Julia Justiss - My Lady's Honor

Would he pursue her? Or simply wash his hands of her, glad to be rid of the burden of a cousin he’d never liked?

Were it not for the plans he’d set in train to marry her off to his crony, she might well think the latter. But she did not believe his kindly-elder-cousin talk of arranging her marriage to insure she had a permanent position worthy of her breeding. She suspected there was far more to the agreement, and given her cousin’s proclivities, probably something involving money.

Ever since her father had declined to remarry after her stepmother’s death, her cousin had been living on the expectation of one day taking control of Southford and all its resources. His self-professed “refined” tastes in clothes and furnishings were expensive, as were his gaming habits, and she would not be at all surprised to learn he was heavily in debt. Perhaps he owed Edgerton, and had decided to use Gwen and her dowry as a means to repay the baron, at no cost to himself.

Yes, that would appeal to Nigel: not only getting rid of his detested cousin, but using her money to pay off his obligations.

If her suspicions were correct, he would not view with equanimity the double insult of being embarrassed in front of his friend and losing his free means of repayment. She’d also had a glimpse this afternoon of Nigel’s relish for exercising his power as Baron Southford. Even were there in actuality no financial considerations involved, having Gwennor flout his new authority before his friend and her former household was certain to enrage him. He’d probably be angry enough to pursue her, if only to drag her back and impose an equally public punishment.

So, how to make a swift and clean break? Were they to make haste to the nearest posting inn, Nigel would likely catch them either while they awaited the next mail coach or once they’d transferred to that slower conveyance. If they traveled by horseback and she used precious coin to hire new mounts at each stage, as a single lady traveling with no maid in attendance, she would be singular enough that most innkeepers or stablemasters would remember her, making them all too easy to trace.

It was imperative they get far enough away for Nigel’s anger to cool and to make further pursuit sufficiently expensive and bothersome that he might choose to simply let them go. Of equal importance was finding a haven that offered some unimpeachable reason for her to withstand his efforts to force her back to Southford, if he did succeed in tracking her.

Harrogate! the answer suddenly occurred to her. They could make their way to her stepmother’s Aunt Alice in Harrogate. Gwen had not seen the lady since her stepmama’s funeral a number of years previously, but they still corresponded, and she had no doubt the sweet, frivolous Lady Alice would be delighted to receive her.

Not only was the mineral spa in which she resided fortuitously distant, many of its residents and visitors were elderly widowers come to take the waters. Among them, perhaps Gwennor could find a kindly gentleman who’d be willing to wed a young, strong, hardworking lady of good family prepared to run his household and care for him in his declining years—at the negligible cost of also housing her brother.

She could claim Aunt Alice’s assistance in her matrimonial quest—what lady could resist the chance to play matchmaker? With luck, she might find an acceptable candidate quickly, perhaps even be wed before Nigel could trace her.

If the new baron found her still single and insisted she marry the suitor he’d chosen, Lord Edgerton could just as easily travel to Harrogate to claim her.

Gwen would wager her mother’s entire collection of jewelry that Edgerton would not.

So she now had a destination, but there remained the problem of how to traverse that long distance undetected.

She had reviewed the alternatives over and over, unable to decide which one offered the best chance of successfully evading pursuit, when suddenly another idea occurred, so far-fetched and outrageous she nearly rejected it out of hand.

But, she decided, the advantage lay in its very outrageousness. Cousin Nigel might scour the roads, make a sweep of the posting inns, and question every innkeeper and livery stableman within a hundred miles of Southford and never locate them.

She scrambled to her desk, jerked open the top drawer, and began tossing out the objects in a disordered heap on the desktop. After rooting through each of the drawers in turn, she’d accumulated a trove of small coins and one golden guinea.

Hardly a fortune, but, she hoped, enough to tempt a king.

Quickly she changed into her riding habit and stuffed her findings into a small leather pouch. Tying the strings around her wrist, she tucked it under her sleeve and summoned her maid.

Jenny arrived so speedily Gwennor suspected the woman had been anxiously awaiting a chance to learn the results of Gwen’s interview. Sure enough, with the familiarity of one who had been first her nurse and then her maid practically since Gwen’s birth, as soon as she hurried in, Jenny asked, “So what was it the new master be wantin’?”

“Cousin Nigel feels it is time for me to marry.”

“Saints be praised!” Jenny replied. “’Tis the very thing I’ve wished for ever since your papa took so sick. Now that the new baron’s here, and being how he is, ’tis best ye git a household of yer own, with a husband to protect you. So, when be we goin’ to London?”

“We are not going to London. Cousin Nigel has already chosen my husband. In fact, he arrives tomorrow.”

Jenny’s enthusiasm chilled abruptly. “Already chosen? Who…who is it to be, my lady?”

“Lord Edgerton.”

Consternation extinguished the remaining traces of Jenny’s gladness. “Lord Edgerton! Why, that gentleman is twice your age or more! With a pack of unruly brats as would try the patience of the Virgin Mother herself, so the story goes! Surely your cousin—”

“My cousin is fixed upon it, Jenny, and will brook no opposition. Indeed, he’s threatened to lock me away if I resist. So there’s no purpose to be served in repining. Lord Edgerton arrives tomorrow and the wedding is to be the end of the week. A simple affair, cousin Nigel said. Given the circumstances,” she finished dryly, “you may dispense with the traditional wishes for my happiness.”

“My poor chick,” Jenny said, distress on her face. “’Tis a dastardly thing for the new baron to do, and I can’t help if I think it!”

Gwennor gave the maid a quick hug. “Bless you, Jenny. But you and the rest of the staff must be circumspect in what you say. I’m not sure who among you, if any, I’ll be able to take with me when I wed, and those who remain will have to work for my cousin.”

“Probably turn us all off without a character and fetch in some jumped-up London toffs,” Jenny muttered.

“I hope he will value you all as he ought. Now, would you tell Cook and Hopkins to make a room ready for Lord Edgerton and ask them to begin considering preparations for a wedding breakfast? I shall consult with them tomorrow about the details, but for now…” Gwen let her sentence trail off and tried to look mournful, not a difficult task. “I believe I shall ride.”

“Well, and I don’t wonder at it!” Jenny said. “Settin’ you up with a man old enough to be your papa, and marryin’ you off all havey-cavey, without even time to buy bride clothes! You go on, Miss Gwen. A ride will do your spirits good, and I’ll get Hopkins movin’ on the preparations.”

“Oh, and Parry will not be joining us for dinner. I told him I’d bring him a tray later…and I—I think I shall stay out late, helping him with the animals. I shall not be able to do so much longer, after all.”

“Bless me, Miss Gwen, whatever is to become of that poor boy with you gone? I worry about it, I do!”

“You know I would never allow anyone to harm Parry—no matter what I must do to prevent it. I shall think of something, Jenny.”

“You bein’ so clever and all, I suppose you will. Now, get you off ridin’, and leave the rest to Jenny.”

Gwennor gave one last hug to the woman who’d been more mother than servant to her for the last ten years. “Thank you, Jenny. You’re an angel!”

“If’n I was, I’d be spreadin’ out my wings and carryin’ you off to London,” the maid declared, still shaking her head in disapproval as she walked away.

Gwennor picked up her pace and sped to the stables. She must complete her mission and return with enough time to rifle the strongbox before cousin Nigel rose to dress for dinner.

Firefly, her ginger mare, whinnied a greeting as she approached the hay-fragrant stall, and Gwen felt a pang of regret and anger. Another dear friend, along with her home, she’d soon be forced to abandon.

Sending the stable boy back to his other chores, she saddled the mare and headed off at a trot, letting the horse stretch her legs in a gallop once they reached the open fields near the Home Woods, and then continuing on at a canter to the far south meadow.

“Please,” she prayed. “Let them still be there.”

When at last she saw the gaily-painted wagons beside the stream that formed the border of Southford land, she let out a gusty breath of relief.

Slowing Firefly to a walk, she proceeded to the end wagon. Before she’d even dismounted, a dark-eyed urchin with a thatch of black hair ran over to catch her bridle.

“A copper for you if you’ll take her to drink at the stream—but not too much water, now!”

Gwennor smiled as the lad trotted off, Firefly in tow, and turned to the old woman who sat by her campfire regarding her gravely.

“So, you come to have your fortune read, now that the Evil One descends upon your home?”

“No, Jacquinita. I’m afraid I know what you’d find in my palm,” Gwen replied with a grimace, not at all surprised the most revered of the gypsy soothsayers already knew of her cousin’s arrival. “I came to ask a favor.”

With a jangle of her many bracelets, the gypsy motioned her to sit. “What favor?”

“Parry and I must leave Southford immediately, but we must depart in a way that my cousin cannot trace. I want to ask Remolo to allow us to travel in your train, disguised as Rom. I will pay in coin and in jewels for this boon. Will you plead my case for me?”

The woman fingered a pleat of her full red skirt. “He means to harm you, your cousin, yes?”

“He wishes to marry me to his friend, but that is not why we flee. He intends to lock Parry in the attics and not allow him to roam free. The Rom, of all people, should understand what this would do to my brother.”

The old woman nodded. “He has the gift, your brother. Such a spirit should not be caged. Your father was a good man, for a gadjo. Every year he allowed us to camp in his fields. That one—” she spat in the direction of Southford Manor, then made a sign of protection against the evil eye “—will call the magistrates on us soon, so have I warned the people. Therefore we leave at dusk. I will speak with Remolo.”

“Dusk!” Gwennor cried with alarm. “If I am to depart undetected, I cannot leave the manor until near on midnight. Please, tell Remolo I will pay him well if he will wait and take us!”

The old woman stood, adjusting her full skirts and the multicolored head scarf. “I will tell him. You follow.”

Gwennor removed the small leather pouch and held it out. “Take him this. ’Tis a token and pledge. Tell him I will bring twenty more gold pieces when we come tonight.”

The old woman snatched the leather pouch from her fingers. “So will I say.”