Bride of the Solway (6 page)

The provost was bowing to a tall, dignified man who was just on the point of handing his hat and cane to the servant. Grimly, Ross clenched his jaw and waited for the right moment to intervene. The visitor was clearly a gentleman.

'My apologies, Colonel, for keeping you waiting.' The provost bowed again to his visitor. 'Legal business, you understand, with this.. .er.. .this prisoner.' He indicated Ross with a vague hand gesture. The look that accompanied it held more than a hint of uncertainty. 'If you would like to come into the
parlour
, I have a very fine Madeira that I should—'

'A moment, Provost,' said the colonel sharply. 'Perhaps you would be good enough to explain what the devil is going on here? This is Captain Graham, is it not? I must ask you to explain why you have this gentleman in custody.'

Ross frowned in surprise. This colonel knew him. But how? Ross
scrutinised
the unknown officer carefully, but could not place him. There was something vaguely familiar about the man, but that was all. And yet—

Seeing Ross's uncertainty, the colonel stepped forward and offered his hand. 'You won't remember me, Captain Graham. I'm Colonel Anstruther. I was invalided home after Badajoz. We did not run across each other much in the Peninsula. But I remember you well enough. General
Picton
spoke very highly of you.'

The two men shook hands, totally ignoring the provost and the hovering gaoler. 'Thank you, sir,' Ross said. 'It was an honour to serve with him. You know, I suppose, that he fell at Waterloo?'

'Aye. I heard. A sad loss.' He shook his head regretfully.

The silence was broken by the provost. 'Colonel,' he began, stepping forward, 'if you—'

'You have not told me why this officer is being held, Provost.'

'I.. .er...' The provost had turned very red. 'Well, Colonel, he is facing a very serious charge. Abduction. Brought by James Elliott, the victim's brother. I would not have confined the captain, you understand, but Elliott insisted. Said he was bound to try to escape. And that he was dangerous, too. Much as I'd be minded to—' he smiled weakly at Ross '—I cannot just release him.'

Ross ignored the provost completely. 'Colonel,' he said warmly, 'I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have someone to speak on my behalf. In a country with no habeas corpus, it seems I can simply be left to rot and—'

'Nonsense. Who told you that?'

'I—'

'I told the Captain we have no habeas corpus, Colonel,' interrupted the provost. 'And it's true enough, as you know. I was just about to tell him about the Scots law equivalent when you arrived, so he may have misunderstood the situation. Scotland is a
civilised
country, Captain. Prisoners are not left to rot here, any more than in England.'

'And now that I am prepared to vouch for Captain Graham, there need be no delay about releasing him, Provost. The Captain will give you his parole and you will release him into my custody.'

The provost hesitated. He was shuffling his feet nervously. 'James Elliott insisted—'

'James Elliott may be assured that Captain Graham will make no attempt to escape. Unless you doubt my word in this, Provost?'

The provost almost cowered before the colonel's ferocious frown. Rubbing his hands together in his agitation, the little man looked from the colonel to Ross and back again. There was no hint of weakness in either of them. 'I must know where the prisoner is to be found, sir,' he said lamely.

'I shall be in residence here in Dumfries for some weeks now. Captain Graham will be my guest. You may rest assured that I shall not take him out of your jurisdiction.' The colonel turned to Ross and smiled. 'If you are ready, sir, I will take you to my house now. My business with the provost can wait. It was not really important.' He ignored the provost's sharp intake of breath and turned for the door.

'A moment, Colonel, if you please,' Ross said quickly. 'While I will certainly give my parole to the provost, I cannot possibly accept your generous offer of hospitality when I am in such a dreadful state. I am not fit to enter a gentleman's house. And I do not even have a change of clothes.' He looked down at his filthy breeches and boots, and his shrunken coat. He had not been able to wash for the best part of three days and he had been lying on rotting straw in a stinking gaol. He must smell like something dredged from the quicksands of the Solway. 'Provost, what has become of my mare and my travelling baggage?'

The provost would not meet Ross's eye. 'Your horse is stabled at the George. There'll be livery to pay. There was no baggage as I'm aware of. Just a horse and a greatcoat. And ye've found that, I see,' he added sarcastically.

The colonel paid no heed at all. He himself opened the street door, without waiting for the servant. 'Don't worry, Graham. Your baggage will turn up, I'm sure. And in the meantime, I imagine you would welcome a hot bath and a good meal.'

'Well, yes, sir, but—'

'Good. Then come along. It's but a step to my house. My wife will be delighted to meet you.'

Ross grimaced at the embarrassing prospect, but stepped forward to join the colonel on the threshold.

'On second thoughts,' said the colonel with a small, wry smile, 'I might delay the introductions until after you've had a chance to make yourself a little more...er...presentable.'

In the circumstances, Ross found himself grinning at the older man's gentle jibe. The poor colonel had obviously just had a lungful of gaol
odours
.

'I'll send a man to see Elliott, to find out what happened to your baggage,' the colonel went on, as soon as they reached the street. 'I imagine there must have been a mistake of some kind.'

Ross nodded automatically, as politeness demanded. But he knew very well that there had been no mistake. The Elliott laird had meant him to be left to rot.

Colonel Anstruther looked his guest slowly up and down. 'It's something of an improvement, Graham,' he said at last, 'though the fit of that coat is...er...'

Ross grinned at his host. 'Your coat may not fit me very well, sir, but since my own is filthy, I make no complaint. Believe me, it is a blessing to be clean again. I owe you a debt for rescuing me from that stinking gaol.'

'Nonsense, nonsense. Any gentleman would have done the same. And if we can't find your own baggage, I'm sure we'll be able to find some better-fitting clothes in Dumfries. We can do that tomorrow morning. It's too late to do anything today, I fear.'

Ross nodded. At least he would not be beholden to the colonel for new clothes. He had money enough to buy his own.

'One thing I...I must say to you, Graham, before I introduce you to my wife.' The colonel pursed his lips and put his hand to his chin. 'I must tell you that she is not in good health. She has a...a wasting disease. When you meet her, you will see. I must warn you that she will not speak of it, not to anyone. I ask you to treat her as if she were a normal healthy woman, and to ignore the fact that she can no longer walk.'

Ross took a step forward and reached out a hand, helplessly. 'Sir, I should not be here. You—'

The colonel smiled rather tightly. 'My wife would not have it otherwise, Captain. She is very much looking forward to making your acquaintance. No doubt she will quiz you about our adventures in the Peninsula.'

'I shall be of little help to
Mrs
Anstruther, I fear,' Ross admitted. 'To be frank, sir, I barely remember meeting you there. As for adventures.. .there is very little fit for a lady's ears.'

'Very true,' smiled the colonel. 'I would not have my wife learn of some of the things we had to do. On the other hand, while I would not encourage you to make things up, Graham, you might—'

'I shall do my best to keep
Mrs
Anstruther entertained, sir. It is the least I can do.'

'Thank you.' The colonel was silent for a moment, as if considering. Then he said quietly, 'When I left for the Peninsula, there was no sign that anything was amiss. Her disease began while I was away, and she never said a word in any of her letters. Even when I had recovered from my wounds and was back at Horse Guards, she managed to conceal it from me. When I finally came home for good last year, I could barely
recognise
her. The bonnie lass I'd married was almost a wraith. Then, she could still walk. Since the spring, she cannot. She must keep her chair and be carried everywhere. You will see that she weighs no more than a feather now. Each night, when I carry her upstairs, I can feel that she is wasting away before my eyes.'

Ross could find no words to convey his sympathy.

The colonel shook his head, as if trying to shake off his moment of melancholy. 'I tell you this so that you will not be shocked when you meet my wife, Graham. That is all. But she is all good humour. She never complains. You will soon discover that she is fully absorbed in her latest project, to finish our new house and garden in the country. And if you don't take care, she will no doubt be enlisting your help for some part of her plans. It can be difficult to deny her, I warn you.'

'If I can repay your kindness by serving
Mrs
Anstruther, I should be delighted to do it. Pray tell her that I am quite at her service.'

'Now that,' said a female voice behind Ross, 'is a very rash promise for a gentleman to make. Just think what I might require you to do!'

The colonel laughed down at his wife in her wheeled chair. 'Allow me to present Captain Graham, my dear. I did try to warn him of the risks he was running,' he added, 'but he would have none of it. So it appears you have acquired another willing cavalier.'

Ross stepped forward and bowed over
Mrs
Anstruther's
outstretched hand, feeling how tiny it was, and how thin. The colonel's wife must have been very beautiful once. Now she was indeed like a wraith. A shadow of what she had been.

The following morning, James Elliott presented himself at Colonel
Anstruther's
door. Carrying Ross's bags.

Standing black-browed in the library doorway, Elliott bowed in the colonel's direction and said, 'I have come to return Captain Graham's baggage and pistols, and to
apologise
for bringing the charge against him. It has been withdrawn, as the provost will confirm. I jumped to an unwarranted conclusion, I admit, but if you had known the circumstances, and my sister's— Well, no point in going into that.' He bowed slightly to Ross. 'My sister has explained what took place, Captain Graham, and I have come to beg your pardon. My sister also begs to send you her thanks for rescuing her. She hopes that you have suffered no lasting hurt from your ordeal in...in Dumfries.'

Clever, Ross thought. By introducing his sister, he seeks to divert my righteous anger. And, as a gentleman, I have no choice but to acquiesce, especially here in Colonel
Anstruther's
home. 'Pray thank Miss Elliott for her kind enquiry. You may assure her that I am quite well, thanks to the Colonel's intervention. I see you have managed to discover my missing bags. How remarkably fortunate. The provost assured me that there was no trace of them.'

'A misunderstanding, I assure you, sir. Your luggage was conveyed to the stable, along with your mare. Both were well taken care of. And of course there is no livery to pay. I have seen to that.'

'You are all generosity, Elliott,' the colonel said, with some asperity.

'Sir, I hope it will be possible to forget this unfortunate episode. My sister joins her prayers to mine. She wishes me to invite you both—and
Mrs
Anstruther, too, of course—to visit us so that she may offer her apologies in person.'

Clearly the Elliott sister was not to be permitted to visit them in Dumfries. It seemed that, if Ross wanted to see the girl again, and to unravel the mystery surrounding her, he would have to go to her. But it was the height of ill manners to expect the invalid
Mrs
Anstruther to wait on a mere child. Ross waited to see how the colonel would respond.

'We are grateful for Miss Elliott's invitation. Of course.' The colonel's pause before those last words held a wealth of meaning. Ross fancied that Elliott was beginning to look a trifle embarrassed. However good his birth, Elliott was no gentleman, but even he must
realise
that it was for him, and his sister, to wait on the
Anstruthers
. The
Elliotts
, after all, were the ones who needed to
apologise
.

'You will understand, Elliott, that my wife is not able to travel easily. And my recollection is that the roads around your manor are remarkably bad. Is that not so?' The colonel waited for Elliott's reluctant nod before continuing. 'However, you and Miss Elliott would be more than welcome to call on us here in Dumfries. Miss Elliott would be able to make her apologies then, would she not?'