Hide in Time

by Anna Faversham

  Billy looked at Alexandra and she could see he had no idea what Adam meant. “I’m very comfortable like this, Adam. It seems to suit me.”

  Catherine, having already mounted her little grey, drew alongside Holly. “It isn’t seemly, Alexandra. Your ankles and even your legs are on show. And you will not be comfortable once you start to ride. Billy should not have subjected you to this indignity.”

  Adam bounded to her side, his hand raised to help her dismount.

  Some ten minutes later, they set off slowly and, in Alexandra’s case, not terribly surely. I’ll have to go along with it for the moment, she thought, I’ve already unsettled everybody enough for one day. Boots, that’s what I need, knee-length leather boots like Adam's; that’ll be a good start.

  ~

  The leaves had now mostly fallen from the trees but despite the blustery, crisp November days, Catherine and Alexandra rode almost daily. Alexandra, dressed satisfactorily, with black leather boots and a very loose skirt, mostly rode astride rather than side-saddle. Catherine had been sworn to secrecy and Billy couldn’t see what the problem was anyway. On the occasional days when Adam accompanied them, Alexandra rode side-saddle. Adam was patient with her ineptitude. “One day it will feel like second nature,” he had said. “And there’s no need to gallop when a trot or canter will prove more enjoyable.”

  Second nature? She examined the notion. Nothing she did, nothing she wanted to say, nothing at all felt like second nature. Everything felt quite strange, yet utterly fascinating. She would repay him in some way, she thought, for the care he showed and attention he paid her. She’d heard he liked the smell of pine. She would collect a basket of pine cones for the hearth.

  ~

  On an unusually sunny, mid November day, Catherine, Adam and Alexandra decided upon a morning ride. Catherine mounted elegantly and carefully: Alexandra managed carefully but not quite so elegantly. Adam let out a low whistle and Esky trotted towards him, unsaddled. He leapt on his horse, like a circus acrobat, completely unassisted. Alexandra was magnetized. The speed! If she’d blinked she’d have missed the most bewitching moment of her life. Further thought recalled an increasing collection of such moments. And now he’d gone, like the proverbial wind.

  Catherine, noticing Alexandra’s attraction and inability to follow, confided to Alexandra that she was relieved Adam was coming with them, despite the hindrance to her riding.

  “Why?” asked Alexandra.

  “He seems so preoccupied lately. It is not long since…” She modified her thoughts. “I thought as time passed, he would forget Laura, especially as you are here to lift his spirits.”

  Alexandra reflected. Not only preoccupied but also aloof. He now rarely entered into conversation. “Do you think running the estate is proving onerous?”

  “Jack is useless, it’s true. Adam, being the younger, should not have to shoulder the burden entirely.”

  “As Jack will inherit “Foxhills”, why doesn’t he take more interest?”

  “You have forgotten, Alexandra, in this county gavelkind is usual. We have never been conquered,” Catherine said with pride.

  Though Alexandra could not remember her personal history, she hadn’t lost all sense of British history; nevertheless, gavelkind was not a word with which she was familiar. “Gavelkind?”

  Adam had joined them and, as their horses, gently walking, found their way to the grassy slopes, he answered the question for her. “In brief, the men of the county of Kent were rewarded for their superior bravery by the man who called himself William I of England.”

  Catherine whispered to Alexandra, “William the Conqueror.”

  “If you wish,” said Adam indulgently with a wink.

  His straight back, the flash of those dark eyes and now that hint of a smile sent her stomach to her knees. Every muscle tightened and Holly whinnied. Adam lent over to pat Holly’s neck and Alexandra drew in her breath. His proximity and the scents of man, horse, and countryside were a heady mix. He turned to look at her and his smile broadened for a brief moment and his eyes searched hers before he continued.

  “Kent did not bow to the feudal law of primogeniture. It kept England’s law of custom. Land is inherited by all the male heirs, not just the firstborn.”

  Catherine added, “Jack cannot bear to think that had “Foxhills” been just a little further west he would have been the sole inheritor.”

  Adam turned his horse to cross Catherine’s path and, leaning towards her, murmured. “It is not wise to conjecture on a brother’s thoughts, Catherine.”

  Chastened, Catherine remained silent but gave what could pass for a look of profound consequence towards Alexandra. Wise or not, it was the missing link in Alexandra’s understanding of Jack. She now understood Adam rather more too; he even undertook to guide Catherine as only a parent should.

  Their ride was cut short by worsening weather and, cantering back to the stables earlier than expected, only Billy was there to take the steaming horses.

  “Where’s my groom?” Adam asked.

  “He’s taken Mr Jack’s horse round the front.” Billy turned to Alexandra and enquired pleasantly, “So d’yer have a good ride, Laura?”

  Adam spun around and thrashed his riding crop against the stable door. Billy, taken by surprise, staggered away and swore.

  “Your vulgar mouth will never utter that name again nor cuss in our presence.” Adam bellowed for his groom, more as a release, surely, then added to the dazed Billy, “You will only address the ladies when first spoken to. Is that understood?”

  “Yessir.” Billy had the good sense to stare at the ground before he turned to lead Holly and the dappled grey, called Black, to their stables.

  “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-arm
ed 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

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  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 l
et 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.”