The longer Agnes Rittenhouse waited, the more furious she became. Not only had Odo left her with the child much longer than he'd promised, he had not yet returned with her payment--namely that wonderful blue diamond that she had so long wanted.
Thankfully, both babies slept peacefully despite the fact that Agnes had left them on the floor with nothing to comfort them. Had they made the slightest noise, Agnes' irritation would have only been compounded.
To distract herself, she thought of the moment when she would be reunited with Lady Barbara. The first thing she would do, Agnes decided, would be to insist that her lady leave that awful house and Iolanthe Evangeline, next, she would remind Barbara of her birthright, telling her without question that she could stop calling herself Barbara Allen and once again use her proper name. After all, Agnes thought, Arthur was dead. Barbara was no longer under his tragic influence. She should reclaim what was rightfully hers.
Yes, Agnes smiled to herself, that's what she would do. And, when Lady Barbara agreed to it--for surely she would see the sense in her old nanny's words and once again act like a lady--Agnes would give her a new child. Would Barbara notice that it was a different baby? Would she care that he was not the one that she bore? The new child--the one belonging to the Halifaxes-- was certainly more robust and alert than the one that Mr. Cage wanted. And while the new baby had no Fallbridge blood per se, Agnes thought that might be a good thing. After all, thus far, the Fallbridge blood hadn't done anything to improve the Duke.
Agnes bit her lip and considered what she would say if Barbara noticed that the child was not the same. Should she bother to confess? No. She could simply say that the child had grown since last Barbara saw it. That was the best tactic.
Agnes was momentarily soothed by what she perceived as the utter genius of her plan, but that brief happiness faded quickly as she remembered that she could do nothing until that horrible Odo returned.
As she felt strange surges of angry energy race through her arms, she looked around the room for something she could mangle, break or smash. A knock on the door made her exclaim--first from fear, and then with relief.
Opening the door, she expected to see Odo, but was not pleasantly surprised to find a panting Iolanthe Evangeline, holding what appeared to be injured hands in front of herself.
"Get away from me," Agnes moaned, trying to shut the door, but Iolanthe forced her way in.
"Look, just give me Edward Cage's boy and I'll be on my way."
Agnes considered what Iolanthe said, chewing her own dry, scaly lips.
"Odo sent me," Iolanthe said, half-honestly.
"Very well then," Agnes shrugged.
Did you miss Chapters 1-375, you can read them in the Chapter Archive.
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