‘Here, my lord!’ Bennet said.
Sebastian tied it under his brother’s arms and pulled him to his feet.
‘Matt, I need you to wake up.’
Matt moaned and his eyes fluttered open.
‘You’re going through that window, understand? Bennet?’
‘I’m here, sir!’
Sebastian shouted instructions at his corporal and, with Harry to aid with the pushing and Bennet, Thompson and the men below pulling, they managed to haul the semiconscious manup and across the lintel. Sebastian gave one final shove and Matt’s legs disappeared out of the window.
Flames had eaten the door and were now creeping with long fingers along the ceiling beams.
‘You go,’ Harry ordered.
Sebastian didn’t have time to argue. With a monumental effort, he hauled himself up and over the sill. His hand scraped on a piece of broken glass but there were strong hands on the other side ready to pull him out, and he tumbled to the ground.
‘Thank God! We had no idea you were in there. Are you hurt, my lord?’ Thompson bent over him.
Sebastian looked back at the stable that was now well alight, the flames licking up into the rooms occupied by Thompson and his family.
‘Your wife… We must get her out.’
Thompson nodded. ‘Already done, my lord. She’s safe. Can’t find my boy though.’
‘Freddy Lynch has got your boy.’ Sebastian coughed, his lungs screaming for air as Harry fell to the cobbles with an audible thump. ‘Has anyone seen him or his man, Jenkins?’
Bennet, his face streaked with soot, looked down at him and shook his head.
‘Lynch? I’ve not seen him.’
Sebastian grimaced. Freddy must have slipped away in the dark with his hostage as the alarm was being raised. He looked around the courtyard, now filled with people and horses.
‘Where’s my brother?’
‘They’ve carried him to the house,’ Bennet said.
Harry held out his hand. ‘Going to lie there all night, Alder?’
He took Harry’s hand and rose to his feet. He shook his head. ‘I’m a fool, Dempster. How could I have underestimated Lynch so badly?’
Harry put a hand on his shoulder. ‘You had no way of knowing quite what a villain the man was.’
Sebastian raised his voice and addressed the throng and repeated his question. ‘Has anyone here see Lynch or his man?’
The men gathered around him shook their heads.
‘Lynch was going for his sister,’ Harry said.
Sebastian stared at his friend. Fanny was at the dower house with Isabel.
Isabel!
He turned and set off at a run with Harry and Thompson behind him.
His heart jerked as he found the front door to the dower house wide open. Inside, he stopped and stood for a moment in the front hall, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness. He heard a moaning sound and fixed on a huddled figure on the stairs.
