The Wicked and Wonderful Miss Merlin (13 page)

It had been agreed that the supper for Robert’s tenants would be that Friday and they would go down to Bath the following Monday.  All in all it had been a good day, Samantha reflected as she went to bed.

For a few moments she sat staring at herself in the dressing mirror as she brushed her hair, then got up to wander over to the window and stand staring out at the night sky.

Someone was standing in the garden.  It was a man and he was smoking, staring up at the house.  Was it Robert or Toby – or one of the footmen? Samantha could not be sure and yet she somehow felt it was not anyone she knew.  A little shiver went through her as she drew back from her window, crossed the room to her bed and climbed in.

Why had she felt that the presence in the garden was a little sinister?

No, she was being ridiculous.  It had probably been one of Robert’s servants or Robert himself taking a last look around the grounds before retiring.

Robert was not at breakfast the next morning when Samantha went down, though both Toby and Eleanor were.  Toby said that Robert had gone out to visit a tenant and spread the word that there was to be a celebration supper for the tenants in the courtyard.

‘We are to be engaged on my birthday and married at Christmas,’ Eleanor said excitedly.  ‘Robert and Toby had talked everything out and reached an understanding, and my brother has given us his blessing.’

‘I am pleased for you,’ Samantha said, ‘that is indeed good news indeed.  You will have plenty of time to gather your trousseau and Toby and your brother can get to know one another.’

‘We have made great strides towards that already,’ Toby said, looking thoughtfully at Eleanor.  ‘It seems that we of one mind where Eleanor is concerned and we think alike on certain matters.’

‘That sounds so serious,’ Eleanor said and pouted.  ‘He will not tell me what was said, Samantha, only that we are to be engaged on my birthday.’

‘Then that must be enough for you,’ Samantha said and laughed.  ‘No, I shall not sympathise with you.  Men must be allowed their secrets, as we are.’

‘Well, I suppose.’  Eleanor dimpled at her.  ‘Yes, we must all have some secrets.’

The look in her eyes was a little naughty and Samantha nodded.  She was happy in their company and felt herself wishing that she might be a part of this family for the rest of her life, but though she might visit them as their guest she would not be an intimate part of their lives once the visit to Bath was over.

After breakfast she had Eleanor sat in their favourite parlour and wrote out the menus for the celebration supper in a neat hand, enough so that everyone could keep their copy if they wished. Toby had gone out riding, promising that he would return for nuncheon and keep them company that afternoon.

The morning passed pleasantly and the bell sounded for nuncheon, but when the ladies entered the small dining parlour they discovered they were alone. Neither Robert nor Toby had returned.  They enquired of the butler if anyone had seen either gentleman and were informed that neither had returned to the stables.

‘I do not understand,’ Eleanor said with a worried frown.  ‘Toby said he would be here for lunch and he always keeps his promise to me.  Do you think we should wait?’

‘It is a little odd.  Perhaps we could eat a little something for everything has been prepared but…’ She was prevented from going on by a commotion in the house.  Eleanor was on her feet instantly.  She ran from the dining parlour and through to the front hall, Samantha a shirt distance behind her.  ‘Oh no…’

The scene that met her eyes was both shocking and disturbing. Toby and a footman were supporting a man; he was bleeding profusely from a wound to his cheek and another to his hand.  Some of his blood had transferred itself to Toby’s hands and clothes. Samantha could not stop herself crying out in distress as she saw the blood.

‘What has happened?  Robert…were you attacked?’

‘Someone had tied a thin cord between two trees,’ Toby answered for him.  I saw Robert riding ahead of me and put on a spurt to catch up to him and saw what happened.  His horse was not aware of the cord and it brought him down, Robert was thrown against a tree and cut his cheek and I think his hand.  He was unconscious and had I not been in time to save him, he would have been murdered as he lay there.  A rogue was standing over him, club in hand.  I shouted and he ran off into the wood.’

‘Perhaps you should bring him into the parlour and lie him down,’ Samantha said as she saw that Robert was still barely conscious.  ‘We must thank God that you went riding, Toby.  Had you not come upon him…’  She felt her throat tighten.  ‘Who could have wanted to murder Robert?’

‘My poor brother,’ Eleanor cried as the men carried him into the parlour and placed him on a sofa with cushions beneath his head.  ‘We should send for the doctor.’

‘Bring water and a cloth,’ Samantha asked one of the servants who had been drawn into the hall by the noise.  ‘I shall bathe his wounds.’

‘One of the grooms has already gone for a doctor,’ Toby said.  ‘I think he will be better shortly.  He has been going in and out of consciousness as I brought him home.  I was forced to put him across my saddle and lead him back, which may have contributed to the feeling of grogginess.’

Toby was perfectly right to think that the undignified manner of his return home had contributed to the faintness which had overtaken him, for a few minutes after Samantha had begun to bathe his face and wash away the blood from his hand, which had a deep gash and had been the source of most of the blood, his eyelids flickered and he opened his eyes, looking up at her.

‘What happened to me?’ he asked.  ‘I was riding at the edge of the woods, on my way home…did my horse throw me?’

‘It was not his fault, sir,’ Toby said.  ‘Someone had tied a cord between the trees and it brought your horse down.  Whoever it was meant to rob and murder you, for he was about to club you when I arrived and fired my pistol at him.’

‘Good grief…’ Robert attempted to sit up and then fell back as his head whirled.  ‘Is Storm all right?  Are his knees badly cut?’

‘I fear that he has sustained some damage,’ Toby said gravely.  ‘I tied him to the tree before I brought you back and one of your grooms has gone to fetch him home.  We shall know more once he has looked at him and applied a poultice.’

‘Perhaps more important is that you are alive,’ Samantha said.  ‘You were lucky that Toby followed you, Robert.’

‘Yes, I may owe my life to you,’ Robert said and frowned.  ‘Did you happen to see the rogue’s face?’

‘He had his back to me for he was standing over you.  I did not see his face well enough to know him again – but he had flame red hair.’

‘Red hair?’  Robert pressed a hand to his temple.  The skin had hardly been cut on his cheek but he would have a nasty bruise on his temple when it came out.  ‘The blow to my head knocked me right out and I saw nothing.  I shall report this to the magistrate for a rogue like that is a danger to the neighbourhood.’

Gingerly, he sat up, though he did not immediately attempt to rise and Samantha, who had risen from her knees and sat on a chair close by, guessed that he still felt dizzy.

‘Do you think he attacked you at random?’ she asked.  ‘Or were you his intended victim?’

‘I do not see how I could be…’ Robert grimaced.  ‘How could anyone know that I would return home after visiting John Masters?  I might have gone through the village or…No, I think it must have been a random attack.  What makes you think the rogue was lying in wait for me?’

‘I wondered…’  She hesitated, then, ‘Last night, after I went to bed, I stood looking out at the garden for a while.  My curtains were half drawn and I do not think he could have seen me…besides, he was looking at a window beyond mine.’

‘You saw someone watching the house last night?’

‘I was not sure if it was a servant or you…and yet there was something not quite right.  I felt he was brooding, almost sinister but then I decided that it was my imagination.’

‘Do you have an enemy, Robert?’ Eleanor asked and looked frightened.

‘If I have I do not know him,’ Robert replied.  ‘No, no, I am sure it was a random attack, a rogue looking for anyone who might have valuables or money in his pockets.  I shall set more keepers to patrolling the woods.  They are partly on my estate but a part of the woods belongs to…Sir Michael Fenton.  I shall have to make him aware that there may be a desperate villain in the woods, for he could be at risk from attack himself.’

‘You will not ride out again today,’ Samantha said.  ‘You should go to bed until the doctor has examined you, Robert.  Toby suffered from a blow to the head for some weeks.  You do not know what harm it may cause.’

‘I shall certainly rest this afternoon,’ Robert agreed.  ‘But a letter may be taken to Sir Michael for I should not wish to neglect my duty towards a friend and neighbour.’

Samantha ordered that tea and brandy be brought into the parlour and they persuaded Robert to take a little of each.  The doctor had arrived by then and they left them alone together.

‘Do you think Robert has an enemy?’ Eleanor said as the three of them repaired to the dining room and made a selection from the cold dishes.

‘I dare say your brother is right,’ she replied.  ‘But…I did see someone looking at the house last night…at the room just along from mine.’

‘That is Robert’s room,’ Eleanor said and looked anxious again.  ‘Do you think the rogue would have killed him, Toby – had you not arrived when you did?’

‘I am certain of it,’ Toby said.  ‘It may have been a random attack, as Robert says – but I think it may well have been intentional.  Whoever did it must know the route Robert prefers when visiting his tenants and possibly lay in wait in the hope he would ride that way.’

‘I should not like anything to happen to him,’ Eleanor said.  ‘Who could hate him so much?  Do you think he has quarrelled with someone?’

‘He may have done so,’ Samantha said.  ‘Yet why should they attack him now – what has changed?  We must keep an open mind, but we must also be vigilant.  Toby, could you arrange to go riding with Robert for the next few days…in such a way that he does not know we are watching over him?’

‘I shall ask him to show me the estate,’ Toby said, ‘but I fear he may decide to go off alone if the fancy takes him.  He is not a fool and will know if we show our concern too openly.’

‘Perhaps it will not happen again,’ Eleanor said.  ‘Whoever it was has probably taken fright and run off by now.’

‘We must hope so,’ Samantha said, but she could not help feeling that Robert had narrowly escaped death and that it had something to do with the man who had been watching the house the previous night.  However, she did not wish to distress Eleanor and spoil this happy time for her and the subject was dropped.

Robert was feeling well enough to dine with them that evening and the next morning insisted on going riding.  Toby begged to be shown the estate and so the two men went out together, leaving Eleanor and Samantha together.  It was about eleven o’clock when they had a visitor.  Sir Michael Fenton asked for Robert but when told he was from home asked to speak to the ladies.  After they were consulted he was shown into their parlour.  A handsome man of some forty-odd years, he smiled at them and begged their pardon for calling at such an early hour.

‘I had hoped to speak with Lord Brough,’ he said.  ‘This business of the poacher is distressing.  Something must be done to bring him to justice.’

‘You think it is a poacher, sir?’ Samantha said.  ‘Has he caused trouble here before?’

‘I was told the perpetrator had red hair?’  She nodded and he looked grim. ‘I think the man is Sam Harding – the veriest rogue I ever had dealings with, Miss Merlin.  I had him arrested for poaching a year ago and he has only recently been released from prison.  Poaching was always his game in the past but if he has turned to robbing and bodily harm he must be hung.  Prison did not deter him and we shall not be so lenient next time.’

‘He has red hair?’ Samantha asked and looked thoughtful as he agreed.  The man she’d seen in a patch of moonlight had had dark hair, though she had not seen his features clearly.  However, she would keep that to herself.

‘If he is the culprit he should be punished,’ she agreed and shivered, for if Toby had not been so quick upon the scene Robert might have died.  Yet there was something too neat in all this…as though it had been rehearsed and planned…but now she was letting her imagination run riot again.

‘You may tell Lord Brough that I shall put a reward up for his capture and hopefully that will end it,’ Sir Michael said.  ‘While I am here, may I extend an invitation to dine with me at the end of next week?’

‘We should have been delighted,’ Eleanor said, ‘but we shall be in Bath by then.  We are all going down at the beginning of the week.’

‘And how long will you stay?’

‘Oh, three or four weeks,’ Eleanor replied and blushed prettily.  ‘My engagement will be announced while we are there – and then I may go to stay with Toby’s parents for a week or two.  We hope to be wed at Christmas.’

‘May I be the first to congratulate you both,’ he said.  ‘The young man is the gentleman who came to Lord Brough’s assistance I believe?’