The Highwayman Came Riding
Page 3
“Yes.”
Kate laid her hand on the older woman’s. “Upon my honor, everything I’ve told you tonight is true. The harvest was much better than we’d expected and the sheep are doing splendidly.” She paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “We will certainly not be without debt anytime soon, but there is no longer need to practice such stringent economies as we have in these last years.” She looked at Lady Alice. “In any case, if you have any idea where I might be procuring money, I would very much like to hear it.”
Lady Alice squeezed Kate’s hand.
“My dear, certainly I am not implying anything at all. Indeed, I am so very proud of you, Katherine. Yet sometimes you are so determined and can be rather impetuous--Katherine, I won’t soon forget the time you shot Mrs. Appleby’s second cousin just because he pulled your hair and called you a freckle-puss--”
“I was aiming for the target,” Kate said hotly, for the words, spoken by one on whom she’d had her first girlish infatuaion, still hurt.
Lady Alice raised her eyebrows infinitesimally. Kate raised her eyebrows as high as she could.
“Katherine Rachel.”
Kate sighed as if put upon by the world and collapsed on the settee.
“My dear, he only meant to tease you.”
Kate shot up.
“A twenty year-old man should know better than to tease a fourteen-year-old girl about her appearance,” Kate replied, still stung by the injustice of it all. "The only thing I regret about shooting that spindle-shanked nincompoop is that I missed.”
She brushed off her aunt’s restraining hand and paced the room with long strides. “At fourteen, my dreams were dashed by a hideously cruel man, so that never in my life can I know the happiness of a pretty woman,” she said, quite enjoying the drama. “And now, my own aunt has accused me of--of indulging in nefarious schemes to regain the wealth of the Thoreaus.”
Kate grabbed the poker and vigorously stirred the fire, guilt rising in her like sparks up the flue at the worried look on Lady Alice’s face.
"No,” her aunt said calmly. "That is not what I said.”
Kate continued to stare at the cooling coals. For a wild moment, she considered telling her aunt the whole story. But one look at the concerned face before her caused her to hold her tongue. Whatever burden there was in this life she was leading, Kate would not lay it on the shoulders of the woman who’d devoted her life to her family.
Then a brilliant idea came to her.
She sat down by Lady Alice. Taking her aunt’s hand in hers, her voice barely a whisper, she admitted the truth. “You’re quite right. I do have a scheme.” She cast a surreptitious glance over her shoulder and leaned closer. “I am the Grey Cavalier! Pray, do not turn me over to the authorities, I implore you.”
As she’d hoped, Lady Alice laughed. “Oh, you dreadful girl,” she scolded gently. She stood and straightened her shawl, shaking her head at her niece.
Kate banked the fire as her aunt blew out the candles, leaving one to light their way up the elaborately carved staircase. Kate tucked her arm in the older woman’s.
“You will keep my secret, dear Aunt, won’t you?” she teased, blue eyes dancing. “I depend upon your discretion. Lucy’s chances would be quite ruined should I be hanged during her comeout.” For some reason, the dandy who had shown such interest in Lucy’s bosom at the Coffee Shoppe that morning sprang to her mind. How odd, Kate thought, as a sensation of apprehension niggled at the back of her neck.
"Simply dreadful,” said her aunt as they entered the nursery to sleepy cries of, “We want a story!”