“Thank you, Ulric, I should like that very much,” she said calmly. “Are you riding out again, or should we go and tell my parents that we are betrothed?”
“Not riding out yet. Time for breakfast.”
“Very well. Shall we go inside?”
Ulric set off at once, leaving the two ladies watching his retreating back. Fanny laughed. “That was easier than I expected!”
“And since you are already of age, you can be married as soon as the banns can be called,” Tess said.
“Oh, it might take a little time to coach him through the marriage service,” she said. “Still, time is one thing we have in abundance. But what of you? What will you do now? Marry Lord Tarvin?”
That cut Tess to the quick! Oh, if only she could answer as she wished! Instead she said only, “Unlikely, I think.”
“Really? You two are so well suited.”
It was true enough, but oh, how it hurt to hear it spoken so casually!
***
Tess was obliged to seek out Edward in order to put forward her plan to leave Myercroft that day. He was not at breakfast, so she had to send servants back and forth with messages. She had no idea which Edward she would encounter when she found him, the stern, implacable one or — No, there were no other possibilities, not after last night. He would be his disapproving self.
But he was not. If anything, he looked flustered, countered her stumbling apology for one of his own, and asked her three times if she had slept well. Each time she replied, “No, not at all,” but only on the third repetition did it register.
“I am so sorry,” he said, for at least the tenth time. “Of course you could not sleep. I should never have left you alone. You must have been terrified.”
“No… my door was locked… I was not afraid. I was just…”
What could she say? That she was desperately unhappy, and it was all his fault? That she would humbly marry him now on any terms? That she understood now that she loved him, just as he had once loved her?
Impossible. So she forced a smile. “I spent a great deal of time thinking. You will be relieved to hear that I have released Ulric from this betrothal, although I am afraid he has wasted no time in betrothing himself to someone else.”
His lips softened into something approaching a smile. “Miss Peterson? An excellent choice. But I must discuss this with Sir Ernest.”
“Will it take long? I should like to leave today, if possible. It would be less confusing for Ulric if I disappear completely.”
That brought back the frown. “True, and some details may be put in a letter, but there is much that must be said now. Very well, give me… oh, two hours, say. That should be enough, although we will have to overnight at Harfield.”
In the end, it was nearer three, but they were eventually on the road, Betty grimly pleased. She had already voiced her disapproval of households where a guest could be throttled in the night, so it suited her notions of respectability to beat a retreat.
Edward’s discussions with Sir Ernest had brought a degree of calm to Edward’s demeanour. He had handed her into the carriage with studied courtesy and now appeared to be making an effort to entertain her. When several attempts at conversation ran into the ground, he said, “We could play chess, if it would amuse you.”
Just a few days ago, she would have replied that no, it would not amuse her, but the new, chastened Tess said mildly, “Thank you, but I am not sure my mind has sufficient powers of concentration just now, but if you would like to—”
“No, no. I thought it might pass the time, but it is not far to Harfield.”
It might as well have been at the furthest end of the country, however, for they were not destined to reach it. Just a few moments later, they heard shouts, the whinnying of horses and thundering hooves, followed almost at once by an almighty bang. Betty screamed, the carriage lurched, and there was an ominous splintering sound, followed by more shouts, more whinnying and a gradual settling of the carriage to one side, as Betty slid slowly sideways onto Tess’s lap.
“Oh, wonderful,” Edward murmured. “Anyone hurt? Tess?”
“I am quite uninjured. Betty?”
Some muffled noises were all that could be heard at first, but once she had extricated herself from the rug over Tess’s knees, she agreed that she too was unhurt. The carriage was not so overset that they could not escape from it, but it was firmly fixed in the ditch.
“Carriage goin’ the other way, milord,” the coachman said. “Took the corner too fast. No way to avoid it.”
“It was not your fault, Purbeck, but we must get help,” Edward said. “There is a village ahead of us, and is that an inn I see? That is convenient. Do you and Harold stay with the horses, while I take Miss Nicholson and Betty to shelter. I will send someone back to help you directly.”
It was not much of an inn, more of a tavern for the locals, having only a taproom, but the occupants had heard the crash and a party was already setting off to render what aid they could. It was not much, they soon discovered. The horses, alarmed but not hurt, were speedily accommodated in the stables behind the inn, but the carriage could not even be shifted from the ditch, let alone mended, and there was no other conveyance available. There was not even a horse, whereby a message could be sent to Harfield.
