Holiday in Bath (29 page)

“Haytesbury”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s on the way to Salisbury. Just follow me.”

For some time they were silent, negotiating the chairs and carriages in the heart of Bath, but Cranford could no longer suppress his need to know that they were indeed headed in the right direction. “You’re sure someone wasn’t misleading you? I don’t mean to question your knowledge, but it would be just like Rowle to have laid a false scent.”

“You forget that I am familiar with his tactics, Mr. Ashwicke. For a guinea I bought the information that he was headed to Wells; for another and a promise to take the lad into my service I found his real destination. There can be no doubt of it. Rowle has had dealings of an underhanded kind with the landlord of the Bell there, and this lad has no desire to remain in his service. I had to take him to the White Hart before he felt confident enough to tell me the truth.”

“I shan’t ever be able to repay you, Laytham, but I’ll see to the lad.”

“No need. He’s well enough, and I’m grateful for an opportunity to satisfy my debt to you.”

“You’ve done that and more. How far is it?”

“Hour and a half in a carriage. Less on horseback, of course, if these nags can stand the pace.”

When they had not overtaken the carriage by Warminster after an hour’s hard riding Cranford began to have doubts. If they were going in the wrong direction there was no chance of reaching Trelenny before. . . A soft curse escaped him and Laytham, understanding, said, “We’ll be in time. Do you want to change here?”

“No! He’s not much for speed but he’s well bottomed.” Cranford whispered encouragement to his hack as they left the town behind and once again lengthened stride. There was no use cramming him when Cranford had no idea how much further they had to go. Blessed with a sure-footed prad on a cold, black night, he had no wish to press his luck.

They had traveled no more than a mile further when they could hear a carriage ahead in the still night air, the jangling of harness and the thud of hooves announcing its presence before they could see it. Was Rowle fool enough to resist their rescue of Trelenny? Was he that desperate? Cranford raised his hand warningly. “I would prefer to surprise them if possible. Do you know this country? Can we get ahead of them without being seen?”

“If we’re quick about it. The road bends in a short while and there’s a wood to the left. We’d have to cut across the fields most of the way, but a road skirts the wood.”

“So that if we were on the road they wouldn’t see us for the woods until they were upon us?”

“Right.”

“Let’s try it.”

Their horses were tired and the route across the fields rough, with the necessity of opening and closing gates as they went, but once they reached the road they made up for the lost time. Standing back in the cover of the woods they could hear the approaching carriage and Cranford asked, “Would you rather wait here?”

“And miss the fun? Never! What do you want me to do?”

“Anything that will make the coachman draw in his horses. Ride toward him shouting—a flood, an accident, some danger in the road ahead. I shall deal with Mr. Rowle.”

His black scowl made Laytham laugh. “Would it were me. I owe the fellow something.”

“Now!”

Laytham spurred his horse forward yelling incoherently of all the possibilities at once, but his advent so startled the coachman that he instinctively drew back on the reins. As he did so, Cranford rode directly to the coach door and flung it open, leaped to the ground and confronted the two startled occupants. Rowle leaned forward to grab Trelenny but Cranford was faster. With lightning speed he had grasped Rowle’s arm and pulled him ruthlessly out of the carriage onto the dusty road. Although no help was forthcoming from his coachman, who craned his neck to peer curiously at the unwonted activity, Rowle was in no frame of mind to let his prize slip so easily through his fingers. He leveled a kick at Cranford’s shin that did not wholly meet its target but glanced along the leg, throwing him off balance.

As be put out an arm to catch himself against the carriage, Rowle leaped to his feet and struck a blow to the midsection. It was the last contact he made with his opponent. Infuriated by the fellow’s gall, Cranford landed right and left in a style which would have pleased Gentleman Jackson and certainly flattened the likes of Mr. Rowle, who lay still in the road bleeding from his nose, with an eye rapidly blackening and swelling.

Cranford disgustedly turned from him and climbed into the carriage, where Trelenny had watched the whole with a sort of horrified fascination. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

“I had no idea you could fight like that, Cranford! Where did you learn? Do you go to matches?”

“You’re all right,” he said dryly. “Have you no nerves, my girl? One would think you were abducted daily.”

The animation left her face. “I was really very frightened,” she admitted, allowing him to take her icy hands. “He intended to force me to marry him and for all he’s a pipsqueak, he is a great deal stronger than I am, Cranford.” A lone tear slipped down her cheek and she licked it off her lip. “I have tried for the last hour to think of some way to escape but only the most impossible things occurred to me. What good are fantasies when you are faced with...? The only real thing I could think of was that somehow you would find us, even if I couldn’t tear off bits of my petticoats to leave a trail. I don’t know why I should have thought that was any more real than visions of lightning striking him dead, but I did. How did you find us?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment. Let me get us headed back first.”

She could hear his instructions to the coachman and the gentleman on horseback both of whom apparently acknowledged his authority, but the coldness of his terms to Rowle left her somewhat shaken.

“I will expect you to have left the country within forty-eight hours, Rowle. No whisper of this night’s activities will pass your lips or those of any other. If one breath of scandal attaches to Miss Storwood’s name, I shall know where to put the blame, and I don’t think you would like the consequences. Lord Rissington and Mr. Bodford, as you well know, would not appreciate any damage done to Miss Storwood’s reputation, and if I am not available to see to the matter, one or the other would gladly step into the breach. I hope you will not bother to deceive yourself that any one of us is more than capable of dealing with you. Your coach will be returned to your father’s house, but you will be left here to make your own way tonight. Perhaps the walk will clear your head.”

Trelenny caught only a glimpse of him sitting beside the road with his head in his hands before the carriage moved forward to turn in the road. Seated beside her, Cranford did not even glance out the window. “How will he manage?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care, but he will do it.”

“Is Mama dreadfully worried?”

“Of course, but I had Jane go home with her to Henrietta Street. We’ll have fresh horses put to in Warminster and make it to Bath as quickly as possible. You have Mr. Laytham to thank for your rescue.” He proceeded to enlighten her as to the events of the evening, even remembering to hand her the letter from Mrs. Laytham, which she could not read in the darkness of the carriage.

When he had finished relating his story Trelenny said sadly, “Aren’t you going to say ‘I told you so’?”

“No, my darling girl, I am not. I feel as responsible as you do, and I am only relieved that you’re safe and unharmed. Have you any idea of the agonies I suffered? No, and you have had quite enough of your own to occupy your mind. Forgive me.”

The gentleness of his tone, his calling her his “darling girl,” wrenched Trelenny as nothing else had that evening. Why had she been such a fool as to let him fall in love with Lady Jane? Why was it that the Rissingtons and Bodfords held no appeal to her when compared with Cranford? His was not just a familiar, reliable face anymore but the only one which mattered at all. How could she have been so stupid as to grow to love him only once he was out of her reach? Lady Jane and he were so very well-suited—their taste for antiquities, their love of music, their common friends. Trelenny could not even fault Lady Jane on her spirit; she was a lively woman whose natural refinement kept her within the limits of propriety Cranford so respected. They were the ideal match, and Trelenny had never felt so desolate in her life. She turned her head away to hide the tears which coursed down her cheeks.

“Are you hungry? There’s food in this basket.”

Trelenny gulped down a sob. “No, th-thank you.”

Her shoulders shook and he reached for the carriage rug. “Here, let me put this about you! For God’s sake, Trelenny, why didn’t you tell me you were upset? I am a barbarian, aren’t I? Of course you’re upset!” He pressed her head to his chest and tightened his arms about her. “Poor little one. What a night you’ve had! Cry it all out, my dear. That feels better, doesn’t it? It won’t be so long before you’re home with your mother again. She was very brave; don’t worry about her. And Jane will know just how to best keep her spirits up.” The more he tried to console her, the harder she cried, so he stopped speaking and stroked the short, fluffy hair until she at length raised her head to try to speak. When no words came she looked so distressed that he bent and kissed her.

If he had meant to console her, which is what he told himself, he was not prepared for her response. She clung to him as though for dear life and returned his kiss with a shy, moving earnestness which entirely disoriented him. Not that he desisted. Her very intensity swept him from the tender caress he had originally intended to a much more passionate embrace, which she, to his wonder and confusion, readily accepted. When they drew apart he stared at her unbelievingly. “Is it possible? No, it is only the shock you’ve had, isn’t it?” Her eyes were luminously moist in the light from outside, and he realized that they had entered Bath. They would be in Henrietta Street in a short time. He shook his head to clear it. “Trelenny, you know I have spoken with your father, have meant to offer for you for some time. Is it possible you have changed your mind? Can you have decided to have me after all?”

Her throat ached at the necessity of her reply. “No, thank you very much, Cranford.”

In the uncertain light he tried to study her face but she turned from him, smoothing down her gown and saying sadly, “I know your father will be disappointed, Cranford, but he will adjust to a different match for you.”

“My father has nothing to say to the matter.”

She looked at him reproachfully. “How can you say so? He has pulled the purse strings shut on you and will only open them if you marry me.”

“I don’t need his money, Trelenny. Coverly is doing very well.” A glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes. “Is that why you thought I offered for you?”

“Well, when you approached Papa, you didn’t even like me!”

“But that’s not true now! I admit that at the time I had another reason.”

“What was it?” she asked bluntly, her chin coming up.

“It’s unimportant.”

“Not to me.”

“Trelenny, when my mother died I was supposed to be there, and I had failed to come. I didn’t know she was dying. She had written me a letter shortly before, telling me how you were growing into a young lady and she hoped one day we would marry. Lord, I caused her so much anguish! My father said that her dying words were to the same effect, that I should marry you.”

“Then he lied to you. Mama was there, and all Lady Chessels wanted to tell you was that she loved you and hoped you would be happy. Surely Mama told you so.”

“She would hardly tell me that my mother wanted me to marry her daughter.”

“That’s not the point, Cranford. Your mother wanted you to be happy. How could you think it would please her to do something you didn’t want to do?” Trelenny glanced out the window to see the familiar houses in Henrietta Street. “We’re here.”

The carriage had barely come to a stop when she jumped down without the aid of the steps or Cranford’s hand and rushed to the door, where the porter, bleary-eyed but relieved to hear the carriage stopping and see young miss, swung the door wide. “Where is my mother?”

“In the parlor, miss.”

Trelenny raced to the door and flung it open but paused on the threshold at the sight which confronted her. The tableau struck brilliantly on her mind after the other trials of the day. While Mrs. Waplington, her husband, and Lady Jane had risen at the sound of approaching footsteps, Mrs. Storwood sat unaware in the circle of Mr. Wheldrake’s arm. Her mother’s eyes were red and she held a handkerchief to them, but her head rested against Mr. Wheldrake’s shoulder until he cried, “She’s here! Maria, Trelenny’s safe.”

Unable for an instant to believe her own eyes, Mrs. Storwood remained immobile on the sofa. Trelenny flew into her arms saying over and over, “I’m all right, Mama. I’m all right. He didn’t hurt me. I’m all right.”

“Oh, my love, thank God!”

The others turned to Cranford for details while Mrs. Storwood touched Trelenny’s hair and eyes and chin to assure herself that it was truly not a figment of her imagination. “You must go directly to bed,” she said irrationally. “Yes, that would be the best thing. You’ve had a great shock; I’ll take you straight to your room.”

Trelenny turned to smile at the others, only to see Lady Jane press Cranford’s hand and hear her say, “Well done, my dear. You look fagged to death. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he replied shortly, then smiled apologetically at her. “Thank you for coming, Jane. Shall I see you home now?”

“If you would.” She crossed the room to hug Trelenny. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re safe, Miss Storwood. I hope you can forgive me for encouraging you in your plan to set-down Mr. Rowle.”

 “There is nothing to forgive, Lady Jane. I appreciate your coming here to be with Mama.”

Although Mrs. Storwood took the opportunity to thank Cranford, who promised to come around in the morning, she was not deterred from her plan to see Trelenny immediately to her room. No assurance of her daughter’s well-being was so strong as seeing her tucked fast in her bed and almost instantly asleep. She kissed the silky blonde head and sighed. “Life is fraught with pitfalls for you, my love. Thank heaven you have the courage to face them with dignity.”