by Mira Stables
Pelly swung down from his horse. “Here, lad,” he called sharply to the miserable Will. “The bay’ll stand quiet enough now. Take this brute. And look smart about it,” he added, glancing keenly at the scared face and reluctant approach.
Will did as he was told, wishing that he had the courage to make a break for it, and knowing that to do so would be to invite a bullet in the back.
Pelly stooped over the prostrate Giles. Clemency had loosened his neckcloth and was staunching the blood that trickled down his face with an inadequate handkerchief.
“Just let him be, Mistress Longden,” advised a suave voice over her shoulder. “He’s taken little harm and is coming round already, and since I happen to want him alive he’ll continue to do well enough, for just so long as you do exactly as you’re told.”
Clemency looked up fearfully. “What do you w-want?” she faltered. “I have no money, no, nor jewels either.”
“As if your pretty self isn’t worth more than a bagful of golden guineas,” said Pelly smoothly, and smiled to see terror flicker in the brown eyes. “I’m sure your Papa will think so, and will gladly reward me for bringing you safe home. So it’s into the gig with you, my dear, and not a squeak out of those pretty lips, mind, whoever we chance to meet, or I fear things will go ill with your poor young friend here. Now where’s that stupid oaf got to? Go fetch him, Harry boy, and the two of you get our young gentleman out of sight. Tie him up and stop his mouth. I’ll take the lad with me, or like as not he’ll lope off. If I’m not back within two hours —” he tossed over Giles’s watch — “cut the fellow’s throat and roll him into the ditch.” His eyes flickered sideways at Clemency to make sure that this threat had gone home. She looked like a creature turned to stone, realising to the full Giles’s deadly danger and her own helplessness. If she did not submit — if any accident should delay them — then Giles would die. Somehow she forced her shaking limbs to obey her will and climbed into the gig, waiting numbly for her captor to join her.
But it was the lad who clambered into the driving seat and took the reins, urging the placid bay to a steady trot, while the highwayman ranged alongside after a moment or two in the fashion of an attentive escort. By the time they emerged from the lane on to the turnpike it was full dark. They had met no one. Even had they done so, Clemency would not have dared cry out for help.
There was a snapped order, and the pace picked up sharply on the better road. She could only be grateful. There was no time, as yet, to dwell on her own desperate situation. All her mind was set on preserving Giles’s life. It was a humble terrified girl who did all she was bid with pathetic alacrity, climbing the steep ladder to the stable loft that was to be her prison, even holding out her hands for the bonds for which Pelly apologised with oily gallantry. It would not be for long, he assured her, tightening the leather straps about her wrists beyond all possibility of escape and then passing a broader strap about her waist which he secured to a wall staple with a padlock; just until he had arranged that her unfortunate beau should carry the news of her capture and the demand for ransom to the proper quarters. Then he would return and she could be more comfortably established. Meanwhile he need not subject her to the discomfort of a gag, since there was no one to hear however loud she shouted. With that he left her, and within minutes she heard the gig drive off. She could only pray that he might come safely to his rendezvous.
Chapter Fifteen
“IT was the most touching thing I think I ever saw,” said Piers quietly.
“She knew him at once?” marvelled Lady Eleanor.
“Just raised her head from her embroidery, and warned him, as she might have done in her own drawing-room, ‘Take care, love, there is a work table between you and the hearth. I will show you,’ and went to take his hand and lead him to the couch as though they had never been parted.”
“And he?”
“Is a brave man, and a wise one. He made no great outcry, just took her in his arms and kissed her gently, a devoted husband newly come to join his wife on a visit to friends, and talked to her of small domestic matters, of the girls and Betsy and the commodities that Betsy had commissioned him to obtain while he was in York. She laughed at that, and said they would go shopping as soon as he was rested from the tiresome journey.”
“It would seem that she is perfectly recovered.”
Piers shook his head. “No; for she asks no questions but simply accepts everything as it comes, and when she is surprised or puzzled she just smiles and says she must have forgotten. But I would hope that her complete recovery is only a matter of time, and perhaps of familiar surroundings.”
“How did Faith take it all?”
Piers smiled. “A little distressed, I fear, for it was pretty evident that her Mama did not recognise her, though it was passed off as being due to the change in her appearance from schoolgirl to young lady. But they are off to London tomorrow and Aunt Chloe set her to packing which helped to raise her spirits.
“And when may we expect the Longdens home? The girls and Betsy will be anxious to know.”
“Not for some days I understand. Mr. Longden was all for removing to the Swan, not wishing to be a charge on his friends, but Aunt Chloe and Cousin Marjorie between them persuaded him that it would be better for his wife if they remained quietly in Coney Street, since she had so readily accepted the notion that they were visiting friends. I thought I would drive over to Ash Croft after dinner and give them the news.”
He had not stopped to change his riding-dress before seeking out his aunt, and now straightened his long length with the air of a man pleasantly tired after a day of strenuous open air activity. “I left the chaise at the disposal of the Longdens,” he explained, “and rode back, as I knew you would all be eager to hear the outcome. Has Miss Longden been in today?”
Lady Eleanor said she had not. “Giles spoke of bringing her back with him but he is not yet returned. Doubtless he is still lingering at Ash Croft, and time is forgotten.”
There was a sympathetic twinkle in her eyes and Piers smiled back at her. “That affair is happily settled, I take it?” he asked.
“Well Giles did not quite like to approach Mr. Longden just at this juncture, but yes, certainly it is as good as settled. They hope to be married in the spring. Giles means to ask you if you cannot delay your departure so that you can be his groomsman.”
Piers thought it unlikely that he would still be in Yorkshire for the happy occasion, but admitted that so far he had not been able to arrange a passage. They were deep in friendly argument over the conflicting claims of business interests and family loyalty when Mattie tapped at the door and informed her mistress that a message had just been brought up from the stables asking if Captain Kennedy would go across there as soon as possible.
“Who wants me?” asked Piers in surprise, for the stables were more properly his cousin’s province. At the same moment Lady Eleanor said, “Something amiss with one of the horses, I suppose. Is Master Giles there, Mattie?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Mattie stolidly, but volunteered no further information.
“Then I’ll go now,” said Piers, “before I put off those exceedingly dirty leathers. You spoil us, Aunt Nell. Most ladies would object to my very odorous presence. I will remove myself at once,” and he sauntered out of the room with an affectionate grin at her laughing disclaimer.
He found Mattie waiting for him as he closed the drawing-room door. “I didn’t want to say anything as ’ud upset her ladyship,” she said low-voiced. “The truth is that Master Giles is a bit knocked up. Must have been an accident of some sort. Jerry’s sent for the doctor, but young master was urgent to speak with you. Working himself into a proper stew he was, so best to hurry, Sir.”
Piers needed no second telling. And the scene that met his eyes as he strode into the harness room was sufficiently startling. Seeing the young master wavering and swaying as he came in, one of the lads had rushed helpfully forward and put an arm about his waist, at the same
time drawing the injured right arm over his own shoulders. This well meant effort at support had proved disastrous. Giles, still sick and giddy from the blow on his head, succumbed to the stab of agony from a broken collar bone so rudely handled, and collapsed in a sprawling heap on the floor. Piers came in to find one groom frantically splashing water in his master’s face, while old Jerry was adjuring the abashed youngster to “give over mauling the poor lad, do, and be off up to the house for a sup of brandy for ’im. And make sure as you don’t alarm the Missus.”
Accustomed to dealing with injuries of varying degrees, a brief examination assured Piers that his cousin’s were not desperate, despite the shocking appearance of greenish pallor and bruised and bloodstained face. The tale of his sudden collapse was quickly told and its cause established. He was made as comfortable as possible in a chair hastily brought from Jerry’s quarters, the injured arm secured to his body to prevent further damage, and a glass of brandy thrust into his left hand, while his cousin cleansed and bound up the head wound, sternly bidding him hold his tongue the while and promising that he should tell his tale at leisure once his hurts had been looked to.
“You must listen, Piers,” he burst out, jerking his head away from the sponge. “’Twasn’t just a spill. D’you think I should care for that? I tell you it was a hold-up. From what was said later is seems they’d expected us to be carrying jewels — God knows why — in a gig — on a country lane! And when they were disappointed of the expected haul they made off with Clemency.”
The steady swabbing of the sponge checked for a moment, then was methodically resumed. Giles, expecting a wrathful outburst of comment and blame, repeated impatiently, “Don’t you understand? They’ve abducted her and are holding her to ransom. In fact” — a wry grimace twisted his pleasant features — “the sneering devil who carried her off was good enough to inform me that I owed my life to her submission and to the fact that they needed me as a messenger. Said that for his own part he wasn’t so set on the Quality, but ‘the pretty little lady’ was counting on me to bring her off safe. Then I was bundled into my own gig like a whipped puppy and told to make haste home.” He groaned, and put up his good arm to shield his face.
“Steady, lad,” said Piers quietly. “Fretting and fuming’ll do no good. Save your strength, for I’m going to need your help. Just let’s have you a bit more presentable and then we’ll take counsel with my aunt. Yes” — to Giles’s surprised grunt — “she’ll have to know. It can’t be hid. Sit still and finish that brandy and I’ll go warn her of the pickle you’re in, or we shall have her fainting away next.”
He called to Jerry to direct the physician to the house when he arrived. “Let Mr. Giles sit quietly for ten minutes or so, and then bring him up to the house yourself. He’ll manage it, I think, with a shoulder to lean on.”
Striding through the quiet dark, he permitted his thoughts to turn for one brief moment to Clemency, small, sweet Clemency, so proud and so plucky. Where was she now, and how would they use her, brutes so debased that they would abduct a woman — a mere child — in their greed for gold? His mouth set in a line that boded ill for any who harmed her. Yet as he had bidden Giles, so he himself must control the murderous rage that seethed within him. Cold, reasoned planning was what was needed first. Time enough, when they had brought her off safe, to give that fury free rein.
As gently as he might he broke the news of the evening’s disaster to his aunt, not making light of Giles’s injuries, but warning her that Giles himself would certainly do so. “For you will find,” he concluded, “that he blames himself for Miss Longden’s abduction, and it will break his heart if we exclude him from our rescue bid.”
Lady Eleanor’s lips twisted ruefully, but she knew very well that Piers had gauged his cousin’s reactions to a nicety. “Very well, my dear,” she submitted. “But you will have a care to him, won’t you? Hampered by the injuries he received tonight, he will be very vulnerable, and he is all I have.” She turned away sharply, fearful of being betrayed into tears, thankful that at that moment Giles was carefully ushered into the room by a protective Jerry and that she could make a great show of scolding the pair of them for not coming straight to her in the first case.
Giles, installed in a high backed chair that supported his injured shoulder, his colour gradually returning to normal, was now subjected to a searching interrogation with regard to all the details of the attack, and in particular the length of time that had elapsed before the leader of the gang had returned to the scene of the outrage. That was of special importance, explained Piers, because it limited the distance to which the captive could have been carried.
“Unless they simply handed her over to a waiting accomplice,” suggested Lady Eleanor gloomily.
But Piers judged this to be unlikely, since it seemed that abduction had only been decided upon when the original scheme of robbery had failed.
Giles was able to be quite specific on the time factor, since Harry, carefully studying Giles’s own timepiece, had announced in jocular tones that the young feller had saved his bacon by just five minutes. “Two hours you said, guv’nor, and near as nothing, two hours it is.”
That was when Pelly had seen fit to inform the bound and battered Giles that he had the young lady to thank for his life. She had quite seen the force of the argument and had submitted willingly to bonds and captivity for his sake. Had she resisted — a shrug, elaborated by Harry who drew a finger across his throat in gruesome pantomime.
Piers was already bending over a tithe map which he had brought in from the estate office, his face hidden from the others as he listened to Giles filling in the details of his first bald account. They did not see his reaction to the thought of his brave child coerced into meek submission by such threats. For a moment it had seemed to him that the lines of the map were obscured and wavering before his gaze, so urgent was the thirst for vengeance that consumed him. But the voice in which he presently announced that he reckoned Chevalier could have covered from sixteen to twenty miles in the time was coolly factual; the hand that traced a wide circle on the map with the fatal spinney at its centre was perfectly steady.
Giles felt that the estimate was about right. One had to allow for the darkness, but the bay had been quite fresh and no doubt the rogues would have pressed him to the limit. They set about the disheartening task of listing all the places within a radius of twelve miles of the spinney where a prisoner might be hidden. The result was intimidating. In a district which for years had seen the growing drift of population to the towns, there was a dismayingly long list of derelict farm cottages and disused buildings which might well have been put to such a use. To search them all would be a formidable task.
“Even if we raise the alarm in the village and set every man in the place to search, it would take a week to cover all these,” said Lady Eleanor despairingly. “We cannot leave that poor child to endure so long. We shall have to pay whatever ransom they demand.”
“Ten thousand pounds, Mama?” enquired Giles bitterly. “We could not raise the half of such a sum. Nor could her father, I fear, in the time we are like to be allowed.”
“I’m afraid it is not just a question of being able to raise the necessary sum,” said Piers grimly. “If it were, we would somehow contrive between us. But in dealing with scum of this kind there can be no relying on their word. They are quite capable of collecting the ransom and still despatching their victim, lest she should recognise and denounce them on some future occasion. And unfortunately we run the same risk if we press our search too closely. I would not give much for Miss Longden’s chances of survival if they imagined that we had discovered their hiding place.”
Such a possibility had not occurred to his aunt. “But that means that we can do nothing at all, Piers. Surely you do not intend to sit idle while Clemency is in their hands?”
“Of course not. But we must thoroughly understand the danger that threatens before we move. And when we do move, we must be lightning swift.�
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“Very well,” sighed his aunt. “What do you want us to do?”
“Giles was told we could have a week in which to raise the money, by which time they will have sent word as to how and where it is to be paid. During that week we will search the district that we have marked, but with the utmost discretion for fear of alarming our birds. There can be no question of mounting a massive search. One thing that disturbs me greatly is that there must be a confederate in the locality. How else could they know that Longden, despite his apparent poverty, was in possession of valuable jewellery, and that he was considering disposing of it?”
Giles passed his good hand over an aching brow. “I’m sorry to seem such a slow-top, cousin. It must be so, of course. I see it all quite plain when you explain it to me, but I confess I should never have thought of it myself. ’Twill be best if you do the thinking and planning, and I’ll obey orders. What do we do first?”
At that Piers gave a genuine chuckle. “You won’t like your first orders, my lad, but you’ve given your word. When the doctor has seen to that shoulder of yours, you’re going to bed. Whether you know it or not, you’ve a touch of concussion from that knock on the head, which is why you’re a self-confessed slow-top. A night between sheets will work wonders for you, and you’ll be fit for duty tomorrow. No — don’t argue — you’re under orders now. Listen instead to what I want you to do tomorrow. Somewhere in this vicinity are three men and a girl who have to be fed. Take your mother with you, and visit any places where food may be bought — shops, farms, inns — though you’d better not take your mother there! Buy something — Aunt Eleanor must invent a plausible tale — and see if you can pick up any hint of strangers in the district buying supplies.”
At this point Mattie came in to say that the doctor was come at last and that she had shown him up to Master Giles’s room, so the conference broke up.
