The cold chilled his cheeks, and thoughts tumbled around inside his head. They had to find Fenella. Ellen had seen her alive in a vision, but if the Baddon Boys were involved, he doubted she would stay that way.
“Brother.”
He turned to find Calder behind him.
“Why are you following me?”
“I want to talk to you.”
He grunted and kept walking. “I need to think, and I like to walk while doing that, so you can come or not, but I will return with the carriage soon.”
They kept the horses a short distance from the house, if one walked briskly.
“You still have all your charm, then,” Calder said, falling in beside him.
Mungo saw the gaggle of women up ahead and thought to skirt around it until he noted Mrs. Greedy and Miss Alvin. Both appeared agitated and were waving their hands about. Mavis was there, too, and she and Tabitha held placards aloft. But it was the raised voice of Harriet, Alex’s wife, that had his eyes narrowing.
“They’ll all be the death of me.”
“And I can see in the short time I’ve been here, that each and every one of them hold a place in your heart,” Calder added as Mungo walked into the middle.
“You’re all ruled by emotion rather than rational thoughts. There’s no reasoning with you!”
These words came from a man in a top hat with a thick moustache waxed on the ends.
“Or, you fear us weakening male authority!” Harriet yelled back. “That, in fact, we would do a better job at running the country, and that is why you won’t give us the vote!”
The gathered women, of whom there were many, outnumbered the small group of men. They all cheered their agreement to this.
“Men were created to lead. Women were created to submit!” another man said.
“Lead?” Mrs. Greedy said. “You do nothing but cause hardship to most and generate wealth for those who have no need of more money!”
“Well said.”
“Of course they’re here too,” Mungo muttered, noting Leo’s wife, Cyn, Ram’s wife, Flora, and Charles’s wife, Violet and her best friend Tilly. He resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“I thought now you lot had all that money, you were doing charitable deeds and no longer protesting,” Mungo said, glaring at them.
Cyn smiled. “Now where would the fun in that be? Besides, we are fighting for the generations of women to come.”
“Exactly,” the others all said.
“Do your husbands all know you’re out here?”
“Of course. Charles made this placard,” Violet said, raising it.
“Men oppose women having the vote because it threatens your power,” Mavis said. “But we will no longer be dominated.”
“We have voices, let us speak!
We have strength, we are not weak!”
“Should we not just move on, Mungo? This is none of our business,” Calder said.
“It’s my business, as these are Crabbett Close residents and the wives of people I care for,” Mungo said. “I also support their cause, even as I worry over what will happen to them out here being heckled.”
“Aww, Mungo cares for us,” Harriet said, her American accent rising above the others. “We love you too.”
