Nicola Cornick (21 page)

The next problem was how to move the invalid, for Will had not regained consciousness and Miss Frensham was up and prowling about the house in an irritable sort of a way. In desperation, Annabella brought out the piece of embroidery which she had been working on for at least six months and which Miss Frensham had frequently criticised for its poor workmanship. The half-hour she spent going over its defects with her companion was tiresome and boring, but had to be time well spent. Fortunately, the exercise put Miss Frensham into far happier a frame of mind and after lunch she graciously agreed to arrange the roses Annabella had cut that morning.

Annabella, meanwhile, was beset by further doubts. When Susan had told her the night before that Owen Linton would take a message to Oxenham, it had seemed the best solution. Now, however, she was not so sure. James Mullineaux was, after all, a Justice of
the Peace and probably the first person Captain Harvard would turn to in his hunt for the fugitive. Will and James might be the best of friends, but how would that friendship be sustained when Will had been denounced as a traitor and a criminal? Still, it was too late now. Annabella picked up a magazine to while away the tedium of the afternoon and almost immediately heard the sound of a coach pulling into the yard followed by voices in the hall.

‘Annabella!’ Alicia, immaculately beautiful as ever in a gown of deep green, hurried in to greet her sister. ‘We had the most extraordinary message from Owen Linton this morning! Are you all right? What on earth has happened?’

It was not just the Mullineauxs who had arrived, Annabella realised, but Caroline and Marcus Kilgaren as well. Suddenly overcome with a rush of emotion at seeing them all, Annabella threw herself into Alicia’s arms with rather more fervour than might be expected after a separation of only five days. Her sister, however, took this all in good part and only hugged her back.

‘Oh, Alicia,’ Annabella said, muffled, ‘I am so glad to see you!’ She let her sister go reluctantly and tried to compose herself. Caroline and Alicia guided her to the chaise-longue and sat down on either side of her, their faces showing identical expressions of woe. It would have been amusing had Annabella not been too upset to appreciate it.

‘Well, Annabella,’ James said bracingly, with the directness for which he was well known, ‘what the hell’s going on? All we have heard is some cock-and-bull story from Linton, in which he claims Will Wes
ton was accused of treason and shot whilst evading arrest!’ He moved across to the window and propped himself against the sill. ‘I’d have thought him barking mad,’ he continued, ‘were it not for a visit this morning from some chap—Harvard, I believe he was called—looking for Will on behalf of the Admiralty! So?’

To her surprise, Annabella discovered that this abrasive unsentimentality was just what she needed. Where Alicia’s sympathy might have encouraged the tears, James’s straight talking forced her to confront the problem. Nevertheless, the mention of Harvard’s name caused her to shiver.

‘What did Captain Harvard say?’ she asked tonelessly.

James moved restlessly to look out of the window. ‘Why, he told us that the Admiralty had sent him to bring Will up to London to answer the charge of treason which had been levied. He said that he and one of his men had been given the intelligence to expect Will to be returning from Lambourn last night, and they had intercepted him on the road. They challenged him, at which he shot at them and rode off. They returned fire and brought him down, but could not find him.’ James’s face was sombre. ‘Harvard was not slow to point out that Will’s actions damned him as a guilty man trying to escape. He even hinted that Will might be unbalanced. I fear I did not take to Captain Harvard,’ James finished, a little grimly.

‘Harvard was here last night, after it happened,’ Annabella said, with another shudder. ‘He said much the same to me. He was sure that Will would have made for here to seek shelter.’

James raised his eyebrows. ‘Harvard seems very sincere in his wish to find Will,’ he observed gently. ‘He even said that he was afraid Will might be dying on a hillside and asked for my help in mounting a search party!’ James smiled for the first time. ‘But I thought I should save myself the trouble!’

Their eyes met. ‘Will is not here,’ Annabella said truthfully, looking at them all very straight, ‘so you need have no fear on that score!’

Alicia stirred. ‘But is he safe, Annabella? Oh, don’t worry about James—’ she had seen her sister’s look of apprehension ‘—as long as he does not know where Will is, he can answer all questions put to him by Harvard quite openly! We are more concerned that Will is injured!’

Annabella capitulated. There was such genuine worry on all their faces that she could not believe they would ever betray Will. Especially when they knew the truth. ‘He has a wound to the shoulder and is in a fever,’ she said carefully, ‘but I do not believe it to be life-threatening, unless Miss Frensham’s powders and potions carry him off! He is quite safe, but unfit to move for now. But pray do not tell Captain Harvard any of that! The more time he spends out on the hills searching for Will, the better!’

Caroline leant forward, going straight to the heart of the matter. ‘But what does Will have to say about this, Annabella?’ She frowned unhappily. ‘I do not need to tell you that none of us can believe either the charge of treason or the accusation that Will shot at Harvard and escaped. Can there have been some mistake?’

‘There is no mistake,’ Annabella said bluntly. ‘Will
told me that Harvard tried to kill him. They shot at
him
without warning, then tried to hunt him down. I assure you—’ she had seen the shocked, disbelieving horror on the faces of them all ‘—it is true.’

There was a stunned silence.

‘The charge of treason in itself is sufficiently bizarre,’ Marcus Kilgaren said quietly, after a pause, ‘but this beats all else. Will is certain that there can be no misunderstanding?’

‘None,’ Annabella said, with another very straight look. ‘But, of course, it is only his word against Harvard’s, and Harvard has a witness who will back his own story. Worse, Will is currently too ill to put his side of the story and Harvard is taking advantage of his disappearance to suggest that Will is condemned by his own actions! Will cannot simply come out and accuse Harvard of attempted murder—not when the evidence looks so bad against him! And he has no notion as to why Harvard acted as he did!’

‘Now we see why Harvard seemed so mighty put out to have lost Will,’ Marcus said grimly. ‘No doubt he would prefer to find him dead on a hillside somewhere—or captured and locked up, with no one taking seriously his counter-allegations!’

‘But what is it all about?’ Alicia asked plaintively, putting in to words the one thought that was troubling them all. ‘The charge of treason is the start of all this, and to accuse Will of such a crime is the biggest piece of nonsense I ever heard! Why, a man of greater integrity it would be hard to find!’

‘Someone has been planting poison in the ear of the Lords of the Admiralty,’ James said quietly. ‘You may remember that there was some foolish talk a cou
ple of years ago about how Will had run out of a naval engagement and left another captain to face the enemy alone. It was complete nonsense, but unfortunately the story never quite died. Though how it has blown up again now, I cannot tell.’

‘I heard that malicious tale myself when I was in Taunton,’ Annabella said hesitantly, glancing at her sister. Marcus’s words had hit precisely upon what had been troubling her, for surely a man such as George Jeffries had no influence to raise such a serious charge against Will Weston. There had to be someone else involved…someone with power, or at least greater influence.

‘In Taunton? From whom?’ Marcus leant forward.

‘Why, from Captain Jeffries,’ Annabella said, still hesitant. ‘He told me of that and of other unsavoury rumours about Will making a fortune from being in league with pirates. But Jeffries has no standing—he would never be given credence!’

‘Maybe not,’ Marcus reflected, ‘but someone else might…’ He caught James’s gaze across the room. ‘If Jeffries had repeated the rumour to someone with both influence and a grudge…’

‘Ermina Hurst has a cousin, or some such, at the Admiralty,’ Caroline said slowly. ‘I remember her mentioning it in passing one evening, but I was not really attending, for you know how that woman rattles on!’ She caught herself up, and looked appalled at what she seemed to be suggesting. ‘Oh, but surely…No! Even Ermina would not—’

‘Miss Hurst did not take her rejection by Sir William in good part,’ Marcus pointed out coolly. ‘Perhaps she saw this as a means of revenge…’

‘But we do not even know if Ermina knew this Captain Jeffries,’ Caroline burst out. ‘Oh no, this is too far-fetched for words! I am sure we wrong her even by thinking of it!’

Judging by the looks on the faces of the two men, Annabella thought that they were not so sure. And nor was she, when she considered it. After all, she had been a witness to the frustrated spite of Miss Hurst as she realised that both Viscount Mundell and Sir William were slipping beyond her grasp.

‘Miss Hurst danced with Jeffries at the subscription ball in Taunton,’ she said quietly. ‘I remember thinking it odd at the time, for a man like Jeffries was far beneath her touch! But all the same…’

‘It will bear investigation,’ James observed, ‘along with a number of other matters.’

The others looked at him enquiringly. ‘Well,’ James enlarged, ‘it seems singular to me that Harvard should choose to seek his man in the middle of the night when he might have called at Challen in the daylight! That in itself is suspicious and suggests he wanted no witness to the encounter! I would like to know Harvard’s original orders!’

‘Admiral Cranston could probably tell us that,’ Marcus said speculatively. ‘Harvard mentioned this morning that he was acting under Cranston’s authority—although he appears to have exceeded it somewhat!’

‘But why did Harvard try to shoot Will?’ Caroline said crossly, in the tone of voice that suggested the attempted murder was a tiresome parlour game. ‘If only we knew…’

‘If we knew that, my love, we would have solved the whole case,’ Marcus said with a twitch of his lips.

James stirred in his chair. ‘There’s plenty we
can
do, however, whilst we wait for Will to recover and state his case! We need to trace some of Will’s colleagues—those who could give testimony and clear his name of the treason charge. Then we can try to discover the background to all this from Cranston. And I will try to find some witnesses—any witnesses—to last night’s events. It’s a long shot, I know, but it’s possible…When we’ve turned up anything useful I’ll send word,’ he added to Annabella. There was an irrepressible twinkle suddenly in his dark eyes. ‘You have to hand it to Will—he has certainly hit on a novel way to effect a reconciliation!’

Annabella looked flustered. She had forgotten that she had yet to impart what had previously been the most important piece of news of all. She turned to Alicia, her green eyes suddenly bright. Despite their situation, nothing could dampen her happiness in her engagement to Will.

‘Oh, Liss, the most marvellous thing! Will and I became betrothed yesterday afternoon! I had almost forgot!’

Announcements of marriage were usually followed by a flurry of exclamation and congratulation, Annabella thought with irony. Twice she had declared her intention to marry, and on both occasions the news had sunk like a stone. The first time, her father had stormed and raged, refusing his consent until she had lied that she had already given herself to Francis in the most intimate of ways. This time was little better,
for no one said anything at all until Alicia recollected herself and got up to kiss her.

‘I am glad that you have settled your differences, Annabella,’ she began carefully, ‘but—’

‘I know!’ Annabella sighed. ‘You do not think it wise to contemplate a betrothal to a man who is under suspicion of treason and attempted murder!’

‘Well, not precisely—’ Alicia caught her husband’s eye and fell silent just as the door opened.

‘Mrs St Auby,’ Miss Frensham said peevishly, ‘the mildew has taken those roses and they are quite unsuitable! I have done my best, but no one will dispute that they are not up to scratch! And,’ she added as an afterthought, ‘that tiresome Captain Harvard is here again, poking about in the kitchen and asking questions! It’s enough to give me a megrim! I am retiring to my room!’

Harvard was already lurking in the corridor, even as Frank, wooden-faced, made the unnecessary announcement of his presence.

‘Captain Harvard is here to see you, ma’am.’

Annabella saw the mingled speculation and concern on the faces of her companions, and felt them range themselves behind her in a wordless show of solidarity. She got up and faced the door, a martial light in her eyes.

‘Please send the captain in, Frank,’ she said sweetly. ‘Does he have his band of merry men with him?’

It was evident that the Captain had heard this last, for his colour was high as he came into the room and there was an angry look in his eye. This turned to greater annoyance as his gaze took in Annabella’s vis
itors, especially when James came forward cordially to shake his hand and remind him of his fruitless trip to Oxenham earlier in the day. It was clear that Harvard had neither expected nor sought such an audience, and he too could feel the unspoken unity of the group ranged against him. He bowed a little abruptly.

‘If you will excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I have private business with Mrs St Auby…’