Page 73 of Mesmerized

“She is, I hope, practicing her piano. She neglected it a good deal in London, I’m afraid.”

They continued to chat in this general way until they were interrupted by the sound of hurrying feet outside in the marble-tiled hall. As one, they turned curiously toward the door.

Irina Valenskaya rushed into the room, saying, “Mama?”

She stopped and glanced around the room, which clearly did not contain her mother. She turned to Lady St. Leger and asked abruptly, “Have you seen my mother this morning?”

“Why, no,” Lady St. Leger replied, looking puzzled. “What is wrong, child?”

“My mother!” Irina exclaimed, looking distraught. “She’s gone!”

Chapter Fourteen

“WHAT?” LADY ST. LEGER’S hand flew to her throat, and she paled. “What do you mean?”

“She has vanished!” Irina cried.

“Vanished?” Stephen stood up, going over to the young woman. “Here. Sit down. Calm yourself, and tell us what happened.”

“I can’t sit down!” Irina cried. “Don’t you understand? Something has happened to her! She isn’t here!”

“Are you sure?” Lady St. Leger asked. “You know, it is a large house.”

“I looked in her room. She was not there when I went down to breakfast, and I was a little surprised, for we usually went together. I decided she must already be in the dining room, but when I got there, she was not. No one was there. I thought I must simply have missed her somehow, so after I ate, I came in here, but there was no one, so I went back upstairs and looked in her room again. It was still empty. I thought she might have gone to my bedchamber, but she was not there, either. I looked into Mr. Babington’s room, but the maid said she had not been in this morning. I waited in her room, thinking she would return, but she never did. So just now I returned to the dining room to ask the footman if Mama had said where she was going when she left breakfast. He said that she had not been in all morning!”

Madame Valenskaya’s absence at any meal was indeed odd, Olivia thought, but she did not say so. She crossed to Irina, saying in a calming voice, “I am sure Madame Valenskaya is all right. Perhaps she is in some other room, or she’s taken a walk in the garden.”

“Before she ate breakfast?” Irina shot her a disbelieving look. “That is not like Mama at all.”

“Oh, dear!” Lady St. Leger clasped her hands together, her brow knitting. “Surely nothing can have happened to her! There can’t have been another calamity!”

“No doubt she is perfectly fine, my lady,” Olivia reassured her.

“Begging your pardon, ma’am,” Rafe said to Irina, “but are you sure she didn’t take off? She looked pretty green last night after that séance.”

“Mama would never leave without me!” Irina cried. “Certainly not without at least telling me.”

“Of course not,” Lady St. Leger agreed. “I am so afraid—I mean, with what happened to Mr. Babington, I fear that something has happened to her. I don’t understand why the séances have turned so—they are so different than they were at first.”

“Don’t worry,” Stephen told her. “We will search for her. Mother, you stay here, in case Madame Valenskaya should happen to seek you out. Rafe?”

It took only a look toward the man, and Rafe was by his side. “Where shall we start?”

“Why don’t you and Irina go through this side of the ground floor? The ballrooms, the conservatory, both dining rooms. Olivia and I will take the west side. I shall send a message to the stables, as well, and set a couple of footmen to searching the gardens.”

Rafe nodded and steered Irina out the door. St. Leger yanked at the bellpull, and when a footman appeared, gave him instructions to search the kitchens, the gardens and the stables for the missing medium. Then he and Olivia started down the hall. Their first stop was the library, empty of people except for Olivia’s great-uncle Bellard. When he heard of their quest, he was quick to join them. In the music room, they found Belinda, who was quite happy to leave her piano practice and help them search, as well. The small salon, near the rear of the house, and the smoking room, proved empty.

They returned to the base of the stairs as Rafe and Irina came in from the other side. In response to Stephen’s raised eyebrows, Rafe shook his head.

“We have been all through this side. You know, Steve, my lad, you have far too many rooms in this house,” Rafe told him. “There is no sign of her. I talked to the footman in the dining room again, and the fellow swore up and down that she hadn’t been in this morning.”

“Something has happened to her,” Irina insisted unhappily. “It must have.”

Stephen started up the stairs, with the rest of them following. Stephen sent Rafe and Irina down one side of the corridor, and Great-uncle Bellard and Belinda down the other. He took Olivia’s arm and headed to the end of the hallway where the medium’s room lay. They walked into Madame Valenskaya’s room, which was indeed empty of her person. However, the woman’s clothes were still there, many of them flung messily across the chair and dresser.

“At least she hasn’t packed a bag and taken off,” Stephen said. “That was my first thought when Miss Valenskaya said she was gone.”

“No, it doesn’t look like it. Although she did seem very shaken last night.”