She knew it was Richard. She knew he came for her but the state of mind Marcus was in she was not sure if he was too late.

"It would seem we have run out of time," Marcus said to Juliana his eyes filled with such sadness and pain.

"No," Juliana said, "there is always a choice, a second chance." She touched his face gently and wiped away his tears. Marcus pressed his face into her palm.

"It is too late for me. Is that not correct, Lord Bentley?" Marcus knew Richard was here to kill him and truly he wanted to die, or so he thought until she showed him kindness.

Richard felt very confused by all of this. He wanted to pull the trigger. He wanted him dead for laying just a finger on Juliana but he had one shot and he would not expend it until he knew for certain his mark would be true.

"Marcus please," Juliana begged.

Marcus could not believe after all he has done, after all, he thought to do, she was begging him to live, to give himself up. The servants were right. He did not deserve her. She was far beyond him, but perhaps if she could care for him he was worth saving. He slowly raised his body up and Richard kept his gun trained on him.

"I am so sorry, Anna."

Richard caught the glint of a dagger that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. A shot rang out. Juliana screamed and Richard watched horrified as Juliana threw herself in harm's way. He screamed her name as Marcus and Juliana tumbled from the bed to the floor. She now lay on top of him on the other side and Richard for the briefest moment lost sight of them.

He heard scrambling and Marcus got to his feet, pausing only a second before he ran out the door. Richard raced to the other side of the bed. "Richard?" Juliana called to him and he was by her side within seconds.

She lives he did not shoot her, he missed. Relief flooded his body as he took her arm and helped her to her feet. He needed to pursue Marcus before he got too far but the moment his hand left her she crumpled to the ground.

That is when he had seen the dagger buried within her. "Richard?" She pulled it from her body and the blood began to flow.

"Oh God! No!" Richard said as he gathered her in her arms.

"Richard I ..."

"Shh!" Richard began working at a fast and furious pace. He pulled the sheet from the bed and used the dagger to tear it into pieces. Juliana's eyes fluttered slightly.

"Stay with me Juliana," Richard commanded taking the pieces and stuffing them into the wound to staunch the bleeding. He then wound several longer pieces around her delicate waist to apply pressure. He was reminded of the numerous times he had dressed many a mate at that fateful battle. They had lost so many.

"Richard, I'm so sorry." She shivered, feeling suddenly cold.

Richard pulled the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around her. Gathering her up in his arms like a small child.

Annabelle had run into the room. "Juliana! Juliana!" She was stunned into silence at the blood she saw among the sheets and there was Richard holding on to Juliana rocking her in his arms. Tears running down his face.

"Cyril!" Annabelle cried running from the room to find her husband. "Juliana has been hurt! Quick get Doctor Feller here as fast as you can!"

"Richard, I did not mean for .... I do not want to lose you," Juliana said as panic gripped her heart. She struggled desperately to stay with him.

"Shh! Do not talk nonsense to me," Richard said, "you are not going to lose me."

"No, but you may lose me," Juliana said as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Richard held Juliana closer. "You will not die! Do you understand me?! If you do, you will take me with you."

Juliana looked up at him and wiped a tear from his cheek, leaving a trail of red. She did not even realize her hands were bloodied. She just needed to touch him. "I love you, Richard," she shivered again. "I have loved you from the moment I saw you. I have always loved you and no matter what happens to me, I will love you forever." And with those words, Juliana's body went limp in his arms.

"God No!" Richard cried. "No, Juliana! No!" he yelled crushing her to him. "Please, do not leave me. You are all I have. I am nothing without you," Richard kissed Juliana's lips but he felt no warmth there.

Richard had no idea how long it took for the doctor to get there but it took both the doctor and Cyril to pull him away from Juliana. Annabelle led her brother to the parlor. He walked slowly like he was in some kind of trance. Annabelle tried to talk to him but received no response. His clothes and hands were bloodied, he had Juliana's handprint on his face but he was completely unaware of what he looked like.

He could not believe she was gone. He had lost her... forever. Why? Why would such a thing happen? They came so far. Why?

Annabelle sat him in a chair and gathered a bowl and a damp cloth and began to wash the stain from Richard's face. Tears of her own she shed for her brother and her closest friend. Richard stopped Annabelle's movements and stared into her eyes.

"I have lost her," Richard said to his little sister.

"Oh, Richard," Annabelle hugged her older brother. Holding on to him as if trying to physically hold him together.

"I did not even get the chance to tell her. Tell her all I felt for her. Show her how much I love her."

"She knew that you loved her Richard," Annabelle soothed.

"I know," Richard said, "but I never got to say the words and now she is gone."

"You of all people should know better than that," Cyril said as he entered the room. "Juliana's a fighter and I would have thought you would have been the last person to give up on her."

Richard looked confuse at Cyril's words. "You mean?"

Cyril shook his head in confirmation.

"But I held her in my arms I felt her life fade," Richard said in disbelief.

"Her pulse did seem almost non-existent because her body has gone through a great shock. She is currently unconscious but she is alive," Cyril said. "The doctor believes she may have a chance, a very small chance. The wound was clean, the blade it seems, missed any of her major organs and so long as we watch over her and help her battle any infection that may set in, she may pull through this."

Richard felt suddenly giddy. He picked up his little sister swinging her around like she were a rag doll. Putting her on her feet again he wiped away her tears. "We will have no more of these. So long as she has a breath left in her body," Richard said jumping up from the chair. "Can I see her?" he asked.

"Not at the moment, Doctor Feller is finishing up. I think its best to wait until he has finished. Besides the Constable is here, he and his men need to speak with you."

Richard nodded but he knew his mind would be far away from the matter at hand.

He met with the Constable in the entryway. The Constable spoke without delay, "Lord Bentley, is this yours?"

Richard looked at the weapon that Juliana had pulled out of her body. It was the dagger that was presented to him for his valor in battle. It had since been cleaned off and he was grateful for that. It sickened him to think a belonging of his may have taken Juliana's life.

"Yes, it is." Marcus must have taken it from his room.

"I see. Follow me if you would." He led Richard outside, there was a body covered in the middle of the road. Pulling back the sheet he asked, "Do you know this man?" There laid the lifeless body of Marcus Smith. Killed it would seem by a bullet to the head but Marcus had no gun so who pulled the trigger?

"Yes, Constable his name is Marcus Smith he had murdered my fiancé and has tried to kill the woman inside."

Throwing the sheet over the dead man's face the Constable said, "Fine then you have confirmed the old man's story. I would hate to have to press charges against him."

"Against who?" Richard asked. There, sitting on the steps across the street was Barnaby Smith. Head in his hands he wept for his son but it was the shotgun slung over his shoulder that took his boy's life.

"May I have a moment? Please?" Richard asked.

"I see no harm," said the Constable. Richard approached the elderly gentleman sitting on the staircase.

"Mr. Smith?"

Barneby looked up and tears streaked his face.

"Cyril," Barneby looked alarmed by the blood staining Richard's shirt. "Tell me I was not too late. That your family is unharmed?" Richard sat next to him.

"Barneby, I have a confession to make. That man you see talking with the Constable over there is Cyril Kane. My name is Lord Richard Bentley. You knew then... that your son wanted to harm someone?" Richard asked.

Barneby nodded and then slowly explained, "After you had left I received the morning post. There was a letter from my son saying he received his dream position working as a law student under the guidance of Cyril Kane in London. I knew it was a lie or at least I thought it was because I had spoken to Cyril Kane that morning and what were the odds there were two of you? Attached was a letter. The letter you received telling you of my son's plans. I opened the letter. I was horrified by what I read and it made no sense to me. I paid a boy from the village a handsome sum to get the letter to you.

I packed my things ready to leave for London to track Marcus down. I received a visit from Mr. Chase. He had also asked about my son and informed me that the business he had planned to do with me would have to wait. That he and his wife had to go on holiday. When I asked him why he wanted to know about Marcus he broke down and began sobbing like a child. He told me the whole sordid tale. If I did not receive that letter earlier I swear I would have killed the man on the spot for saying what he had about Marcus. Mr. Chase and I go back a long way. I had told him of the letter I received and we had both ended up on your doorstep but we were told you had already gone."

"I had convinced Mr. Chase to allow me to handle my own family affairs. Told him it was not safe to take his wife and to do as you had told him. I learned from your butler where you lived...I mean where Mr. Kane lived as Marcus had told me he had managed to obtain a flat across the way. By the time I got here, I did not know what to expect but I certainly did not expect to see my son running from that house with blood on his shirt and hands like some cold-blooded killer. He looked right at me when I pulled the trigger." Mr. Smith broke down and wept again for the son he had put into an early grave.

"Why? Why did you kill him?" Richard asked.

"What choice did I have? He had killed Cecilia and their child, my only grandchild, and now I had no idea who else he hurt but I could not let it continue, to let him get away. If not me he would have been caught and hung for his crimes," Barneby said shaking his head as he looked at the sheet-covered body in the street.

"Your son planned to die," Richard said attempting to ease the man's suffering.

"I do not believe that," Barneby said shaking his head in denial. "Marcus is smart perhaps he was too smart for his own good."

"What do you mean?" Richard asked truly surprised at the conviction in Barneby's voice.

"The Constable showed me a knife said it was used in the crime and asked if I had seen it before. That knife did not belong to Marcus."

"No," Richard confirmed the older man's thoughts. "It is my knife. He must have taken it from the house when he was in service there along with the law books you had seen him with."

Barneby laughed a hollow sound. "Do you not see? The case was about a man who murdered his wife and child and then went on a killing spree. Cecilia was your fiancé and Marcus used your knife to harm someone in that house who I am sure meant something to you. But his intention was not to lay down and die. He wanted you to take the blame for both killings leaving him free as a bird to go wherever he wished."

"The woman that your son had almost killed tonight was the only woman I had ever loved," Richard told him.

"Is she alive then?" Barneby asked.

"Yes, barely. We are far from fighting for her life."

"Then all is not a total loss."

"I am sorry you have lost your son," Richard could not imagine the strength it took to pull that trigger.

"I had lost him long ago. That man there is a stranger. Now my son, the boy that I raised, the man that I loved has been set free. I only hope he can find peace wherever he may be."

Richard highly doubted that considering the crimes he committed in his lifetime but kept his opinion to himself.

"Will I be sent to jail?" Barneby asked the thought obviously just occurring to him.

"I will make the arrangements with the Constable that no charges be brought against you. You have done my family a great service. I will be forever in your debt. I will also leave word with Cyril, he can find a place for you to stay and I will make sure he sends word to the Chase family."

"It is done then," Barneby said, looking sadly at the sheet-covered body lying in the street.