Hide in Time (16 page)

“And you will address both Miss
Mulberry and Miss Leigh-Fox correctly. Only my groom is to attend to
my horse. Now tether the ladies’ horses and find him.”

Billy turned to face Adam. “Yessir.”

Adam looked at Alexandra, “Forgive
me. I would not have you witness such an outburst. I have reasoned
with him to no avail. It seems I must speak to him in a way he
understands and to which he will respond.” He was still looking
straight into Alexandra’s eyes as he said, “It is
important that Billy pays you the respect you deserve and have
earned.”

Alexandra’s butterflies set up a
colony in her knees. Fortunately, she thought, I can still smile.
Adam returned the smile and that devastating scar increased its
power. How had he acquired it?

Catherine could feel raindrops and she
caught Alexandra’s hand and pulled her towards the house.

“Tell me, Catherine, do you think
he is beginning…”

“If it’s about Laura,
please don’t ask,” Catherine said, her mournful eyes
glancing up to Alexandra’s. “It is four months to the day
now.”

Alexandra changed tack. “Then
tell me why you call your lovely dappled grey, ‘Black’?”

Catherine laughed, “I wondered
when you’d ask that. I read a book and the heroine, ‘The
Sword Mistress’, had a horse called Black. It quite captured my
imagination and so my frisky little grey became the mighty ‘Black’.”
Alexandra laughed too and, with the tension broken, she didn’t
risk asking how Holly got her name. With Christmas approaching, she
thought she could guess.

Millie was waiting for them as they
went through the door and relieved them of their damp jackets. “Don’t
worry about me,” said Alexandra, “I’ll change then
go to my workshop. This is just the day to set it up properly. I hope
that Adam will realize how much I appreciate what he has done for me.
I shall make him something.”

“You must have a hot drink first,
Alexandra. Millie, bring refreshment for three to the morning room,
will you please. I will also attend to my own change of clothes. Make
sure Mr Adam knows about the hot beverages to come, won’t you?”

Alexandra was the last to return to the
morning room and when she did, she was extremely distressed. “My
diamonds have gone!”

Adam, who had been relaxing
cross-legged in his favourite wooden-armed chair, leapt up.
“Diamonds? What diamonds?”

In my family bag, when I first arrived,
I had some diamonds…”

“How many?” interrupted
Adam.

“Seven. Cut and polished. Eight
carats in all.” Alexandra’s ashen face now took on a look
of growing horror, as did Adam’s.

“Carrots?” Catherine looked
puzzled.

“Hush, little one. I shall
explain later.” Adam then looked at Alexandra. Though there was
but one thought in her mind at that moment, she could not help but
catch the concerned look in Adam’s eyes. Almost tender. “For
now, Catherine, I should like you to look after Alexandra. I have
something to attend to.” Still in his riding habit, Adam
grabbed a piece of cake, poured some tea, gulped it and left through
the doors to the garden.

Catherine and Alexandra dashed to the
window in time to see him disappear into the stables and ride out
again on Esky. “He’s going after Jack,” Catherine
said quietly.

“I’d rather he went after
my diamonds,” Alexandra said loudly, then added, “Oh, I
see.” Her admiration of Adam, despite the distance he seemed to
want to keep between them, was intensifying daily. In fact, it was
beginning to hurt. She thought of him the moment she woke up and she
longed for him to cross her path. He rarely did. Except for dinner in
the evenings, her only company was Catherine. She turned and looked
at the lovely young girl whose life was so dependent on those around
her and a determination was born: unlike her new little sister, she
would not become obligated to anyone. But when Adam returns with my
diamonds, I might feel I owe him a kiss, she thought.

Hide in Time ~ Anna Faversham

Jack arrived home just as they were
taking their seats for dinner and stormed into the dining room.

“Utterly deplorable,” said
Father Fox as he surveyed the unkempt, wet and muddy Jack. “Utterly…”

“Yes, yes, you’ve said
that,” Jack interrupted. “How else do you expect me to
look when I’ve been robbed?”

Catherine gasped and Alexandra lowered
her eyes endeavouring not to say something that would undoubtedly
sound ‘unladylike’.

“That damned highwayman again.”

“Jack, will you please take care
of your mouth,” Father Fox said.

“Take care of…”
spluttered Jack, “I’d like to take care of that thieving
pikey.”

“Jack, where is Adam?”
Catherine asked, much to Alexandra’s relief.

“Adam? Huh! I might have known
he’s all you can think about.”

Catherine’s face betrayed her
alarm and Alexandra thought she might help by explaining, but she
decided otherwise. There be dragons.

Her eyes flicked across to Father Fox
who revealed no emotion as he repeated, “Utterly deplorable,”
then added, “Kindly attire yourself for dinner and join us
immediately.”

Jack looked at the table. It was empty.
“The dishes are arriving now,” said Alexandra in an
attempt to prevent another outburst and, much to her relief, Johnson
came through the door carrying a large dish of steaming potatoes.

“Not bloody potatoes again!”

“No, Jack, no. Please don’t
get angry,” entreated Catherine. “Look, there are other
dishes coming too.”

A loud thumping on the main doors could
be heard and Father Fox raised his eyes to the doorway and indicated
to some unseen servant to hurry and attend to the visitor then turned
to the inquisitive Jack, “Shut the door as you go out. I wish
to have dinner undisturbed.” His wish was not granted; Johnson
briskly entered as Jack left. “What is it now, Johnson?”

Alexandra and Catherine craned towards
the two concerned faces but were seated too far distant to catch much
of what was being said. “It’s Parson Raffles,” said
Alexandra as Father Fox muttered his excuses and moved as if by
osmosis through the doorway. “Clearly there is a problem,”

“There’s news of Adam,”
said Catherine, “I heard his name mentioned.”

“I also heard something about
‘being detained’.”

Catherine’s expression turned
from concerned to alarmed. “Alexandra, I also heard the word
‘highwayman’. And Jack said he’d been robbed by…”
She tailed off in despair. The two sat in contemplative silence.

Catherine and Alexandra were excluded
from the fevered discussions between Father Fox and Parson Emmanuel
Raffles so it was with disconsolate hearts that they eventually
retired to their respective bedrooms.

~

Despondency had set in by the time they
met in the morning room the following day.

“I’ll ask Johnson,”
said Alexandra.

“He won’t tell you
anything. I’ve tried in the past. He’s very loyal.”

“Are you, his sister, supposed to
sit here and worry when there may be no cause to do so?”

“No cause? How can you say that?
Jack is seen galloping off. Your diamonds have been stolen. Adam
thunders after Jack. A highwayman robs Jack. Adam has been
‘detained’. Is it not clear? Adam is the highwayman!”

Startled at Catherine’s outburst,
Alexandra stood up and paced the morning room before she responded.
“No, Catherine. You are jumping to the wrong conclusion.”

“Alexandra, I am not.”
Catherine also stood up and, putting her hands on the back of Adam’s
chair, she began to squeeze it in desperation. “Every time Jack
leaves here with something, Adam returns with it soon after.”

“Catherine, that proves that Adam
confronts Jack and remonstrates with him in order to return the
items. However Adam is dressed, even as a highwayman, Jack would
surely recognize him.”

“You were accosted by the robber
and you said you could hardly see anything of him at all."

“That was a very long distance
from here and I was not travelling with Jack. And Adam was here. The
man who was robbed was carrying winnings from cheating at gambling.
It was some sort of insider knowledge. A set-up.”

The unfamiliar words that Alexandra
uttered stalled Catherine sufficiently for her to think carefully
before she spoke. “You think I am being disloyal, don’t
you?”

“I think you are concerned for
your brother whom you and I have come to know as truthful,
straightforward, intelligent and…” She had said too
much.

Catherine looked at Alexandra who was
examining her fingernails and replied with a little more composure,
“I adore Adam. He is the finest brother anyone could have. He
is the finest man. I would not voice my doubts to anyone but you,
Alexandra,” but then her poise ran out, “Yet where is
he?”

~

By midnight Adam had still not arrived
home. Catherine delicately broached the subject of where Adam might
be. “In disgrace,” Father Fox responded. Catherine burst
into tears and left the room running, clutching a handkerchief to her
face. Father Fox simply sighed. Alexandra thought it might be time to
probe; after all, Catherine had a point. Something was not right. All
that Father Fox would say was that Adam had no right to mete out
justice. Then he added, as if of no consequence, “Your diamonds
have been recovered.”

~

The fiasco of dinner that evening
contributed in no small manner to Alexandra’s decision to act.
The large ottoman at the end of her bed had a false bottom, which
Catherine had made her promise to keep secret from everyone,
especially Millie. Alexandra had hidden her black cropped trousers
there, having cut off the gold buttons first, and she fished them out
and put them on. Searching for something warm to wear she reminded
herself to see a local seamstress and have something practical made
up; a velvet bolero was not much use on a cold winter’s night.
She buttoned up a dark spencer, which Catherine had lent her, though
it clearly wasn’t the petite Catherine’s own; more likely
it was Laura’s, she thought. She grabbed her cloak, which she
also suspected was Laura’s, and her riding boots, and tiptoed
down the stairs to the doors of the morning room. They were bolted
and locked. Where would the key be? In the care of the butler. The
household no longer had a proper butler or housekeeper but the key
was still in the butler’s pantry. After putting her boots on
and wrapping herself in her cloak, she let herself out quietly then
ran to the stables and found Billy.

“Miss Alexandra, what are you
doing here?”

“Help me, Billy. I’m…”
she faltered. Just in time she realized that to say she was looking
for Adam might not elicit the response she needed.

“You’re not running away
are you?”

“No, Billy, no.” She seized
on his concern. “But I do need to get away for an hour or two.”

“You looking for that Jack?”

“Something’s wrong, Billy.”

“Jack’s gone to his club in
the town. I can take you there if you like but it ain’t no
place for a lady. Gambling and all sorts.”

“Is Mr Adam there too?” she
asked in spite of her better judgement.

“Nah. He don’t go there.
Lord knows what he gets up to. That mute saddles Esky on many a dark
night. I was down at the inn a week ago and, walking back through
those few cottages at the bottom of the hill, I saw him. Sitting all
haughty on Esky he was and some poor girl was tugging at his boot,
pleading with him. He rode off as if she meant nothing to him but
clearly that wasn’t the case.”

“What on earth do you mean,
Billy?”

“Six months I’d say she
was. Driven to near distraction. And he just rode off. Didn’t
know I’d seen him though.”

“Billy! That’s a terrible
thing to imply. How could you when Mr Adam has given you a job and a
roof over your head.”

“You’re making a big
mistake if you fancy him, Miss Laura. He’s no good.”

Only the fact that she thought his
loyalty to her, or this Laura person, might be useful, stopped her
from exploding.

“If I was you, Miss Laura, I’d
check it out. Not tonight, of course. In fact, I don’t think
you should be going anywhere on a cold and moonless night like this.
If you must go somewhere, I’ll come with you.” He looked
very solemn as he said, “If you’re after that Jack,
you’ll find yourself in some terrible places.”

“No, Billy, I don’t think
it’s wise for you to come. I’ll be very careful. And I
won’t tell on you calling me Laura if you don’t tell on
me.” She giggled gently and saw the effect on Billy who blew
her a kiss as he put the preferred saddle on Holly and led her to the
big iron gates at the front of “Foxhills”. Poor Billy, he
was a fish out of water; she’d have to find him a pond.

Holly, her white socks showing up more
than Alexandra would have liked, trod sure-footed down the hill.
Alexandra steered her off the track and kept the trees between her
and the village of Wells. When she’d decided to look for Adam,
she’d had nothing but an intense passion driving her to search.
She wouldn’t have been able to sleep so why not set her mind at
rest by seeking out clues as to his whereabouts? Now she had that
clue. He wouldn’t be there, of course. Hadn’t Father Fox
said the diamonds had been returned? Hadn’t Emmanuel Raffles
spoken highly of him? Catherine too, until she’d misconstrued
what she’d overheard. She was young. She hadn’t
experienced the horrendous mistakes that one can make by not having
all the information.

Alexandra pulled Holly to a halt at the
edge of the trees. She could ask Billy to let her know when Adam was
out at night and then she could keep watch. It wouldn’t be
difficult. There were only a dozen or so cottages. If Adam did
frequent this area at night, it could be for only one purpose. But
she would prove to herself and to Billy that Adam did not. If a man
like Adam was out and about late at night there would be a legitimate
cause. There being no sign of anyone at all, not even a candle in a
window, she made her way to the edge of the town. There were lights
in the tavern and an occasional bawdy laugh but it was clear this was
not a place Adam would frequent. She dared not go further into town.
Not tonight. She was too recognizable.