Change of Heart

by Margaret Eastvale

‘Don’t tell him anything, Anne!’ Kit urged fiercely. She managed a reassuring smile and remained silent.

  ‘Sullen, eh?’ Weston sneered unpleasantly. ‘I haven’t time to be patient. Does this help your memory?’ Her slapped her hard across her face, and she felt a trickle of blood run down her cheek where his ring caught her. Grimly she set her teeth, refusing to answer.

  ‘No, of course, those tactics cut no ice with you, do they? You’re shaped in the heroic mould.’ He stared down at her with a mirthless smile that did not reach his cold blue eyes.

  ‘It might be good sport to discover how much pain you could stand before you cracked, but I haven’t the time. Luckily there’s a simpler way.’ With great deliberation he moved across the room to stand over Kit, his knife at the boy’s throat. ‘The truth now, or I slit his windpipe!’

  ‘No!’ The protest was wrung from her. He smiled mockingly, and she knew that this was the true Weston she was seeing now—the ruthless bully she had sometimes glimpsed under the facade of humility. He was thoroughly enjoying her terror.

  ‘Do you suppose that I would hesitate to kill him? Try me.’

  She believed him. Now that he need no longer dissemble, malice rang through every word.

  She must not let him guess how frightened she was. ‘I thought you needed him as a hostage.’

  She forced unconcern into her voice.

  ‘Not any longer. You will do equally well for that purpose. Better, perhaps!’ She shuddered as his eyes fingered considering over her figure. He laughed callously, then prompted her, ‘Hurry now. I’ve little time to waste. How did you get here?’

  ‘I came on my own,’ she admitted reluctantly as she saw the knife press into Kit’s neck.

  ‘Obviously, or we’d have seen your companion by now. But how did you know where to find me?’

  ‘Don’t tell him!’ Kit exclaimed, then broke off with a gasp as the knife pressed closer.

  ‘Quiet!’ Weston’s eyes blazed with fury. Anne dared to prevaricate no longer.

  ‘I—I was out riding. I saw the cottage and recognised Kit’s pony.’

  ‘Do you generally go riding in that garb?’ Stony blue eyes surveyed her grimly. ‘Think again!’ As she glanced down at the tattered muslin, he continued with icy menace, ‘And make it the truth this time or…’ He did not need to specify the alternative. She saw red stain the knife-tip as it pricked Kit’s flesh.

  ‘Julia told me I might find you here,’ grimly she fought down her nausea, ‘so I came straight over.’

  ‘That sounds more like the truth.’

  ‘Julia? How would she know about this place?’ demanded Rosy. ‘Is that prissy madam another of your conquests, then? Another poor fool you’ve inveigled here to share your favours?’

  Weston ignored her taunts, concentrating his attention on Anne. ‘But why should Julia tell you now? She’s always been too concerned for her precious reputation to blab. Are you hiding something?’

  Anne trembled under his searching gaze, but determined not to let him guess her panic.

  Putting up her chin, she stared him out.

  ‘Because of Kit, of course! You made a big mistake in abducting him after she had so generously warned you. Yes, she told me all about that too! Perhaps that was self-interest as much as thought for you, but that is all over now. She thinks more of her son than of her good name.’ As she saw him hesitate, not quite convinced, she hurried on, ‘I’ll admit that even so it wasn’t easy to get the full details out of her, but once she’d betrayed her part in warning you I guessed she’d know where you might have Rosy hidden, and forced her to tell me.’

  ‘I don’t suppose that was too difficult for you. The silly bitch has always been as weak as water. I don’t know why I ever bothered with her.’

  ‘For her money?’ suggested Anne contemptuously, then wished she had resisted the temptation as his grip on the child tightened and Kit cried out in pain. Weston smiled in cruel satisfaction.

  ‘You were forgetting, weren’t you? Watch your tongue, or the brat will suffer. Now the truth! Why did you come alone?’

  ‘I told you. I came on impulse.’

  ‘Why? What did you imagine you could do?’

  ‘Nothing. I don’t know! I didn’t think of anything but Kit and helping him.’

  ‘Who else knows you are here?’

  She watched the hovering knife, her mind numb with dread. It was hard to think of anything but that reddened point. She had no doubt that Weston would carry out his threat if she forced him. Then all her effort would be in vain. Yet he could not know what was truth and what not. As long as she made her story credible he must accept it, and every moment she delayed him brought Edmund nearer.

  ‘Only Julia,’ she admitted with feigned reluctance. ‘She wouldn’t tell me about the cottage until I promised to keep the information from Lord Ashorne. By the time I’d wrung it out of her he had gone off searching for you. He was convinced you’d leave by the London Road— oh!’ She broke off with a dismayed gasp if alarmed at letting this fact slip.

  ‘So I shall be safe in taking the other? Can I trust you, I wonder? There’s more sense in your head than in your pretty sister’s. I’ve watched you trying to turn her against me, but luckily she was in too deep by then to listen. You’ve never liked me, have you? Always looked down your genteel nose at me. I’ve often longed to get you in this position and teach you a lesson.’

  She shivered as his lascivious eyes surveyed her boldly from head to toe. Then to her relief he turned away. ‘No time to pay off old scores now, more’s the pity. I’d enjoy taming you, my lady, but it isn’t worth putting my neck in a noose for a few minutes’ satisfaction. I can’t waste any more time here. There’s my horse to be caught, thanks to your meddling. Unless— you must have ridden here even if you did not wait to change into your habit. Where is your mount?’

  ‘I set him loose and sent him home,’ Anne lied without a qualm. Weston was not likely to find the bay hidden in the trees. ‘He’ll be halfway home by now.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ he asked silkily. The knife moved again. Grimly she fought down her panic. To tell the truth would only add to their danger. Weston could not afford to harm them until his means of escape was sure. If she kept calm and faced him out, he had to believe her.

  ‘Why should I lie to you? He is gone.’

  ‘I suppose I must believe you.’ To her relief he lowered the knife, and Kit’s taut muscles relaxed. ‘Let’s hope for your sake and the brat’s that my horse has not strayed far.’

  ‘What are you going to do with us when you leave?’ Rosy asked, her voice shrill with fear.

  ‘What do you imagine, my dear?’ he responded with a chilling laugh.

  ‘Take me with you, Phillip,’ she begged reaching out the bound hands towards him. ‘I’ve money in my box. You can have it all, and my jewellery too, if you let me come with you.’

  ‘I fully intend to take it, but without burdening myself with you,’ he sneered. ‘What use have I for an idle strumpet?’ Bending down, he smashed the lock with a poker. Tossing the gaudy clothes aside, he drew out a wash-leather bag and tipped its contents on to his palms.

  They glittered faintly in the firelight.

  ‘The miserly old goat can’t think much of you if this is all he can manage. A paltry collection, but it’ll raise a few shillings. Enough for a bed for the night and a wench to share it with me. I’ll think of you when I lie there snug and warm. Now where’s the cash? Only six guineas? Not much of a nest-egg, but you’ll have no need of it, will you, Rosy dear?’

  ‘You thieving bastard…’ Rosy bit off the curse and whimpered in a poor attempt at her old coquettish manner, ‘I thought you enjoyed being with me, Phillip. You seemed satisfied enough with my company this past week.’

  ‘You flatter yourself. Your eagerness bores me. I’m not likely to want for female companionship, but if I felt the lack I’d sooner take that supercilious madam there than you.’

  ‘Her!’ Rosy
exclaimed shrilly. ‘What would you want with her?’

  ‘Now Rosy, my sweet, what a question!’ he taunted her. ‘Isn’t there one of your drunken father’s quotations to fit the bill?’

  ‘How about The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon?’ Rosy spat out.

  He laughed at her fury.

  ‘Poor drab! Can’t you manage better than that?’

  ‘Let Kit go free and I will come with you,’ Anne offered desperately.

  ‘I believe you mean it!’ He smiled unpleasantly. ‘Perhaps there is more of your sister in you than I guessed. What a pity I did not discover it sooner! It might have been fun to set one against the other. But no, willingness spoils the prospect. I think I’ll forgo the pleasure tempting though your offer is. The child may be a safer bargaining object after all, and less likely to cause me problems. I don’t trust you.’

  ‘But Phillip,’ Rosy wailed, ‘you can’t mean to abandon me here.’

  He rounded viciously on her.

  ‘Shut your mouth or I’ll close it for good.’ As she subsided into noisy sobs he turned back to Anne. ‘Now to find my horse. Woe betide you and the brat if it has gone too far. I’ll take every setback out of him!’

  He strode out. Immediately he was gone Anne began to struggle against her bonds, but it was hopeless. They had been tied too efficiently to give. Movement only cut them more painfully into her cramped limbs.

  ‘I’m frightened, Anne,’ Kit quavered. ‘What is he going to do with us?’

  ‘Nothing, love!’ She tried to put more confidence into her voice than she felt. Edmund must be here soon! She longed to tell Kit that rescue was on the way, but hesitated to mention it in front of Rosy. The girl might try to buy her own freedom by betraying them. She must avoid that at all costs. Edmund’s best weapon would be surprise.

  ‘Be brave, Kit,’ she urged. ‘You may have to go with Weston for a little while, but he won’t do anything to hurt you if you do as he bids.’ She prayed that she was right. The alternative was too dreadful to contemplate.

  ‘I don’t want to leave you…’

  ‘It won’t be for long,’ she lied with feigned cheerfulness. ‘Don’t let him see you are afraid of him. That’s the best way with bullies.’ Her heart ached for him but she was powerless to help. Too much sympathy might make him break, and Weston would not want to be burdened with a hysterical child. That would tempt him to dispose of Kit sooner.

  All too quickly Weston returned, and an air of smug triumph showed that his quest had been successful.

  ‘A clever try, my fine lady,’ he gloated, ‘but not good enough. I found the stupid brute not a hundred yards from the gate. He knows where his best interests lie, if you don’t.’ Slicing through Kit’s bonds he dragged the boy roughly to his feet. ‘Come along now, brat. No fuss, or it’ll be the worse for you.’

  Kit rubbed his cramped limbs and cast a look of piteous entreaty at Anne. She tried to smile encouragement.

  ‘Phillip!’ Rosy shrieked, straining towards him. ‘Don’t leave us here like this. We could die before anyone found us. Untie us!’

  ‘And have you run off for help before my back is turned?’

  ‘I vow I wouldn’t, and I’d make sure she didn’t either. Untie my hands at least. Please!’

  Rosy was sobbing uncontrollably now. ‘You know you can trust me!’

  ‘I’m not such a fool as that. Stay here and rot for all I care! I have the money. That’s all I am interested in.’

  He pushed her contemptuously back, and with a scream of fury she lashed out with her feet.

  He evaded the wild movement easily but unable to stop her feet kicked over the bedside table. It crashed down throwing the heavy brass candlestick on it on to the floor. Weston watched it roll to rest, a calculating gleam in his eyes.

  ‘That was very rash of you, my dear. That fit of temper could have been dangerous for us all if the candle had been lit. How careless the members of your family are, to be sure! Only a few days since your father burned a whole barn down with one candle, and here you are carelessly knocking another fiving. What a tragic accident! Two young women burned to death.’ He bent to pick a taper from the hearth.

  ‘No!’ screamed Rosy, struggling frantically as she realised what he intended.

  ‘That’s right. Thrash around a bit. Make it look more natural.’

  ‘Convenient accidents are your stock in trade, aren’t they?’ Anne said bitingly, determined not to let him see her fear.

  ‘Well, they make so much less trouble all round. Effective results, yet no difficult consequences. For example, who has ever suspected that your brother-in-law’s death was anything but an accident?’

  ‘You killed Thomas?’ gasped Anne. ‘But how?’

  ‘By a minor adjustment to his carriage. One simple little sawcut in a vital place was enough to get rid of him and that little tramp with him without anyone guessing—except perhaps that flighty sister of yours—and her suspicions only gave me a stronger hold on her.

  She dared not cross me if she wanted to. Then, but for your damned interference, everyone would have thought that other idiot shot by a chance-met intruder. Only you had to rush up to save him. I was tempted to let you die with him, but the dog was too close for comfort.’

  ‘Bess never liked you.’

  ‘I can’t help her bad taste.’

  ‘And you did poison the wine in the library?’ Anything to keep him talking. Every minute gave Edmund more time.

  ‘Naturally, but I didn’t allow for that drunken oaf’s meddling. I hope the old fool dies,’ he spat viciously.

  ‘But surely that was dangerous. I had seen you coming out of the library.’

  ‘That wouldn’t have mattered if all had gone to plan. No one would have known the poison had been in the port. If I hadn’t been able to remove the decanter myself then Julia would have done it for me.’

  ‘You’re lying,’ Anne said uncertainly.

  ‘Are you sure? She’d do anything except give the actual dose. You know she would have been too relieved to see the end of the usurper to suffer any qualms of conscience.’

  Uncomfortably, Anne had to admit it. ‘Then you meant to marry her, and after a while there would have been another unfortunate accident?’

  ‘You are too shrewd, my dear. But we are wasting time. Is that deliberate, I wonder, or are you so reluctant to see me go?’

  Anne watched in fearful fascination as he stooped to light the taper from the fire. Was he going to kill them first or let them slowly burn to death? That he was willing to admit to murder proved that he had no intention of letting any of them live. Numbly she watched him light the wick on the fallen candle. It burned steadily, licking at the threadbare blankets.

  Rosy screamed and struggled more violently, but to no effect. Her arms stayed firmly bound to the bed. Pride forced Anne to remain silent, but she could not prevent her limbs quivering with fear. Weston stood for a moment savouring their terror. Then as the blankets began to smoulder he turned and dragged the squirming, protesting Kit away. A few seconds later they heard the clatter of horses’ hooves fade into the distance.

  ‘Can you get free, Rosy?’ Anne called sharply, struggling vainly against her own bonds.

  ‘No! Do something!’ Rosy shrieked, coughing in the suffocating cloud of smoke that rose from the damp blankets. ‘I can’t breathe.’

  ‘Get as low as you can. The air is clearer there.’

  ‘It’s no good,’ Rosy wailed. ‘Why didn’t you bring that fancy lordship of yours instead of trying to be so clever on your own?’

  ‘I’ve sent word to him. He’ll be here soon.’

  ‘He’ll be too late to save me,’ Rosy gasped. ‘I can’t hold out much longer. Oh, why wasn’t I satisfied with my gentleman friend! Pa was right. He told me I’d regret playing fast and loose with him. What if Gussy is old and bald! I could get him some china teeth. If we ever get out of here I’ll go straight to Bath to beg his forgiveness. But we won’t get
out! I know it!’

  ‘Don’t give up hope. There must be something we can do!’ Anne rocked her chair, trying to bring herself up to the burning mass that now threatened to engulf the bed. If she could only reach the blankets she might be able to roll on them and smother the flames. They were so old and musty that they were burning with more smoke than flame—not that that was not equally lethal. Anything was worth a try, was better than letting the smoke overcome her without a struggle, sitting here helplessly waiting to die!

  The chair moved a little. She tried again but her efforts only succeeded in overturning it.

  She crashed down, unable to break her fall. The air was fresher on the floor, and she gulped in a few clear breaths, but soon even here the smoke drifted, slowly filling her lungs. Rosy’s sobs cut off as the smoke overcame her.

  Ironic, Anne thought lightheadedly, that they had escaped from the barn only to be burned to death here instead. Her lungs felt as if they would burst from the effort to breathe. If only Edmund would hurry! What was holding him up? Soon it would be too late for her, but he might be in time to rescue Kit. The boy had seen and heard too much for Weston to risk setting him free if he had any choice in the matter.

  ‘Edmund!’ she muttered hoarsely as she drifted into unconsciousness. ‘Hurry!’

  CHAPTER

  ELEVEN

  ‘ALONE!’ Edmund exclaimed so harshly that the groom flinched away, fearing his master would strike him. ‘Are you mad? How could you let a young girl ride after that murderous villain on her own?’

  The man had a fleeting regret that he had managed to intercept his master. He had expected to be blamed, but not so violently as this. It had taken him far longer than Anne supposed to catch up with the search-party. Edmund’s urgency infecting them all, spurring them on, they had moved swiftly through the countryside.

  The groom had needed to push his mare to her limits, uncomfortably aware that their mounts were far better than his. The mare had been left because her wind was suspect and her pace far slower than the rest. With their head start he had begun to doubt whether he could ever overhaul them.