They returned to the parlour, where the young lovers were in the middle of a very pretty row. Mr Marston sounded aggrieved. Miss Beaumont looked tired, her bravado clearly ebbing.
‘I beg your pardon,’ Daizell said, taking a chair. ‘You said you wanted help. I should mention that I have let Cassian know your situation, among friends.’
‘Good,’ Miss Beaumont said. ‘Oh, do please stop, Tony! We’ve had shocking luck – one of our horses cast a shoe, and we got lost – and Sir James will be on our track, and you’re quite right that we should have had a better story, and now that horrid landlady will be talking and talking and of course he will track us down, and I cannot—’ She broke off, jaw firming. ‘I shan’t marry Sir James. Iwillnot. I want to live my life and not be kept in that horrible house with that horrible man and have my fortune in his control forever.’
Legally speaking, once she married, her money would be controlled by her husband. Cassian didn’t trouble to mention that: she doubtless knew.
‘Sir James won’t want to let you slip through his fingers,’ Daizell said. ‘He made that exceedingly clear on your previous excursion, when I narrowly escaped a horsewhipping, by the way. I mention that merely for context.’
‘I’m terribly sorry,’ Miss Beaumont said politely.
‘Think nothing of it. Did either of you tell people where you were going or who with?’
‘No, of course not,’ Miss Beaumont said, offended by this slight on her deceptive powers. ‘In fact – oh!’
‘Oh?’ Cassian asked, with a slight sinking feeling.
‘Well, you see – and I do beg you won’t be annoyed – but one never knows who’s watching in Sir James’s house and I didn’t want him to suspect Tony. I needed to lay a false trail before I escaped. So I wrote various letters to you, Mr Charnage.’ She gave Daizell a hopeful look. ‘I thought you wouldn’t mind.’
Daizell opened and closed his mouth. ‘You thought—’
‘Well, you had already tried to elope with me, so that made it credible. And you wouldn’t have got the letters, since I just sent them to an inn, and they will doubtless still be there. The slightest investigation would show you had nothing to do with the matter. It will be quite easy for you to explain.’
‘When Sir James arrives with a horsewhip, you mean?’
‘Oh, you’re far younger than him,’ Miss Beaumont said bracingly. ‘I’m sure he couldn’t just attack you.’
‘On his own, perhaps not. Unfortunately, he tends to bring large men with him.’
‘That awful groom? Oh, yes. Oh dear. But the point is, it does seem to me that if he thinks I’ve run away with you, and he’s coming after me, and now you’re here with me—’
‘I quite see how that could be made to suit you,’ Daizell said. ‘It doesn’t suit me at all.’
‘Well, now, wait,’ Cassian said. ‘Could it not be a good idea? We didn’t give the landlord our names. If – how would this work—’
‘If we say Tony is Mr Charnage,’ Miss Beaumont said. ‘And he and I leave together, and you go elsewhere—’
‘No use, because Sir James will still be pursuing you,’ Daizell said. ‘Which, in my opinion, is preferable to him being after me.’
‘But I can bear witness you haven’t eloped with Miss Beaumont,’ Cassian said. It would be cursed awkward if Vier appeared in person, but at least he could ensure Daizell’s safety: Vier wouldn’t dare touch a man under his protection. At least, probably not. He had never actually put anyone under his protection, and wasn’t quite sure how one went about it. ‘We can have the law on him if he threatens you. Really, there does surely seem to be an opportunity here if we could think how to use it?’
He looked around hopefully. So did Miss Beaumont. So did Mr Marston. They all ended up looking at Daizell.
That gentleman sighed the sigh of a badly put-upon man. ‘For goodness’ sake. Allright. Suppose we leave together tomorrow, the four of us, for Stratford-upon-Avon. Before that, Mr Marston will identify himself as Daizell Charnage here, and inform the landlady that you are to marry in Stratford as soon as the banns are called. Name the church. Does anyone know a church in Stratford?’
‘Holy Trinity,’ Cassian said. ‘I believe it was Shakespeare’s parish church.’
‘Marvellous. You two can chatter happily about your forthcoming literary wedding. Once we get to Stratford – have you money, Miss Beaumont?’
‘Enough. I have been hoarding my pin-money for some time.’
‘In Stratford, then, you and I will take a trip to purchase a common licence, consult the vicar of Holy Trinity churchas to how soon banns can be published, and make ourselves memorable doing it. With luck the pursuit will be diverted in that direction, and Sir James will attempt to track you down in Stratford, and become embroiled in finding me instead. With even more luck, he won’t have his big brute with a horsewhip in attendance. Meanwhile, Mr Marston will organise your journey north. You could go through Birmingham to confuse the trail, though I have always wondered whether one might simply sail up the coast, and arrive in Scotland that way. Anyway,youwill depart, andwewill carry on with our own business, while dropping my name in a casual sort of way to anyone who might be asked, and confusing the trail for long enough that you can disappear. There. Happy now?’
‘I’d also suggest Miss Beaumont hire a chaperone,’ Cassian said, and recoiled at the look she gave him. ‘Well, surely Sir James will be asking about a couple, not three people?’
‘Might work,’ Daizell said. ‘Alternatively, Miss Beaumont could dress as a boy.’
‘You see?’ Miss Beaumont interjected, with a significant look at her fiancé. ‘Itoldyou I should.’
