A Conformable Wife: A Regency Romance with a spirited heroine

by Alice Chetwynd Ley

  “Oh, I’m so glad you’re awake, sir!” she exclaimed, seeing him open his eyes. “I was beginning to wonder if the jarvey had perhaps mistaken the direction, as we’ve been travelling for such a long time. Surely we must be nearly there, or has he gone wrong?”

  “Don’t fuss,” he growled. “We’ll get there all right and tight.”

  “But surely it must be very late now?” persisted Anna. “Please, Mr. Colby, what is the time?”

  “What’s it matter?”

  “When we started out, you said we must hurry or we’d miss the fireworks,” Anna said plaintively. “And now we’ve come quite a long way, and there’s still no sign of Kelston Park! Please, sir, how much longer will it be before we reach there?”

  “Hold your tongue, can’t you? Never knew such a chit for gabbing!” he declared in disgust.

  This made Anna indignant. “I think you’re vastly uncivil, sir. And what’s more, I shall tell Miss Melville so when I see her!”

  He chuckled. “Will you, now? Sure, it makes no odds to me, for I shan’t be there to hear it.”

  Anna stared at him, nonplussed. “What do you mean? Aren’t you staying for the fete?”

  He grunted something, she could not be certain what, then lapsed into silence once more. Anna, too, managed to sit quietly for another ten minutes or so, but she was growing increasingly uneasy as they journeyed onward with never a sign of turning off the main road. At last she could bear it no longer.

  “We must be nearly there now. We’ve come miles and miles, I’m sure! Oh, please, please tell me how much farther it is!”

  “Another six miles, I should think,” he replied carelessly.

  “Six miles! But we’ve been travelling for ages — almost an hour, I should think! And you said it was only a few miles to Kelston Park when we started out! I — I don’t understand.”

  “You may as well know that we’re not going to Kelston Park. We’re bound for Bristol.”

  “Bristol!” Anna was astounded. “But why? The fete, has it been changed to another place? Miss Melville said in her letter it was Kelston Park. Yes, and you said so too, when we started out! What does it mean?”

  “It means you’ve been hoaxed, my girl, that’s what,” he said roughly. “You may as well know the score now, since the sham’s served its purpose. That letter was a fake. I wrote it myself. Had to take the chance that you’d be too excited to notice the handwriting, but I’m a gambler by nature. There’s no fete, at Kelston or elsewhere. I’m taking you to Bristol, just the two of us, see?”

  Anna stared in stupefaction for a few moments. Then gradually the implications of what she had just heard began to seep into her confused mind. She turned pale and started to shake with fright.

  “W-why?” she croaked, her voice constricted by panic. “Wh-what d-do you want w-with m-me?”

  He laughed, unmoved by her pitiable state.

  “Been reading too many trashy novels, eh?” he mocked. “Think I’m going to ravish you, no doubt?”

  Anna shrank into her corner, terror-stricken; that frightful thought had indeed entered her mind.

  “Make yourself easy,” he said contemptuously. “My taste don’t run to school girls. No, the only use I have for you is as a fund raiser. I’m holding you to ransom. Papa will pay up instanter, I don’t doubt, and by what the Melville female told me, he’s well breeched. A note delivered to him from his darling daughter in captivity should bring quick results, eh?”

  Terrified though she was, Anna’s spirit was not entirely quenched. She gathered all her forces together to hurl a desperate defiance at her captor.

  “I won’t write it. I won’t! Papa will set the law on you, you’ll see!”

  “Oh, yes, you will write it, miss, make no mistake about that.” The menace in his tone made her shudder again. “There are ways, quite unpleasant ways, of making you do as I say. Don’t think I’m too squeamish to employ them, either. As for the law, I shall make it quite clear to your father that he’ll never set eyes on you alive if he tries anything of that kind. He’ll not risk it, believe me.”

  Anna did believe him; she knew also that this man would stop at nothing to coerce her into writing the note. Terror burst its bounds and she emitted a loud, piercing scream.

  Immediately he was upon her, one hand clamped roughly over her mouth, while his arm pressed her back into the corner of the seat.

  “Yell like that again, and I’ll knock you cold!” he growled, his face menacingly close to hers.

  The scream had reached the ears of the jarvey, who reined in his horses and drummed with his whip on the roof of the coach. He yelled something that could not be heard clearly by the occupants of the coach but indicated alarm. Keeping his hold over Anna’s mouth, Colby wound down the window and curtly shouted to him to continue on his way.

  At the same moment, the sound of fast-galloping horses was heard from behind them. Colby looked back and saw the lantern on a coach and four rapidly approaching.

  He cursed; it was a devilish inconvenient moment to be overtaken by another vehicle. But at the rate it was going, it would soon be past and away, with no time for noticing anything untoward.

  As he expected, the coach and four swept past. Then it swerved suddenly right across the road, blocking their path.

  Two men jumped out. One of them levelled a pistol at the alarmed jarvey.

  “Halt, name o’ the law!”

  The jarvey felt not the slightest inclination to disobey this command. He obediently reined in his horses and sat, mouth agape, watching what followed as best he could by the intermittent light of a fitful moon.

  No sooner had he heard the Runner’s call than Colby, abruptly releasing Anna, leapt out of the offside door of the hackney and raced off through the trees that bordered the road at that side.

  Aldwyn had run toward the coach on the driving side and jerked open the door before he realised what had happened. With a quick word to Anna that Miss Melville would look after her, he darted in pursuit. Seeing that the jarvey would present no problem if left unguarded, Trimble followed.

  It was easy enough for the two men to follow in Colby’s tracks as he went crashing through the undergrowth, but sighting him among the trees was another matter, for at the moment the moon was totally obscured by cloud. Moreover, they did not seem to be gaining on him at all, a fact upon which the Runner commented in a few brief, colourful words. Aldwyn, saying nothing, put on an extra spurt.

  Suddenly the sounds of pounding feet ahead of them stopped.

  “Damn the fellow, he’s gone to ground!” muttered Trimble, panting slightly. “Best split up, sir, one each side o’ his trail. You take the left, I’ll keep to the right. Shout if you spot him!”

  Aldwyn swung a few paces to the left, advancing now more stealthily and peering through the gloom ahead for the slightest sign of movement. It carried him back to his campaigning days and the tactics of the Spanish guerrillas in the struggle against the French. There was plenty of cover here, and for all he knew, their man might be armed, so it would not do to take chances.

  He had advanced only a few yards when the moon, which had so far seemed to side with the fugitive, suddenly emitted a faint gleam from behind its cover of cloud. He could now make out the dark outline of some species of bush a little in front of him. As he was steering his way round it, his keen eyes suddenly detected a streak of white in its midst.

  He halted, peering more closely, struck by the notion that the glimmer of white was just about at the right height for a man’s cravat, should he be standing upright concealed in the bush. He leapt forward.

  Simultaneously, Colby sprang out upon him.

  The two men struggled together. They were well matched in strength and fitness, although Aldwyn had some advantage in height. For a few moments the contest raged with equal honours. Then Aldwyn unluckily stumbled over a tree root and his antagonist broke away.

  Incensed, he made a quick recovery and sprang after Colby. Seizing him by t
he shoulder, he swung him round, and with all the weight of his body behind it, drove his right fist at the other man’s chin.

  Colby went down like a log just as the Runner came on the scene. He chuckled with satisfaction.

  “Said you’d a handy bunch o’ fives, now didn’t I?”

  He bent over the recumbent form, swiftly going through the pockets with expert fingers.

  “Ah, here we are, then!” he exclaimed as he discovered a leather bag.

  He pulled back the strings and exposed the contents to view. The moon, in full glory now that it was not needed, glinted on the diamonds and rubies of a beautifully wrought bracelet.

  “The evidence,” he said, fastening the bag again and transferring it to his own pocket. From another, he drew out a pair of handcuffs and snapped them in place on his captive’s wrists.

  Colby stirred, shook his head, and sat up. His eyes fell on his captors. A stream of curses left his lips.

  “Tch, tch!” reproved Trimble. “Come along now and no nonsense, or you’ll stop a bullet.”

  They hauled Colby to his feet and frog-marched him back to the waiting vehicles.

  “You,” Trimble addressed the jarvey peremptorily, “I’m commandeering your vehicle, my man, in the name of the law, understand? You can drive me to Bristol gaol. And you’d best let them broken-winded nags o’ yourn have their heads, seein’ as I don’t intend to be all night about the business.”

  The jarvey, being a sensible man, waited patiently while Colby was bundled into the hackney, the Runner keeping his pistol levelled in that direction while he exchanged a few words in an undertone with Aldwyn.

  “Obliged for your assistance, sir. Couldn’t hardly have brought it off on my own.”

  “One thing,” said Aldwyn. “I hope it won’t be necessary to charge him with the abduction of Miss Florey, in addition to his other crimes. If we can keep the girl’s name out of it, we’re hoping to hush up her escapade.”

  The Runner winked. “Girls will be girls, eh? Never fear, sir, we’ve got enough on this beauty as it is, and my job was to restore them jewels to their rightful owner and apprehend the bloke as lifted ’em. Mum’s the word.”

  Aldwyn expressed his thanks in a practical way by slipping a banknote into the other man’s hand, with instructions to drink his health; then they parted.

  Henrietta had been engaged in restoring the much shaken Anna to a more equable state of mind. She quickly transferred the girl from her seat in the draughty hackney carriage to one in the well-upholstered comfort of Captain Barcley’s snug chaise, placing a rug about the shivering shoulders. Then she gathered Anna into a comforting embrace.

  At once tears of relief came to the girl’s eyes. Henrietta said nothing beyond the incomprehensible little endearments with which a mother soothes her weeping child. Presently Anna’s sobs terminated on a hiccup, and she burst into an indignant recital of the evening’s events. Inserting a question here and there, Henrietta was relieved to discover that only just before the rescue had Anna really become terrified.

  “He said he would make me write the letter!” she cried, with another shudder. “He said there were unpleasant ways of making me, and, and he wouldn’t scruple to use them! Oh, Miss Melville, I can’t tell you how scared I felt!”

  “There, there,” soothed Henrietta. “It’s all over now! He’ll be caught and locked away where he can’t do you any harm ever again. You must try and forget it, my dear. Think of it as merely a bad dream that can never recur.”

  She was still speaking when Aldwyn appeared at the door of their coach.

  “I’ll ride outside,” he said to Henrietta, “and leave Miss Anna to your ministrations. All’s well. That scoundrel’s on his way to Bristol gaol, and we’ll be back in Pulteney Street in no time.”

  He closed the door and mounted onto the box beside the coachman. The coach was turned neatly in the road and at once began heading back the way it had come, with horses at the gallop.

  Anna was silent for a while. When at last she did speak, it was evident that she had recovered sufficiently from her experience to begin speculating about what lay ahead.

  “What time is it, Miss Melville?” she asked.

  “I think it must be about a quarter after nine, Anna. When we came up with you, it was close on nine o’clock.”

  “I’ve been wondering,” said Anna in a small voice, “whether I’ll be able to get back into the seminary in time. Oh, Miss Melville, I think I shall positively die if Miss Mynford has to hear about all this! She’ll expel me, I know she will! And then Mama and Papa —” She began to cry again.

  “Hush,” soothed Henrietta. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t come to that. The horses are galloping along like fury, can’t you hear them?”

  Anna listened for a moment, then said that she could.

  “Judging by the speed at which we came, we can be back at Mrs. Fordyce’s house in a little over twenty minutes. We’ve only to collect Matty from there, you know, and take you both back to Queen Square. She has the keys, and I’m sure you’ll be able to creep in with no one the wiser.”

  “Minnie comes upstairs soon after ten and listens outside the door of our dorm, but she doesn’t usually open it,” said Anna thoughtfully. “If only Matty and I can reach the house with ten minutes to spare, I think I can manage to get into bed, even if I haven’t time to undress until later. Oh, if only I can come safely off from this, Miss Melville, I shall never, ever wish to have another adventure!”

  Henrietta could not forbear a smile. “Well, not an adventure such as this, at all events, though I shouldn’t care to think that your spirit was quenched for all time. I dare say you’ll eventually make a recovery. But Anna, you will promise to be more cautious in your conduct for the future, won’t you? Tell me, did you have no doubts when you read that note? You must have thought it an odd scheme for me to suggest; or do you credit me with being a rackety kind of female? And surely you realised that the note was not in my handwriting?”

  “Well, now you mention it, of course, it does seem not at all the kind of thing you’d suggest,” agreed Anna. “And Matty said the note wasn’t in your hand. She even fussed a bit about whether I ought to go. But the fact is, I wasn’t in the mood to pay heed to her warnings. I was so excited at the thought of an outing, and with Mr. Aldwyn there too.”

  The note of worship in her voice made Henrietta resolve that it was high time to quash this schoolgirl fantasy.

  “Oh, yes, Mr. Aldwyn,” she said quickly. “He has been put to a vast deal of trouble in this business, Anna. I only hope —” drawing on a sudden inspiration — “that he may not suffer in health because of it.”

  “Why, what can you mean?” asked Anna, astounded.

  “Only that he is not perhaps as hardy as he appears,” continued Henrietta unashamedly. “He has the rheumatics, you see, and the night air isn’t good for him.”

  “Rheumatics!” Anna’s mouth almost fell open.

  “Yes,” continued Henrietta, relentlessly pursuing her fiction. “He always wears a flannel waistcoat because of his affliction.”

  “A flannel —! But my grandfather does that! Surely that’s only for elderly gentlemen.”

  “Mr. Aldwyn is past his first youth, after all. He is nearly thirty,” pronounced Henrietta, unscrupulously adding two years to Julian Aldwyn’s age. “You may remember, my dear, that you once said you considered thirty to be the end of the road.”

  “Oh, yes, but still, I must say he doesn’t look in the least bit old,” said Anna in an uncertain tone.

  “He bears up tolerably well, considering, but I believe from what Lady Barrington tells me that the strain is severe.”

  Anna was silent for several minutes, during which Henrietta had time to reflect with some amusement on what Mr. Aldwyn’s reactions would be, were he but privileged to overhear this conversation.

  “A flannel waistcoat!” exclaimed Anna in tones of disgust, breaking the silence at last. “Oh, Miss Melville! A
nd I thought him like Lord Orville! I was never so taken in before!”

  “You may perhaps recall that I myself never could see the slightest resemblance in Mr. Aldwyn to Miss Burney’s hero. I fear it’s all in your fancy, my love.”

  Anna brooded in silence.

  “Of course, he is a most worthy gentleman,” went on Henrietta, delivering what she trusted would be the final blow to Anna’s castle in the air. “And doubtless some elderly spinster, finding in him some of the qualities with which your fancy endowed him, may be content to spend her life fashioning flannel waistcoats for his use.”

  Anna shuddered.

  “But that’s not in your style, Anna! It’s not so very long now before you’ll be making your come-out, and if I’m not much mistaken, you’ll find among the younger gentlemen you’ll meet in London one very like Lord Orville. And apart from that, you’ll have all the fun and excitement of a London season to look forward to, only consider!”

  This happy remark succeeded in giving a new turn to Anna’s daydreams, so that by the time they reached Pulteney Street, she was almost her usual ebullient self. Nothing further was said of poor old Mr. Aldwyn, and Henrietta judged that the gentleman had at last been tumbled off his pedestal, through the unexpected agency of a flannel waistcoat.

  Chapter XXXI

  Henrietta and Louisa both came downstairs late on the following morning, as they had sat up until the small hours talking over the extraordinary events of that day.

  Louisa’s anxiety had been severe until Henrietta’s return with Anna, safe and apparently little the worse for her unpleasant experience. Mr. Aldwyn had insisted that Henrietta should remain at home while he escorted Anna and the maid back to Queen Square.

  “Your part in the business is done now, ma’am,” he said firmly, “and you must be worn to the bone! When I return, I’ll send in a message to say that all’s well, but I don’t intend you should be disturbed again tonight. If I may, I’ll do myself the honour of calling on you ladies tomorrow afternoon.”

  Matty had been summoned from the kitchen, hastily bundled into the coach, and whisked away with Anna almost before she had time to realise what was happening. The promised message was brought round later by Captain Barcley’s footman; it stated cryptically that the packages had been safely delivered.