Dominic (22 page)

“
W
e will not be distu
r
bed in here
,
” he said, holding open
the
door
to
a
s
m
all
room at
the
rear,
and
the
boy passed inside.

“Now, wha
t
’s to do
?
” asked his lordship. “How is your sister?
In
d
eed,
where
is your sister?
I h
a
ve been looking to see her these past five days.”

“
She’s
gone
,
sir
,
”
said
David,
twisting
his
fingers
before hi
m
.
“Our
aunt has found out about her visiting
Stovely
and
she said
that
she
was
c
o
m
i
ng
to
see
the
d
uke to try to make you
m
a
rry her. If you do not, then she decl
a
res t
h
at she will tell all and try to sha
m
e you into it.”

“Lord,
not
your
aunt
as
w
e
ll.”
Vale
groaned,
putting his
hand
to
his
brow.
“Why
m
ust
it
be
n
eces
sa
ry
for
a
l
l this interference...” then stopping, “
Gone
?
You say she is
gone
? Gone where?”

“She
has
taken
m
y
savings,
which
are
not
m
u
ch
sir, and
she
ca
u
ght
the
accom
m
odation
coach
that
left
T
h
e Boar for London at five this
m
orning. I know she
does not have
enough
m
oney
to
take
her all the way and they will put her do
w
n short. She
m
ade
m
e pro
m
ise not to tell you where
she
had
gone;
indeed,
I
was to
tell
no
one.
But though
she
would
not
tell
you,
she
al
m
ost
starved
when she was in
L
ondon before,
m
y lord, and it terrified her.”

Vale cursed softly and l
o
ng, filling
D
avid with wonder
and admiration at his fluency
.
“
She will not be put
through that again, I swear,” he
said
through
clenched teeth. “The dili
g
ence is s
l
ow; I will have
n
o trouble overta
k
ing it. Does she wear her breeche
s
?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good, then I need not take a carriage, I will
m
ake better
ti
m
e.
Go
back
to
your aunt and say nothing,
m
ake so
m
e
excu
s
e
for
your
sister’s absence.
I will sort this
m
atter.”
So saying he strode from the office, leaving
David to follow as best he
m
i
ght. Reaching the stables he called for Merlin to be saddled, knowing he would
m
ake good ti
m
e.

*****

The
acco
m
m
odation
coach
took
b
ut
one
route
on
its journey from Port
s
m
outh to London and as it was full to capacity
was
not
able
to achieve
m
o
re
than
eig
h
t
m
iles
an hour. Sophie was fortunate
enough to have secured an inside
seat
and
was
fi
r
m
ly
wedged
between
a
lar
g
e
far
m
er
with a florid
countenance
and a
m
an in a
flowered waistcoat
w
ho had fallen asleep and snored heavily. The fa
r
m
er’s wife, sitting
o
pposite, s
m
iled kindly at her and
would have struck up a
conversation had not Sophie
closed
her
eyes
and
feigned
sleep.
She
had
no
desire
to talk
to
anyone,
indeed,
she
was
f
ear
f
ul
of
att
e
mpting
to talk
lest
she
should
start
to cry
again.
She
had
spent
the whole
of
the
previous
night
in
despair,
not
knowing
what
to do for the best
.
She could not allow her aunt to
approach
the
d
uke
to
try
to coerce
Do
m
inic
into
m
arrying her; she would have no such pressure put on hi
m
. If he should
m
arry
her
it
m
u
st
be
beca
u
se
…
but
what
was
the use
in
that
train
of
thought?
She
knew
very
well
that
he did not. Who would wish for a w
i
fe under
t
hose circu
m
stances?
The
thought
of London
terrified
her,
yet what else c
o
uld she d
o
? At
l
ea
s
t
once
there
she could
lose herself a
m
ongst the back streets.

The coach stopped at about eight to change horses and all the pa
s
s
e
ngers
a
lighted to take s
o
m
e re
f
reshment at t
h
e inn, but having no
m
oney she re
m
a
in
ed
inside.
S
eeing that she
did
not
get
down
from the
vehicle,
the
far
m
er’s
wife gave her a
p
i
ece of gin
g
erbread from her basket.

“A young sir like you
m
ust have so
m
ething in his sto
m
ach of a
m
orning,” she said and s
m
iled kindly as she joined her husband in the inn.

Sophie
waited
i
m
patiently
for
the
coach
to recom
m
ence
its journey and heaved a sigh of relief when the passengers once
m
o
re cla
m
bered inside. Though why she was so eager to reach h
e
r journey’s end she knew not,
f
or the
d
riv
e
r
had in
f
ormed
her that her
m
oney would not take
her
all
the
way
and
she
would
have
to
m
ake
the
la
s
t
ten
m
iles
on
foot.
At
the
stop they had been joined by
several more
outside
passengers who sang rollicking
songs which jangled on her nerves and the tears stood in her eyes.

A f
e
w
m
iles
further
down the
road,
as it
turned
a
bend, the
coach
was
brought
to
an abrupt
halt
m
aking
the
horses plunge
and
al
m
ost
dislodging
the roof passengers. The fa
r
m
er’s wife looked out the window to see what caused the delay and a lone rider was seen to bar the road.

“Lawks,
young
sir,
it’s
a highway
m
an,” she cried nervously.

“Not at this ti
m
e of day and on this road, it is too well frequented
,
”
replied
her
husband
impatiently.
“Don’t
be so silly, wo
m
an.”

“Then
who is
it,
who is
it
?
”
she
replied
puffing
out
her rosy
cheeks indignantly.

Sophie knew. As soon as she heard that
well-loved
voice,
she
knew,
and
atte
m
pted
to
push
herself
further back into the squabs, hoping to go unnoticed beside the fa
r
m
er’s bulk.