Lady of Greystoke (Sequel to "At all costs")

Seeing William

Their horses protested loudly, as the long run was suddenly brought to a halt at the bridge. John jumped off his horse's back, his boots splashing up water as they hit the street. On the ground he spotted a simple golden necklace, with one single diamond on the chain. He bent down and picked it up. It was obviously Alice's. It was the necklace he and Jane had given her for her 12th birthday. The clasp had snapped, obviously broken by brute force. The tracks in the mud showed evidence of a struggle, and a carriage hurrying away.

'What do you think happened, Father?' Anthony asked, still atop of his horse.

'I am quite sure Alice was taken from here by force. The questions of course are, by whom and where?'

Anthony jumped down from his horse and rushed over to his father.

'What do we do?!' He asked, worry obvious in his voice.

John held the necklace tightly in his closed hand and thought for a second. 'We go see Mr. Delaney. According to Albert the message she received was sent by him, so let's find out what truly happened.'

Anthony nodded, and they mounted their horses again. Riding through the rain and wind over country roads and city streets. They arrived at the Delaney house about 20 minutes later. They were quickly let into the house and asked to wait in William's study. John was secretly thanking the heavens that Lady Delaney was not at home at the moment and they could easily visit William without any disturbances. They sat down in the office and waited for William to come in. It only took the man about a minute to arrive in the office. He'd not admit it to most people but he would drop anything in a minute if it involved Alice's family. He absolutely loved Alice, and took every chance he could to impress her family. Especially her father, since he knew how much she looked up to him.

'Lord Greystoke.' William said as he walked inside and shook both John and Anthony's hands. 'How can I help you today.' He asked as he sat down.

John leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, as a serious look appeared on his face. 'This morning Alice received a letter, supposedly from you, to meet you at the Mayville bridge. She went without hesitation and without a chaperone. We went to the bridge not long ago to see what was going on, as it seemed out of character for you to suddenly ask for Alice to come somewhere, all by herself. When we got there, we found evidence of a struggle and this on the ground.' John gently dropped Alice's necklace on William's desk. 'I believe someone kidnapped Alice...'

An expression of shock appeared on William's face as he listened to the story. 'Dear god.' For a moment William thought about who could have done it. He knew his parents absolutely disapproved of Alice, but would not want to believe they'd ever harm her.

'My... My parents have never approved of Alice. They quite wished I would not meet her at all, but I cannot help it. I would never want to believe my parents to be capable of such a horrible act, but we need to consider all options I suppose. At least if we should hope to ever see her again.' William sighed. 'I guess it is quite suspicious that both my Parents have left today on a vacation.'

Anthony looked confused. 'It is...'

'We cannot assume too much, yet, however. But I will hire some investigators to figure out what had happened. I will not let this go, and I hope you will back me up on this William.'

'Of course, sir.'

'Where am I?! Let me out of here?!' Alice yelled. She had been tied up, stuffed into a dark chest. She assumed she had been put on a carriage, then a train, and back onto a carriage again. Her skin bruised all over from all the shaking. Finally the moving stopped and the chest was opened. The sudden change of light blinded her eyes. She was thrown onto the ground and a large man appeared in front of her.

'Welcome to your new home, girl.' The man blurted. 'Now get her into the servant quarters with the rest and tell her the rules. I will not accept my help to talk back to me!' Then he walked away, leaving Alice out in the cold, overwhelmed by fear.

Hey guys, I'm really sorry It has taken me so long to upload. I'm really busy with all my work from university, but I am trying to keep up with this story, so please be patient with me.