The cold had seeped into every part of me, even though I hadn't been outside for a great length of time. My fingers shook and my teeth chattered as I worked to peel my shirt and trousers off, dropping them into the wash basket for the staff to deal with in the morning. I could scarcely undo the buttons on my dinner jacket with my trembling fingers. By the time I had managed to remove my clothing and pull on my nightshirt, I felt a lot better.

One of the servants appeared in my room with a bowl of soup prepared by Mrs Lucas and to stoke the fire in my room. I sat at my writing desk wrapped in a blanket. Andrew perched on the edge of my bed and ate the soup as the flames crackled in the fireplace. The fire warmed the room quickly, and it didn't take too long for the cold to disappear from my body.

I had planned to visit Rebecca and Alice before retiring for the night. I wanted to make sure that she was alright before I did anything else, but the warmth made me feel heavy and lethargic. Even if I wanted to leave my room, I didn't have the strength left to do so. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep until the morning, listening to the sound of the wind and rain on my window.

Andrew borrowed one of my nightshirts and a servant arranged a spot for him out of blankets and pillows on my bedroom floor. Usually, Mother would not think of housing someone of such status on the floor, but we had little choice. Rebecca had taken a room to herself and left Andrew without one. The two of us settled into bed without so much of a word between us and I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

That night, my sleep was plagued with flashes of Rebecca and what may have happened to her had Joseph and I not found her. She could have been injured by a falling branch, killed by a flash of lightning, or left for dead in the wind and the rain. If I had listened to Father and forgotten about her, her death would have lived on my conscience. Betraying Father was the best decision I could have made.

When I woke the next morning, I didn't feel half as refreshed as I should have, but I was no longer cold. The storm appeared to have blown itself out during the night, and the roaring wind and rain had been replaced with sunshine and a light breeze. Someone had extinguished the fire, leaving my window propped up to allow the breeze to spread through the room.

I pushed the blankets off my body and sat up. Andrew lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, having abandoned his own blankets in the middle of the night.

"Did last night really happen?" he asked, rolling his head to look at me. "Did you really go running out into the storm and find a strange girl?"

"I did."

"Well, at least she wasn't a ghost. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't."

"You would be." I rolled my eyes. "We should dress before George summons us for breakfast."

"Food sounds good. Your escapades meant I only managed a forkful of the turbot."

"Then you should be glad I did what I did."

Andrew snorted. "Not a chance; I was looking forward to it."

I shook my head and swung my legs over the side of my bed. The two of us took turns heading into the washroom to change, Andrew taking a little longer than me, as he had to squeeze into one of my shirts. All I could think about was Rebecca and how she had fared throughout the night. I hadn't seen her since Father had instructed me to my bedroom the night before and I needed to make sure she was safe.

Now that the storm had blown away, I knew it would take a little more convincing for Father to allow her to stay. He had allowed her to stay the night because of the storm, that much I knew, but beyond that, I did not think he would let her take up another room. With the storm all but gone, he could contact the Constable and have her placed in his custody until they find out where she came from. Something told me she did not want to go back there.

She had been hiding in the woods for a reason.

George summoned us for breakfast a few minutes after I returned to my bedroom. He said nothing about Rebecca and I expected her to join us for breakfast, but she did not. She was the only one not there when Andrew and I arrived, everyone else already helping themselves to the food prepared by the kitchen staff. Mother watched me enter the room and load up my plate with eggs, bacon, and haddock.

"How are you feeling this morning, Nathaniel?" Mother asked the second I had sat down at the table."

"Fine," I said.

"You do not feel unwell at all?"

I shook my head. "I'm perfectly alright." I shovelled a forkful of eggs into my mouth and swallowed, turning to Alice. "How is Miss Rebecca?"

"Still asleep. I checked on her first thing. It took me at least an hour to coax her out of her wet clothing. The poor girl was terrified. Mr Carter has sent for the doctor."

"I shall get him to take a look at you and Joseph as well, Nathaniel. Just to be on the safe side."

"I'm fine, Mother. I don't need Doctor Merrick fussing over me."

"What I would like to know," Father said, setting his newspaper on the table, "is what was she doing in the woods? It's obvious she had been out there for a while, but why?"

"When I asked her last night, she did not say." Alice took a sip of her milk.

"We shall have to get to the bottom of it. I expect the constable would be able to find out and return her to where she came from."

Father locked eyes with me, his eyebrow slightly raised as though expecting me to say or do something against him, but I stayed quiet. With Mother sending for Doctor Merrick, there was a chance that Rebecca may be too unwell to be moved. My hope of Rebecca staying with us for a little while longer rested on what Doctor Merrick said, but I wasn't too worried. He had always been one to err on the side of caution.

After breakfast, I escaped the house and Mother's watchful eye. Andrew had gone in search of some leftover turbot from the previous night whilst I headed outside to talk to Joseph. I crossed the grounds to the stables, the mud squelching under my feet as I slipped across the wet grass. The storm had torn several branches of the trees and the green leaves now lay all over the grass. We were lucky none of the trees had fallen.

I pushed open the door to the stable and stepped inside, listening to the sounds of the horses in their stalls. Hay and straw covered the floor. Small puddles of water that had dropped through the roof covered the centre walkway. The stable hands moved about the stalls, feeding the horses and cleaning up the water and leaves that had blown in throughout the night. I passed Martin, who was topping up Genesis' feed and approached Lightning's stall.

Inside, I found Joseph sitting in the far corner with a blanket pulled up to his chin as Lightning nudged him gently with his nose.

"Did you sleep in here?" I asked him, gesturing to the blanket.

"Lightning was unsettled because of the storm. I thought it would be better if someone stayed with him."

"I'm sure one of the other stable hands could have stayed for you, especially after your heroics last night."

Joseph pushed the blanket off him and stood up, stretching his arms behind him. "My actions weren't very heroic, Sir. You were the one who convinced Miss Rebecca to go to the house."

"She never would have done it if you hadn't been with me." I opened the stall door for him and Joseph shuffled out, the blanket thrown over his shoulder. "How long have you known she's been hiding in the woods?"

"Just over a week, Sir. I saw her when I went to fetch water for the horses. She didn't say much, and I didn't pry."

"But you gave her food?"

"When I could. Mrs Lucas is very protective of her pantry and it was difficult to smuggle food from the table."

"That's why she stole the pie from the village." I nodded as I pieced the puzzle together. "You do not know what led her to be in the woods or why she was covered in blood?"

"No, Sir." Joseph swallowed hard. "I was going to tell you about her, Sir, but I wasn't sure how to do it. When you saw her in the trees, the other day I was too stunned to tell you I already knew about her. Had I just come forward, she wouldn't have been in the woods last night."

"It wasn't your fault, Joseph. I should have gone out and looked for her the moment I saw her in the trees. Perhaps now she can get the help she needs. Mother has sent for Doctor Merrick to take a look at her and has said she wants him to look at the two of us as well since we were both out in the rain last night."

"I feel fine Sir, there is no need to worry the Doctor."

I smiled. "I'm the same, but Mother is insistent. I expect she will send someone down to fetch you when Doctor Merrick arrives. For now, I suggest you get yourself something to eat and try not to think about what you could have done regarding Miss Rebecca."

"Yes, Sir."

I offered Joseph a smile, lightly stroked Lightning on the nose, and left the stable. I crossed the grounds and returned to the house where the Seabrooks had gathered in the entranceway preparing for their journey home. Mother offered countless apologies for the way the night had ended, but no one seemed all that affected by what had happened. Instead, Mr and Mrs Seabrook offered their prayers that Rebecca would be alright whilst Andrew praised the turbot and expressed his disappointment that she hadn't been a ghost.

Despite their reassurances, Mother still didn't appear to be pleased with the way the night had ended and Father even less so. I knew I would be in for a lecture the moment the Seabrook's left. To avoid a confrontation with him, I left the entrance hall the moment their carriage pulled away from the house and headed upstairs. I had planned to head to my bedroom, but I wanted to see how Rebecca was doing before Doctor Merrick arrived.

Alice had not been present when the Seabrook's left and I took that as an indicator that she was probably with Rebecca. I headed down the hallway, Joseph's comments running through my head as I went. He had no reason to feel guilty about not speaking to someone about Rebecca. Had he said something, I knew Father most likely wouldn't have believed me. Father hadn't believed me and there was no way he would have believed a stable hand.

Still, I wished Joseph would have told me sooner, especially as I thought he trusted me. He had told me all about his life with his previous employer and how difficult things had been for him, and yet he hadn't trusted me with the news about Rebecca. I understood why he hadn't mentioned it. The whole thing certainly seemed like fiction, but I wished he had. We would have been able to offer our help sooner.

I crept down the hallway and lightly knocked on the door, hoping it was the right one. After a few seconds of rustling inside the room, the door opened to reveal Alice.

"What are you doing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I came to see Miss Rebecca, to see how she was getting on."

Alice deflated a little. "Perhaps you will have better luck than me. When I told her Doctor Merrick was coming, she folded in on herself and won't move from the corner of the room. I know it isn't very proper, but I doubt she will listen to anyone else."

"I can certainly try. No promises, though."

"It does not matter. Be quick about it. If Mother sees you, she will probably faint."

Alice opened the door a little further and allowed me to side-step in, leaving the door partially open so she could keep an eye out for Mother. Almost everything in our family had to be done correctly and me being in a room with a young lady in her nightdress was hardly proper behaviour. Then again, it was not as though we were alone, although I doubted Mother would care.

I looked around the room and spotted Rebecca standing huddled in the far corner of the room. She stared at Alice and me with wide-eyes and a frightened expression etched onto her face. The torn, bloody dress she had been wearing had been replaced with one of Alice's crisp nightdresses. Close up, I could see scabbed scratch marks on her neck and a slight malformation of two of her fingers, a sign that they may have previously been broken. Rebecca tried to press herself further against the wall as I approached.

"It's alright, Miss," I said. "We will not hurt you. We just need to make sure that you haven't been hurt in any way. From what Joseph said, you were out there for a while."

"Mr Merrick is an excellent Doctor and he won't do anything if you do not want him to, but he may help," Alice said.

"Alice will be with you the entire time and I can assure you she isn't half as annoying as she might seem."

For that comment, Alice slapped me across the arm.

"Ouch! It's true, though." I grinned at Rebecca and she seemed to relax a little. "If you don't feel comfortable with any part of Doctor Merrick's visit, you are free to say so, and I'm sure he won't be offended. We just want to make sure that you're alright and don't need any further medical attention. You trusted me last night. Will you trust me with this?"

Rebecca looked at me, a flash of uncertainty crossing her face. She regarded me with a slight tilt of her head, as though unsure whether she should trust me completely. I had yet to steer her wrong, and I had to hope that she would trust me for a second time. Slowly, Rebecca stepped out of the corner of the room and nodded her head at me.

She didn't have to utter a word; I knew I had her trust.

~~~

A/N - We are back with Chapter Seven! Next chapter will be my favourite so make sure you're here for that! 

Questions! 

Do you think Joseph should have told them about Rebecca sooner? Do you think Mr Thorpe will let Rebecca stay?

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Dedication - There is no dedication this week! To be in for the chance of having a chapter dedicated to you, comment or interact with the story!

First Published - November 15th, 2022