All Hallow's Eve (50 page)

Julian said in a more polite tone than Oliver had spoken
since they met
,
“
We’re
gonna tie this around y
our
eyes
, ma’am,
so that y
ou
can’t see where we
’re
goin’.”

Elizabeth was grateful that the kerchief seemed to be clean. “Why?”

“
If you don’t know how we got there, you
w
on’t get any ideas
a
bout runnin’
away
,
” Julian answered as he handed the handkerchief to Oliver
.
“Miss, I’m warnin’ y
a
, y
a
can’t get away from us
,
and Wickham’ll be angry
if
ya
try
.
Don’t do it;
’e ain’t as nice as us.”

Elizabeth moved her head away from the kerchief and raised her eyebrows at Julian. “Lieutenant Wickham? Is he a part of this, too?”

“Wickham thought it up.” Oliver answered
as h
e roughly tied the cloth around her eyes.
“Now, shut
 
ye
trap
 
and behave!”

Chapter 1
6

W
e
must be
riding around in circles to make it seem that
the house is f
a
rther away from
Netherfield than it really is
!
Elizabeth guessed that being deprived of her sight was
making
it seem
as if it were taking
much longer than it really was
, as well
.
She could understand why the
men
did t
his
—
most
ladies would be discouraged by the distance
they had ridden if
escaping
meant
they
would
have
to
travel that far
on
foot.

Of course,
Elizabeth
would not reveal to these men that she
was
not
like
most ladies.

A
n excellent walker,
she
had
also
lived
in this area
all her life
.
The Brown
family
, who had once
leased
the cottage that Wickham had now taken
for himself
,
had a daughter who had
been a particular friend of Elizabeth’s before
t
he
family
had
moved away
. T
he trek between Longbourn and the Browns
’
cottage
had always been
one of her
favourite
rambles
,
and she was certain that she knew the
woods
and roads
better than
any of these men
possibly
could
.
It is good that I have
stayed
indoors at
Netherfield these past days, or I
might
have stumbled across th
is group
sooner
,
completely
unprepared
to find them here
!

She would also not disclose that
she
would not attempt an escape
unless she experienced extreme circumstances
at their hands
.

And yet,
Elizabeth wished she
could
tell
them
something
so they would
not to waste so much precious time; she
depend
ed
up
on Wickham’s ransom demand be
ing
delivered
to Netherfield
as soon as was possible
.

~%~

William
tossed a coin at the boy who had brought him some
cheese
and ale as he waited for his saddle to be fastened to
the
fourth
horse
he would ride today.
He had pushed each of the
animals
so hard that
if he hoped to use them to return to Netherfield later today, he
knew that he c
ould only ride each for a short distance
both ways
.

T
h
is
inn
lay
on the outskirts of
London
.
H
e would
soon
see his banker and
then
begin the return trip to Netherfield immediately after
acquiring the cash that would
be required
to pay the ransom.
By paying the ransom, they
hope
d to
fool
the
Olc
into a false sense of security before they overtook the
cottage
.

Gazing down the road the way he had come,
for
the hundredth time since he had left her this morning
he wondered how Elizabeth was faring
. Ea
ch time
he thought of her, he had to
resist
the urge to turn back, repeating to himself what had now become
etched into his mind
,
It is
a noble cause
f
or the greater good
and f
or
the sake of our
children
.

Unfortunately, it only helped for a very short time, and then his fears returned.
I
must
change that last part; it only
reminds me that if all does not go
well
, we shall never have
that opportunity
.

Seeing
that
the
inn’s
men
were
almost finished
fastening
his belongings onto
his
saddle, William took a last gulp from the tankard and pul
led himself up onto the horse, directing
it
towards London.

All
will
be well.

~%~

With the blindfold still in place, it was slow going when
Julian helped Elizabeth down from the horse
and
guided
her
up a flight of sta
irs and into the house
.
Having been in the house years ago, w
hen she was led to the left
she
knew
that she was now in
what used to be the Browns
’
parlor
.
The sound of the door slamming
behind
her
made her startle
,
and
i
n the same moment
,
she was almost
gagged b
y t
he odor
that dominated the room
—there were obviously several men living here who had not bathed in
a
very
, very
long time
!
Before she could recover, her
blindfold was removed
. S
he
squinted
and blinked repeatedly
at the
sudden, painful
flood of
light.

Once
her eyes
adjusted
,
she examined
the
chamber
and
her captives
.
Alt
hough the furniture was the same
,
minus a few pieces that must have
belonged to
the Browns, t
he room
gave off a
very different
feel
from
the warm, homey parlor that
Elizabeth remembered
.

Besides
her
two
original captors
,
n
one of the
men
seemed familiar
.
Elizabeth
found herself
wish
ing
she had worn a cloak instead of a
form-fitting
pelisse
;
the
manner in which
the other
three
men were looking at her made her
extremely
uncomfortable.
C
lasp
ing
her hands
tight
ly
together
in front of her, Elizabeth tried
to keep from reacting the way she would like to—from the corner of her
eye,
she could see a broom with a sturdy-looking handle within her reach
.
S
he
briefly
fantasized
about
us
ing
it to
instruct them on
how to
direct their eyes
i
n
a
less offensive
manner
than they were
at present
.

“Well, well
,
what’ve we got ’ere?” one of the men asked, looking her over hungrily.

“It’s
t
he one we’ve been watchin’
,
” Oliver answered.

The
man
who had spoken
first
seemed angry. “Are you daft
, man
?
Wickham tol’ you to
watch
’er
—’
e
didn’t say
nothin’ ’bout
tak
in’
’er now!”

“We
seen
our
chance
,
and we took it.
’e’ll be
’
appy we did.
”

“You’d betta ’
ope
so, Oliva.
’e’s the d
ivil ’imself when ’e’s crossed
!
”

The moment that
Wickham was mentioned, Elizabeth realized that she did not feel the
Olc’s
presence.
A
wave of disappointment
passed through
her
.
How long would she have to
endure
the presence of
the
se
men before
C
h
er
-
nog
would
arrive
and send the letter to William
?

Just then,
she could feel
it
.
The vibrating pressure was even more intense than it had been in Meryton
.
S
he had expect
ed the feeling to increase gradually, not come on all at once
,
and so
she
carelessly
had not
yet
raised the
sieve
!
Elizabeth’s
knees
weakened
,
and
she took hold of
Julian
’s arm
to
stead
y
her
body
whil
st
her mind was busy
initiating the
sequence that would
raise the sieve and
protect
her
from the
Wicked Being
.
The
task
was
much more difficult
now
than it had been in Meryton
since Willia
m was not present to help limit the
Olc’s
effects
on her.

“Git outta th
a’
chair, Allen!
Can’t ye see she need
s
ta sit?
”

“
Aw, j
us’
put ’er
i
n
me lap!
”
Allen smiled widely, showing that he was missing several front teeth.