Angel's Touch (26 page)

‘
Now, young master, see if ye can find a beam low enough for
ye to get this over.’

Eager to do everything
he could, and fairly blazing with mingled apprehension and
excitement, Braxted searched the roof above him. But to his
disappointment he could not reach high enough, and a couple of
attempts to throw the heavy rope produced so much thumping that
Peneli told him to desist.

‘
Ye’ll bring yon bad ’uns out on we, boy. Look ye, take rope
and tie it side o’ yon ladder ye spoke of.’

Crestfallen at his
failure, but sufficiently frightened of his captors to refrain from
argument, Braxted took the end of the rope around one of the wooden
struts and tied it with one of the useful knots Jed had taught
him.

‘
Tight, is it?’ Peneli asked, testing the pull with all the
nonchalance of his race, as if they had all the time in the
world.

‘
Tight as I could,’ the boy confirmed, and watched in
fascination as the gypsy climbed up to him, his feet literally
walking up the outer wall as he pulled himself to the window. In a
moment he was standing in the loft, half bent under the sloping
roof.

‘
Oh,
Peneli, thank heaven you are come,’ called Verity from below, in
accents of heartfelt gratitude. ‘Did you follow us?’

‘
Aye, but hush now,’ he admonished her sternly. ‘Yon thievin’
coves’ll hear.’

‘
I’m
sorry,’ Verity whispered contritely. ‘What do you want us to
do?’

He
slung his lengths of sacking over a beam and threw them down to
her. ‘Tie up yon babe, quick.’

Verity did so, slipping the rope under Peggy’s arms and tying
it tight.

‘
No.
Peggy no
like,’ shouted the infant, pulling at the bonds which were all too
reminiscent of the times Kittle had tied her between two trees.
‘Off! Off!’

‘
Ssh!’ Verity begged hastily, crouching down to put a
restraining hand over the child’s mouth. ‘Wystan’s waiting, Peggy.
Don’t you want to go up to Wystan?’

Peggy turned her little face up, staring the long, long
distance from her tiny height to where she could see her brother’s
face hanging upside-down over the edge of the loft.

‘
Wissen?’ she asked uncertainly.

‘
Come on, Peggy,’ he called softly, knowing his exhortations
would move her. ‘Come up here, Peggy. It’s good up here. Let the
man bring you up now.’

Peggy beamed. ‘Peddy up now.’

‘
All
right,’ Verity said, nodding to Peneli.

‘
Lift ’er high,’ instructed the gypsy.

Verity held the infant
up as high as she could, feeling the weight taken out of her hands
as Peneli drew in the slack. Then with a sudden, swift tug he swung
the child up above the level of the loft, and, loosing the rope,
grabbed her out of the air with both hands.

‘
Gracious heaven!’ Verity gasped, her own hands automatically
stretching up as if she would catch the infant from a
fall.

‘
A
capital catch!’ Braxted cried, and received a light cuff for his
pains.

‘
Hist, will ye? And take ’er while I get the
missie.’

‘
Sorry,’ muttered Wystan, abashed, hastily relieving the man
of his sister and undoing the knots about her little
body.

Now
it was Verity’s turn. As Peneli was preparing, she ran to the door
and listened, trying to peep through the keyhole, convinced that
some sound of their activities must reach the cottage nearby. But
there was complete silence.

‘
I
suppose they haven’t gone away somewhere?’ she suggested as she
came back to below the loft.

‘
Nay,’ the gypsy decided. ‘Seen ’em, I would. Now, missie.
Take yon rope and tie a loop around ye, and hold tight as ye
can.’

Obeying, Verity began a silent prayer, unable to see Peneli
as he braced himself against the wall at the back of the loft.
Without warning, she felt the sacking tighten about her back, and
her arms stretched as the improvised rope began to rise. Her feet
left the floor, and she held on for dear life, suspended
precariously in the air, as each jerk on the rope dug into her back
and under her arms and pulled her a few more inches, towards the
loft and safety.

She
closed her eyes briefly, opening them again as she remembered that
she would be close to the edge of the wooden platform. If she
didn’t look she might easily hit her head. There was no room in her
thoughts now for the captors who might burst in any second to
prevent this extravagant and complex escape. All her mind was
concentrated on the effort of remaining calm, refusing to look
down, and waiting for the end of this dreadful ordeal.

In
reality, the passage to the loft occupied the space of a few brief
moments, but they felt to Verity like hours, and as she came up
above the surface of the platform she scrambled with unseemly haste
to swing her legs to safety. Rolling on to the planks, she lay
there a moment, breathing raggedly, her heart sickeningly
loud.

‘
Well done, Verity,’ she heard Braxted say. ‘Isn’t this the
most ’citing thing ever to happen to you?’

Verity had barely strength to shake her head, but she looked
up to find the gypsy’s expressionless eyes upon her. That gave her
courage, and she forced herself to sit up.

‘
What now?’ she asked in a far from steady voice.

It
seemed to her there was a gleam of mischief in his eyes. It
reminded her poignantly—and unbearably—of the amusement that showed
so often in Henry’s black eyes, and she was obliged to swallow on a
rising lump in her throat. Whatever must be Henry’s feelings now?
The thought spurred her to urgency, and she did not even protest in
silence to herself when the gypsy spoke.

‘
Ye
to go first. Down t’other side.’

Gritting her teeth, and keeping Henry’s pale, haunted
features firmly in her mind, Verity hoisted her petticoats
indecorously high and climbed out to sit on the ledge of the
opening. She felt the slack pull up behind her and, easing her rear
forward, let herself go.

The sharp tug under
the arms was painful, but she made no sound, only pushing herself
away from the wall as she was lowered down to the ground. In fact
the descent was far easier than the appalling lift. Or perhaps, she
thought, as her feet touched safely on to terra firma, familiarity
lessened the giddying sensation of helplessness.

Once she was freed of
the rope, it proved a simple task for Peneli to lower the infant
down to her. Wystan shinned down the rope like a monkey, and Peneli
himself made as easy a job of it as he had of climbing up.

They left the rope
hanging down the back of the barn and, creeping to the edge, peered
round to see if there was as yet any sign of pursuit.

‘
Well, I don’t suppose they would open the door
unnecessarily,’ Verity guessed in a soft voice, once they had
ascertained that their captors were still ensconced in the cottage.
‘For they neglected to tie me up and they don’t know but what I
might prove troublesome.’

Nevertheless, she held her hand over Peggy’s mouth as,
following Peneli’s lead, they entered the undergrowth behind the
barn and crept through it, well hidden by trees as they skirted the
cottage. They could see a light within the dim interior and in
front of it were two horses tethered close by.

‘
Let’s hope they don’t take it into their heads to check on us
too soon,’ Wystan said.

‘
Better waste no time,’ Peneli advised, and set
off.

Neither Verity nor the
boy could resist several furtive glances behind them, but the gypsy
did not look back once, and seemed to know by the sound that his
little band of runaways was still with him. He led them deeply into
the shelter of the trees for some little time, but at length they
came across his pony, quietly standing, and realised he knew
exactly where he was.

‘
Gracious, there is your donkey,’ Verity exclaimed, catching
sight of the animal. ‘How in the world did you come by
him?’

‘
Man
Shottle let he go after locking ye up. I called he by special
whistle.’

‘
Then you saw it all?’

‘
Aye. Saw his eye when ye told him ye meant to wed markiss.
Knew he meant harm.’

Braxted turned round eyes upon her. ‘Are you going to
marry
Papa, Verity? Why,
that is a capital notion!’

‘
Hush, Wystan,’ Verity begged, blushing. ‘Nothing is settled
as yet.’

‘
Yes, but I think you ought,’ said the boy, unheeding. ‘Then
you could come and live with us at the Place.’

‘
Yes, yes, but it is not at all certain. I only said it was to
induce that horrid man to take me to find his
associates.’

‘
Aye, and filled him’s mind with more schemes to bleed yon
markiss,’ put in Peneli roughly.

‘
It
was stupid, I realise that now,’ Verity said apologetically. ‘But I
cannot regret it, for we have the children safe.’

Soon she was seated on
the donkey again, a delighted Peggy tucked before her, supported by
her arm, while Wystan sat in a similar position with the gypsy on
the pony.

The
boy had evidently been turning her words over in his mind, for he
suddenly demanded, ‘Verity, if you and Papa were to be married,
would you be our new mama?’

‘
Only if you wished it,’ Verity replied,
adding anxiously, ‘but I repeat, Wystan, it is not a settled thing
at all. You should not know anything about it, and I absolutely
forbid you to speak of it again—to
anyone.’

‘
But
shan’t I tell Papa how Peggy and I would like it? That would make
him—’

‘
No!’ Verity cried, alarmed. ‘Upon my word,
if you repeat
one word
of this conversation to your papa, I declare I shall never
speak to you again!’

‘
Oh,
very well,’ consented the child reluctantly, ‘but I—’

‘
Wystan,
if you
will not do as I ask, I shall think you unable to keep a secret,
and I shall never be able to share one with you—
ever.’

‘
I
can
keep a secret,’ he objected indignantly. ‘I never
telled no one about Jed, did I?’

‘
No,’ agreed Verity, trying for a calmer note, ‘and of course
I know you will respect my secret, too.’

‘
Course I will,’ Wystan said importantly.
‘Only if you
do
decide to marry Papa, will you tell me?’

Verity laughed. ‘I should have to, shouldn’t I? Now pray
don’t mention the matter again.’

Fortunately, or
perhaps intentionally, he was diverted then by Peneli, who asked
him how he had been captured and if he knew the people who did
it.

‘
I
should say I do. At least, not eggzackly, but I’d wager I know who
made the plot. It was Kittle!’

‘
Tittoo,’ cried Peggy, catching the name. But the others were
too involved in discovery to heed her.

‘
Upon my word, Wystan, I believe you are right! There was not
even a swelling on her ankle. She had no more sprained it than I
had.’

‘
But
she pretended so as to give those men a chance to get
us.’

‘
And
Sam Shottle is Kittle’s sweetheart, according to young Jed. That
proves it, for it was certainly he who captured me,’ Verity agreed.
‘I never did like the sound of that Kittle. What a dreadful thing
for such a trusted servant to do.’

Dissecting the supposed ramifications of the plot, they
hardly noticed the journey. But by the time they came to the gypsy
encampment they had begun to feel tired and hungry and Peggy was
whimpering incessantly, in spite of both Verity’s and Wystan’s
efforts to distract her. It must be many hours since any of them
had eaten, Verity realised, her own stomach acknowledging the
fact.

As they descended into
the valley, however, bodily wants were once more swept aside when
Peneli suddenly brought his mount to a standstill and uttered an
imprecation in the Romany tongue.

‘
What is it?’ Verity asked.

Even
as Wystan answered for him, she saw for herself the band of
red-coated soldiers surrounding the huddled group of gypsies, while
to one side, slightly in front of a number of people who were
recognisably of his entourage, stood a familiar figure, leaning on
a cane.

‘
Papa’s called out the militia!’ Raising his
voice, Braxted yelled,
‘
Papa! Sir!
We’re here! We’re back!’

Faces turned towards them as Peneli clicked his tongue and
the little cavalcade began to move again, faster now. Faces of
surprise and delight. Except for those of the gypsies, which
remained sullen and shut in. Except also for that of the marquis
himself, who stared in shocked disbelief, his pain-racked mind
capable only of registering that his children and Miss Lambourn
were accompanied by the gypsy, without taking in the fact that they
were safely restored to him.

His overwrought nerves
were discharged in a blast of invective delivered in a voice of
molten rage.