Highwayman's Hazard Read online

  'One of her cronies, I suppose,' Clarinda said as they went down the stairs. 'I hope it is not that fussy Mrs Hawtrey. Her voice makes my head ache after five minutes.'

  It was not Mrs Hawtrey, nor any other of her grandmother's friends who sat in the parlour, however. Reclining at his ease, and rising slowly to his feet as they entered the room, was Sir Gilbert Woodford.

  'You?' Sarah exclaimed, while Clarinda turned towards her grandmother, shaking her head worriedly but unable to speak.

  'Come in, my dears,' Mrs Middlewick said easily. 'I understand from Sir Gilbert that you met him at Newark, although he did not then know who you were.'

  'You doubtless did not expect to see me here,' Sir Gilbert commented smoothly.

  'How did you discover where we lived?' Sarah demanded abruptly.

  He smiled, while Mrs Middlewick looked rather taken aback at her tone.

  'Mrs Middlewick is well known in Harrogate,' he replied. 'It was no difficult task to discover her, and through her, you.'

  'But why?' Clarinda asked blankly.

  'Ah, I see you do not know my name, apart from our encounter in Newark. What an odd chance that was. I had intended calling on Mrs Middlewick when I next came to Harrogate, for your father, my dear Miss Clarinda, mentioned his mother lived here.'

  'My father? Is he here?' she asked in sudden apprehension.

  'Oh, no. You see, I sold your present home, Forleys, to him. That is how I know him. It had come into my possession rather unexpectedly, and I had no use for such an estate, being a single man and of a somewhat roving disposition at the time. Besides I have a small house here in Yorkshire which serves me when I need it. It was on hearing that which made your father refer to his mother, and I thought to call on her to ask how Mr Middlewick fared now he had taken up residence at Forleys. Has he started the building which he planned?'

  'No, not yet,' Clarinda said in a small voice, casting a puzzled glance at Sarah.

  'It is an unexpected pleasure to find you here,' Sir Gilbert went on. 'Do you enjoy the waters? I cannot think either of you are here for medical purposes, but everyone is encouraged to try the waters at least once.'

  'They smell horrid. I could never drink it, or even bathe in the water we saw today at the old sulphur well,' Clarinda said in somewhat of a rush, for she had seen her grandmother frowning, and knew the old lady was concerned at the apparently gauche manners she and Sarah were exhibiting towards their guest. For another ten minutes they made somewhat awkward conversation, and then, to their barely concealed relief Sir Gilbert took his leave.

  'I do hope I may call again, and that I shall see you about the town,' he said as he went away, and Mrs Middlewick hastily assured him he would be welcome to call at any time.

  'And I trust you will make good my words, the pair of you,' she said sternly to the two girls after Tilly had shown Sir Gilbert out. 'I never thought to blush for your manners, Clarinda, after the training you've had, but you were barely civil to the man. What was the matter?'

  'He is the man Sir Charles was looking for, the man who had lost part of his ear, and who had in some manner cheated Sir Charles,' Sarah explained briskly. 'We met him earlier this morning and he was most persistent in claiming our acquaintance.'

  'Sir Charles? Your highwayman? You said something then about him owning Forleys, did you not?'

  'Sir Charles told us that, and it has been confirmed. I wonder how it came into his hands? Although I have lived nearby all my life I never heard of a new owner until Clarinda's father bought it soon after Sir James Orde died,' Sarah said thoughtfully.

  'No doubt he inherited it from Sir James Orde. He seemed a pleasant enough man. Why do you dislike him? Merely because a rather mysterious highwayman makes vague accusations?'

  'I do not like him,' Clarinda said with a shudder. 'I do not know why, but he makes me feel uncomfortable.'

  'You are too timid, my love,' said her grandmother comfortingly. 'But I will not force you to meet him if you do not wish it.'

  'Do you think he will tell Papa I am here?'

  'I can see no reason for it. They are not friends and he cannot know you have run away from home. But even if it should come to your father's ears you need not fear him, my love.'

  'But he will force me to go home and to marry that detestable Lord Tarbuck,' Clarinda wailed.

  'He'll have me to reckon with,' Mrs Middlewick promised, her eyes flashing. 'He'll have to know where you are some time, pet,' she went on. 'I've no doubt he is sick with worry, and perhaps he deserves it for what he tried to do, but he'll be only too willing to promise you whatever you wish by now, I'll be bound.'

  *

  With that Clarinda had to be content, but she kept to the house for several days afterwards until Jacob Burnside came with news that Sir Gilbert had left Harrogate. Then she consented to walk once more about the town and on the common.

  They were strolling near the Sweet Spa one day with another hopeful pair of young men when there was a sudden shrill scream from a carriage going past, and a small black and white dog, leaping out of the vehicle, came rushing towards them. Before the carriage could roll to a stop the occupant, a modishly dressed young woman, threw herself to the ground in pursuit of the dog, took a couple of stumbling steps, almost recovered her balance, and collapsed in a heap a few yards away from Sarah and Clarinda.

  One of the young men gave enthusiastic chase to the dog, while Sarah and Clarinda ran to help the woman, who lay groaning on the grass.

  She sat up as they reached her, then winced with pain.

  'My ankle, I must have sprained it,' she said ruefully, pulling up her petticoats and rubbing a slender, well-shaped limb. 'That naughty Fifi, she is always wanting to chase rabbits, and always getting lost. Last time she was gone for four days before a farm boy found her, and she looked just like a skeleton. Where is she?'

  'My friend has captured her,' the young man who had chosen to go to the rescue of the lady said, and she smiled in relief.

  'Oh, how brave of him. I wonder, could you help me get back into the carriage, please?' she asked diffidently, and the young man, blushing, for she was an exceedingly pretty young woman, gave her his arm, and, with much laughter from her, interspersed with an occasional gasp of pain, she was helped to hop towards the carriage, which her coachman had turned about when he had been able to halt the horses.

  It proved more difficult than expected to lift her into the carriage, and she stepped awkwardly on the injured foot, giving a sharp cry and collapsing, partly on the floor, partly sprawled over the seat. When Sarah, who had taken over from the rather embarrassed young man, had managed to raise the lady to the seat she lay back with her eyes closed biting her lip.

  'Did you hurt it again?' Clarinda asked anxiously.

  'I – put my weight on it, foolishly,' the woman replied. 'It made me feel faint for a moment. I wonder, might I prevail upon you to accompany me back to my hotel? I do not like to be alone when I am feeling unwell. Besides,' she gave a small laugh which ended in a gasp, 'I need someone to hold Fifi.'

  'Of course we will come with you,' Sarah agreed readily, and she and Clarinda settled themselves into the carriage. The man who had rescued Fifi handed up the dog to Sarah, and the coachman whipped up the horses, driving to a small but expensive hotel looking over the common, only a short distance away from Mrs Middlewick's lodging house.

  They learned that the woman, young though she was, barely twenty years of age, had been a widow for almost two years. Her name was Louise Erskine, and she had brought her husband's elderly mother to Harrogate to bathe in the waters in an effort to cure her of inexplicable cramps.

  'She heard the waters of the Tewit Well had marvellous properties and determined to try them,' Louise, as she begged the two girls to call her, said. 'She was not feeling well today, but pray do come to our rooms and meet her. She adores to meet new people, and it takes her thoughts off her discomforts.'

  They could not ignore such an appeal, and since Louise ne
eded help to alight from the carriage they willingly went in to meet the elderly Mrs Erskine. She was a tall, heavy woman who had once been handsome. Her hair, once black but now streaked with white, was fashionably dressed in a severe style close to her head, whereas Louise's equally black hair fell in tantalising ringlets over her white shoulders.

  Mrs Erskine, discovered reclining on an old fashioned cane day bed, insisted on Louise taking her place when the latter hobbled into the room.

  'My dear child, what have you done?' she exclaimed, subjecting Clarinda and Sarah to a searching glance.

  Louise explained. 'It was so foolish of me, but I was so terrified the naughty Fifi would lose herself again I didn't stop to think.'

  She introduced the girls and they were persuaded to remain for a glass of wine, and found themselves promising to call the following day to see how Louise did. Within a few days she had completely recovered, and soon called on Mrs Middlewick to express her gratitude for the help she had been given.

  'I hope you will permit your granddaughters to come to a small party I am holding tomorrow evening,' she asked with a smile. 'My mother-in-law has made the acquaintance of several delightful people while she has been bathing, and a couple of my friends are also in Harrogate.'

  Mrs Middlewick, impressed by her air of fashion and the London friends she had mentioned, willingly assented. Her beloved Clarinda would meet more exalted company with the Erskines than they could hope for amongst the lodging house keepers and tradesmen of the town who were her own friends.

  *

  They dressed for the party with unusual care, Sarah wearing a pale yellow gown trimmed with delicate beige lace which accented the colour of her hair, making the burnished glow of it even brighter than usual. Clarinda wore a simple gown of harebell blue, and a delicate gold chain and locket which her grandmother had given her.

  Louise had insisted on sending her own carriage for them, and Mrs Middlewick watched them with immense pride as they were driven away, her thrifty nature, which deplored the use of a carriage for a drive of only a couple of hundred yards, at war with her pride that Clarinda was at last attending a society party.

  There were already a dozen guests assembled, and to Sarah's surprise only two were females who might be expected to have made the acquaintance of the elder Mrs Erskine. The other guests were much younger and most of them were men, and they all seemed to be on terms of well established friendship with Louise. This was explained when a dashing Captain Gregory, who had remained firmly at Sarah's side since he had been introduced, revealed that the Erskines had a small estate near York, and most of the guests lived locally.

  'Do you make a long stay in Harrogate, Miss Smith?' the Captain asked. 'I shall make it my business to visit the town frequently while you honour it with your presence.'

  'I am not certain how long we remain here,' Sarah replied coolly, wishing he would not look at her in quite the way he did, a manner which seemed much too familiar on a first meeting. 'And too familiar for any meeting,' she said indignantly to Clarinda afterwards.

  'But he had an excellent voice,' Clarinda commented, and Sarah agreed.

  The company had been entertained first by two of the men who sang, an amazing variety of songs from touching love ballads to rousing martial tunes. Then Clarinda had been persuaded to sing a duet with one of them, and her light but true voice was much praised.

  Several more guests had played or sung and then supper had been served, after which they had sat round a table and Clarinda had been taught the game of 'brag'. Sarah, who had heard of the game from Robert, would have demurred until Louise said firmly that the only stakes were to be imaginary ones, but at that she kept silent and found herself enjoying a hilarious and ridiculous game in which everyone tried to outdo the others in fantastic claims regarding the cards they held, for enormous stakes which, had they been real, would have ruined everyone present.

  'That was delightful. I do hope you will come again,' Louise said as she bade them farewell, and Captain Gregory nodded in agreement as he escorted them to the carriage.

  'I shall look for you every day on the common,' he said in a low voice to Sarah.

  *

  She did not see the Captain again for several days, to her relief, but Louise and another of the men called the following day and bore Clarinda off in the carriage to drive to Knaresborough. Sarah had been out marketing, and Clarinda had been persuaded to accept the invitation by her gratified grandmother, who wished to encourage the friendship with Louise.

  'For if one of her gentleman friends were to show an interest in Clarinda that would make her father stop throwing her at old fellows like this Lord Tarbuck,' she explained when Sarah returned home.

  Clarinda was soon visiting or driving with Louise every day, although Sarah, for a reason she could not entirely explain to herself, refused the invitations as often as she could without giving offence. It was partly that she did not feel altogether comfortable with some of the men Louise gathered about her, who behaved in what she considered too bold a manner, but also she did not feel free to abandon herself to parties and enjoyment when she had determined to give what assistance she could to Mrs Middlewick.

  The latter tried to encourage her to go, but Sarah was firm, especially when Clarinda's grandmother insisted on hiring a horse for Clarinda whenever Louise suggested riding. Sarah would not be beholden and could not, from her rapidly diminishing store of money, and with no prospect of obtaining any more until she returned to The Hermitage and Aunt Nell, afford to ride herself.

  It was on a morning early in July, when the Harrogate season was in full swing, and Clarinda had joined a group of Louise's friends to ride on the common, that Sarah returned from a marketing visit to the butcher to see Sir Gilbert Woodford being shown out of the house. Hastily she slipped along the side of the house to avoid him and watched from her concealment behind some convenient lilac shrubs as he walked slowly away.

  *

  Mrs Middlewick was in a state of mingled pride and perturbation when Sarah went into the house.

  'I see Sir Gilbert has returned,' Sarah said, lifting her eyebrows slightly.

  Mrs Middlewick nodded. 'He said he returned yesterday. He came to make me an offer for Clarinda,' she said abruptly.

  'An offer?' Sarah said blankly. 'But she does not like him, and we know so little about him except that he once owned Forleys, and had some dubious dealings with Sir Charles.'

  'I began to doubt that,' Mrs Middlewick said slowly. 'After all, what proof is there, apart from the word of a highwayman?'

  'Not a real highway robber,' Sarah said quickly.

  'No, but his action in keeping the two of you imprisoned was not very admirable.'

  'Has Sir Gilbert spoken against him?'

  'No, he did not mention him. That was when I began to think about it, and wonder whether we should place any reliance on the words of a man whose name we do not know, even.'

  'I would sooner trust Sir Charles than Sir Gilbert,' Sarah said firmly. 'But what will happen now? Oh, I beg pardon, it is not my affair, I should not ask you.'

  Mrs Middlewick smiled and shook her head.

  'You'll be curious, it's only natural, and you did help my little Clarinda when she needed someone. I told him it was not for me to say, naturally. But you must admit it's a feather in her cap for Clarinda to have attracted an offer from a man with a title and a fortune.'

  'He's younger and richer than Lord Tarbuck, I grant you, but Clarinda is exceptionally pretty and is known to be an heiress. She will receive other offers if only she can meet suitable men.'

  'That is what I think, and so I shall tell her father,' Mrs Middlewick said cheerfully.

  'Her father? Is he coming? Have you heard from him?'

  'No, but it's only a matter of time before he hears she is here and comes to fetch her. It will be good for him to know she has had another offer, and who knows, with the company she's keeping now that nice Mrs Erskine has made friends with her, she might h
ave more.'

  'Did Sir Gilbert say what he intended to do now?'

  'He said he hoped to meet Clarinda during the next few days.'

  As Sarah had expected Clarinda was horrified at the news Sir Gilbert was back in Harrogate, but when her grandmother pressed her to say why she did not like him she could produce no reasons.

  'I do not know. I am afraid of him, I feel uncomfortable when he stares at me,' she said at last.

  'Has he said anything to offend you?' Mrs Middlewick asked patiently.

  'No, at least nothing I can describe. You will not permit him to call, will you?'

  'Not if you really dislike him so, but it would not hurt for your father to see that men apart from Lord Tarbuck are interested in you.'

  *

  On the next morning Clarinda was driving with Louise when Sir Gilbert, riding a powerful looking roan house, greeted them and begged to be introduced to Louise. He chatted for a while and then bade them farewell. They met on several other occasions in the next few days and Clarinda, overcoming her nervousness, began to hope he had forgotten his offer, or at least was reconsidering it after discouragement from her grandmother. Sarah, however, warned her against complacency.

  'It would be most incorrect for him to speak to you about such a matter until he has your father's permission,' she said. 'I would expect him to wish to behave correctly in order to give no offence.'

  This expectation, however, was not fulfilled. Clarinda came home after walking with Louise and some other friends one day shaking and nervous.

  'My love, what is it?' Sarah asked when Clarinda ran up the stairs into their bedroom.

  'I hate him!' Clarinda declared, her bosom heaving.

  'What has he done?'

  'He met us on the common, and when we were out of earshot of the others he made me an offer! I tried to stop him, but he would not listen.'

  'Where was Louise? She should not have left you alone with him,' Sarah exclaimed.

  'It was not her fault. She and the others dropped behind for some reason – I think they met an acquaintance – and we did not know until we had walked some distance. I did not wish to walk with him, but somehow I had no choice. It was when we found the others were a long way behind and were waiting for them to come up with us that he spoke.'