Chapter 13 – Relapse
Just as Lady Partridge had assigned him to do, Oscar went to see Sarah one last time towards the end of the week.
Under different circumstances, Oscar would have rioted and would have conjured up a major fight between himself, his sister, and the rest of the family. He found it highly unfair that they forbade him to see Sarah in the future—although he was well aware that he had given them enough reason to mistrust him. After all, he had so frankly aired his unpopular opinion about Damian Cox and about Sarahʼs move to India.
But despite it all, he didnʼt feel any need to start up a fight. On the contrary, he wanted to lull the Partridges into a false sense of security by acting as if he had come to terms with having been expelled from the mansion grounds.
The reason for this was, of course, that he had a plan. Other than that, he feared that if he rebelled all too much, he ran the risk of his unique plan being discovered and crossed.
Regarding the relationship with his sister, he was surprised to see how quickly he had put up with the fact that the family bond between her and himself was broken. He didnʼt feel as hurt as he had imagined he would. He was, of course, sad and disappointed because he had always hoped that deep inside of Priscilla Partridge there would at least be a flicker of understanding and sympathy. But she had clearly shown him that there wasnʼt, and that didnʼt give him any reason to put up with her any longer.
Sarah lay huddled up in her bed again, her eyes glassy and dazed, but Oscar noticed to his relief that she was not half-unconscious as on the previous days. She took notice of him when he entered the room. Oscar guessed that it was because he had stopped giving her sleeping pills, although he knew that they meant the world to her.
She appeared rather on edge and upset.
“They do not want me to see you again, Uncle Oscar!”
Oscar rushed over to her, sat down next to her and took her in his arms.
“I know,” he said soothingly, rocking her gently. “But donʼt you worry, you will not lose me. Rest assured that I will always be there for you, I promise.”
“But how do you want to manage this?” Sarah asked, a bewildered look in her eyes.
“Let me worry about that, Sarah, alright?”
She nodded slightly, but judging her tortured expression it was obvious to Oscar that his words hadnʼt really convinced her.
Is it any wonder? he thought. After all, he wasnʼt sure himself what to do if his plan for the weekend should fail.
“I canʼt sleep, Uncle Oscar. I toss and turn all night, restlessly...” Sarah said.
Oscar let out a sigh.
“I am afraid, I can not give you another pill. If I do, you will be comatosed on Saturday when Damian wants to take you to London—and that would be horrible.”
“Why would that be horrible?” Sarah said, sounding indifferent. “He does not care about me anyway, and the less I am able to move and speak, the less there is a risk that I do something wrong which could embarrass him. Actually, I really abhor the thought of joining him and I think that no matter if you give me any pills or not, I will just stay in bed and pretend that I am dead.”
Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.
“No, you will not,” Oscar said firmly, not tolerating his nieceʼs stubbornness anymore. He was growing rather worried as he saw his chances dwindle to pull his secret plan through.
“Sarah, it is actually very important that you feel your best on Saturday. I want you to follow my instructions and not make a fuss about it. Have I made myself clear enough?”
I want you to feel strong enough to stand through the escape...
Sarah looked at him sheepishly. Oscar was aware that she wasnʼt used to that stern and slightly harsh tone to his voice. He put the palm of his hand on her cheek and comfortingly stroked her skin with his thumb.
“Sarah, my girl, I only want the best for you,” he said softly.
“Is everything alright?” she suddenly asked uncertainly. Oscar didnʼt fail to notice the slight air of suspicion in her voice. He wondered if he should tell her about Henry but came to the conclusion that it was better not to. After all, she had made it quite clear in the past that she did not want to see him again because she was more or less successfully trying to banish Henry from her life.
But there was another eason why he didnʼt want to let her in on his plan: he didnʼt want to make any false promises. Just in case she really wanted to see Henry all of a sudden, and just in case Oscar should fail to convince Henry to go and meet her, she would be devastated if he didnʼt come in the end and would leave without her. After all, Oscar still had not received an answer from Henry and didnʼt know what decision he had made. He wanted to spare Sarah the possible disappointment. He knew he had to pull this plan through secretly. There was no other way.
He smile at her reassuringly.
“Yes, my girl, everything is alright. It is just because of Damian. We do not want him to become upset, do we?”
Sarah lowered her gaze sadly and shook her head.
Oscar fumbled in the pocket of his jacket and produced a little package with some pills in it.
“These are no tranquilizers, Sarah. On the contrary, these pills here are supposed to strengthen you. I want you to take one of them on Saturday morning. But only one—that should suffice as they are quite strong and not meant to be taken on a regular basis. In fact, you should actually not take them at all as the only real remedy to boost you would be food. But as you are apparently unable to eat right now, we need to take these kinds of measures. And there is something else: If we want these pills to have the desired long-lasting effect, it is essential that you do not overdo it on Saturday even though you might feel like jumping on trees.”
“Donʼt worry, Uncle Oscar,” Sarah answered. “Damian will be out all morning anyway. He will not need me until the late afternoon. I will just lie in my comfortable hotel bed and have a good nap...”
“No, Sarah,” Oscar quickly said to her. “I know that Damian will not be there, but I do not want you to lie in your bed. It will only confuse your blood circulation and would make you drowsy and weak again, which would destroy the effect of the new medication altogether.”
If you stay in your room, Henry will have no chance to get close to you and talk to you...
“So what will I do then?”
“You will go and have some tea in the parlor or the restaurant. I happen to know that they have a nice little restaurant in the hotel. I want you to spend all morning there as long as Damian is gone. In the afternoon when Damian is back, you can go for a walk if you like.”
“And what about these silly geese?” Sarah asked.
“What geese?”
“Abigail and Phyllis, Damianʼs grandmother and his aunt, who live in London. Damian has told them to be around and serve as my personal guards during the morning until he comes back.”
Damn… Oscar thought, realizing that he had completely forgotten that Damina would never leave Sarah alone during his absence.
“Just tell them to join you; I am sure these old hags will not mind a nice cup of coffee and a chat.”
Sarah nodded imperceptibly.
“And this strict schedule has all got to do with these pills so that they have the desired effect?” she asked. Oscar noticed that there was this wary tone to her voice again, telling him that she knew that there was something he concealed from her.
“Yes, all for the sake of the pills,” he answered, then he quickly bent down and kissed her on the forehead.
“You will not see me for the last time now, Sarah,” he whispered. “I swear by all that is dear to me that I will never leave your side as long as I live.”
Sarah nodded again and cast him a grateful yet worried glance.
Oscar got up and hesitantly walked over to the door.
“Good bye, Sarah. And do as I say,” he reminded her. Then he left the room without looking back. He wouldnʼt have been able to bear the sight of her as she lay curled up in her bed, weak and tiny, this sad look in her eyes. He wanted to take her with him right away, and the fact that he couldnʼt, almost broke his heart.
He didnʼt say goodbye to his sister, who had not cared to come and say hello to him either when he had arrived earlier on. Instead, he rushed out of the building to escape the gloomy atmosphere which had always been prevalent in the mansion but which he had never really noticed up until now.
Outside, he climbed in the coach which had brought him from Oxford to the mansion. But instead of telling the driver to bring him back to town straight away, he told him to stop once they were beyond the mansion grounds.
“Please, do me a favor and drive up to the main road where nobody from the mansion can see you, and then come back in about half an hour to pick me up here again,” he whispered. “I want to go for a little walk before we head back to town.”
And with these words, Oscar grabbed a shovel and a little basket which he had borrowed from Holly and hopped out of the coach again. The coach driver, who had known Oscar for quite a while, nodded and did as he was told.
And as the coach moved away from the mansion and towards the road which led to Oxford, Oscar secretly rushed along the path which led into the forest and to the graveyard where he knew that Sarahʼs mother Melissa was buried.
* * *
The farewell letter to Sarah still lay on Henryʼs bedside table, waiting to be posted. For the past days, Henry had taken it in his hands every so often, had pensively stared at it and then put it back down again.
He still had not come to a concrete decision whether to go and meet Sarah or not. On Thursday morning, he was sure that he would go, on Thursday afternoon, he was sure he wouldnʼt. On Thursday evening, he was sure he would, and on Friday morning, he was sure again that he wouldnʼt.
On Friday evening, Oscar stood in front of his door.
“Oscar!” Henry called out, positively surprised by his best friendʼs unexpected appearance.
“Mrs. Potter has let me in. I hope I am not turning up at an inconvenient time,” Oscar said. He took off his hat and stepped inside the small room which had been Henryʼs home for the past months.
“Not at all, Oscar, not at all!” Henry gave Oscar a hearty hug. “I was really hoping that we would have a chance to talk to each other before I leave.”
“So was I. Why did you not reply to my telegram?”
Henry ignored the silent reproach in Oscarʼs voice and instead began to quickly remove some empty wine bottles which were still lying on the floor.
“Please do forgive the mess,” he said, laughing nervously. “I havenʼt really cared about keeping this room tidy lately. You must know that I have led a terrible life in the past months. Well, I actually have not led any life at all...”
“Donʼt bother, Henry,” Oscar remarked offhandedly. “Believe me, we have much more important things to do than tidying up. We must talk.”
Henry didnʼt like the stern look that Oscar gave him. He knew exactly what the doctor was hinting at; namely, at Sarahʼs visit to London. Overcome with a rather uncomfortable feeling, Henry pondered how he could possibly avoid the subject because he simply did not know what to say. He was still indecisive whether to go and see Sarah or not. And this had also been the reason why he had not sent Oscar a telegram.
Henry picked up some dirty clothes from the floor and hectically stuffed them in the cupboard.
“I am really glad that you didnʼt see me up until three days ago, otherwise you would have thought I had gone completely insane. I mean, I completely let myself go and began to turn this place into a dirty little hole and—” Henry rattled on when Oscar suddenly interrupted him.
“Henry, will you go and meet her?” he asked with urgency in his voice.
Henry let out a sigh and sat down on the bed, burying his head in his hands.
“Oscar, please try to understand my situation,” he moaned. “Sarah made it quite clear to me that she doesnʼt want me to intrude into her life anymore. And it has taken me an eternity to get over this decision of hers. I know that if I see her again, it will throw me right back into my old state. And I canʼt allow this to happen, Oscar. I really canʼt.”
Oscar sat down next to Henry on the bed.
“Have you thought about this carefully?” he asked.
“I have been thinking about this ever since you sent me that telegram,” Henry mumbled. “Oscar, you overestimate me. I am not that strong. It is already hard enough for me to summon up all of my courage and nerves to go on this ship tomorrow. It is quite a step, you know, leaving England, my home country, and all the memories connected to it...”
Oscar nodded and placed his hand on Henryʼs shoulder.
“I can most definitely understand you,” he said softly.
Henry sighed with relief.
“Good, that is clarified then...”
“Still, I am asking you to go and talk to her,” Oscar suddenly added.
“Oscar, please!” Henry exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air in an aggravated gesture. He abruptly got up, walked over to the window and blankly stared out onto the street where the shop owners were busy closing the shutters of their stores.
“Oscar, donʼt you see that she doesnʼt want me in her life anymore…?” he said sadly.
“That is not true, Henry. But she needs to act hard on you and on herself because otherwise she would completely fall apart. She is close to falling apart anyway, and that is why I am begging you to talk to her and ask her if she wants to come with you to America—just one more time. She is torn and afraid. She needs a nudge.”
Oscar looked at Henry almost beseechingly.
“A nudge…” Henry laughed bitterly. “What for? Donʼt tell me I havenʼt tried everything. I have given her enough nudges in the past, but it was of no use at all!”
“Henry, she is not well,” Oscar insisted.
Henry turned to look at Oscar.
“Why? Whatʼs wrong…?” he asked uncertainly.
“She has stopped eating a while ago, and whatever manages its way down to her stomach is sure to leave her body in a matter of minutes,” Oscar explained calmly. “She is starving herself.”
Henry felt his legs go weak. Numb with shock, he sank down on a chair next to him, fighting the sensation of guilt that suddenly threatened to overwhelm him; guilt because he had not been at Sarahʼs side for the past weeks, as if it was his fault that she was in such a bad state.
He tried to remember that she herself was the root of her problems. She had rejected him even though she could have had it all, straight away. Still, he felt terribly sorry for her, knowing that she was nothing but a prisoner of her own fears.
“She is suffering because she needs you, Henry,” Oscar added. “She is making herself believe that she is fine without you, but she is not. She does not even notice that she is about to lose all her willpower to live. And it all has become so much worse ever since she was told that Damian wants her to move with him to India.”
“To India?!” Henry exclaimed.
“Damianʼs brigade is being transferred there in order to suppress some unrest which has arisen lately. Some Indians riot against the fact that Queen Victoria has become empress of the country. Anyway, Damianʼs father owns a palace there with a ridiculous number of servants and many acres of land surrounding it. Sarah will have everything that a young woman can possibly dream of, but she does not show the slightest interest in it. She fears that she will not have anyone around whom she feels close to and whom she could confide in—which is no irrational fear, of course. I seriously considered following her to India, but I am afraid even if I do so, I will not have the chance to come near her.”
“Why?”
Oscar let out a sigh.
“Well, I am afraid I had a quarrel with my sister and am sure that she, Horatio, and Damian are very suspicious now that I might be plotting something with Sarah—which I am after all. They would not even reveal to me which hotel she will stay at, let alone allow me to accompany her tomorrow. I only found out where she will be because I could bribe Thelma into telling me everything. Even she feels sorry for the girl at this stage. God, Henry, I am dying with worry...”
Henry was staring incredulously at Oscar. He wished he would wake up and realize that all that the doctor had told him was only part of a bad dream. After all, in his opinion, situations like that only ever arose in books and theatre plays but not in real life.
“But how am I supposed to help her?!” he asked.
“Just as I told you: By offering her one more time to come with you to America,” Oscar answered. “Please, do it for me. Talk to her. If she says no, I swear I will never ever pester you again.”
“But what if she says no to me again?!”
“As a word of comfort to you: If she says no to you, I will pack my belongings and follow her to India. And there I will try my best to help although right now I have no idea how to interefere as I am quite sure Damian will isolate her from me. But maybe there is still a chance to reconcile with my sister and make her put in a good word for me.”
“Does Sarah know that you are here now?”
Oscar shook his head.
“No. I found it best not to tell her because I knew she would not approve of all of this. Rest assured she does not want to see you either. She has the same fears as you. She worries that meeting you again will drive her completely out of her mind and will take all of her strength that she needs to lead her miserable life with Damian. She does not understand, though, that this miserable life of hers is not leading anywhere. She will not stand it through, Henry.”
Henry closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall, exhaling deeply.
He had originally planned to spend the remaining days before his departure taking a last relaxing stroll through London, ceremoniously saying goodbye to all the places he loved, and looking forward to some interesting days on sea. But Oscarʼs appearance had turned his whole world upside down.
“I am asking you once more now, Henry: Will you go and see her?” Oscarʼs voice tore him out of his daze.
Henry slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, waiting for a sign from God who would tell him what to do. But then he realized that even without asking God for advice he already knew the answer.
“Of course, I will,” he mumbled. “What other options do I have? I could never leave, knowing that Sarah is in such a terrible condition…”
Oscar sighed with relief.
“Alright then, let us talk about tomorrow,” he said, not granting Henry any time to digest what he had just told him about Sarah. “The best occasion for you to see her will be in the morning at about ten after Damian has left to meet Marshall Longbottom in town. You will find her in the hotel restaurant, but you must be careful because she will not be alone: Damianʼs aunt Phyllis and his grandmother Abigail have promised to keep an eye on her during Damianʼs absence. It will be the best if you do not talk to anybody as I am certain that Damian will tell the receptionist to let him know if someone asks for Sarah. You must try not to attract anyoneʼs attention.”
“But how am I supposed to talk to her then if she is so guarded by Damianʼs private army?” Henry asked, crinkling his forehead.
“This, Henry, I can not tell you, I am afraid. I presume you will just have to wait for an opportune moment to arise… I know, it is quite daring. If you have a better idea, I will gladly accept it.”
“I donʼt have any other idea at all...” Henry mumbled. Then he laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “Even before you arrived here to talk to me, you had already set it all out, you little rascal.”
Oscar blushed slightly and lowered his gaze.
“I know, Henry, but I found it best to plan ahead—just in case I would really manage to convince you. And I obviously have convinced you.”
Henry smiled limply. Then he asked, “What if I secretly followed her to India instead of all this hassle?”
“Forget it, Henry,” Oscar answered firmly. “Why should they let you near her if they do not even let me? She will live like a bird in a golden cage. Apart from that, I am certain that Damian will shoot you the moment he sees you.”
“He cannot just shoot a civil person just because the whim takes him,” Henry scoffed.
“Believe me, he can,” Oscar replied.
“But thatʼs… thatʼs murder!”
“I am sure he will find a reason to justify killing you. He can always say it was self-defense, especially when he finds you lingering on their premises and peering through Sarahʼs window. Apart from that, what kind of support would that be for her? Watching her from afar, day by day? That will surely not make her eat.”
Henry fell silent. He was running out of arguments. Oscar was right. There was no way around it: He needed to go to Mount Merrion Hotel.
“Henry, do not be so upset now,” Oscar said to him soothingly. “We have a plan now, donʼt we? And we might as well try and pull it through first, before we let our heads sink in despair and lose all hopes. We have not reached that stage yet.”
Henry nodded imperceptibly. He suddenly felt utterly tired, just as if someone had drained all the energy from him.
“When you have spoken to her, you need to tell me all about it straight away, alright?” Oscar insisted. “Or bring her with you if you can, and we will hide her in here until tomorrow night.”
For some reason, Henry doubted that he would be lucky enough to not only talk to Sarah but to even sneak her out of the building unseen. After all, as for now he didnʼt even have a plan to smuggle himself inside unnoticed.
“Which hotel are you staying at?” Henry asked. “Where will I find you?”
Oscar grinned at him.
“Oh, you will find me easily; I am next door. Mrs. Potter was kind enough to offer me one of her rooms. And now, my dear friend, what about a pint of beer in a tavern? I think we have deserved it, havenʼt we?”
Henry looked at Oscar with bleary eyes, wondering where that man kept taking his optimism.
“I think I will rather stick to a glass of water,” he mumbled with a side glance over to the heap of wine bottles on the floor. Oscar laughed merrily and took him by the arm.
“Whatever you like; the treat is on me. Letʼs go,” he said.
And then, a weak smile on his lips, Henry took his coat and followed Oscar out of the room.
* * *
On Saturday morning, Henry approached Mount Merrion Hotel in the noble district of Kensington with rather mixed feelings. First of all, the building itself was tall and highly intimidating with all its imperialistic grandeur that it displayed. Its sight made Henry feel rather uncomfortable. After all, he had never set foot in a hotel like that before, let alone been a guest in it.
Secondly, Henry was sure that if he entered it and should really happen to meet Sarah, he would no doubt fall right back into his dazzled state of infatuation which, as he knew, would make him throw over board all good intentions of forgetting her and beginning a new life.
But then again, he knew that at this stage it was entirely impossible for him not to go and see her. What Oscar had told him had sent him into an abysmal state of shock. If he left without Sarah, if he let her succumb to her fate, she would be most certainly doomed. Things had obviously got out of hand with Sarah having entirely lost control over herself.
But this wasnʼt solely about her life. It was about his own life, too. He knew that there was no way of even thinking about leaving London and going anywhere at all, as long as he knew that she was suffering like that. He knew that if he didnʼt go as far as he could possibly go in convincing her, he would spend his whole life reproaching himself.
He wouldnʼt be able to live with the guilt of having let her alone.
Henry recalled how scared she had been when he had told her about America many months ago and wondered how he should possibly talk her into coming with him now.
Three months..., Henry thought. Enough time for her to finally realize that Damian is not good for her at all. She must have seen by now that hardly anything that will await her in America can be as terrible as the situation she is voluntarily putting herself in right now...
Gradually and completely against his will, he found himself getting hopeful again.
Youʼll never learn…
Henry took a deep breath, then he hesitantly approached the building.
Secretly peering through one of its frost-covered windows, he saw a zealous-looking, chirpy receptionist crouching behind a desk which was scattered all over with registration forms and other important hotel-related documents. Every now and then, the receptionist looked up in order to serve a guest and, at the same time, turned an observing eye on everything that was going on in the entrance hall.
Henry realized quickly that it would be an impossible mission to sneak past the man behind the desk without being noticed. But if he was discovered, he would most likely raise suspicion and would be asked what he was doing here. After all, he was not a hotel guest and had no intention to become one either.
Henry let out a sigh. He was aware that he wouldnʼt stand a chance to meet Sarah if he didnʼt come up with a cunning plan soon.
“Have ye got a penny to spare, Sir?” he suddenly heard a faint voice croak into his ear.
When he turned around, he stared right into the pocked face of a small toothless beggar in rags. The poor man smelt for rotten fish and other unidentifiable substances.
“A penny to spare, Sir, just a penny…” the beggar repeated monotonously, looking at Henry with pitiful, bleary eyes.
Slightly irritated, Henry began to fumble in his trouser pockets in search of some money and, when he found it, gave it to the man.
“Thank ye, Sir, God bless ye, Sir, ye are a good man, Sir.” the beggar rattled on, and stuck Henryʼs money into the pocket of his filthy frayed coat. Then he turned around and slowly staggered off.
His nose pressed against the window, Henry peered inside the entrance hall of the hotel again. The receptionist was still busy with his papers. Every now and then, he handed newly arrived guests the keys to their rooms and chatted with them. Still, he never ceased to keep a watchful eye on the entrance hall and on everyone who was coming or leaving.
Distraction… Henry thought. He needs to be distracted…
A suddenly, he had an idea.
The beggar hadnʼt come very far yet. Henry spotted him slouching along the street, occasionally bending down in order to pick something that he deemed edible or otherwise useful up from the ground.
Henry quickly ran after him.
“Excuse me,” he said to the beggar when he came to halt next to him, “I wonder if you could do me a favor.”
The beggar looked at him, puzzled.
“No one has ever asked me a favor,” he mumbled, appearing a little suspicious.
Henry went in search of his trouser pockets again and produced some more pennies. The beggarʼs eyes widened at the sight if them.
“Look, I will give you all of this if you do a little acting for me,” Henry explained.
The beggar frowned.
“Acting?! Oh Sir, Iʼve never done any acting in all of my miserable life.”
“Never mind,” Henry said. “Whatʼs your name?”
“Well, my friends call me Waffle-Wally, because I waffle so much,” the beggar answered.
“Alright, Waffle-Wally, this is going to be an exciting day for you…”
And with these words Henry grabbed the confused beggar by the arm, dragged him along the street and back to Mount Merrion Hotel.
Ten minutes later, Henry hid behind a flower pot, which was standing next to the main entrance of the hotel, and peered through the window again. From there he watched Waffle-Wally laboriously push the heavy door open. A shattered expression on his face and loudly calling out for help, Waffle-Wally staggered inside and over to the desk of the unsuspecting receptionist,. Startled, the receptionist looked up, appearing rather scandalized by the sudden and unexpected arrival of the beggar. Henry saw him quickly leaving his position behind the desk and storming over to Waffle-Wally in order to throw him out of the building before the honorable guests would notice him and feel disturbed by his presence.
Suddenly, Waffle-Wally rolled his eyes, gasped for air, and clutched his chest. Then he doubled over and collapsed right on top of the receptionistʼs desk. Overtaken by spasms, the beggar slowly slipped off the desk and sank to the floor, and by doing so brought all the important documents and papers down to the ground.
Great Waffle-Wally! You should really get a part in a stage play… Henry thought, smiling amusedly to himself.
Gradually, the incident caught the attention of the hotel guests who were present and who curiously began to form a circle around Waffle-Wally. Certain that the beggar had suffered a heart attack, someone suggested to call for a doctor while someone else knelt down in an attempt to administer first aid. And amidst all the confusion, the receptionist was crouching on the ground, hastily picking up his papers and documents which all lay scattered on the floor.
Nobody was watching Henry when he entered the entrance hall because everyone was busy pondering what to do with Waffle-Wally who had begun to breathe stertorously. Henry knew he had to hurry, though, as the beggar would shortly and very miraculously find back to his normal self again, would ask for a glass of water and then leave as if nothing had happened, just as they had agreed on. And then the receptionistʼs attention would be on the guests and the entrance hall again.
But it didnʼt take Henry long to cross the hall, and soon he found himself in a long corridor. Several staircases were leading to the upper floors where the guestrooms lay. Apart from that, Henry spotted four doors and suspected that hidden behind them were staff and storage rooms. Looking around though, trying to orientate himself, his glance suddenly fell on a fifth door at the very end of the corridor. There was a plaque attached to it which read “The Winter Garden Restaurant.”
Certain that this was the place Oscar had told him about, Henry opened the door and stepped inside, his heart hammering excitedly in his chest.
The Winter Garden Restaurant was a big room with about thirty tables. Having once been a conservatory, it had large windows and a glass roof, and with the autumn sun shining down from above, Henry almost felt as if he was in Italy instead of novemberish London. Adding to the Mediterranean atmosphere was an assortment of palm trees and other exotic looking plants lining the walls. The glass panes offered a view out onto the back garden of the hotel where Henry could see a peacock prancing between the ornately cut bushes and trees.
The air was filled with the delicious smell of coffee and the sultry odor of expensive ladiesʼ perfumes, which left Henry slightly dazzled. He thought that if Sarah was really there, it would be best if she didnʼt see him straight away. After all, she wouldnʼt be alone with Damianʼs aunt and his grandmother guarding her.
He hid behind a palm tree next to a birdcage which housed a somewhat impudent looking little parrot.
“May I take your order, Sir! May I take your order, Sir!” it croaked into Henryʼs right ear as it was imitating the comments of the waiters, who were silently floating through the room. “Cake! Cake! Two lumps of sugar, please! Cake! Cake! Two lumps of sugar, please!”
“Shush, will you shut up!” Henry angrily hissed at the bird, which was watching him with suspicious eyes and then croaked, “Shut up! Shut up!”
Henry let out a sigh and began to scan the room for Sarah.
And then there she was, sitting at a table next to the piano, wedged between two old ladies, Damianʼs grandmother Abigail and his aunt Phyllis, who were wearing enormous hats and were festooned with high-carat jewelry. The two women were stuffing themselves with pastries and chatting animatedly with each other, whereas Sarah was just sitting there, staring absent-mindedly at the table in front of her. Her plate was filled with chocolate cakes and toffees, but Sarah didnʼt show any inclination to touch the delicacies.
Sarah...
Henryʼs heart missed a beat.
He noticed to his horror that she looked just as white as the tablecloth. All color had faded from her, and she appeared exhausted and sick. But what struck Henry most was the fact that she was terribly thin.
This is much worse than I imagined...
And still, despite his initial shock at her sight, he felt the aching for her return—just as he had dreaded it to happen. He felt himself drawn to her again, just like on that very night she had sat next to him at the piano, when she had kissed him, when he had noticed that he loved her. All his intentions to forget about her disappeared into thin air, and he was immediately overcome with the desire to run over to her, embrace her, smother her with kisses, and make love to her.
He wistfully stared at Sarah for a little while, then he picked up a newspaper that lay next to the birdcage for the visitors to read, hid his face behind it, and quickly walked over to an empty table in the corner. He sat down, opened the newspaper and secretly peered over the pages, watching Sarah and hoping that an occasion to privately speak to her would miraculously arise. He didnʼt have the faintest notion, though, how this should happen, as it was obvious that Abigail and Phyllis were keeping a strict eye on her. And as the two women were lean and tall and radiated strong will and determination, Henry immediately got the impression that it was best not to tangle with them.
“Excuse me, Sir. May I take your order?” Henry suddenly heard the waiterʼs voice next to him.
“Coffee, please,” Henry answered, not taking his eyes off Sarah.
The waiter smiled politely at him and withdrew.
Henry was watching Sarah as she lazily stuck her fork in the piece of cake in front of her and parted it with the prongs. But she didnʼt eat anything and only played with the food. Then she took a very tiny sip of her coffee and looked about the room, a sad and tired expression on her face.
It was then that Henry decided to come out of his hiding and make himself visible to her, now that she was boredly observing the other people around her. He didnʼt know what would happen once she saw him but was willing to take the risk as he found that he could not sit there for an eternity, waiting until the three women got up and left him with a wasted chance.
He slowly lowered the newspaper, hypnotizing Sarah with his glances, anxiously awaiting the moment their eyes would meet.
And then she saw him.
And froze.
The cup she was holding in her hand slipped out of her fingers and fell onto the table, right on top of her plate with the cake, making a clashing noise. A vase with flowers, which had decorated the table, toppled over and wetted the tablecloth. And Sarahʼs dress was covered all over with coffee stains.
Abigail and Phyllis startled as did the people sitting nearby. Phyllis got up and excitedly went into a rant about how scatterbrained Sarah was and that Damian would not be amused at all if he heard about this mess. In the meantime, Abigail threw apologetic smiles at the little crowd of silent spectators around them who exchanged surprised and curious glances. Then Henry saw the waiter hurrying over to their table with a cleaning rag.
But Sarah didnʼt say anything and showed no reaction to what was going on around her. All she did was staring at Henry, her eyes mirroring a mixture of terror and distress but also of fascination and longing.
Abigail grabbed her arm and indicated her to go to her room and change her clothes.
No, not to the room...! Henry thought.
He quickly folded the newspaper and rose from his chair although he didnʼt have the slightest idea what to do, knowing that he could hardly walk over to the womenʼs table and ask Abigail and Phyllis if he could have quiet moment with Sarah.
When Sarah saw that Henry was not seated anymore, she immediately shook Abigailʼs arm off, equally got up and said something that Henry couldnʼt understand. Then she turned around and ran out of the restaurant—but not in direction of the entrance hall and the staircases which led upstairs to the rooms, but over to a door at the other end of the room.
Henry threw the paper on the table and hurried after her. Despite his urgency, he tried to walk at a normal pace in order not to raise any suspicion. But throwing a secret side glance over to Abigail and Phyllis, he could see that they were still too flustered and embarrassed anyway to notice that he was following Sarah. He wondered, though, why the two old ladies hadnʼt gone with Sarah with everyone being so afraid that she might do something stupid.
He reached the door through which Sarah had disappeared, opened it, and found himself in a small corridor. He now understood why Abigail and Phyllis had not deemed it necessary to accompany and guard her: The small corridor only led to the kitchen and the guestsʼ bathroom, and so there was no danger of Sarah escaping. Unfortunately, this meant that there was no chance for Henry to escape with her, either.
Maybe we can leave through the kitchen? Henry pondered but dismissed the idea, as it would have been impossible to sneak her outside past the waiters and the rest of the staff.
Sarah had just reached the ladiesʼ bathroom and disappeared inside.
“Sarah!” Henry called and hastened after her. He quickly blocked the door with his foot before Sarah could slam it in his face. She made a half-hearted attempt to push his foot away and pull at the door in order to close it, but as Henry didnʼt give in, she eventually let go of the door knob, turned away from Henry and huddled in the farthest corner of the room. Henry quickly slipped inside after her, and locked the door behind him.
His heart was beating heavily in his chest, so excited was he to see Sarah again, to be near her again. Looking at her, however, he noticed that she didnʼt share his excitement. There was a bewildered expression in her eyes, as if she was afraid of him, as if he was a wild animal about to attack her.
“Sarah...” Henry whispered. He didnʼt dare to move and approach her. She seemed far too shaken and confused by his sudden appearance.
Pale like a ghost... and so thin...
“I knew this would happen...” he heard her whimper.
“What would happen, Sarah?” Henry asked her softly.
“I knew that once I would see you, I would fall in love all over again with you... Why can you not leave me in peace?”
Although she sounded angry, Henry could sense a hint of relief in her voice about the fact that he was there, as if her heart really wanted to say something else; something like ʻWhy donʼt you finally come and take me in your arms…ʼ
“Believe me, I dreaded this moment as well,” Henry said softly. “I feel the same and can clearly see myself falling in love with you again, too; although, I have never really stopped loving you, Sarah.”
“I have never stopped loving you either, Henry...” Sarah whispered.
He could see that her eyes, vacant and bleary, got moist.
Finally, Henry walked over to her, slowly, expectantly. But when he noticed that she made no further inclination to run away from him, he rushed towards her and flung his arms around her. And suddenly, she didnʼt seem to fight her feelings anymore. She let him embrace her and hold her, buried her head at his chest, and began to weep.
“God, Sarah... my Sarah...” Henry said again and again while he was rocking and stroking her, still unable to believe that he was really standing there, holding her close. He took her face in his hands and bent to kiss her, and immediately he felt his whole body react to the sensation of her mouth on his, felt his desire grow for her warmth, her nearness, her laughter—everything that he had missed for the past months. And suddenly it seemed to him as if there had never really been a departure, as if they were simply about to resume where they had stopped back then on that blissful weekend that they had spent together while the Partridges had been in Norwich.
“I missed you so much, Henry...” Sarah whispered, her voice breaking.
“God knows, I missed you too...” Henry replied breathlessly.
“How did you find out that I am here?”
“Oscar told me. He is in London, too.”
“Oh...” Sarah remarked with a faint smile. “Thatʼs why he so desperately wanted me to spend the morning in the restaurant. He is always secretly pulling the strings, isnʼt he?”
“He is indeed,” Henry said with a grin.
Sarah appeared so fragile and feeble that he worried she might faint and sink to the floor. He pulled her even closer to him, his arms flung around her tiny waist, his face buried in her hair.
Suddenly he noticed something.
He carefully freed himself out of her embrace and looked down at her belly. There wasnʼt really anything to see, but he had definitely felt it.
A tiny bulk.
“Sarah… can… can it be that you... you are... pregnant...?” Henry stammered incredulously.
A slightly bashful expression on her face, Sarah looked up to him and nodded.
Henry swallowed hard. The whole range of emotions—disgust, anger, sympathy—he felt it all at the same time; disgust and anger because of the fact that Damian had slept with Sarah, that he had laid his greasy hands on her and had been inside of her. He also felt sympathy for Sarah for the same reasons.
What were you thinking? Of course, he slept with her. He had all the right to do it. She is his wife...
Still, he felt his stomach turn at the thought of the fruit of his arch-enemy growing in Sarahʼs womb. He wondered how he would come to terms with this new situation. After all, he was here to ask Sarah if she wanted to go with him to America. And just in case she really decided to come after this conversation, that child would be reminding him of Damian forever.
But it is just a little baby, he then thought, feeling slightly ashamed. It is not the childʼs fault that it is the offspring of an arrogant madman…
Henry decided not to let his inner conflict show too much. He wanted Sarah, and if she wanted him too, he would take her with him and try to be a good father for the baby; no matter whose baby it was.
Still, he felt his vanity hurt.
“That was quick...” he said, angry at the fact that Damianʼs very first attempts to make Sarah pregnant had been so successful.
Sarahʼs hand lovingly stroked her belly.
“It is not Damianʼs child, Henry,” she whispered.
Henry looked at Sarah uncomprehendingly as she continued speaking.
“The night when Damian and I... when we... when...”
Henry got aware that she struggled to find an alternative to saying “when we were making love” because there obviously had not been any love involved.
“Well, when we did what Meggie and Baxter do, I was already over two weeks late. So I called for Uncle Oscar because I was in panic and did not know what was happening to me. He told me to wait a couple of weeks, and then we would see. Well, and then we saw...”
“But that means that you were already pregnant on your wedding night...!”
“Yes,” Sarah answered.
“But… but whose child is it then?” Henry stammered.
“How can you ask such a question?!” Sarah looked at him sadly. “Who else do you think touched me except for Damian and... and...”
She broke off.
“...Me,” Henry whispered.
“Yes, Henry. You,” Sarah answered, a blissful smile on her lips. “You are the father. There is no doubt about it. Oscar and I checked it thoroughly. It must have happened on that weekend when Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Horatio were in Norwich. Initially I was shocked, Henry. But then I was so glad about it; one of the rare moments I was actually happy...”
Henry was at a loss of words. He was staring blankly at Sarah, unable to speak, overwhelmed by the news.
I will be a father…
Suddenly, he recalled that particular Sunday morning when he had made love to Sarah in the boathouse, when she had been so unexpectedly fierce and wild. He had already had a sinister feeling back then because he had noticed that he had not been able to pull out of her quite on time. But deep inside, he had not really believed that this could have such consequences.
And then he suddenly remembered something else. Back then, when Oscar had visited him in his new home at Mrs. Potterʼs place, he had already believed that Oscar withheld some information from him.
He has known it all along...
He couldnʼt help but feel annoyed and disappointed by the fact that nobody had cared to tell him. He felt left out.
“Oscar has never told me,” he remarked sadly.
“Henry, believe me, he desperately wanted to tell you, but he promised me to never ever mention it to you. I forbade him to do so. Please donʼt be angry at him and try to understand…” Sarah explained, a beseeching tone to her voice.
Henry frowned.
“Would you have ever told me, Sarah?”
“When I found out about it, I so much wanted to let some time pass first, hoping that during that time your emotions for me would cool down. You had appeared so devastated that dreadful night of our parting, and I was so utterly worried that once you would know about the baby you would come back and try to fetch me.”
“I would have done so indeed.”
“But I did not want you to!” Sarah exclaimed, giving Henry a tortured glance. “Donʼt you understand that it would have put you and me in great danger! Can you imagine how I felt on the day of the wedding when I learnt that you had been lingering outside the mansion?! I was devastated because Damian lied to me and told me that his men had shot you and... and... that you were dead!”
Sarah broke out into sobs. Henry carefully put his arms around her and pressed her against his chest while she kept on talking, her fingers clutching his coat.
“I only found out that you were actually alive when Uncle Oscar brought me the news that you had written a letter to him again. But the days in between which I spent in uncertainty were a terrible nightmare for me... After two months, when you had not written to me anymore because I had not wanted you to do so, and when Oscar told me he got the feeling that you were sort of getting by, I felt it was time to send you a note and tell you about the child. But then... I do not know what happened, Henry... I simply lost all my willpower to be strong and go after my daily tasks… I had pulled myself together all the time, had tried to bear everything as good as I possibly could—and God knows I was an exemplary wife—but it obviously had all been too much. It felt as if I was burning inside out. I didnʼt want to live anymore, Henry... I was so sure that I would die one way or the other. I didnʼt know why and how. I was simply certain about it. It was then that I made a new decision; the decision of not telling you, because I thought if you heard about my death, and if you then found out that I had been carrying your child, it would make you suffer from so much grief... Please forgive me, Henry. All I wanted is for you to live a normal life again. I never meant to hurt you. I am still very young and make mistakes...”
Henry, who had been listening to Sarahʼs story with anguish, raised his hand and gingerly brushed the tears out of her face with his thumb. He sensed that she was speaking the truth, sensed that she had been through her own little hell and came to the conclusion that she had not deserved it that he tortured her by being mad at her. And how could he truly be angry if that little secret she had spilt to him was the sweetest secret of all secrets that had ever been revealed to him in his entire life.
He would be a father!
Apart from that, she had been right. If she or Oscar had told him about the baby, he would, of course, have come back and risked his life by trying to steal her away from Damian. Not that his own life would have mattered much to him, but he would also have contributed to Sarahʼs distress by making her worry about him again. Yes, he had to admit that she was right in every single point she had mentioned; even if it hurt.
“You didnʼt make a mistake, Sarah,” he whispered. “And of course I forgive you, my sweetheart... I am sorry for suggesting that you could have been with someone else except for Damian and me. But your words have just completely taken me by surprise. I still can hardly believe it. I mean, I am becoming a father... But, please, tell me just one more thing: How did Damian react when he found out about your pregnancy?”
“He was overly delighted because he was and is of the belief that it is his child.”
Henry noticed a certain bitterness in Sarah`s voice, and in her eyes too; a bitterness which had not been there before and which he didnʼt like, as it somehow reminded him of Lady Partridge on one of those days when she had been in her depressed mood again.
As if she has already succumbed to resignation...
“He believes that it is his child because, after all, the wedding night took place only a few weeks after you and I had been together. So in terms of time, it could easily have happened on the wedding night, the baby-making, I mean,” Sarah added. “Apart from that, I had assured him that you and I had only exchanged kisses. He had been suspicious in the beginning, but ultimately it was Uncle Oscar who did everything to make him believe me. He is a genius.”
“What did he say?” Henry asked, casting Sarah a suspicious look.
She blushed a little and hesitated.
“Come on, tell me. What did he say?” Henry pressed.
“Well, he... please do not be angry at Oscar, all right?”
Henry let out a sigh.
What has he said or done now, that little rascal?
“Well, Oscar said that you were... I forgot the word... it is something with ʻiʼ... well, that you were biologically unable to make babies...”
Sarah sheepishly lowered her gaze.
“Holy mother of Christ...” Henry rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.
“Uncle Oscar told Damian that you had mentioned it when you and Oscar had been in London together. He claimed that both of you had been drunk back then, and that you had told each other all kinds of things. Are you mad now?”
Sarah looked at Henry uncertainly.
“No, it is alright, believe me,” Henry answered and tried hard to swallow his anger because of the fact that Damian now believed, surely to his utter merriment, that Henry was impotent. But Henryʼs anger soon gave way to utter relief at the fact that Sarah had not been harmed by Damian. He didnʼt dare to imagine what this man would have been capable of after finding out that the baby was not his own.
“Henry,” Sarah suddenly asked, “are you happy? About the baby, I mean…”
A wide smile spread across Henryʼs face.
“I have never been so happy in my entire life…”
Sarah beamed at him. Henry wanted to kiss her again and enjoy this moment of their bliss when he suddenly remembered that there still lay a task ahead of him, the task of confronting her with the facts about his departure and of asking her if she would like to join him now. He felt that he shouldnʼt keep the news from her any longer although he shuddered at the thought of a possible negative reaction of hers.
“Sarah, I need tell you something, too,” he began carefully.
Sarah frowned, confused by his sudden seriousness.
“What is it you need to tell me?”
“I am leaving tonight.”
Sarahʼs face fell. Her breathing accelerated and Henry could see that she was about to panic. He quickly took her by the hands and held her tight as she threatened to back away from him.
“W... where are you going?” she stammered.
“Where I always wanted to go, Sarah: America.”
Her hands slipped out of his grasp, and her eyes began to fill with tears again.
“Is that the only reason you have come here?” she whimpered. “To tell me that you do not want to be with me anymore? And all of this now that you know that I am carrying your child?!”
Henry pricked his ears.
...that you donʼt want to be with me anymore...
Had she changed her mind?
“Sarah, listen to me, please,” Henry quickly tried to soothen her concern. “Of course, I have not only come to tell you that I am leaving you. I have come to ask you for the very last time if you want to join me. But I want you to know that if you say no this time, I will actually force you to go with me because I canʼt possibly leave you behind; not in the state that you are in. It does not have to be America. We can go to any other country if you like. But wherever we will go, it will be for your own good. I promise that you will be in good hands if you come with me. I will not disappoint you.”
Sarah pensively looked at him.
“Sarah, donʼt make the same mistake again...” Henry whispered beseechingly.
“You know,” she said, “I was imagining this moment so many times during the past months, imagined what it would be like if fate should grant me the luck that you would ask me again; what it would be like if I wasnʼt so scared, and what would happen if you and I really—”
She broke off.
Henry was staring at her intently, expectantly, trying to read her enigmatic expression. As she didnʼt continue speaking, he bent down and kissed her.
It was a very soft and tender kiss. He hardly touched her lips, and still, the electricity between him and her was so intense that he felt as if the whole room would burst in flames.
When he let go of Sarah, she leaned her forehead against his and closed her eyes, an angelic smile on her lips.
“Your kisses feel exactly the same as back in summer, still passionate, still full of love...” she breathed.
“Of course, they do, Sarah,” Henry whispered, “because my feelings for you havenʼt changed a bit.”
“You still want me, Henry, after all this time, even though I have given you the cold shoulder, and have never replied to your letters...”
“God, I do, Sarah!”
Sarah looked at him again for another while, thinking hard.
“Well, if it is really like that, then... then you do not need to force me,” she said.
Henry stared at her incredulously.
“What did you just say…?” he asked puzzled.
“I said I will come with you to America. I am scared, but I will go with you if I still may.”
Henry could hardly breathe with excitement.
All the time he had waited for that answer. And now that he had actually heard what he had always wanted to hear, he could hardly trust his ears. He wondered if he was still under the influence of the alcohol that he had consumed excessively during the past weeks.
Hallucinations. The pink elephants. I have finally begun to see them. I have finally begun to go insane.
“Would you please pinch me, Sarah?” Henry asked flatly.
Sarah chuckled and gave him a peck on the nose.
“Henry, there is one thing I want you to know,” she added more seriously. “The reason I want to come with you now is not just because the alternatives are so dreadful. It is not because otherwise I would have to go to India. No, it is because I can clearly feel now that you still want me. Maybe I needed this proof, needed to be certain... Three months is a long time. I never believed that someone would be capable of carrying the torch for me for that long. I know now that I made a mistake back then. I should have come with you right from the start. I know I made you suffer, but believe me, I made myself suffer, too...”
“I made a mistake, too,” Henry said, still slightly dazzled. “Back then, I thought I could just take you like an object I desired, irrespective of your fears and doubts. That wasnʼt right, Sarah. It was selfish, and I am sorry. But I just wanted you so much. I have never wanted anything or anyone that much in my whole life...”
“You can take me now, Henry. Take me wherever you want. I will not be able to marry you, though, but be sure that I am yours forever...”
For a little while Henry and Sarah were just standing in the room, holding each other in a tight embrace, without speaking and only relishing each otherʼs presence.
At some stage, Henry slowly freed himself out of her grip.
“Sarah, I want you to go back to these stupid old cows right now and tell them that you will change your clothes. Then you go to your room, take all your belongings and leave the hotel. I will wait for you outside,” he said determinedly. He didnʼt want to waste time anymore. He was eager to act.
“Henry, that will not work. I can not just walk out of this building. The receptionist is keeping an eye on me on Damianʼs order. Apart from that, Abigail and Phyllis do not even let me go to my room on my own. They are always following me. We must find another way.”
Henry was thinking hard how to get Sarah and himself out of the building when suddenly there was knock at the door.
“Sarah, are you still in there?!”
“There you go,” Sarah whispered and rolled her eyes. “Itʼs Phyllis...”
“Speak to her,” Henry said nervously.
“Yes, I am here!” Sarah called.
“Will you let me in, please!” Phyllis shouted from the other side. Her shrill voice reminded Henry slightly of the parrot in the restaurant. He was a little bit worried she might come up with the idea to kick in the door or get someone to do it for her; Henry found that she sounded angry and determined enough to do something like that.
He quickly scanned the small room, but there simply was no place to hide. And as there wasnʼt any window through which he could have escaped either, he just hid behind the door while Sarah was desperately racking her brain for an excuse not to let Phyllis inside.
“Iʼm afraid, I can not open the door just now,” she finally said. “I am still trying to get the stains out of my dress.”
“Donʼt bother! We will go up to your room where you can change into a new dress! We will give the stained one the hotel staff to clean it. Now open that door!”
“I can not let you in! The truth is, I made a mess!” Sarah shouted back.
“A mess? What kind of mess?!” Phyllis asked suspiciously.
“I could not keep the food inside, and now it is all over the floor! I would like to wipe it up first before somebody else comes in.”
“You can not be serious!” Phyllis blurted out. “What food are you talking about? You have not eaten anything all morning. Do not bother with the cleaning! This is no ladiesʼ work. I will get someone of the staff to do it.”
“No, please wait! I am almost finished! I do not want anyone to see it. I am begging you, please do spare me that disgrace! I am terribly embarrassed by all of this...”
“Good gracious me, that girl is driving me insane,” Henry heard Phyllis mutter. “Alright, do what you feel you have to do, but I will wait here until you are finished!”
Suddenly there was silence.
Sarah peered through the keyhole of the door. She signaled Henry that Phyllis was still outside. Henry pulled Sarah away from the door and into the farthest corner of the bathroom again where the risk of being heard was not so high.
“Sarah, the ship leaves at two in the morning,” Henry whispered. “At half past midnight, I will wait for you in a coach outside the hotel, a little bit further down the road and out of sight of anyone who could get suspicious. You must try to sneak out of the building while Damian is asleep.”
“Henry, I do not want you to wait for me here!” Sarah said excitedly. “If Damian wakes up and gets wind of it all, he really will kill you!”
“Do you still have some of those sleeping pills that Oscar gave you? You might use one of them to keep him quiet,” Henry asked.
“No, I used them all up.”
“I will ask Oscar to give me one. Then I will come back later today and secretly deposit it in one of the flower pots in front of the building. When you leave the hotel in the afternoon, you can pick it up and eventually put it in Damianʼs glass. Do it later towards the evening, though. After all, we donʼt want Damian to fall asleep at the dinner table, do we?”
Sarahʼs face momentarily lit up. Then she frowned again.
“That sounds like a good idea, but there is another problem: The hotel is locked at night and there is a night porter who will surely not let me out. It is not safe and appropriate for a young lady to go outside when it is dark.”
Henry let out a sigh.
Why does it all have to be so complicated...
“I have an idea!” Sarah suddenly blurted out. “Once I have sneaked out of the hotel room, I will rush down to the night porter and begin to cry. I will pretend that I lost one of my precious earrings upon returning from the dinner and will claim that it might have fallen onto the ground when I climbed out of the coach. I will tell him that the earrings were a wedding gift from Damian and that he will get very angry when he notices that I was so careless to lose one of them. The porter will surely let me out then in order to go in search of the earring, as he will suppose that I will not go very far. Then, when you see me, you can pull up with the coach, I will jump inside, and off we are. It will all happen so quickly that the night porter will not be able to do anything about it.”
Henry looked at Sarah sternly. He had to think about how easy it would have been for him and her to run away during that wonderful weekend that Lord and Lady Partridge had spent in Norwich. Compared to his escape plans back then, Sarahʼs suggestion with the lost earring sounded ridiculously risky. Still, Henry knew, they had no other choice, and Sarah sounded confident enough to pull her daring idea through.
“Alright then,” he said hesitantly. “Let us hope that luck is on our side…”
The next moment, they heard Phyllis shout again.
“Sarah, have you finished by now?! You know that my varicose veins begin to hurt when I have to stand for too long!”
“I will be with you straight away!” Sarah called back. Then she turned to Henry again.
“I am worried about you…” she whimpered. “Do you not think that it would be better if you waited for me at the docks? You could send me a coach instead and—”
Getting slightly impatient, Henry interrupted her.
“I doubt that I will find a coach driver whom I can bribe into stealing you for me. It is definitely better if I am around because if the coach driver notices what kind of game we play, well... maybe it will be necessary to put him out of action. Maybe I will have to drive the coach to the port myself in the end.”
Sarah stared at Henry, a terrified expression on her face.
“Calm down, Sarah, I will not kill him,” Henry said nervously. “But maybe I will have to knock him down and tie him up. God, what the hell do I know? I have never done anything like this before!”
“Good Lord, Henry, this is getting really dangerous. And it is entirely my fault...”
Henry let his fingers gently run along Sarahʼs cheek.
“It is alright, my sweetheart. I love you. And I will do whatever it takes to get you out of here.”
There was this look in her eyes again that told Henry that she believed he was a hero.
I am bloody insane, thatʼs all... he thought bitterly.
Outside, Phyllis began to moan.
“I really need to go now,” Sarah said, quickly flinging her arms around Henry again.
“Alright, Sarah, I will see you tonight at half past midnight,” Henry replied, giving her a hearty hug.
“I will be there, my dearest. I love you. Never forget that...”
“I love you, too.”
Henry bent down and kissed Sarah one last time. Worry lay in her eyes; worry if he would make it and if they both would come out of this little adventure unscathed. Henry decided not to let Sarahʼs concern affect him too much, otherwise he too would have begun to worry about himself. Right now, he still felt determined enough to pull it all through, felt an unexpected fit of courage and eagerness fueled by the prospect of finally having Sarah all to himself in the near future. He didnʼt want this sudden rush of endorphine to ebb, didnʼt want to feel discouraged by Sarahʼs doubts that everything would work out the way they hoped.
He watched Sarah carefully open the door and quickly slip outside.
“Good Lord, Miss Sarah, how much longer would you have made me wait for you!” Henry heard Phyllis mutter. “Let us go to your room now and get you changed! What a strange girl you are indeed...”
When Henry was certain that the two had gone, he sneaked out of the bathroom as well.
In the entrance hall, everything was back to normal again. Waffle-Wally was nowhere to be seen and Henry guessed that he had either already left, miraculously risen from the almost-dead, or—in the worst case—had been brought to a hospital where the doctors would shortly release him after finding out that he had not had a heart attack at all.
Wanting to get out of the building without being seen, Henry was now facing the same problem as earlier on when he had tried to get inside: He needed to get past the receptionist. But the latter had taken up his usual position behind his desk, sorting through his papers, observing the entrance hall. And as he was still confused by the incident with the beggar, he appeared to be even more attentive now.
Henry walked up and down the corridors on the ground floor for a while, wondering what to do. He was certain that a servantʼs entrance existed somewhere in the building, but he didnʼt know where it was, and apart from that he was worried that he would be asked stupid questions and raise suspicion if he used it.
Then he suddenly noticed a chamber maid who was in the process of cleaning room number four which had obviously just been vacated. When Henry crept over to the door and secretly peered inside the room, he saw that the maid was busy making the bed. She was humming a little tune and paused occasionally in order to pick her nose. Outside in the corridor and next to the open door stood one of the little trolleys which the maids used to transport fresh bed linen, towels and cleaning utensils.
Henry gave the trolley a little nudge. The wheels were squeaking a little bit, but not too much. Henry was positive that the maid would not hear the noise as she had now gone over to singing loudly to herself.
Henry grabbed the trolley and carefully pushed it along the corridor, some fifteen yards away from the guestroom. Then he quickly hastened back, hid behind a marble column in the corner, and waited.
After less than a minute, the maid came out of the room, still singing. Her singing abruptly stopped, however, when she noticed to her utter confusion that the trolly was gone. When she finally spotted it at the far end of the corridor, she shook her head in wonder and then, shrugging, marched off into the trolleyʼs direction in order to retrieve it.
Henry left his hiding place and, careful not to make any noise, tiptoed past the maidʼs back into room number four where he ran straight over to the window, opened it, and jumped outside. Then he quickly shut the window again, and although he was not able to lock it, it looked as if it had never been opened in the first place.
Henry straightened his jacket and, a satisfied grin on his face, made his way back home.