“And I’ll pack for us, for we’re off to Scotland whether we will or no,” replied Pansy, beginning to gather up the necessities.
While Velvet frantically scribbled a plea for help to her brother, Pansy got together a small parcel containing some changes of linen, several silk shifts, a warm nightshift, a comb, and a brush for her mistress. For herself, she put together a similar packet. Then she went to the door of the apartment and, opening it, told the waiting Dugald, “Fetch the housekeeper, so I may explain what things of me mistress’s are to be shipped north.”
“I canna leave her ladyship,” Dugald replied. “Ye know the earl’s orders.”
“Then you’llnotmind if I speak to the housekeeper meself,” said Pansy.
“I dinna see any harm in it, lassie. Run along, but dinna dawdle, fer his lordship’s anxious to be off.”
“I’ll run like there’s wings on me feet,” replied Pansy pertly. “Let me tell me mistress first though.” She popped back into Velvet’s rooms, closing the door once more behind her. “Give me the note, mistress. I’ll get it to Elvy now, and when I get back, I’ll help you change into your riding clothes.”
Silently Velvet handed Pansy her missive, which the tiring woman slipped into her bodice, and then Pansy was quickly out the door, hurrying down the hall.
Dugald grinned after her and licked his lips. There was something English he’d like to get familiar with, and just mayhap on the trip north he’d have the opportunity. She was a fine-looking little lass. He liked them small and buxom, and he’d never seen such blue eyes, like bluebells they were. He even liked her rich chestnut-colored hair and her freckled face. Aye, she looked like a lass who could warm a man’s bed very well of a winter’s night.
Pansy, unaware of his thoughts, hurried to seek the housekeeper. Finding her, she explained that Mistress Velvet would be leaving shortly for the north, and that it was imperative that her clothing followed her within a day or two. Since she herself must accompany her mistress, she did not have time to pack it.
The housekeeper nodded with an understanding smile. Young lovers were always so impatient, though my lord Southwood would certainly be disappointed that his sister had not waited until the spring to get married, when her parents returned home.
Pansy dared say nothing. Instead she thanked the housekeeper for her kindness, and then asked if the good woman knew where her cousin, Elvy, was so that she might bid him farewell.
Elvy was in the pantry cleaning the silver and looked very surprised when Pansy told him that she and Mistress Velvet were leaving that very afternoon for Scotland. “ ’Tis a quick decision, it is,” he said. “Is she then with child that a wedding must be celebrated so soon?”
“Nay, dunce!” snapped Pansy, outraged. “He’s forcing her to come with him.” She reached into her bodice and drew out Velvet’s note. “Take this to me lord Southwood in Devon, as quickly as you can, Elvy. Wait until after we’ve gone and then ride like the wind. With luck, Lord Southwood will catch us before we reach the border. Me mistress and the earl had the most terrible argument, Elvy, and now in a temper Lord Gordon insists the marriage be celebrated without further delay. Me lady would wait until her parents return home in the spring. What is the harm in that, I ask you?”
Elvy shook his head. “None that I can see, Pansy. She’s a good girl, Mistress Velvet is, and has ever been loving of her parents. He’s unreasonable, this Scotsman is. I’ll never understand why Lord de Marisco betrothed her to a foreigner anyhow.”
“The whys and wherefores of the gentry aren’t for us to wonder about, Elvy. Just get the note to me lord Southwood. Now I’d best get back lest they leave without me. I don’t want me lady to ride alone.” She left him and flew back upstairs.
“That didn’t take long,” Dugald remarked as Pansy hurried back to the apartment door.
“I’m a swift worker,” Pansy replied.
“Aye, and I’ll just wager ye are.” He chuckled.
“Mind your manners, you grinning baboon,” she snapped at him, then pushed past him into Velvet’s rooms. As soon as the door had shut behind her, she said to her waiting mistress, “ ’Tis done now, and you need have no further worry. Lord Southwood will catch up with us before we are too far from London, I’ll vow!”
Velvet nodded. “We had best hurry, Pansy. I don’t want to be dragged off before I can change into comfortable clothing.”
The two women quickly donned their travel garments. They knew they would be expected to ride astride, for Lord Gordon would be in a hurry, so they both put on split-legged skirts like the ones that Velvet’s mother had designed for herself years before. With them they wore shirts, Velvet’s of silk, Pansy’s a more sturdy linen, and over this warm cloaks. Both had boots, Velvet’s of fine leather that came to her knee, Pansy’s made of a less elegant leather that only came to her ankles.
With a sigh Velvet looked about her bedchamber and wondered if she would ever see it again. Oh, why was Robin away when she needed him? And why couldn’t Alexander Gordon accept the fact that she didn’t want to be married to him—at least not yet. With another little sigh she picked up her cloak. “Come along, Pansy. I imagine his lordship is very impatient by now.”
“Aye,” replied the girl, “but me mother says ’tis a good thing to keep a man waiting lest he become too sure of you.” She gave Velvet a cheery smile. “It’s a lovely time of year to go north, Mistress Velvet, and I’ve not a doubt Lord Southwood will have caught up with us before we even get to Worcester. Take your gloves now, else you ruin your beautiful hands.” She handed her mistress a pair of soft beige kid gloves.
Together they left the apartment, Pansy picking up the two packets that would be stuffed into their saddlebags. She wasn’t sorry to be leaving London, and if the truth were known she wasn’t sorry that her mistress was finally going to settle down. Pansy had grown up with her mother’s stories of Mistress Skye, and she decided that she would far prefer being settled in one place, even if that place was Scotland. I’m not a lass for adventuring, she thought to herself.
There were four horses waiting outside of Lynmouth House in the drive. Lord BrocCairn’s mount was a large gray stallion at least eighteen hands tall, with a black mane and tail. Dugald and Pansy had smaller, sturdier brown geldings while Velvet’s mount was a fine-boned elegant black mare who danced nervously awaiting her mistress.
“Where is my chestnut stallion?” Velvet demanded.
“There can be only one stallion in my stables,” Lord Gordon replied, “and Ulaidh is that stallion. I have arranged to have your horse returned toQueen’s Malvernas he is a valuable breeding animal. I knew you would not want him sold.”
“You are too kind, my lord,” she said dryly. “Have you named my mare?”
“Her name is Sable,” he replied. “She is a daughter of Ulaidh.” Without warning, he boosted her into the saddle. “If you wish to discuss my stables, Velvet, we can do so as we ride. The day wanes already.”
They rode out from Lynmouth House and took the road north toward St. Albans, where Alex said they would stop for the night. “I do not wish to hire post horses at inns along the way, and so we must rest our own animals daily and see that they are well fed and watered,” he stated.
