“But we cannot go up to the green today. Look at your leg. You must see a doctor.”
“No. This unguent is like a magic potion. I will be as good as new in a few days at most.”
“Will we take Nancy, Kirby, and Mrs Reilly to America as well?”
“I can make good introductions for them. They can rise up out of the servant class there. But my main concern, at this moment, is you. Mimi. Will you be my wife? I know how close you are to your mother. Would you want to bring her with us? Are you sure you can conceive of all the changes that will come about with our union? Will you be able to meet the challenges inherent in relocating? It’s not as if we’re going to France or Spain, my love. Will you be accepting of it?”
“Will I? Of course. Richard. I will accept any conditions I need to be with you. I love you, darling. This is the happiest day of my life. I will gladly join with you in holy matrimony.” She took his hand and held it between her own. “Rest now. We can go to Gretna Green after dark. It is dusk already. I will ask Nancy to pack us some supper.”
“And I have money for her and Kirby. They can pick up Mrs Reilly in London … that is if they choose to follow us. As for tonight, it will be faster for you and me to travel on horseback. And alone. We’ll need to stay at a tavern inn for part of the night, and we should get to Scotland by the day after tomorrow at the latest. It’s a long ride. Are you up to it?”
Mimi squared her shoulders. “I am a stronger woman than you know, Richard. To be with you I would ride through the fires of hell.”
He smiled. “Very well. To hell it is, my lady.”
Suddenly they heard a carriage and horses outside in the stable yard. Mimi’s eyes grew large. She whispered. “They’ve come back here. They must think we went to London. Shh. Listen, I hear the Duke’s voice.”
The voices spoke in muffled tones, and Kirby left the room to go and attend Marie, the Duke, and Mr Carnaby. Richard rested in Jones’s room while Mimi sat at the butler’s desk in the pantry. No one would think to look for them here. They needed only to stay quiet until after dark. They would steal away while the Duke enjoyed his brandy in the drawing room after supper.
She heard a foot on the stairs. Someone was coming, and it wasn’t one of the servants by the sound of it. It sounded like someone who didn’t know the way around downstairs. Mimi flew to the door of the pantry room and quickly closed it. She looked around for a place to hide. She stepped behind the window curtains just as the door to the little pantry office opened.
It was the Duke. He pushed the candelabra he held into the room in front of him. A circle of illumination spread across the floor. Mimi realised the toe of her slipper was poking out from under the curtain. She dared not move. She heard the Duke mumbling to himself. Then she nearly jumped as he called out, “Kirby. Where are the keys to the cellar, man?”
The Duke had come into the room and was fumbling through the drawers in Jones’s desk. He was so near to her that Mimi could have reached out from behind the curtain and touched him.
She held her breath. She could tell the Duke was drunk. If he discovered her, there was no telling what he’d do. As Duke he was practically above the law. What if he killed her? What if he killed Richard? She tried to keep her wits about her. She fought to stay calm. She held her breath. She prayed.
After what seemed an interminable time, Kirby entered the small pantry. “Your Grace, please. Come this way, Your Grace. I have set your supper and more brandy in your sitting room off your chamber. Allow me to help you on the stairs, Your Grace.”
Mimi breathed a sigh of relief. She knew Nancy would spike the brandy with belladonna or some such substance which would cause the Duke to pass into deep, dreamless sleep.
“Miss?” Nancy’s voice came to her in the darkness.
Mimi peeked out from behind the draperie. “Where is Maman?”
“I have put her to bed with a posset, Miss. Mr Carnaby went back to his house. Your mother is much more concerned about his reaction to the events of today. He went home and left Mrs Hancock to handle the Duke all on her own. Mr Carnaby certainly showed his true colours. It seems if his future wife is not the mother-in-law of the Duke, he has changed his mind about his own marriage.”
“And the Duke? What of His Grace, Nancy?” She stepped out and sat on the upholstered chair by the fire.
“He is drunk, Miss.”
“Did you spike his nightcap?”
“I did, Miss. And your mother has had a sleep posset as well. You and Mr Warren will have no trouble leaving here tonight. Mrs Hancock and the Duke will hear nothing.”
“Please ask Kirby to ready the horses and pack a small hamper with supper, will you, Nancy?”
“Of course, Miss.”
“Will you follow us to America, Nancy? Mr Warren has passage fare for you.”
“I will be happy to follow you to America, Miss Hancock. Kirby and I are to be married, you know.”
“I did not! How wonderful.”
“The banns will be read this Sunday and the next two after that. Then we will have the ceremony. Then we will leave here and sail to America and find you in Georgia.”
“It is a good plan, Nancy.”
“And, if Mrs Reilly chooses not to go, Miss, will you consider me for your housekeeper?”
“I will not.”
“Miss?” Nancy looked confused.
“Things are different in America, Nancy. You will no longer need to be a servant and earn a wage. You will have an opportunity to try something else.”
“Nancy?” The two women looked at each other holding their breath.
Mimi stood, about to dart behind the window curtains again. Giselle poked her head into the sitting room. She entered quickly and closed the door. “Mademoiselle? What has happened?”
Mimi explained to Giselle what had happened and what was on the agenda.
*******
At ten o’clock, Kirby woke Richard. “How is the leg, Mr Warren?”
“Much better. Is it time?”
“Yes. Miss Hancock is already at the stables. Tilly is saddled up and ready to go. I believe Miss Hancock is choosing her favourite yearling, Ed.”
“Fine, fine. Ed can make the sail to America as well. What is of importance is, is he fast?”
“He is, Mr Warren.”
“Very good. And, I’m hoping to have you all, Nancy, Giselle, and yourself as guests at Warren Hall before too long. Would that I had known how good life is there, I would have moved across the ocean long before a year ago. And the Duke? Where is he?”
“Asleep. He was writing a letter to the papers relinquishing any hold he ever had on Miss Hancock. He wrote that he wishes her all the best wishes. Of course, he is lying, but he must save face. He must make it known that he was cut and not the other way around. But it makes Miss Hancock seem as if she’s soft in the head.”
“Whatever allows Miss Hancock and I to get to Gretna Green without pursuit by the Duke’s men is fine with me. I dare say I can speak for Miss Hancock as well.” Richard grinned.
Kirby smiled. “Will you be needing my assistance, Mr Warren?”
“No, I can mount and dismount without help. Now then, I don’t want to keep my future wife waiting.” He extended his hand to Kirby, along with a small sack containing thirty pound coins.
Kirby opened the bag. His face took on the look of a child when he spies something wondrous and magical. “Mr Warren. Surely you are too generous.”
“You’ve earned it, Kirby. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have similar gifts for Giselle and Nancy.”
“Very well, Mr Warren. Godspeed.”
“Thank you, Kirby.” Richard was gone in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 24
When the moon had risen and was shining full on the stable yard, Richard and Mimi sneaked from the house and across the yard. They took their horses by their bridles and quietly walked them away from Temple Abbey. Richard had altered their original plan, and they intended to ride through t
he night getting as close to the Scottish border as possible before first light. Then they would stay at an inn for a few hours of rest.
Once they’d visited the Blacksmith Shop and were lawfully man and wife, they could rest more, and get back to Liverpool in leisurely fashion. Their destination, after marriage, was less than a day’s travel from Gretna Green. Everything was going along according to Richard’s plan. In Liverpool they would board the Black Ball Line packet ship to New York.
He helped Mimi up onto Ed’s back then mounted Tilly and they were off, walking slowly and quietly at first then breaking into a full gallop once they were free of the borders of Temple Abbey.
They rode for hours, and as the first colour of the sun’s rays spilled over the horizon, they saw a village in a valley below them.
Richard pulled the reins as did Mimi, and they gazed down at the little town. Mimi was exhausted. She smiled at her soon-to-be husband. He blew her a kiss.
“The inn is just at the bottom of this hill. Let us go in for some rest.”
She nodded, and they made their way down and to the inn that also served as a public house on the main floor.
*******
“We would like some breakfast. Tea for the lady and a tankard for myself.”
They sat at a table in the main room of the establishment. The wooden tables with unmatched wooden chairs and benches were placed near to the huge fireplace that took up one wall. Candles in sconces added futile light to the dim room, and the windows were shuttered up tight. It was quite busy in the room as a stagecoach had pulled up just as Richard and Mimi had given their horses to one of the stable boys to tend to.
Inside, they gazed at each other as they waited for their sustenance and ignored the noise and tumult of the fifteen or so others who waited for their rolls and cheese.
They discussed their plan further. They would see the blacksmith then sleep until dusk. After resting they would ride to Liverpool and find the shipping line they planned to utilise for their journey. It was a new line, and it promised a short sail of no more than four weeks. The ship left around dawn on the sixteenth. They would make it in the nick of time.
When they were finished eating, Richard escorted Mimi out of the tavern room, into a small hallway where there stood a staircase and a counter where a young man stood in front of an array of keys hung on the wall.
“Good Morning. Jim Miller at your service. Have you come in on the stage?”
“No, uh, we are travelling alone. We need to be in Liverpool for the packet to New York tomorrow morning.”
“Very good. You’re in luck. We have one vacancy.”
Mimi’s eyes widened. “One? One, only?”
“Yes, Ma’am. It’s fortunate you are a couple. Have you been to the anvil yet? If not you might want to hightail it over there. He’s got a line of young lovers this morning. What with the stage and all. If you want to get any sleep before heading out, you want to get over to the blacksmith shop straightaway.”
“Thank you. We’ll take the room.” Richard paid the man and took the key. Then he grasped Mimi by the arm and rushed out to the road.
It was clear what direction the blacksmith shop was in by the sight of the young couples making their way to the building. The clank of the hammer on the anvil announced that yet another young couple had been united in wedlock.
Mimi glanced up at Richard and smiled. It was really happening. She was to finally be married to her true love. She squeezed his arm, and he smiled back at her.
Another clank of the hammer on the anvil sounded from the shop just as they walked up to the door. There were six couples ahead of them. They waited patiently counting the announcements, and then it was their turn.
How different from the fancy Church wedding Mimi had almost taken part in yesterday. The couples, some with ladies crying for joy, others looking over their shoulders for irate fathers and some showing the tell-tale signs of indulging in the joys of wedded bliss before the actual marriage all waited patiently, as Richard and Mimi had.
The hammer fell on the anvil once more, and Richard embraced Mimi with a gentle kiss on the cheek. It was time to get back to the inn and sleep. They were too exhausted to think of having a wedding toast in the tavern.
When they got back to the small room on the second floor over the tavern, Mimi was suddenly shy. She’d never been alone with a man in a room without a chaperone. It just wasn’t done, and she had to remind herself that she was now a married woman. In a room with her husband. She was doing nothing unseemly. She was doing nothing that could ruin her reputation.
Richard sat in a chair by the tiny table and stretched his legs out in front of him. Mimi was relieved when he said, “You sleep on the bed, dear heart. I will wake you when it’s time to leave.”
She gingerly pulled the coverlet back and sat on the bed. She pushed off her slippers with her feet and lowered herself to her side, pulling the coverlet up around her neck. She hadn’t even removed her bonnet, and she was asleep in minutes.
Richard gazed at her for a moment or two then he, himself, was asleep.
Chapter 25
A knock on the door woke Richard. He reached for his firearm, resting on the table.
“Mr and Mrs Warren. It is dusk. Hello? Are you awake?”
“Yes, yes. We … we are awake.”
“Very good, Mr Warren. The room is double booked. I have a young couple just here from the blacksmith shop. They need a room for the night.”
“Right. Yes, Jim. We’ll be out straightaway.”
“Thank you, Mr Warren.”
Richard stood and winced. His leg was paining him some, and he searched in his valise and extracted a jar of Nancy’s herbal unguent. He pulled up the leg of his pantaloons and stripped down the stocking underneath and the bandage beneath that. Once again, he concentrated on his breathing as he rubbed the ointment into the scars of his leg.
Mimi stirred and opened her eyes. She looked at him for a moment as if she were dreaming. Then, as her memory flowed back to her, a smile broke across her face.
“Did you sleep well, darling?” Richard smiled back.
“I hardly remember placing myself on the bed.”
“Good. We have a brisk ride ahead of us if we are to make the ship in Liverpool.”
“Is your leg paining you? Will you be able to travel? Is the pain great?”
“Shh, shh. You mustn’t worry about it. My leg will be fine once the ointment is absorbed.” He wrapped a thin, clean piece of muslin around the affected area and pulled his stocking up, catching it with the garter under his pantaloons. “Come, now. We must get on with it.”
Mimi stood and removed her bonnet. She smoothed her chignon then poured a little water from the pitcher into the basin and splashed her face with it. She took a few sips of tea that the tavern keeper had brought to the room when he’d woken Richard.
She placed her bonnet on her head, thankful that the fine straw weave hadn’t been crushed when she’d fallen asleep. She then handed her pelisse to her new husband.
“Will you help me?”
He held the coat for her, and when it was on, he stepped in front of her and buttoned the three buttons that held it on.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, Richard. I’m ready.” She swallowed the rest of the tea and picked up her reticule. “Shall we?”
“Let’s, Mrs Warren.”
She smiled at that and blushed too. Richard reckoned she had never looked so beautiful.
They left the room and headed downstairs and through the hallway to the outdoors. At the stable, Tilly and Ed stood ready to be ridden into the night. Richard handed the stable boy a silver coin. Then he helped Mimi up into the saddle and mounted Tilly.
“Thank you, Mr Warren. Thank you, Mrs.” The boy waved as they walked out of the stable yard and onto the road. They turned south and started off at a canter that would soon turn into a gallop. If they could keep this pace, they’d reach their destination with enough time to
have a leisurely breakfast before the ship set sail.
*******
They’d been riding towards Liverpool for five hours. Richard was impressed at Mimi’s fortitude and her good spirits. She’d uttered not one complaint. She rode with the perseverance of a soldier he thought.
They’d slowed down a little so as to rest the horses when a sound came to Richard’s ears. It sounded like hooves pounding the dirt road. It sounded like a carriage and four, but there were more than four horses racing through the night.
The Lost Love of a Stunning Lady: A Historical Regency Romance Book Page 25
