“Difficulties?” Amy cried. “Oh, when I think what we have said and done to you!”
“Oh, come, you were not to know I was Mr. Pitt’s employee.”
“And this is what you meant when you said that you would be believed concerning Mr. Pierce.”
“Yes indeed. I have already sent a report to London, and have asked for soldiers to help to round up the smugglers. Yesterday proved very informative, even though Nancy Saythe led me straight into an ambush at the Clasped Hands. From the statements that I can now make under oath and with evidence I hope to gain from some of the captured Pegmen—and we shall capture some—the withdrawal of the case against your father is certain.”
She gave him a sudden, unguarded smile. “How wonderful you are,” she murmured.
“And are you to have me arrested?” Bernard cried. “Is that what you are telling me?”
“Quite the contrary. I recommend you to take your mother and sisters and go, as quick and as far as you can.”
“Go? But ... but...”
“You might ask Miss Hilderoth if she would like to go with you,” Amy put in, with impish good humour. “To marry her here in Markledon might cause problems—but if you settled elsewhere no one would find it strange, because no one would know that you had once been the son of a landowner and she had been a dressmaker.”
“Leave Markledon?” Bernard said.
“Within twenty-four hours. The dragoons will be here soon.”
“But ... but ... What about Pierce?”
“What about him?”
“Are you giving him twenty-four hours’ warning too?”
Jeffrey’s mouth became a grim line. “No, I am not. That gentleman has a great deal to answer for, not least the intention of seeing Amy’s father at the end of a rope. Besides, it’s already too late for him. I’ve got young Robin Emhurst watching his office and if he should make the slightest move to leave, I shall have him followed until the dragoons take him prisoner. But he won’t bestir himself. He’s too pleased with himself to imagine he can be arrested, and he still thinks my corpse is pegged out on the beach, thus disposing of his one real enemy.”
Amy went close to him, shivering. “It so nearly happened.”
“But for you, it would have happened. But you must forget such things, Amy. The future looks bright again, and everything will be as it used to be.”
“Not quite everything.” Amy went to Bernard and offered him her hand. “Goodbye, Bernard. I don’t believe we are likely to meet again. I wish you luck wherever you go and whoever you take with you.”
“Th-thank you, Amy,” Bernard stammered, taken aback by her calmness. “I wish you happiness...”
“Thank you.” With a slight curtsey she went out. Jeffrey joined her in the hall, offering his arm. To him she said, “He may live a quiet and happy life after all—who knows?”
“His mother will be a worry to him for a long time, I fear. She loved her husband very dearly.”
“Oh, yes, she idolised him. Poor Mrs. Gramont. And yet—”
“What?”
“A woman who has loved a man as deeply as she has is perhaps to be envied.”
“Perhaps,” he agreed. He opened the door for her and ushered her out into the October morning. The sun had overcome the chill breeze so that the walk, towards the Manor House was very pleasant. Gylo could not be walked easily through the shrubbery beyond the wicket-gate, so his master tethered him there, to be taken round later to the stables.
“Now, I suppose. I must pay my respects to your mother,” he murmured.
“Yes, but she will suddenly learn to like you when you tell her that Papa is saved.”
“I hope so. I have a particular reason for wanting your mother’s approval.”
“Indeed?”
“Indeed. But this is perhaps not the time to speak of it. We have been through a series of dramas and it would be unfair to ... to...”
“Unfair?” Amy said, pausing and turning to study him. “In what way?”
“Well ... I have a certain request to put forward, but ... I scarcely like to ... Although it reassured me to hear you tell Bernard so calmly that you had ceased to care for him some time ago.”
“Sir,” Amy said, tilting her head to look into his eyes, “do you remember telling me once that when you had seen my father walk out of Winchester Gaol a free man you would present the bill for your services?”
He winced. “Don’t remind me of that conversation, Amy. I said things I didn’t mean.”
“You didn’t mean them? Now, there! How disappointing!”
“Disappointing?”
“As I recall it, sir, you took some slight payment in advance. I am interested to see what the full bill might be.”
“Amy!”
She saw the incredulity in his eyes, and gave a tremulous little laugh.
“In the fairy stories, you know, Jeffrey, the prince is asked to do half a dozen impossible things and then when he has done them he gets the hand of the princess. In this particular fairy story the princess was cross-grained and ungrateful—”
“Amy, you are not to say such things! You are not cross-grained! You are the kindest, brightest girl I have ever known, and I shall love you until all the cliffs at Bourne Bottom have tumbled into the sea and washed away.”
“Shall you, Jeffrey?” she said, suddenly shy. “I hope so, because I shall love you for as long, and it would be so lonely without you.”
As he took her in his arms, she swayed towards him so that they were almost one. The Indian shawl slipped from her shoulders to make a little swathe of exotic colour in the grass, unnoticed. The sunlight gilded his hair and she let her hand wander over it as they kissed, loving the soft feel under her palm.
“My fortune-hunter,” she murmured with a little smile in her voice.
“You were all the fortune I ever wanted, dearest treasure,” he said. “You know, of course, that I have no money worth speaking of. All the world will say I snared you for your inheritance.”
“Oh, let them,” she said dreamily. “Let them. We’ll be so happy, Jeffrey, that we won’t care what anyone says.” She was foretelling their future, she was sure. They would be happy. They had been through so much together and learned so much about each other that they were certain of their love. They had each other—there was nothing more in the world to ask for.
The Fortune-Hunter Page 19
