A Bride for the Prizefighter: A Victorian Romance

by Alice Coldbreath

  Guthrie looked pained. She noticed he was rather pale today and suspected he had not been allowed much sleep the previous evening. “Mr. Hopkirk maintains he knows precious little about the matter,” Guthrie admitted. “He claims he has been a foolish old man, slipped the odd bottle of rum to impart his local knowledge. According to him he was shocked and dismayed to find Reuben Prouse had abducted you and expected him to stand guard over you in that passage below Vance House.”

  Mina looked up quickly and Guthrie nodded. “He knows he faces a hangman for his part, so he is striving to appear fully cooperative. They dug that bullet out of his shoulder yesterday and he looks fair to mend. Hopkirk claims Reuben showed him the passage a month or so ago and swore him to silence. When asked to meet him there yesterday, he apparently had no notion of the kidnapping plot. Indeed, he claims he only knew Reuben Prouse as the face of the smugglers and none other.”

  “He does not implicate my husband, then,” Mina pointed out.

  “No, he does not,” agreed Guthrie slowly. “Hopkirk begs for me to carry word to you that he is most anxious you are recovered from your ordeal and restored to your husband. He acted quite bewildered that Nye should be in custody at all.”

  Mina could only feel herself greatly relieved that Gus did not mean to try and pin the role of mastermind to Nye. It seemed absurd to her that anyone could think Reuben a commanding figure, but she supposed he had little else to fall back on.

  “He says you will bear him out that he was most careful of your health and wellbeing and acted champion against Prouse’s repeated threats of violence.”

  Mina nodded, “That is true enough.”

  Guthrie, she noticed looked visibly frustrated by her words, though he did not press her. “As for Tom Rowley, he insists he is a ‘peaceable man’ with a large family and says he never saw hide nor hair of him anywhere near the place.” He hesitated. “We want to know if you will testify against Tom Rowley, Mrs. Nye.”

  “I’m afraid I cannot,” Mina answered with perfect truth. “I was quite insensible after Reuben struck me and I did not catch sight of the carter’s face at any point.”

  “Your maid, Edna Lumm now says she cannot be sure the man was Tom Rowley who drove the cart out of here yesterday afternoon. She only says she took him for Tom Rowley at the time.”

  “Edna is one of the most truthful people I know, Mr. Guthrie. If she says she cannot swear to it, then I must believe her.”

  Guthrie’s look was rather hard before he dropped it. “Rowley was taken into custody but released again this morning,” he admitted. “Indeed, I start to fear ma’am that we will not get a successful conviction against any of the ring at this rate.”

  “You have no expectation of identifying who the mysterious ‘guvnor’ they spoke of might be?”

  Guthrie shook his head. “Hopkirk talks ceaselessly, but it’s all sound and no substance. To hear him talk, Prouse was the villain of the piece and he a poor duped old man.” A look of disgust passed over his face. “I believe ma’am, that he would vastly enjoy appearing before a jury.”

  “They would be eating out of his hand before the trial was over,” Mina predicted softly.

  Guthrie shook his head. “You have no other detail to impart that might help us with our investigation. No new angle that might aid us in our enquiry?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Mina said quietly. Helping their enquiry build a case was not exactly her priority, but she could hardly admit as much.

  He looked disappointed, but not surprised and took his leave of her shortly after. Edna and Corin rallied around with Edna exclaiming she had never liked Gus and always thought him a smooth-tongued villain. It was Corin’s half-day that afternoon and the girl said she would not take it, but Mina insisted.

  “You must go into the village Corin and visit with your granny as usual. And you must make sure to tell her anyone else you meet there, that Edna and I have both told the Riding Officers most unequivocally that we cannot identify Thomas Rowley, and neither would Gus. Only Reuben’s involvement with my abduction is confirmed with witnesses.”

  Edna shot her a sharp look at this but lowered her gaze as Corin agreed wide-eyed that she would do so.

  “The Rowleys are a local family,” Edna said after Corin had set out with her bonnet and her basket for the village. “And there’s powerful many of them living hereabouts.” She hesitated. “I told true when I said I couldn’t positively identify him, but—” She broke off frustratedly. “I did take it for him at the time, Mrs. Nye and that’s the God’s own truth.”

  “I understand perfectly Edna,” Mina assured her. “We cannot send a man who may be innocent to the gibbet.”

  Edna paled. “What of the master?” she asked hoarsely. “Has he queered his pitch sending for those officers? You could have knocked me down with a feather when he said that was what he was doing. For he must have known—”

  “My brother Lord Faris is speaking to his solicitor on Nye’s behalf and I have spoken to the local Justice of the Peace. I hope between them they may negotiate Nye’s release. He had already broken with them, Edna,” she added quietly. “That was why – why they took me,” she said simply.

  Edna reached across the table to clasp hands with her. “I knew you would bring him around,” she said staunchly.

  Mina could only hope she had not inadvertently sent him to the hangman.

  24

  The next three days were a sore trial to Mina. The only news she received was a scribbled note from Jeremy assuring her he had met with his legal man Havering and he was taking the matter under his consideration. They received no more visits from Riding Officers, but they did receive all manner of other visitors to The Harlot.

  The first were the Tavistocks who came in a very antiquated carriage and stayed for a roast mutton dinner in one of the private parlors. Mina tried in vain to get them to take their meal in her own private room as her guests, but they would not be convinced. It dawned on her that the elderly brother and sister were showing support for their business and she could only be grateful, though she did not know how much sway they held locally.

  They were firm in their opinion that the elder and more objectionable of the two Riding Officers was in gross dereliction of his duty and so they told anyone who would listen. “For it stands to reason, my dear. If Nye was implicated in this business, he would hardly have bought them to his own door!” Mr. Tavistock said with a decided nod of his gray head. “Pack of nonsense, depend upon it!”

  The second night, a straggling bunch of working men came up the hill from the village and trooped into the empty taproom at The Merry Harlot. Corin had to run to the stable to fetch Herney who had been polishing the carriage. He hurried inside to serve their customers and Corin made haste to inform Mina that at least three of the group were cousins to Tom Rowley.

  The third night even more drifted up the bank from the village in two and threes. Some only stayed for one drink, but others hung around for longer, making the taproom buzz with conversation. Reuben Prouse had not been a popular figure and people were happy enough to allot him the lion’s share of the blame. Of Gus, they seemed less censorious and seemed to think he had been led astray, more sinned against than sinning.

  Mina sat in the kitchen with Edna and Corin who were sewing new dresses for church. She had her handkerchiefs to embroidery, but in truth managed precious few stitches. She simply did not want to be alone with her thoughts these days, which often turned bleak.

  She wondered how long it would be before she had news from Jeremy. He had thought that Sir Matthew Carswell would communicate far easier with him than with Mina, and she was forced to agree. She did not know what Mr. Havering’s opinion had been of their chances of Nye escaping conviction, for Jeremy had been uncommunicative on that score. She drew his note from her waist pocket again and stared at the well-read words.

  “Your cup of tea will be getting cold, Mrs. Nye,” Corin ventured timorously.

  Mina flashed
her an absent smile and drank the beverage down. “I think I’m for bed,” she sighed. “I’m good for nothing else. I’ve sewn this same petal three times already and unpicked it again just as many times.

  She had washed and was walking back through to the kitchen when she heard the horse hooves in the yard outside. She was surprised for it was nigh on ten o’clock. Glancing out of the window, she saw the rider dismount and was startled to see it was none other than Jeremy.

  Hurrying through to the hallway, she flung open the door and waited for him to hand his horse over to Colfax who was still helping out where needed. Jeremy did not tarry to speak to his employee but strode immediately to where Mina waited. “Let’s go to your private room,” he said in a low voice and Mina led the way with her heart in her mouth.

  As soon as he had shut the door behind them both, she turned to him, almost trembling with apprehension. “You have news? Please tell me.”

  He reached into his jacket and withdrew a folded paper which he held fast a moment before passing it to her.

  Mina’s hands shook so badly she could scarcely open it. “What is it?”

  “Release papers.”

  Mina cried out, almost dropping the papers to the floor. “For Nye?” She fixed her eyes on him with an intensity that was almost painful.

  Jeremy smiled. “They are signed and ready for presentation to the officers at St Ives.”

  “Then, why do you not present them immediately?” She glanced at the clock and cursed the lateness of the hour.

  He cocked his head to one side. “It’s my belief that you should perform that office, sister. First thing on the morrow.”

  “Me?”

  Jeremy’s expression turned grave. “It’s my opinion you will need to exercise the full force of your charm on him, I warn you.”

  Mina felt a spurt of alarm. “What do you mean?”

  “When I saw him yesterday, his frame of mind was grim. He – er – was not contemplating the future with relish.”

  “Well, no. He would hardly do so with the gallows looming on the horizon,” she reminded her brother somewhat tartly.

  His lips quirked. “When I spoke of any possibility of cheating the hangman, he talked of disappearing to Exeter and leaving you in staid respectability at Vance Park.”

  Mina turned quite cold. “What?” she cried.

  “Either that or having you divorce him before he perished on the scaffold.”

  “Divorce!”

  “I’m sure it was only his depression of spirits that prompted such talk,” Jeremy hurried to assure her. “But I could not rouse him from it, try as I might. I think if I were to take these papers to him, he would disappear for at least a month or so.”

  “Disappear? For a month!” Mina’s ire rose.

  “No more than that, I’m persuaded, but even so I do not think you should be made to do without him at present.”

  “No indeed!” Mina fumed, plunking her hands on her hips. “Why, the very idea!”

  Jeremy gave a sudden laugh. “You’ll bring him about; I have no doubt.”

  “Certainly, I shall,” Mina responded in high dudgeon. “You may depend upon it.” When he turned toward the door, she reached out to stay him, her mood changing abruptly. “Jeremy, wait. I have not thanked you for everything you have done for us—”

  “No, and I beg you will not do so,” he interrupted her. “You are my family and I have more need of that now than ever.” He hesitated. “It will be your turn to return the favor in coming months. Comparatively, tis of little import, but I have started divorce proceedings as you advised. Amanda is not taking it well.” He grimaced. “I have no doubt that things will get a good deal worse before they get better.”

  “Oh, Jeremy,” she squeezed his arm with a rush of sympathy. “It must be very hard, but I am convinced you are doing the right thing. We will be here for you, of course.”

  He nodded, smiled at her, and left Mina still clutching the piece of paper to her heart.

  *

  It was not even six o’clock when Mina rose the next morning. She dressed hurriedly, but when she went to place her father’s watch in the inner pocket of her skirts, was surprised to find something hard concealed in there already. Drawing it out between two fingers she found it was her lost bridal sixpence.

  She stared at it a moment, lost in thought, then taking it for a good omen she went downstairs a lightness in her step that had not been there before, in search of Ed Herney. He was already up and dressed and on confiding the errand was to fetch the master home, he showed every pleasure at the prospect of driving the coach and went to put the horses to. Colfax assured her he would hold the fort while they were gone.

  Mina had finished a piece of bread and butter and a cup of tea by the time Edna appeared in the kitchen.

  “You’re early this morning, Mrs. Nye,” she said with surprise, then added anxiously. “Not bad news I hope?”

  “On the contrary, Edna,” Mina told her with a smile and produced the paper. Edna screeched and rounded the table to embrace her over the news.

  There was just time for a hurried cup of tea before she climbed into the carriage and then she was on her way to the holding cells at St Ives. She clutched the papers in one gloved hand and drew her cloak close about her. Rain was steadily falling, and she peered out of the carriage window wondering if the April showers were going to turn into a downpour before the morning was over.

  The rain slackened off by the time they reached St Ives, and they had to stop while Herney took directions having never had occasion to visit the cells before. They were soon proceeding down a side-street and seeing a uniformed individual alighting from a nearby doorway, Mina called up to Herney to halt the carriage.

  “I will get down here. You must circle around and return in a half hour or so.”

  “You’re sure you won’t wait for me to stable them and accompany you, ma’am?” he yelled down as she alighted.

  “No, no. That won’t be necessary, thank you Herney.” She was already making determinedly for the steps.

  Once inside, a forbidding looking gentleman approached her. Before he had even opened his mouth, Mina informed him crisply that she wanted to speak to whoever was in charge. Ten minutes later, after her papers had been duly inspected, she was ushered into an antechamber to await the prisoner’s release.

  Mina took her pocket watch no less than three times as she waited for them to bring Nye to her. Would things have gone smoother if she had bought her brother along with her or even Colfax, she wondered? The officials had seemed affronted that so important a document had been delivered into their hands by a mere female.

  No, she thought on reflection, for Jeremy had warned her that Nye had a mind to be difficult. She would be better be able to handle him on her own. The door opened and Mina sprang to her feet as Nye was ushered inside by an attendant.

  “You’re to wait here,” the attendant said heavily. “And we’ll bring out your belongings.”

  Nye turned toward her, his chin dark with stubble and his clothes rumpled. It was his expression however that gave her pause for thought, for it was closed and far from inviting.

  Mina took a deep fortifying breath and walked forward but he made no answering move toward her. Coming to a halt in front of him she reached out to take his arm, but he stepped away from her, preventing her.

  “What did you do, Mina?” he asked in an ominously quiet voice. She frowned a moment, unsure what he meant. “To ensure my release,” he added through gritted teeth.

  “I did only what needed to be done, nothing more, nothing less.”

  “Wait!” he said, his hand shooting out to grab her arm where she stood. His grip was hard, and Mina only just managed not to wince. His nostrils flared and he dragged her close until his face was inches from hers. “Did you let him touch you?” he asked harshly.

  Mina’s jaw dropped. “What? Who are you—?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Carswell. Answer me.”

&
nbsp; “William Nye—!”

  “Because if you did, it was a one-time-only deal. I’m not sharing you.”

  “Lord Carswell is a respectable man!” she hissed.

  “I don’t give a fuck if he’s the lord mayor of London, he’s not sleeping with my wife.”

  “Of course not!” she spluttered. God, she’d forgotten what an unreasonable swine he could be! She let a crack show in her veneer and took a shaky breath, leaning into him. “Nye, can we please just leave this wretched place? I promise I’ll explain everything to your satisfaction as soon as we’re out of here!”

  His hands tightened on her upper arms a moment before he gave a nod and released her. Someone coughed behind them and they realized the attendant had returned holding Nye’s watch and penknife. He took them from him and stuffed them in his waistcoat pockets. When Mina moved instinctively to his side to slip her arm through his, he shook her off. Mina swallowed down the hurt she felt at his rejection.

  “I’m a state,” he said avoiding her eyes and running a hand down his jaw distractedly. “I haven’t shaved in two days. Walk ahead of me.”

  For a moment she considered arguing, but he planted a hand squarely in her middle back and pushed her toward the door. Gathering her shredded dignity around her, Mina headed out into the fresh air. To her horror, she felt her eyes prickling with tears. No doubt it was the fall-out of the strain of last two days, but it was hard to shrug off her husband’s accusing words. Well. At least now she knew what he thought of her!

  Catching sight of the carriage at the end of the street, she made for it with her head held high. She could hear Nye’s boots against the pavement behind her but did not turn her head to look at him. Seizing the handle to the door of the carriage, she flung it open and, but even as she lifted her skirts to place her foot on the step, big arms closed around her from behind and Nye boosted her up into the carriage before him.

  She was surprised when he climbed in after her. She thought he’d have taken a seat up top with Herney rather than ride passenger inside. She had only just arranged herself onto the seat, stony-faced when the carriage lurched forward.