Andrew has run away.Would you please contact the Bow Street Runners and have them
begin searching London for him?No expense is too great.
Also, would you look for Andrew at Hyde Park?He is ever so fond of playing there.
Your sister,
Mantheria
With one last piece of paper, Mantheria’s shoulders curled forward as she wrote to her parents.Frederica and her husband, Samuel, lived with them.As well as her unmarried sister, Becca.
Dear Mama,
Andrew has run away to go on an adventure.I pray that he is with you, but in case he
isn’t, may I enlist the family members in your house to help search for him?I’ve requested that Matthew and Nancy search the docks, and Wick is going to employ the Bow Street Runners and check Hyde Park.Is there any particular place you believe Andrew might go?
I shall remain at home until I hear from you all.As soon as Andrew is recovered, I shall send you a footman with a note.
Love,
Mantheria
She exhaled slowly.Her shoulders were still raised, and she would not be able to relax them until her son was home and safe.Quickly getting to her feet, she took the three notes down to the kitchen and personally handed them to the footmen.“Please leave at once.”
They did not need to be told twice.
As a duchess, Mantheria did not often visit her kitchens.The lower level of the house was under the supervision of her very capable butler and housekeeper.She did not intrude in their domain, nor they in hers.Her three footmen had already put on their coats and were leaving.The remaining maids and Miss Robinson all looked at her in surprise.
“I am sorry to interrupt you all,” Mantheria said, her voice tight and her arms crossing her stomach in a protective huddle.“But Andrew is missing.I have a letter from him that says that he has gone on an adventure....Just to be certain, I want every nook and cranny in this house searched.Once that is done, I would like all of you to search for Andrew in the gardens and the streets near this house.Ask anyone and everyone if they have seen a blue-eyed boy with dark hair dressed in black.I will pay handsomely for any information that leads to the safe recovery of my son.”
Mrs.Scott, the housekeeper, pointed to each of the chambermaids and told them which rooms to search.Mantheria slowly forced her legs up each step and sat in the front parlor.She wanted nothing more than to search for her son, but someone needed to organize the efforts, and when he was found, she wanted to be the first person to know.
Sitting by the front window, an hour passed by.
Then another.
When the clock struck three o’clock, Mantheria’s body felt like it was strung tighter than a violin.Every noise and rattle caused her to jump.The slightest movement outside of her house made her head turn.She found it difficult to breathe.
After a light knock, Mrs.Scott entered the room with a curtsy and a fresh tea tray that she set on the table near Mantheria.“Your Grace, Master Andrew was not in the house, the garden, or this street.I have instructed the servants to expand their search in all directions.I hope to hear word from one of them soon.”
“Did no one see him leave the house?”Mantheria demanded.“Or which direction he went?”
Mrs.Scott rubbed her elbow with her opposite hand.“Debbie, a chambermaid, said that Master Andrew asked her yesterday about taking the stagecoach when she lit the fire in the nursery last night, Your Grace.Have you thought of checking some of the posting inns?”
Shaking her head, Mantheria curled her hands into fists until her nails left crescent marks in her palms.“I didn’t think about stagecoaches at all.I have never taken one myself.I do not even know where you would go to ride one.”
“There are coaching and posting inns throughout London, Your Grace.Perhaps I could send the footmen to check the close ones.Most stagecoaches leave in the afternoon or evening.We could still catch Master Andrew before it departs.”
Clasping the sides of her face, Mantheria said, “What a clever idea, Mrs.Scott.How many coaching and posting inns are there in London?”
The housekeeper’s face fell.“Over a hundred, Your Grace.There’s stagecoaches and mail coaches.They all leave at different times and go on different routes; some go as far as Edinburgh.But I’ll have the footmen start with the ones closest to Mayfair and then spread out farther from there.”
Mantheria’s heart sank in her chest.Finding Andrew in London was like searching for a needle in a haystack.“Very good.Thank you, Mrs.Scott.”
The older woman curtsied once more and left the room.She’d brought a tea tray with her, but Mantheria could not so much as swallow a bite or drink a sip.Not while her beloved son was missing and possibly in danger.
* * *