Your devoted husband,

Charles

Ellie looked up at Helen, who had been keeping a vigil with her for the past hour. “It's a trap,” she whispered, handing her the note.

Helen read it and looked up. “How can you be sure?”

“He would never call me Eleanor in a personal note such as this. Especially if he were trying to do something romantic. He would call me Ellie. I'm sure of it.”

“I don't know,” Helen said. “I agree with you that something is amiss, but can you really read all that into whether he uses your proper name or a nickname?”

Ellie waved her question aside. “And besides that, Charles has instituted draconian measures since someone tampered with his saddle. Do you really think he'd send me a note asking me to come out alone to a deserted area?”

“You're right,” Helen said firmly. “What will we do?”

“I'll have to go.”

“But you can't!”

“How else am I to discover his whereabouts?”

“But Ellie, you will be hurt. Surely whomever has taken Charles means to do you ill as well.”

“You will have to summon help. You can wait at the swing and watch what happens. Then you can follow me after I am snatched.”

“Ellie, it seems so dangerous.”

“There is no other way,” Ellie said firmly. “We cannot save Charles if we do not know where he is.”

Helen shook her head. “We won't have time to summon help. You're supposed to be at the swing in an hour.”

“You're right.” Ellie let out a nervous exhale. “We shall have to save him ourselves then.”

“Are you mad?”

“Can you shoot a gun?”

“Yes,” Helen replied. “My husband taught me how.”

“Good. I hope you don't need it. You shall go with Leavey to the swing. There is no other servant Charles trusts more.” Then Ellie's face crumpled. “Oh, Helen, what am I thinking? I cannot ask you to do this.”

“If you're going, I'm going,” Helen said firmly. “Charles saved me when my husband died and I had no place to go. Now it's my turn to return the favor.”

Ellie grasped her hands tightly. “Oh, Helen. He's lucky to have you for a cousin.”

“No,” Helen corrected. “He's lucky to have you for a wife.”

Chapter 23

Ellie hadn't counted on getting smacked over the head, but other than that, her scheme was proceeding exactly according to plan. She'd waited out by the swing, acted stupid and called out, “Charles?” in a silly voice when she'd heard footsteps, and struggled—although not too hard—when someone had grabbed her from behind.

But obviously she'd struggled a little bit harder than her attacker had expected, because he'd let out a loud curse and whacked her over the head with something that felt like a cross between a giant boulder and a grandfather clock. The blow didn't knock her out, but it did leave her dizzy and nauseated, which wasn't helped when her captor stuffed her in a burlap bag and threw her over his shoulder.