“No, ma’am.”
Sophie tugged at Izzy’s sleeve. “Perhaps we could discuss this inside instead of making a spectacle of ourselves.”
Izzy glanced indifferently at the faces watching them from around the inn yard, and now emerging from the inn as well. “Let them watch. Who cares? Perhaps we should just send for the constable, because if you have not worked for months, how do you pay for your horse? And where did you get him from? Steal him, did you?”
“No, ma’am.”
“How much did you pay for him?”
“Won him at cards, ma’am.”
“Did you cheat?”
His eyes blazed with anger, and when he spoke it was in a very different accent. “If you were a man, I should call you out for that.”
“Pistols or rapiers?”
He actually laughed at that. “I used to be handy with a rapier, but nowadays I am more use with a pistol.”
“I am considered an excellent shot with a pistol, and I have a steady hand, too, so perhaps it is just as well I am not a man,Barty.And I still think we should send for the constable, because you have far too many secrets for an honest man.”
He gazed at her through narrowed eyes, and now the accent became rural again. “We all have secrets we don’t want the world to know, don’t we,Mrs Horncastle?”
“Stop this!” Olly yelled, pushing between the two of them. “That is enough! Ma’am, Barty is a friend of mine, who looked after me on that desperately awful journey back from India, and got me home. He saved my life and I will not have him abused in this manner! Leave him alone.”
Izzy’s anger had long since fizzled out into curiosity. She loved a game and this was a game of a high order. Whoever Barty was, he was no ruffian.
Leaning forward so that she could speak to him in a low voice, unheard by the watching crowd, she murmured, “Do you give me your word, as a gentleman, that you mean us no harm?”
His eyes widened at the words‘as a gentlemen’, but there was no hesitation in his answer. “I do.”
“I am satisfied,” she said, more loudly. “What are we doing standing about here when we could be on the road? Sophie, Olly, in the carriage. On your horse, Mr Barty.”
He laughed, and mounted with practised agility. Within moments, the chaise door was closed and they were rolling out of the inn yard and turning once again towards the north.
***
Harringdon Hall, the ancestral home of the Davenports, was a modern building in the sprawling, classical style, with wings curving out to either side. Izzy presumed it was meant to look imposing, but to her eyes it had nothing of the eleganceof Stonywell. And so remote! It was just as bad as Corland, and although the environs were pleasant enough in summer, if one did not mind a bit of rain and a lot of wind, it would be desperately isolated in winter, cut off from all civilisation. Nottinghamshire was not exactly balmy in winter either, but at least Stonywell was surrounded by good roads, and was an easy drive from the town.
The Harringdon grounds had a grandeur of their own, however, with a long tree-lined drive, and glimpses of a lake with an elegant bridge and, on the far side, an intriguing temple of some sort. She longed to explore. So much travelling over the last month, and no time to rest or enjoy herself. But perhaps here there would be society at last, an instrument to play, cards and conversation and amusement.
A footman emerged to attend to them, and Izzy handed over their cards.
“Lady Farramont and Mrs Hearle to see Mrs Davenport,” she said, through the open chaise window.
He rushed off inside, and barely two minutes later, Mrs Davenport herself came outside. She had grown so thin! Izzy herself was of slender built, but Mrs Davenport, who had been a comfortably proportioned matron five years ago, was now positively skeletal, her pale eyes huge in her face.
She greeted them with smiles, however.
“Lady Farramont! And Sophie… my dear girl! Do come inside, both of you. You will stay, of course. Rumble, see to the boxes, will you, and tell Mrs Rumble the Rose Room. Yes, yes, the Rose Room, is that clear? You will not mind sharing, I hope, for we have quite a houseful at the moment.”
“Who are we displacing, ma’am?” Sophie said, as they climbed the steps at Mrs Davenport’s slow pace.
“Two of the cousins, but it is of no consequence, none at all. Lady Farramont must have one of our best rooms. But this is sostrange, your coming just at this time, for we have heard such odd rumours from town.”
They had reached the entrance hall by this time, and she paused, quite out of breath. Footmen scurried about, and the housekeeper stood watchfully at one side, awaiting orders. The butler whispered in the housekeeper’s ear, and her eyes widened, then she frowned. No doubt she was thinking of the inconvenience… the cousins, whoever they were, to be moved to less exalted quarters, beds to be made up afresh, two extra covers for dinner, a manservant to be accommodated, and all with no warning at all. It was amusing, and Izzy never asked for such privileged treatment. She would respect any hostess who took one look and told her to find rooms at the nearest inn. But somehow they never did.
“Now, shall you have a rest for a little while, or should you like to meet the company?” Mrs Davenport said.
