Rupert abducts and imprisons Isobel

Rupert abducts and imprisons Isobel by turning a fabricated report of Peter’s death into a pretext for claiming guardianship. He removes her from Willowbrook Hall despite Elspeth’s objections, takes her to Gosport Hall, and later declares that she is to marry Bertram DeLisle. His deception isolates Isobel and makes the threat to Elspeth part of the pressure that secures her departure; the announcement of the proposed marriage, in turn, prompts Kitty to act.

Background and False Guardianship

Isobel had spent two and a half weeks with Elspeth at Willowbrook Hall when Rupert arrived. The household had no reliable information about what he intended: he had not explained the destination to Elspeth, who was left uncertain and distressed. He asserted that Peter had died in Norfolk and that this made him Isobel’s legal guardian. According to Isobel’s later recollection, he attributed the news to a magistrate who had informed him of Peter’s death, while admitting that he did not know all the facts. The claim was presented as settled authority, although Peter was alive.

The false report did more than supply Rupert with a legal-sounding reason to take charge. Isobel was stunned by the news about her brother and did not know how to verify it. When she objected to leaving Willowbrook, Rupert threatened Elspeth with being sent to an asylum, describing her as unstable. Isobel agreed to go only after securing his promise that Elspeth could remain at the house for the time being. That conditional agreement arose under pressure: Rupert gave Isobel little time to pack, and she left without knowing where she was being taken.

Removal to Gosport Hall

Rupert’s removal of Isobel followed earlier intimidation of Elspeth. He had claimed guardianship through threats and insults, and threatened violence if Elspeth tried to prevent Isobel from being taken. Elspeth’s last sight of her niece was a brief, tearful goodbye before Isobel was bundled into an unmarked carriage and driven away. No word from Isobel reached the family afterward. The speed and secrecy of the departure left Elspeth without a clear account of Isobel’s destination or safety.

At Gosport Hall, the difference between Rupert’s initially curt but not openly hostile manner at Willowbrook and his conduct after the journey became clear. He summoned Isobel to speak with him after he had eaten and been drinking. He told her that Peter was dead, repeated that he was now her guardian, and said she would have to live by his house rules. Isobel recalled that he listed rules she did not take in at the time; the decisive message was his insistence that she was under his control. The episode connects the fabricated death report to the confinement itself: Rupert continued to use the claim about Peter to justify his authority after removing Isobel from her family home.

Confinement and the Marriage Scheme

Isobel later described periods in which she did not want to survive, and said that toward the end the beatings became less frequent. The account establishes that her confinement involved sustained mistreatment, while also marking a change in its frequency as the episode approached its next stage. Rupert began speaking of Bertram DeLisle’s impending visit and told Isobel that she needed to smarten herself. He said he had sold her to DeLisle, who was coming to inspect his goods. The statement casts the proposed marriage not as Isobel’s choice but as a transaction announced by her guardian.

Rupert’s manservant also told the few servants who remained that Isobel was betrothed and would soon leave to marry DeLisle. This announcement spread Rupert’s version of events within the household and presented the arrangement as already decided. It also became a practical turning point: Kitty was prompted to act by the news. Isobel’s account thus links the marriage scheme to the escape rather than treating it as a separate threat. The planned visit and the servant’s report made the danger of a forced departure immediate enough to move Kitty from concern to intervention.

Escape and Discovery

Kitty helped Isobel escape from Gosport Hall. Isobel confirmed Kitty’s role when asked about the escape, while Kitty later described the flight and Isobel’s destination to Dominic and Peter. Kitty had herself been found by one of Rupert’s staff and then set free; when Rupert learned that Isobel had escaped, he left with a henchman to search for her. His departure gave Kitty time to escape too. Having given her own funds to Isobel, Kitty took money from the library desk and eventually made her way back to Willowbrook Hall, where she resumed a nervous place among the staff. Rupert did not consider her important enough to pursue.

By the time Peter and Dominic returned from Norfolk, Elspeth believed Peter had been murdered by smugglers and had no news of Isobel. The brothers found Elspeth distressed and the household frightened. Peter’s return exposed the central lie that Rupert had used to take Isobel: Peter had not died, and Rupert’s asserted succession to guardianship rested on that false report. The family’s discovery of Kitty’s account then supplied what the false story had concealed: Isobel had fled Gosport Hall. Rupert’s abduction therefore produced both a prolonged separation and a chain of revelations, as his attempt to control what Isobel and her family knew ultimately helped bring the household’s attention back to her fate.

Significance

The episode is driven by competing claims over who may direct Isobel’s life. Rupert presents himself as guardian, but his authority is enforced through deception, threats against Elspeth, confinement, and a marriage arrangement announced to others as settled. Isobel’s departure from Willowbrook is not a free choice in any ordinary sense: she acts amid false news about Peter and accepts removal in order to protect Elspeth from the threatened asylum. Kitty’s response offers a counterforce within the household, turning the public announcement of the proposed betrothal into the circumstance that helps make escape possible. The plot’s later discovery of Peter alive also makes the original lie legible to the family and clarifies how Rupert used supposed legal authority to conceal an abduction.