The Making of a Princess. by Lorrie Mae.

The Truth about George Aspen. PART 11.

The Duke sat with everyone in his quarters enjoying the hot cup of tea that Jenny had just handed him, he sat between his best friend Anthony and the doctor who was giving a running description of what was wrong with his patient.

The lady was still unknown to any of the people in the room, no one had ever seen her around, and that was a mystery as most neighbours knew each other and so on and on went the circle of the town. There were always things happening in the town where you would always see each other out and about, but no one could recognise her, and no one has been reported as missing, so we must get onto someone to try and find out who she is.

Anthony stood up and asked his friend," Didn't you say that the person you have downstairs might know her, after all he was attacking her as if he knew her. "Good on you, I would never have thought of that, yes let's go down and see who this person is."

They travelled down the steps in a mighty pace, as all wanted to know who they both were, each one was in the state of wondering what and who were these people, Anthony held open the door for them all to enter, the man who the Duke had tied up in his room stood looking at them all as they came in , "Ah here come the lynch mob, ready to hang me, without even asking me about anything." 'Okay what were you doing to that young lady we found, you beat her to a pulp, so what kind of man does that to a women in the first place."

George Aspen pulled himself up as tall as he could, and said "This women you are talking about belongs to me and I can beat her if I like," he said as he looked around each one of them, not caring what they thought of him, in his warped mind he threw out his chest and he said ,"My name is George Aspen, and I run a children's home next to your land here, that lady as you call her . is Daphne de Muir she is in my care and has been for the last 10 years, she was running away from me and at this time of night is not safe for anyone.: he stated, "And so you tried to stop her by brute force, do you treat all of the children in your care. like that, " said the Duke

The room was getting rather hot for Mr. George Aspen, he wriggled his hands as if trying to get free, "Can you please untie me from all of this" if I had my way you would stay like that and I would give you a beating the same way you gave that young lady" said Anthony, "You are disgusting and you will never touch another women the way you hit her if I have my way, I will be watching you and will have the word put out around the town about you, but I would say that would be bad for business, wouldn't you Mr. Aspen." Anthony grabbed ahold of this creep of a person and swung him around, he thought of untying this creep and sending him on his way, when the Duke turned around and said" No leave him like that until we have the proper people look over his property and see what really is going on over there,"

The look on Mr Aspen's  face went from red to white in an instant, "Why would you bother yourself with doing that, it's my business and no one else's, so stay away. I have to go back and see to the girls, so let me go and see to my business, sir or there will be consequences for you." he smirked at the Duke as he said it.

"I will tell you what, how about you accept my accommodation for the time being, and then we will escort you back as soon as we can, in the meantime I will send word to your place and let them know that you will be home in a day or so, you have someone there to organise the children don't you? asked the Duke.

The Duke and Anthony had travelled to the Aspen house, they couldn't believe what a squaller that he had these children living in, the grounds were so untidy, and as they moved into the house the smell was sickening, the children were terribly dirty, the house was dirty in every nook and corner.

The children stood looking at the people who had come into their home they didn't know how someone strange could just walk into their spaces.

Anthony and the Duke asked a tall young women who was in charge here, " Mr. George is sir," and she curtsied as she spoke, she looked nervously at both of the men, :Is the anyone else I can speak to ," the Duke asked, "There is Mrs. Watson, she is our cook, she will be in the kitchen now . I can take you now if you would like." "Thank you that will do, we shall follow you, so come on Anthony we will go and see, " they followed the young woman, as they passed a few rooms that looked like a dungeon, and the smell was disgusting it got worse the further they went, at the end of a long passage way they entered the kitchen, and too their surprise it was a shiny clean kitchen, the place was quite welcoming, and the smell of the cooking was enough to make stomach's grumble.

The elderly women looked up from what she was chopping on a big wooden table, "Good morning sir, I am Mrs. Watson, what can I do for you," she asked smiling at the two men . "Can we please have a chat with you, I am Duke Callum De Moreau and this is my friend Anthony Spiers, we came upon a young woman running for her life along the area near my home, and a person on a horse following her at such a pace that it killed the horse, would you know who the young woman was or is, we know who the gentleman is and he is being held captive at my house for now."

"Did he catch her, I told her not to try and run, but I think he had hurt her so many times that she had to go, her name is Daphne de Muir, she is the daughter of Grant and Delvine de Muir, she has two sisters, Grace and Roslyn, she was sent here by her parents, when she was about 12 years of age, she has been with us for 10 years, Mr. Aspen had made some sort of deal with her parents by saying that she would be well schooled, and that she could help with the younger girls as they came here to stay, we have about 100 at the moment, and its so hard to feed them with what I am giving each month.'

"What do you mean, he gets so much money to run this establishment, and it is disgraceful, the state of the place is disgusting and the children are filthy, they look like they have never had a wash, and their clothes are rags, I don't know what this man is doing, but I will find out." said the Duke, "I thank you Mrs. Watson, for your honesty we will be back in touch with you soon, and with your help a number of changes will be made here." " Please do not tell Mr. Aspen anything I have said, I need this work to be able to look after my family, so I beg you say nothing."

Anthony and the duke checked up on their patient when they arrived back. She was sitting up in bed looking as pretty as a picture in a pink nightgown, and her hair had been washed and combed until it shone bright and shiny around her face, the swelling was not as bad as it was yesterday but she still had along way to go. She tried to smile but it hurt her so instead she wrote on a piece of paper, I thank you for saving me from that horrible man, he meant to kill me and he will keep trying. I can't tell you much now but I promise I will tell you shortly, so please make sure if you can that he doesn't hurt any one else. and she handed him the note. both of them read the note and looked at each other, the duke spoke to her quietly "You will not have to worry about him ever again, you can stay here for as long as you need, do you have family that we can contact for you." he asked , but she just looked at him and Anthony and shook her head, as if to say no thank you.

The next few weeks passed on very quickly for Daphne and she was starting to walk a little every day, she was talking small steps along the floor toward the stairs, she was feeling stronger today, she was thinking of the kindness that the duke had been so kind to her and leaving her plenty of time to get herself together, but she still worried that the monster, George Aspen would make his way back to her. She had her cloak with her and she will never give it to anyone, it was the only things that she could hide her true identity in. One of these days she will explain to the duke all about herself, but she must pick the right time to tell him.

Daphne was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't see the duke who was heading down toward the same spot that she was, and before they knew it they had collided into each other, the shock stood out on both of their faces and as soon as the duke saw who it was, he dropped the paper he was so interested in and held onto the softness of the beautiful women he was holding , he looked into her eyes and was astonished to see tears beginning to fall, he gently wiped her face with his hand and speaking softly to her said "I am so sorry Daphne I was so engrossed in what I was reading that I did not see you, are you alright," she started to cry when she saw how gentle he was toward her, and before she knew it she was holding him so tightly and she cried a river of tears, it was a buildup of all the trauma that Mr. Aspen had put on her shoulders, the Duke gently held her and said soothing words to this young woman he was now holding in his arms.