“Her maid is with the carriage—her vinaigrette, too, I hope. My sister has always been high-strung.”
“Ah. I’m not supposed to say, but—Well, dash it, what’s her husband’s name? I could take a peek at the casualty list for you.”
Sophia felt the sun on her face as they went out and the slight hitch as Mr. Belvedere processed this very helpful but unwelcome offer.
“That’sdeucedgood of you,” he said, “but—I really must get her home. She’s a trifle heavy and she always has the vapors when she awakes from a swoon!”
“Ah, blimey—that’s no good. But I don’t see a carriage waiting. Her maid, you said?”
“Dash it, have I come the wrong way? What street is this?”
“On this side we front theCalçada Sant’ Anna.Did you come updo Socorra?”
“Ugh, we did. Come on, Agnes, buck up.” He shook her a little, very convincingly playing the exasperated brother.
“I have to get back,” said the officer, apologetically. “You could take her back through the consulate—or around to the right past theCampo dos Mártires. You’d be able to hail your carriage from there.”
“I’ll do that!Thankyou, sir.”
An outcry from the consulate nearly made Sophia jump, but she suppressed it. Hopefully it was not about them. Or if it was, hopefully it would be mistaken for more celebration.
The helpful officer left, and Mr. Belvedere slid Sophia to her feet. She’d felt the sun on her face and warming her black dress, and now she could see that there was a small greenspace before them. It was a large, irregular rectangle between the winding streets, with intermittent hedges and a wrought iron fence around it. Large buildings surrounded on the left, and some of them looked quite old. A few were cracked as if they had been through an earthquake and not remained unscathed. On the right were fancy rowhouses. The streets were less crowded here than by the wharf, but there were still many people about.
“Do we run?” asked Sophia.
“Absolutely not.” Mr. Belvedere took her arm like a perfect gentleman and started a leisurely walk into the south-facing park. At least three other parties were also enjoying the morning there. A winding path of packed dirt led through the small wilderness. There were a few tall pine trees to one side and a low pond further on. “Nothing so definitively guilty as running.”
“But they’ll be after us any moment!”
He swung his cane at a camellia as they walked. “But when you saythey—whom do you mean? There is Captain Smythe, of course, but other than he, there is the unknown assistant to Mr. Howard, the unknown agent of the East India Company, and the unknown Mr. Howard himself. Only Captain Smythe knows what we look like, and he does not know where we have gone.”
“But—we walked past all those men. The ones watching the carriage, and so on.”
“If they retain our faces, I’ll eat my hat. They were distracted; they did not care. As long as Captain Smythe does not spot us—and honestly, the way he left us in that parlor, I almost think hewantedus to get away—we shall slip into the crowds quite easily.”
“Hedidn’twant us to get away.”
“Maybe deep down he did.” He walked at the same relaxed pace as the others sauntering through the park, but Sophia’s heart pounded in double time to her feet. She wanted to leave the path and cut straight to the next road, but Mr. Belvedere restrained her. “No, no. They will be looking for panic, for hurry and rush. We will defy them with our slowness.”
“Unless I die from anticipation!”
He grinned. “No one dies from anticipation.”
“You know what I meant.”
“We’re already halfway, Sophy.”
She didn’t protest his use of her name. She had come alittletoo farfor that, hadn’t she? “But where after? If we go to a hotel, we may be found. They could send people around with our description. And—good heavens—I haven’t even my valise! I have nothing—no tooth-powder comb, change of clothes?—”
“That is true; we shall need some things, shan’t we? But I can supply you with a few things, and we will get more as we go. I have some money.”
Sophia laughed, only a few notes from hysteria. “That’s true—you won five pounds from me! We are saved! And now that I think more deeply—there really is no way to get married. We are not Catholic, and how should we find an Anglican clergyman when we know no one? We don’t dare go to an army chaplain at present! I think they require something like the banns as well—and I’ve heard they are very severe about family consent, of which I have none! It will be weeks before we could evenpotentiallybe wed?—”
“Must I throw water in your face from that rather noisome pond? Much as I adore you, I will do it if I must. I have a very good idea how we can be married.”
“Don’t you dare splash me,” Sophia said. She took a deep breath. “I’m not hysterical, I promise.”
“Good girl, I know this has been a terrible week, but you have only to be resolute a little longer. Now listen, I’m not swimming in lard, but I have enough to keep us comfortable for some time,andenough for a civil contract.”
