
always gets us confused,’ Grace had told him that night on her
seventeenth birthday.

‘
What do you mean?” he had
asked.

‘
Julie always pretended to
be me, you know. I bet you won’t even notice the different either.’
She punched his thin arm and laughed merrily--like the way Ivy
laughed when she was happy.

‘
Bet ye I can,’ he had
insisted, puffing up his chest.

Then four months later, his mother, who had
been sick for a long time, had died. It was about weeks later that
he and Dominic, lost and alone, had met Grace again. Dominic,
always needed someone to care for him and always needed love, had
taken a liking to Grace who had felt pity toward them. From then on
those two were childhood’s sweetheart.

It was not until a year later that Grace was
married to the Earl of Westwood and broke Dominic’s heart. In the
same year, they had moved to London because of an inheritance from
his great uncle, the Duke of Lynwood, that he had never known
existed.

In London, Dominic had told him that he had
met Grace and she had insisted that they still see each other, and
thus their affair began. When the earl had found out, however, the
man had demanded a duel to defend his wife’s name. It was that cold
morning that he had found his brother drenched in blood, dying.

Max put the miniature portrait back into the
box, his mind reeling. He picked up the bundle of old papers and
untied the crisscrossed strings that bounded them together. Once he
had them undone, he flicked through them. They were apparently very
old and the writings were very large and childlike. He picked the
bottom one and started reading that.

February 18, 1799.

Dear lord:

Let Papa come home soon. I miss him so much.
Mama slapped me this morning because I asked her if I could have a
hug from her. Last night I dreamt of Mama, and she was so nice to
me. She hugged me and kissed me too. Why can’t Mama be nice to me
like in my dream?

March 10, 1799.

Dear lord:

Make Mama stop hitting me. She locked me up
in my room. The maid whipped me too, with the long strap. P.S. tell
Papa to come home soon.

Max shifted through a couple more pages. The
writings were smaller and neater now.

September 14, 1800.

Dear Lord:

Thank you for brining Papa home. I love him
so much. He gave me lots of presents. I had a bad dream last night
of Mama and Gale whipping me again. I ran to Papa’s room when I
woke up, and Papa was ever so nice. He let me sleep in his bed. He
hugged me, and I felt very safe. Mama won’t hurt me when he is
around. Thank you, Lord.

August 23, 1801.

Why did you take him away from me? I hate
you, Lord.

December 24, 1801.

Dear Lord:

We have to leave tomorrow morning. I hate
the duke. I hate him so much even though I don’t know who he is or
what he looks like. I don’t know where we are going. This is the
only home I know. How could the duke be so cruel? Didn’t he know we
are so poor now? I hoped he suffer for his bad deed. Punishment
him, Lord.

P.S. Lord, tell Papa that I’ll be all right,
I promise.

The last entry was dated
24
^th
December of 1801. He remembered that day well; it was the day
he had felt very satisfied indeed. It was the day he had
accomplished one of his many planned revenges. But he had never
considered how his action might have affected others, and this
little girl had surfer because of his thirst for
revenge.

“
Ivy...” he whispered. He
felt her pain, and he wondered how she was able to bear such burden
at such a tender age.

He tidied up the rest of the papers, put
them back into the box, and took it up to his room. There he kept
them in a nice, secure place so that he could clean it himself
later.

He went to find his wife and found her in
the library with her head buried deep in a book. He came to sit
beside her and took her book away from her hand.

She looked at him in confusion.

“
My poor wife,” he said,
stroking her cheek. He moved his head down and kissed her deeply
and passionately.

When he lifted his head from her, she
touched his cheek and looked deep into his eyes. “What’s
wrong?”

“
I am so sorry, my dove,”
he said. In his heart, he meant what he said though he knew that
she didn’t know what he was on about.

Her “For what?” confirmed his suspicion.

He hesitated and changed the subject. “I
have a surprise for you. Will you meet me this afternoon near the
lake before dinner?”

She nodded.

Satisfied, he kissed her forehead and stood
up. “Don’t tire yourself,” he said and left.

Ivy sat there, wondering what he was up to.
Well, she’d soon find out she told herself and turned back to her
reading.

It was half an hour later when Lisa came in
and asked, “Would you like anything?”

“
Tea, thank you, put it in
my room. I won’t need you further. I’m going to have a nap,” she
said over her book.

“
Yes of course,” the maid
said and left.

Ivy sat there reading for another fifteen
minutes when she got up and went to her room. She found the tea set
on the bedside table. She sat down and poured herself a cup. She
took a sip. The warm liquid sooth her, and she drank the rest. When
she finished, she moved to lie down on the bed. A moment later she
began to feel drowsy and then fell asleep.

Light footstep approached the bed. The
thrusting of muslin skirt echoed in the quiet room. The woman
stared down at the sleeping form with cold, narrowed eyes.

“
I told you you won’t get
away from me,” she said.

CHAPTER 28

Max looked at the box in his hands. He had
spent much time that afternoon polishing it and the miniature
portrait. He wanted to make sure when his wife sees them for the
first time, they were in much the same condition as she had left
them.

He looked at the setting sun; its golden
halo spread across the vast sky and reflected on the sparkling
water. The white swans were flushed golden as they glide playfully
in the lake. The scenery was beautiful and peaceful. A perfect
setting for him to declare his feelings for his wife and giving her
back her long lost treasure.

He stood there under the willow tree,
waiting for her for half an hour.

She did not come.

When it was dark, he got worried. Did she
deliberately jilt him, he wondered.

Suddenly, he felt a tight twist in his
stomach. Without further ado, he dashed from the spot and ran to
the castle. He was at the grand stair when he encountered Mrs.
Price.

“
Where’s Ivy?”

“
I’m not sure,” the woman
stammered.

“
She is not in her
room?”

“
I do not know, your
grace.” Mrs. Price widened her eyes in surprise.

Max rushed up the stairs two steps at a
time. He stalked across the corridor and kicked the door to her
room open.

“
Ivy?” he called. He found
her bed empty.

“
Your grace?” Lisa rushed
into the room, her face paled.

“
Where’s Ivy?” he
growled.

“
She told me she was tired
and came up to nap.”

“
She’s not here. Where the
hell could she be?” He frowned and walked to her bed.

On the bedside table he saw an empty cup. He
turned to the maid and asked, “Did you make this for her?”

Lisa nodded.

Max brought the cup up to his nose and
sniffed. He narrowed his eyes. It didn’t smell right. “Laudanum!”
he said.

“
Laudanum? Her grace does
not take laudanum.”

“
Somebody must have put it
in her tea,” he commented. “Who was here?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Get Mrs. Price and
Donald, gather everyone to the drawing room. Now!”

“
Sir?”

“
I need to question
everyone,” he said, walking out the room.

Ten minutes later, the servants were
standing quietly in the drawing room, having been disrupted from
their daily works.

Max stood by the hearth with his hands
clasped behind him. He scanned across the many faces of his
servants as they waited for his command. With a loud, clear voice
he said, “The duchess is missing. I want all the information I can
get to help find her.” He looked from one face to the other.

One by one, maids and footmen began to nod
their heads.

“
Had anyone noticed an
unidentified person in or around the castle lately?” he shouted to
the mass of servants.

“
Your grace, this castle
is tightly guarded by the footmen and maids,” Donald said, looking
at his master. “There is no way an unidentified person could have
walked in. However, there is another way, and since I am here the
longest, I know of a secret passageway hidden beneath the stairs in
the north wings of the castle. ‘Tis used for escape, your grace. If
I know my history correctly, it was specifically designed by the
second earl of Westwood during Queen Elizabeth’s reign. If someone
what to sneak in and that person knew of the passageway, then he
could very well do it without the servants ever
noticing.”

“
You must show me where it
is.” Max turned to the coach drivers, “Nick and Derrick, come with
me. Mean while the rest of you start searching in and outside the
castle. Come Donald.” He walked to the door.

The butler rushed after the duke and Nick
and Derrick followed behind him. Uncle John went after them.

They came to a narrow passageway under the
back stairs of the north wings.

“
There is nothing here,
Donald.” Nick, the coachman said, looking around them.

“
There is a secret lock
that opens the door,” the butler said. “It must be one of these
stonewall here.” He started tapping on the wall.

Max sharp eyes glanced from ceiling to the
floor and from left to right. “Start searching, everyone,” he said,
and incidentally, he saw John. He nodded, and the muted man nodded
back. He turned and started tapping on the wall.

Max moved inch by inch as he worked his way
around the wall. Then he came across ones that looked a little
different from the rest. The grey color was lighter and the way it
was positioned was not as tight as the rest. He spread his palm on
it and gave it a push. The stone slid inward. A loud grinding sound
echoed through the passageway. The left wall opened.

“
You found it, your
grace,” Derrick said.

Max took a closer look at the narrow,
forbidden passageway. There were stairs leading downward into the
darkness. Dusts and spider webs were everywhere. He narrowed his
eyes and kneeled down.

“
The torch!” He reached
his hand out.

Uncle John handed him the torch. Max brought
it down to the stone floor. He saw footprints marked clean against
the dusts invested passageway.

“
Somebody was here walking
through this passageway,” he said, confirming their
suspicion.

“
By the look of it there’s
more than one person,” Nick pointed at the other footprints of
different sizes.

He looked down at the long, dark passageway.
He stood, and with the torch held high, he walked in. John and the
servants followed.

The sound of their footsteps echoed loud in
their ears as they made their way deeper into the unknown. In the
distance, they could hear their own harsh breath and the dripping
of water.

“
I believe we are now
under the lake,” Donald said.

“
We are?” Nick asked,
incredulous.

“
This castle was designed
and built in such a way that the family can run to the distant cave
in the woods not far from here in case of a siege.”

Max came to a sudden stop.

“
What is it, your grace?”
Nick whispered.

“
We have to split up.” Max
waved his torched before him. The tunnel had now branched into
three different ways.

“
I believe it was so that
if the enemy found the escape route, they will have to choose one.
One is the right one and the other two are dead ends,” Donald
explained.

“
Donald, Derrick,” Max
turned to the two servants, “you two take that left one; and Uncle
John and Nick, you two take the one in the middle, I’ll take this
right one.”

They nodded, and one by one, they paired up
and entered their assigned tunnels.