'No, I would not.'
'Then I must follow my instructions.'
After further consideration, Marlborough gave a reluctant nod. 'Whom will you take with you?'
'Sergeant Welbeck. We'll take a spare horse with us so that Abigail will be able to ride back here to the camp. I see that as a hopeful sign.'
'Well, I can't say that I do,' said Marlborough.
'If this man means to kill me,' he reasoned, 'he could do so on the spot and allow Abigail to return here on my horse. But his letter stressed that we bring a mount for her.'
'There is a glimmer of hope in that, I suppose,' said Cardonnel. 'What struck me about this man is that he has an educated hand. His letter is crisp, well-written and explicit.'
'Oh, there's no question about his intelligence, sir,' said Daniel. 'It was reading this letter that persuaded me that Henry - Sergeant Welbeck, that is - may be right. It must have come from the fellow who posed as Will Curtis. The sergeant told me he had too many airs and graces to serve as a private. We're up against a clever man.'
'He's clever and merciless.'
'He's also very calculating. He kidnapped someone whom he knew was a friend of mine. Look at the way he's planned to exchange us,' he continued, waving the letter. 'I have to ride across a plain so that he can see me from miles away and check if I obeyed his orders. That's why I can only take one man with me.'
'There's our answer,' said Marlborough. 'While you ride towards him, I sent troops around to the rear.'
'We can't be certain where he is, Your Grace. At the far end of that plain is a series of hills. He could be hiding on any of them and, from an elevated position like that, he could pick out any flanking movement with a telescope.'
'Captain Rawson is correct,' said Cardonnel. 'This man has no intention of being surrounded. At the first sign of trickery on our part, he'll vanish altogether - and he'll probably cut Miss Piper's throat before he does so.'
'I have to go,' said Daniel.
'It's against my better judgement,' Marlborough told him.
'I'll speak to Sergeant Welbeck.'
'Is he willing to accompany you?'
'Yes, Your Grace - there's no better man for the task.'
'I hesitate to give the mission my blessing.'
'With or without it,' said Daniel, 'I still mean to go.'
'How do you know you can trust this fellow?' asked Cardonnel. 'There's the frightening possibility that Miss Piper is already dead. Her name is simply being used to lure you out of the camp.'
'Then that's an even better reason to go. If anyone has harmed her in any way,' said Daniel, thrusting out his jaw, 'I want to meet him. He'll answer to me.'
Concealed behind a boulder, Charles Catto surveyed the plain through his telescope. There was nobody in sight. Frédéric Seurel took the telescope from him and applied an eye to it. After a minute, he handed the instrument back.
'He's not coming,' he declared.
'He must come - there's too much at stake.'
'Why should he care about one silly little English girl when he can charm his way into the bed of a general's wife? Captain Rawson can pick and choose his women at will. He won't bother about losing one of them.'
'Yes, he will,' said Catto. 'Miss Piper is special to him.'
'She's special to me as well,' said Seurel, glancing over his shoulder at Abigail. 'Don't forget your promise, Charles. You told me that, if Captain Rawson fails to appear, I could have my way with her before I choked the life out of that lovely body of hers.'
'It won't come to that, Frédéric.'
'It must. It's agony being so close to such beauty yet forbidden to touch it or taste it. I only have to look at her to want her. Don't you have that same fire in your loins? Don't you have that urge to—'
'Be quiet,' snapped Catto, cutting him off. 'Miss Piper is not some tavern wench for you to tumble in the hay. She's a lady of quality and she'll bring in a far greater prize.'
'Captain Rawson won't bother about her.'
'I'll wager anything that he will.'
'How can you be so sure?'
'Because I exploited his weak spot - I appealed to his honour.'
Seurel was contemptuous. 'Honour!' he said with a sneer. 'What use is that? I never cared about honour when I was a soldier. The only thing I wanted to do was to make people suffer before I killed them.'
'Captain Rawson has higher ideals than you.'
'When it comes to women, he has the same ideals as me!'
Abigail Piper heard his crude laughter and quivered. She was sitting some yard behind them. To prevent her escape, they had bound her hand and foot and put a gag in her mouth. She had never felt so utterly powerless. One man had treated her with a modicum of respect but the other merely ogled her. Unable to understand Seurel's speech, she found his fervent glances all too comprehensible. There would be no Emily to rescue her from a man's clutches this time. With her hands tied behind her back and her mouth covered, she had absolutely no means of defence.
She was in a quandary. Desperate to be rescued, she did not want her freedom to be at the expense of Daniel Rawson's capture. If he fell into their hands, Abigail feared for his life. Even before her abduction, she had started to regret her decision to flee from home in the cause of true love. As a result of her impetuosity, she and her maid had undergone all sorts of pain and mortification and she had finally reached the British camp only to discover that Daniel did not requite her love in the way she had imagined.
Abigail had not only embarrassed him, she had now put him in mortal danger. It made her writhe with guilt. At the same time, she was praying for release from her predicament and that could only be achieved by Daniel's arrival. Whatever happened, one of them was going to suffer dreadfully. The conviction that it was all her fault made Abigail quake with remorse. Tears dribbled freely down her face. She was stuck on the horns of a dilemma. Needing him to come to her aid, she wanted him to stay away for his own sake and the more she thought about it, the more she felt she deserved her fate. Closing her eyes, she prayed for strength to endure her ordeal.
Daniel Rawson came out of the trees and started to ride across the plain. Henry Welbeck was beside him, eager to support his friend and taking care to shed no blame on the woman who, in his opinion, had actually created the fraught situation. For most of their journey, the sergeant had held his peace. Daniel, too, had been lost in thought. It was Welbeck who first came out of his reverie.
'I wouldn't trust Will Curtis as far as I could throw him,' he said sourly. 'Watch him like a hawk, Dan.'
'He holds the advantage at the moment,' admitted Daniel.
'Not as long as I'm beside you.'
'Thank you, Henry. I appreciate what you're doing.'
'I want to see that young lass safe but I also want you to come out of this unharmed. Something tells me I can't have both.'
'Don't worry about me,' said Daniel. 'I can look after myself.'
'You can give Will Curtis a message from me. If anything nasty happens to you, I won't rest till I've caught up with the bastard and cut out his black heart. Will you remember to warn him?'
'I don't think he's a man who fears warnings, Henry.'
'He'll fear me when I catch up with him,' asserted Welbeck.
They rode on in silence until they got within a few hundred yards of a large hill. A voice rang out across the plain.
'Stop there!' ordered Catto. They reined in their horses. 'That's as far as you go, Sergeant Welbeck.'
'Is that you, Will Curtis, you yellow-bellied deserter?' shouted Welbeck, searching the hill with his eyes. 'Have the guts to show yourself, man!'
'Do as he says,' advised Daniel, trying to calm his friend. 'We don't want to antagonise him.'
'Speak for yourself - I bloody do!'
'Let me handle this, Henry.'
'Leave him there, Captain Rawson,' yelled Catto. 'Ride forward on your own. Do as I tell you or you'll never see Miss Piper alive again. Come on - leave the serge
ant there.'
Daniel obeyed. Nudging his horse into a trot, he moved forward and let his gaze drift across the hill. He eventually saw something glinting in the sunshine and knew that it must be a telescope. It gave him a direction in which to guide his horse. When he was fifty yards or so away from the hill, he came to a halt.
'Keep riding forward!' demanded Catto.
'Let me see Miss Piper first,' retorted Daniel. 'You only get me if she is released without harm. Show her to me.'
There was a long pause then Abigail was pushed out from behind a large rock. She was still gagged and her hands were tied behind her back but Daniel could see that she was alive. Before he could address her, she was pulled back behind the rock. He eased his horse forward until he got close to the hill and well within range of any firearms that might be trained on him.
'Stop there and dismount!' ordered Catto. When Daniel obeyed, a second command followed. 'Remove your hat and coat and drop them on the ground.' Daniel complied once more. 'Now hold up your arms and turn round slowly so that I can see you're unarmed.' Aware of the man's scrutiny, Daniel followed the instructions. 'Good,' said Catto. 'Miss Piper will be released but, if you try any tricks, you'll both be shot down where you stand.'
There was a lengthy pause before Abigail came out from behind the rock again and began to scramble down the hill. Her gag and her bonds had been removed and she was able to cry out his name. Daniel strode forward to greet her. Weeping with relief, she flung herself into his arms. He patted her reassuringly.
'A very touching reunion,' noted Catto, 'but we no longer have any need of Miss Piper. Send her back to the sergeant. Go on - do as I say, Captain Rawson.'
'How many of them are there?' asked Daniel quietly.
'Two,' replied Abigail.
'Then leave them to me.' He stood back from her and pointed behind him. 'That's my good friend, Sergeant Welbeck. He'll take you safely back to the camp. Go on, Abigail - run!'
'What about you, Daniel?'
'I can't start worrying about myself until you're safe.'
After a final squeeze of his hands, Abigail turned and trotted towards Welbeck, looking back from time to time to see what Daniel was doing. He had already forgotten her. His mind was concentrated on his captors, both of whom had now appeared from their hiding places. Frédéric Seurel was pointing a musket at him. Holding a pistol on the prisoner, Charles Catto came down to take a closer look at him.
'Put your hands up!' he said.
'I've no weapons on me,' Daniel told him, raising his arms.
Catto patted him all over. Satisfied that Daniel was telling the truth, he made him put his hands behind his back so that he could tie them tightly together. He then led both the prisoner and his horse into the shelter of the rocks at the base of the hill.
Bounding forward, Seurel put the barrel of his musket against Daniel's forehead. 'Let me blow out his brains!' he cried.
'Wait a moment!' cried Catto, pushing the weapon away.
'You said that he was mine.'
'That was before I realised that we could capture him. He's worth more to us alive than dead. If we take him back to the general he'll be delighted with us, Frédéric. He can have the pleasure of killing Rawson himself. You must recall General Salignac,' he said to Daniel. 'He'd like to talk to you about his beautiful wife.'
Abigail Piper was overcome with emotion. Having been rescued from being ravished by Seurel, she had seen Daniel surrendering himself on her behalf to the two men. Her feelings of guilt were more intense than ever. She wanted to go back to plead for Daniel's release but she knew that it would be pointless. The chances were that they had already killed him. Henry Welbeck was troubled by the same thought. He immediately began to contemplate revenge. When they had ridden across the plain and into the trees, he eventually spoke to her.
'Who were they, Miss Piper?' he asked.
'I don't know.'
'You must have heard them call each other by names.'
'One was called Charles,' she said, 'and he was English. The Frenchman was called Frédéric. He was a dreadful man.'
'What else can you tell me about them'
'Not very much, I'm afraid. They spoke in French all the time.'
'Where did they take you?'
'We spent the night at an inn but I have no idea where it was. I was in a complete daze most of the time. I couldn't eat or drink anything and I didn't get a wink of sleep.'
'Did they bother you in any way?' asked Welbeck tentatively.
'The Frenchman would have,' she said, tensing at the memory of Seurel's kiss, 'but the other man held him back. I'm so grateful to escape from them at last.'
'So am I, miss. It's the captain I'm worried about now.'
'They wouldn't tell me why they wanted to kill him. All that the Englishman would say was that it was something to do with what happened in Paris. Do you know anything about that, Sergeant?'
'Nothing at all,' replied Welbeck discreetly.
'What could Captain Rawson have been doing in Paris?'
'I have no idea.'
'It must have been something very important.'
'Whatever it was, he'll be sorry about it now. Dan Rawson may have taken one chance too many.'
'I don't follow.' 'There's no reason why you should, Miss Piper,' he said quickly, unwilling to confide what he feared. 'You've obviously had a harrowing time. No food, no sleep and the anxiety of not knowing what was going to happen to you - the sooner we get you back to camp, the better.'
After riding for five miles or more, they stopped to make sure that they were not being followed. Daniel Rawson still had his hands tied behind his back and his horse was pulled along by its reins. It was an uncomfortable way to ride but he consoled himself with the fact that he was alive to do it. His red coat and tricorn hat still lay on the plain where he had been forced to discard them. He hoped that they would soon be retrieved by British soldiers.
They had paused on rising ground that enabled Charles Catto to have a good view of the terrain over which they had just travelled. He used his telescope to scan the landscape.
'Well?' said Seurel.
'There's nobody there, Frédéric.'
'Good.'
'They have more sense than to track us,' said Catto. 'They know that, at the first hint of pursuit, we'd kill their precious captain.'
Seurel chortled. 'Then leave him without his head.'
'Was that your doing?' asked Daniel, surprising Seurel with his command of French. 'Was it you who beheaded Lieutenant Hopwood?'
'It's a special talent I have,' boasted the other.
'Killing the wrong man does not require talent.'
'I've already pointed that out to him,' said Catto brusquely.
Seurel was petulant. 'What does it matter?' he claimed, waving a hand. 'We have the right man now.'
'No thanks to you, Frédéric. It's only by the grace of God that Captain Rawson was not killed by that shot you fired near the camp.'
'So that was his doing as well,' noted Daniel.
'He's inclined to be hot-headed at times,' said Catto. 'It's something you should remember if ever you're tempted to make an escape bid. Frédéric will be prompted to kill you.'
'I think I understand all about Frédéric just by looking at him. You clearly provide the intelligence that he signally lacks.' Seurel voiced his protest. 'I believe that you joined us as Private Will Curtis.'
'That's correct.'
'May I know your real name?'
'Charles Catto. I'm employed by General Armand Salignac.'
'In other words, you're a traitor.'
'Not at all,' said Catto smoothly. 'France is my spiritual . home. I have stayed true to my principles. As for betrayal, you are hardly the right person to accuse another of a crime you've committed yourself.'
'I've never betrayed my country,' affirmed Daniel.
'No, but you did betray Madame Salignac.'
'That was a private matter.'
'It
's become a political matter as well, Captain Rawson. The general may be a cuckold but he's not blind. He knows that you didn't seduce his wife out of pure and unbiased love. You took the lady to bed in order to squeeze her dry of every last detail she knew about the French army.'
'Madame Salignac and I were simply friends.'
'You are a spy.' 'I'm a soldier who's proud to serve his country.'
'Well, you'll not be serving it again, Captain Rawson.'
'Tell us about Madame Salignac,' asked Seurel with an oily grin. 'What was she like as a lover? What did she let you do to her?'
'Shut up, Frédéric!' said Catto.
'But I want to know the truth.'
'Then you'll have to seduce her yourself. And in case you're wondering,' he went on, turning to Daniel, 'it wasn't the lady herself who confessed your name. It was her maid, Celestine. The general soon broke her. He knows everything now.'
'Is that why he sent you after me?' said Daniel.
'The general has a vengeful streak. "How ever long it takes, how ever much it costs, I want Captain Rawson killed." Those were his very words. But, instead of simply taking your head as a trophy, we can deliver your whole miserable carcass.'
'How much is he paying you?'
'That's between us and General Salignac.'
'Whatever the amount,' said Daniel, trying to negotiate with him, 'His Grace, the Duke of Marlborough would readily double it to buy my freedom.'
Catto laughed derisively. 'Let him treble it, if he wishes,' he said, 'then double that same figure. Frédéric and I would still treat it with scorn. There's no way out of this, Captain Rawson.'
'None at all,' added Seurel forcefully. 'We are loyal to France.'
'And so is General Salignac. Before he kills you, I'm sure he'll want to hear everything you have to tell him about the Confederate army. He has a gift for making even the most reticent men talk. By the time the general has finished with you,' he said, kicking his horse into action and towing Daniel along behind him, 'you'll wish you never persuaded that lovely wife of his to spread her legs for you.'
The first thing that Abigail Piper did when she reached the camp was to change out of her dress and wash herself thoroughly. As she did so, she unburdened herself to Emily Greene. The maid was sympathetic.
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