“She was obliged to leave earlier with Mr. Aldwyn and a party of other friends, but she sends her apologies and hopes you’ll allow me to escort you to Kelston in her stead. It’s only a few miles, but there’s no time to lose, so jump in, there’s a good girl.”
Anna allowed few social scruples to deter her when in the middle of a splendid adventure, but her mama’s oft-repeated precepts had not entirely fallen on barren ground, and it did now just cross her mind that perhaps she ought not to travel even a few miles unchaperoned in the company of a gentleman.
“But, but I thought she would be here,” she protested feebly. “Do you think… Perhaps we ought to take Matty with us?”
“Then how will you get in again, do you suppose?” he demanded, concealing under a changing smile his impatience to be gone. “No, you need a helper from inside the building; they’ll lock up soon, I dare say. But pray hurry, or else the fireworks will have started, and you wouldn’t want to miss that part of the fun.”
“Indeed not!” Anna agreed. “Let’s go at once!”
She jumped into the carriage without further objection. After all, Mr. Colby was a particular friend of Miss Melville’s, and if she had sent him, it must be all right. As her caution disappeared, her excitement returned in full force. In a little while, she would be in the company of another gentleman — one she found infinitely preferable to Mr. Colby. And only to think that all the while she was enjoying this most famous adventure, her schoolfellows would be lying tamely in bed!
But Matty, as she watched the carriage move off, was beset by qualms. It had not struck her as odd when the gentleman had been explaining what he wished her to do, for she was not a quick-witted girl and he was very persuasive; but now on reflection it did seem an unusual way for Miss Melville to behave. Had Miss Melville herself been waiting in the hackney, Matty would have passed by the unconventional manner of this outing, even though it did strike her as odd. But Miss Melville’s absence was not as readily accepted. Gentlefolk were always so careful of their young ladies, making sure that they were properly chaperoned and the like. Would Miss Melville have thought it right that Miss Anna should travel alone in a carriage with a gentleman she scarcely knew? And after dark, at that. Would she have arranged such a thing? And if she would not, then what was going on, and what ought she, Matty, to do about it?
Only one thing occurred to her: to go to the house where Miss Melville was staying and assure herself that everything was what it seemed to be. For a moment she shrank at the thought; the servants would be too high and mighty to talk to such as her, and most likely they would not permit her to see their mistress either. Her pinched little face set in an obstinate line. She would force her way in, if need be. Miss Melville had been a benefactress not only to her but to all her family, and she should not find Matty behind-hand in doing her duty.
Chapter XXIX
Louisa at first greeted Henrietta’s news with bemused incredulity. She found no difficulty at all in believing that Colby had a Bow Street Runner on his trail, and she declared that the scheme that had brought this about was typical of the man’s wicked plots. But that Lucius Fordyce was dead and she herself made a widow in fact seemed to be more than she dared to credit. She made Henrietta repeat again and again the exact words Mr. Aldwyn used to retell this part of his account; and even at the third recital, still fearing there might be some error she could only shake her head.
“I assure you there is not,” insisted Henrietta in firm tones. Mr. Aldwyn is not at all the kind of gentleman to mistake what is said to him, nor yet is a Bow Street officer likely to be in error over the facts of an official investigation. Let me explain matters once more to you, Louisa. The Runners traced Colby to Bristol when he left London with the jewels, but searched in vain for him there. They then thought he might have returned to Dublin — he’d let drop that he came from Dublin to that poor female he was trying to trap into marriage — so they pursued inquiries of him there. It was then that his association with Lucius Fordyce came to light. The local legal authorities knew Fordyce had been killed in a gaming house brawl during February, and Colby had disappeared from Dublin soon after in order to avoid the stir it caused. All this was authenticated by and vouched for by the Bow Street officer, so there can be no mistake, I assure you. But if you’d prefer to have Mr. Aldwyn’s account at first hand, he kindly undertook to place himself at your disposal. I mentioned that he’s next door, dining with the captain. Shall we request him to step round?”
“Oh, goodness, no, I wouldn’t wish to disturb them!” exclaimed Louisa quickly. “It’s not that I don’t think you’ve told me precisely what you heard, my dear, it’s simply that I just can’t believe, after all I’ve suffered, that at last I am free! Perhaps it is shameful, but indeed I cannot mourn for my husband. The man I loved died in my eyes long ago. Since that time, my marriage has been a mockery.”
“Now you have nothing left to do but forget the past,” said Henrietta encouragingly, “and start a new life without the shadow of a guilty secret hanging over you. I expect Colby will soon be found and taken into custody, so that will be an end of his machinations, thank goodness. What an evil man he must be. Mr. Aldwyn was enraged when I told him what Colby had done to you. I think he would have dearly liked to get his hands on the rogue!”
“How did you go on with Mr. Aldwyn?” asked Louisa curiously, for she was at last beginning to recover from her shock. “I haven’t had wits enough until now to think about it, but you must have found it most embarrassing to be obliged to confide my troubles to him.”
Henrietta coloured. “I was so full of your need for help, I didn’t have time to feel embarrassment on my own account. Moreover, he was so kind, so understanding, that in the end we were almost restored to the old footing, and were even able to share a mild jest together!”
“I’m glad that you’ve made up your quarrel. Well, as you say, Hetty, I must put aside the past and look to the future. Have you further considered coming to live with me permanently? I believe it would answer splendidly for both of us.”
Henrietta shook her head. “I’m not so certain of that. You may soon have other plans.”
“Why, what can you mean?”
“If you will play the innocent! I mean that there is now no reason why you and the captain should not make a match of it. You have already confided to me what your own wishes are, if you recall.”
Louisa turned a glowing face toward her.
“Yes, but that’s not to say that his will be the same. He’s so much everything that a female could possibly desire, that I’m sure he could have anyone for the asking!”
“You’re doing it too brown, my love,” answered Henrietta with a chuckle. “Possibly he could have anyone, but you are the only woman he desires. Mr. Aldwyn agrees, and half Bath is aware of it!”
“Oh, so you’ve been discussing the relationship between the captain and myself with Mr. Aldwyn, have you? A nice thing, I must say!”
“It merely came up in passing,” said Henrietta mendaciously. “But gracious, look at the time! Dinner will be on the table in twenty minutes, and I’ve scarce had a chance to tidy myself all day, so rackety has it been!”
During dinner, Louisa’s spirits gradually rose until she was once more the carefree companion she had been prior to Colby’s arrival in Bath. Henrietta felt light-hearted herself in consequence. They laughed and talked of all the things they would do during the coming week, including a plan to hold a rout party, which Louisa had suggested when Henrietta first came to Bath.
“I hadn’t the heart for junketings at all,” Louisa confessed, “and was hard put to it to keep appearances at the Assembly balls and other social functions we’ve attended recently. But now it shall all go as I planned originally when you came to stay. We’ll have such fun, you shall see! And maybe we can find a more dashing suitor for you than poor Mr. Burke, who seems, by the way, to have withdrawn a trifle of late. Have you been snubbing him, Hetty?”
“I fancy he’s had s
econd thoughts, if, indeed, he ever did think seriously of me.”
“No doubt of that. Almeria declared she’d never seen him so much épris!”
“At all events, I don’t return his regard, so it’s as well he’s got the better of his inclination. I think, you know, that he’s the kind of gentleman who would be happiest in the bachelor state.”
“That may be, but you aren’t the sort of female who ought to remain a spinster,” declared Louisa emphatically. “So I warn you, my love, that I am about to embark upon a most determined campaign of matchmaking on your behalf!”
“A waste of time, I assure you.”
“Fustian! You are not so impervious to the appeal of the opposite sex, I know! Very well, I’ll not tease you over your flirtations of the past; one of those at least you’ll be glad to forget. But there are better fish in the sea. What do you say to Roderick Dyrham, for instance?”
Henrietta laughed. “That he’s likely to be wearing the willow for you for a very long time, poor man!”
“Well, Mr. Aldwyn, then? He proposed to you once and might do so again with a little encouragement. Yes, and now I come to think of it, those demonstrations of pique that led to your quarrel might well have been the result of jealousy. I did suggest it at the time, though you pooh-poohed the notion.”
“I beg you won’t talk such nonsense,” said Henrietta with a little constraint. “Or, since I see you must because you are feeling in high spirits, pray choose another subject.”
“I vow I’m beginning to wonder,” said Louisa with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, “if you have not a particular reason of your own —” She broke off as a knock came on the door, and her footman entered, looking a trifle flustered.
“Beg pardon, madam,” he said deferentially, “but there’s a young person in the hall who insists on seeing Miss Melville. I told her it wasn’t for the likes of her to interrupt ladies at their dinner, but I couldn’t get rid of the wench no how. Pushed her way in, she did — Well, I’ll be danged!”
The last exclamation was forced out of him as a small, dishevelled figure erupted into the room.
“Now look here, you!” he growled, starting to lay hands on the intruder.
“No, leave her be,” Henrietta commanded quickly. “Matty! Have you taken leave of your senses? What does this mean?”
“Beg pardon, Miss Melville, but I’ve got to talk to you!” gabbled Matty in a scarcely intelligible voice.
She had run all the way from Queen Square, and her altercation with the footman had almost exhausted what little breath was left to her.
“Very well, so you shall,” said Henrietta in soothing tones. “But first you had best sit down for a moment to recover your breath.”
Louisa rose from the table and dismissed the footman, who showed a tendency to linger and satisfy his curiosity. Matty obediently collapsed into a chair and waited until she could speak more clearly.
“Once I knowed you was here instead of where he said you’d be, I had to tell you at once, ma’am! I don’t know what’s goin’ on, but something’s not right, and you’ll know what’s to be done!”
It was scarcely surprising that neither of the ladies could make head nor tail of this speech. They looked at each other with puzzled frowns.
“Of whom are you speaking Matty, when you say ‘he’?” asked Henrietta, pouncing unerringly on the most significant word.
Her tone was patient and encouraging; for she could sense that the girl was extremely worried, and any impatience in dealing with her would render her even more incoherent.
“Mr. Colby, Miss Melville! He said you were at, at — I can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s in the letter, and I’ve got that, ’cos Miss Anna put it down, an’ I picked it up for fear one o’ the teachers might find it.”
Henrietta’s face turned pale. “Mr. Colby! And Anna! Matty, tell me the whole, from the beginning, at once! And you’d best give me this letter if you have it with you.”
In a few moments, Matty had explained the situation. Henrietta seized the letter and read it in mounting horror. Louisa read it over her shoulder.
“Good God!” exclaimed Louisa faintly. “He’s abducted Anna Florey! Is there no end to his villainy? Hetty, what’s to be done?”
Henrietta valiantly forced down her fears and tried to bring her wits to bear on the crisis.
“They must be pursued at once. The Bow Street Runner, Louisa! He’s in the town! Mr. Aldwyn — we must send for Mr. Aldwyn immediately!”
Louisa nodded and moved to the bell; when the footman appeared, she charged him with an urgent message to the house next door. Henrietta turned to Matty, who, at the mention of abduction, burst into tears.
“I wouldn’t never ’ave helped her, Miss Melville, if I ’adn’t thought as you wished it! And I’d ’ave gone with ’er in the coach; she suggested it, but that Mr. Colby said no, as she couldn’t get back into the school without me there, which was all nonsense, as he never intended she should come back. And what’s more, I’ve got the back door key and the key to the gate in my pocket, so we could’ve got back in any time we liked, no trouble at all! Oh, ma’am, what’s to become o’ me an’ poor Miss Anna if you can’t rescue ’er from ’is clutches?”
“Calm yourself, Matty. We shall rescue her. You’ve both been very foolish, but never mind that now. You’d best stay here for the moment. Go down to the kitchen, the footman will show you the way, and I dare say Cook will give you a hot drink to help calm you. Stay there until I send for you.”
Matty obediently departed, snivelling.
“You don’t think he means to force that poor child into marriage?” asked Henrietta shakily.
“No, not for a moment,” said Louisa reassuringly. “Clavering would never wed anyone who wasn’t in possession of a fortune. No, older females are his quarry. Depend upon it, he means to hold Anna for ransom. He mentioned to me lately that he had reliable accomplices in Bristol with whom he stayed before coming to Bath. I expect he’ll take her there — or try to, at all events. Hetty, I dare say this plan struck him as a means of paying you out, as well as putting him in funds. I told you he’s a malicious monster.”
Aldwyn arrived quickly. When he heard what had happened he characteristically wasted no time on unessentials.
“He’s had almost twenty minutes start,” he said, glancing at the clock. “What kind of vehicle has he; how many horses?”
“Matty said it was only a hackney,” replied Henrietta, already feeling better now that he was in charge.
“That can’t set much of a pace. You say he’s making for Kelston, on the upper road to Bristol. Can we depend on that?”
Louisa quickly explained her reasons for thinking that Colby’s real objective was Bristol.
He nodded. “Seems probable. We’ll try the upper road first, since he named Kelston. I’ll need you to come along, ma’am —” this to Henrietta — “so that you can take care of the girl when we catch them. And we shall, never fear. I’ll pick up the Runner on our way. That means taking a coach to accommodate the three of us.”
“Shall I send round to the stables for mine?” asked Louisa, moving toward the bell.
“No, I’ll borrow Barclay’s light travelling carriage and four of his prime steppers, no trouble about that. I’ll be off and see to it, if you’ll make yourself ready, Miss Melville. Bring anything you think the girl may need.”
Less than ten minutes later, Captain Barclay’s coach went racing through the town, pausing for only a few minutes at the York Hotel to take up the Runner, complete with pistol and handcuffs ready to lay his man by the heels. Then the coach swept onward to the Bristol road, the hoofbeats of its powerful horses shattering the silence of the night.
Inside, Henrietta sat tense and anxious, wondering how Anna was faring, and praying that they would succeed in overtaking Colby’s vehicle.
Chapter XXX
It was some time before Anna realised that anything was wrong. They reached the vil
lage of Kelston by half past eight and passed through without her knowing it, for she was not at all familiar with the road, and it was too dark to read signposts. Shortly before they came to the town, Colby had lowered the window and shouted up at the jarvey.
“For God’s sake, spring ’em, can’t you?”
“What d’ye expect, guv’nor?” yelled back the jarvey tartly. “These bain’t sixteen-mile-an-hour tits, y’know; more like six is their mark!”
“Dammit, use the whip then!”
He drew in his head and put up the window again, cursing under his breath. Evidently the jarvey paid some heed to his protest, as the pace mended for the next half mile before relapsing into its former lethargy.
“Is it far, now?” asked Anna anxiously.
She was thinking of the fireworks and hoping that she would not miss the start.
“Far enough at the rate we’re going,” he replied ungraciously.
“But you said it was only a few miles,” Anna insisted, “and we seem to have come that distance already.”
“Manner of speaking.” His tone was curt. “Don’t worry your head. Sit quietly, now.”
Anna saw that he was not in the best of tempers, and she wisely decided to hold her peace. But when they halted farther on at a turnpike gate to pay the toll, she felt bound to ask again.
“Surely we must be nearly there, sir?”
He made no reply. Peering at him in the dim light afforded by the carriage lamps, Anna decided that he had dropped off to sleep. At once she became worried. Would the jarvey know when they reached their destination, or was he relying upon Mr. Colby for precise directions? Kelston Park would be a big house, perhaps up a side turning off the main road; if they missed the turning because Mr. Colby was asleep, much precious time would be wasted. She might even miss the fireworks altogether! Dare she wake him?
She pondered this for several minutes before a pothole in the road accomplished her purpose by causing the vehicle to jolt Mr. Colby out of his doze.
A Conformable Wife: A Regency Romance with a spirited heroine Page 28