Jane took my hand and squeezed it. ‘How awful for you,’ she murmured.
‘It was,’I agreed, my mind conjuring up the scene with Mr Hart again. I fancied I could still feel his strong arms around me and the heat of his body. ‘Awful a-and mortifying.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I stomped on his foot, and he let me go. That’s why I was so overcome on the stairwell when you found me.’
Jane shook her head, and her lips curled in disgust. ‘He is abhorrent. My opinion of him has been lowered even further, if that is possible. We need to leave immediately.’
‘I agree. We just need to find a working carriage.’ Jane looked at me enquiringly. ‘He said his one is being repaired,’ I explained.
She rolled her eyes. ‘I do not believe that for a second. There must be another way, even if we have to walk to that nearby inn he mentioned ... though I do not know where it is. But we could ask someone.’
‘Maurice said there is a mail coach that passes by the castle to collect the mail in the morning and afternoon, and it then travels onto the inn,’ I said slowly. ‘We could catch it and stay at the inn until we make arrangements to travel to Bath.’
‘Perfect! We’ll leave tomorrow morning then.’
‘Can we not leave today?’ I asked, eager to be on the move now that we had theinklings of a plan.
‘We need time to break the news gently to Lucinda about Mr Hart. I fear once she finds out, she is not going to be in any fit state to think rationally. She may try to attack him.’
Gracious!I thought.That might be quite fun to witness!
‘Or she might be a limp inconsolable wreck,’ continued Jane blithely. ‘We need to choose our moment carefully. I think, in the meanwhile, we should start packing but keep our eyes and ears open for information that may aid our escape. We should act as normal with Mr Hart and Mr Smith-Withers and go on this walk to the stream so they do not suspect anything.’
‘Excellent,’ I said. ‘I will find out from Maurice exactly when the mail coach arrives. And we will reconvene here before dinner for an update on our progress.’
We saluted each other like military generals, grinning as we did so. But there was a lot that could go wrong before we were free of Hartmoor and safely back in Bath. It was imperative that we did not underestimate Mr Hart. He might live in a castle, but he was decidedly the opposite of an chivalrous prince!
By the time we readied ourselves for the walk, however, it was too late. The other three had given up waiting for us and were already gone. I was unnerved at thethought of Lucinda alone with the two men (I refused to call them ‘gentlemen’!). But Jane said it was the perfect chance for me to talk to Maurice about the mail coach without raising suspicion.
Pushing my worry aside, I headed along to the kitchen and discovered a tall middle-aged woman in a grey dress, white apron, and cap dismantling a cold roast chicken at a startling pace. The legs and wings had been removed, and she was slicing into the breast meat with swift strokes of her sharp knife. She was, I assumed, the assistant cook.
Maurice appeared out of the larder, carrying a new loaf of bread.
‘Ah, Mrs Fitzroy! This is Mrs Webber,’ he said, introducing her with a tilt of his head. ‘She will be assisting me in the kitchen until the end of your stay.’
Which will be much sooner than expected, I thought. I greeted her politely, and she stopped slicing and bobbed a curtsy. When she returned to the chicken, I beckoned Maurice aside, and he shuffled over.
‘Was there not supposed to be a maid as well?’
‘There was, but no one replied to the advertisement,’ said Maurice in a low voice. ‘But it is not surprising. The local girls are afraid of the castle and believe it is haunted.’
‘ByRoyden Hart?’
‘Well, yes. But it is just gossip. I have never seen anything resembling a ghost, and I have worked here for twenty years.’
Hmm, I was beginning to think Royden’s nephew was the real reason that the maids did not want to work here. If Mr Hart was apt to take liberties with me, he would not think twice about accosting a pretty maid—all the more reason to leave as soon as we could and sever our acquaintance with him.
‘Maurice, you mentioned the mail coach stopped by here in the morning and afternoon. Is it usually punctual?’
‘Yes, madam. It arrives promptly at eleven o’clock and three o’clock. I can set my watch by it.’
I told him that I wished to know as I was writing another letter, which was true—I was going to write to Max to tell him that we were going back to Bath early. Maurice did not need to know that I myself would be on the coach clutching said letter! Although I had a good feeling about Maurice, he was still the family’s butler and no doubt had an ingrained loyalty to Mr Hart, being the son of his employer. That being said, I did not want to involve him any more than necessary. But I planned to leave him a note excusing our abrupt departure and thanking him for his hospitality.
There was nothing else to do but return to the parlour and wait anxiously for the others to return for luncheon. Iwas trying to act outwardly composed, but my imagination was running wild now that I knew what Mr Hart was capable of. I paced, I bit my fingernails, and I looked out the window so many times that Jane said I needed to calm down as I was making her extremely nervous. When I finally heard footsteps in the foyer and Lucinda’s girlish tones exclaiming about something, my relief was palpable.
Mr Hart poked his head around the door, and I stopped midpace and stared at him.
