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  ‘But it is true that he abducted me,’ she argued.

  ‘I consider that his behaviour has throughout been chivalrous and gentlemanly,’ replied Hildebrand.

  ‘I thought you looked to be stuffy as soon as I saw you,’ said Amanda. ‘That is why I didn’t tell you how it really was. And I was quite right.’

  ‘It is not a question of being stuffy,’ said Hildebrand loftily, ‘but of having worldly sense, and proper notions of conduct. And now that I know the truth I can’t suppose that this Lady Hester would dream of coming here. How very much shocked she must have been!’

  ‘Well, she was not!’ said Amanda. ‘She was more truly sympathetic, so you know nothing of the matter! And also she told me that she has had a very dull life, besides being obliged to live with the most disagreeable set of people I ever saw, so I daresay she will be very glad to come here.’ She paused, eyeing him. He still looked dubious, so she said in another, and much more earnest voice. ‘Pray, Hildebrand, go and fetch her! That dreadful old woman upstairs will very likely kill poor Sir Gareth, because she is rough, and dirty, and I can see she means to lay him out! I won’t permit her to nurse him! I will nurse him myself, only – only that doctor said that he might grow feverish, and if, perhaps, I didn’t do the things I should for him, and he didn’t get better, but worse, and there was only you and me to take care of him – Hildebrand, I can’t!’

  She ended on a note of suppressed panic, but Hildebrand was already convinced. The picture her words had conjured up made him blench. In his relief at finding that he had not killed Sir Gareth outright, optimism, which he now saw to have been unjustified, had sprung up in his breast. The thought that Sir Gareth might still die, here, in this tiny inn, far from his own kith and kin, attended only by a schoolroom miss and his murderer, made him shudder. Before his mind’s eye flitted a horrifying vision of himself seeking out Sir Gareth’s sister, and breaking to her the news that her brother was dead, and by his hand. He set his teacup down with a jar, exclaiming: ‘Good God, no! I hadn’t considered – Of course I will go to Chatteris! I never meant that I would not – and even if this Lady Hester should refuse to come back with me she will be at least able to tell me where I may find Sir Gareth’s sister!’

  ‘She will come!’ Amanda averred. ‘So will you go at once to tell the post-boy he must drive you to Brancaster Park?’

  ‘No,’ replied Hildebrand, setting his jaw. ‘I’ll have nothing to do with the fellow! Besides, what a shocking waste of money it would be to be hiring a chaise to carry me to Brancaster Park, when I shall reach it very much more quickly if I ride there – or, at any rate, to Huntingdon, where I may hire a chaise for Lady Hester’s conveyance – that is, if you think she won’t prefer to travel in her own carriage?’

  Amanda, thankful to find him suddenly so amenable, said approvingly: ‘That is an excellent notion, and much better than mine! I see you have learnt habits of economy, which is something I must do too, for an expensive wife would not suit Neil at all, I daresay. But I have a strong feeling that that odious Lady Widmore would cast a rub in the way of Lady Hester’s coming to my aid, if she could, and she would be bound to discover what she meant to do, if Lady Hester ordered her carriage. In fact, the more I think of it, the more I am persuaded that Lady Hester must slip away secretly. So, when you reach Brancaster Park, you must insist on seeing her alone, and on no account must you disclose your errand to anyone else.’

  Hildebrand was in full agreement with her on this point, having the greatest reluctance to spread further than was strictly necessary the story of the day’s dreadful events, but an unwelcome consideration had occurred to him, and he said uneasily: ‘Will it not make Mrs Chicklade even more unamiable, if we bring Lady Hester here to stay? You know, I don’t like to mention it to you, but she has been saying such things! I don’t think Chicklade will attend to her, because he seems to be a good sort of a fellow, but she wants him to tell Dr Chantry he won’t have Sir Gareth here, or any of us, because nothing will persuade her we are respectable persons – which, when one comes to think of it, we are not,’ he added gloomily. ‘Depend upon it, she doesn’t believe the hum you told her, about Sir Gareth’s being our uncle.’

  ‘We must remember always to say “my uncle” when we have occasion to mention him,’ nodded Amanda. ‘In fact, we had better call him Uncle Gareth even between ourselves, so that we get into the habit of it.’

  ‘Yes, but she is so horridly suspicious that I daresay that won’t answer. And, in any event, it wouldn’t explain Lady Hester. I don’t think we ought to say that she is betrothed to Sir – to Uncle Gareth – if you are not perfectly sure of it. Ten to one, it would make her feel very awkward, if it turned out to be no such thing.’

  ‘Yes, very true,’ she replied, frowning over this difficulty. ‘I don’t at all wish to put her in an uncomfortable situation, so we must think of some tale which that disagreeable woman will believe.’

  He watched her doubtfully, but after a moment her brow cleared, and she said: ‘Of course I know the very thing to make all right! Lady Hester must be my aunt! Because it is the circumstance of my having no chaperon that makes Mrs Chicklade so disobliging. While I was putting off my stained gown, she kept on asking me the most impertinent questions, and saying that she wondered that my mother should let me travel in such a way, just as if she was sure I had no mother, which, indeed, I haven’t, as I told her. And also I told her that I had an aunt instead, and I could see that she didn’t believe me, though it is quite true. So, I think, Hildebrand, that the thing for you to do is to inform Chicklade that you feel it to be your duty to fetch my aunt, and that will convince Mrs Chicklade that I was speaking the truth!’

  Thus it was arranged, Chicklade greeting the suggestion with instant approval, and a good deal of relief. Hildebrand saddled Prince, and rode off, leaving Amanda preparing to banish Mrs Bardfield irrevocably from the sickroom. It seemed likely that she would enjoy this task very much more than he expected to enjoy his.

  He managed to reach Huntingdon in good time, by riding whenever possible across country. He learned there that his goal was situated very much nearer to St Ives, and so rode on to that town. At the Crown, he was able to hire a post-chaise and pair, and to stable Prince; and midway through the afternoon he arrived at Brancaster Park.

  Amanda, having strictly enjoined him to disclose his errand to none but Lady Hester, had seemed to think there could be no difficulty about doing this, but when he was admitted into the house by a servant, who civilly enquired what his name was, he saw that it was only too probable that Lady Hester would refuse to receive a gentleman quite unknown to her. He explained, stammering a little, that his name would not be familiar to her ladyship; and then, as he thought the servant was looking suspiciously at him, he added that he was the bearer of an urgent message. The man bowed, and went away, leaving him in a large saloon, where he instantly fell a prey to all sorts of forebodings. Perhaps the Earl would come in, and demand to know his business; perhaps Lady Widmore would intercept the message to her sister-in-law; or, worse than all, perhaps Lady Hester was not at home.

  The minutes ticked by, and he became more and more apprehensive. He hoped that his neckcloth was straight, and his hair tidy, and, seeing that a mirror hung at one end of the room, he went to it, to reassure himself on these points. He was engaged in smoothing his rather creased coat when he heard the door open behind him, and turned quickly to find that he was being regarded by a lady in a pomona green half-dress and a lace cap tied over her softly waving brown hair. Much discomposed to have been surprised preening himself in front of a mirror, he blushed scarlet, and became tongue-tied.

  After thoughtfully observing these signs of embarrassment, the lady smiled, and stepped forward, saying: ‘Pray do not mind! I know exactly how one is always quite positive that one’s hat is crooked, or that there is a smut on one’s face. How do you do? I am Hester Theale, you