Her voice faltered.
Cooper sat beside her.
“Miss, I do not believe matters are so hopeless as you fear. If there is no heir, there will be a purchaser, and the estate will be managed.”
She drew out a handkerchief and wiped her face.
“Perhaps it will be as you say.”
Then she rose quickly. “I must take this water in, or Cook will have my head.”
Cooper stood as well and bowed.
“Thank you for speaking with me. One more thing, when did you lose your master?”
“But two days ago, sir. The stable boys heard the shot and ran to him. They tried to stop the bleeding, but they could not.”
“I am obliged to you,” Cooper replied. “I wish you well.”
With another bow, he left her at the well and returned to his horse, his mind already turning over all he had learned.
Cooper mounted at once and rode back the way he had come, anxious to rejoin the Colonel. If Manvers was dead, another hand must be involved.
He drove his horse hard toward Elvaston, his mind racing with the implications, when, rounding a bend in the road, he heard a shot ring out, followed by silence.
Ahead, he saw a carriage, the leaders reared, and the coachman struggled to bring them under control. Then Cooper saw a horseman burst from the woods, riding in his direction.
Cooper pulled his own horse into the shelter of the trees, drew his loaded pistol, and waited. No man would be so bold as to fire upon two carriages if he were alone. There must be others.
A minute later, the rider passed him at speed. As Cooper watched, the gunman flung away a musket, which fell into the tall grass.
Cooper watched for more attackers, but none appeared. He urged his horse back onto the road and pursued.
When he was near enough, he raised his pistol and fired.
The shot struck the man in the back. A pistol dropped from his grasp. His horse reared, and the rider pitched heavily to the ground.
Cooper dismounted and knelt beside the fallen man, pressing his hand to the shoulder wound in an effort to stem the bleeding.
The man was very young, perhaps twenty. As Cooper watched, the boy’s eyes fluttered open.
“Tell Abby…I love her. I meant to save her.”
Cooper’s voice hardened. “Did you kill Manvers?”
“Yes,” the man whispered. “For her sake.”
“And Lord Stafford?”
“Accident.” He groaned.
Cooper stared down at him in disbelief. “You are a fool. You have brought ruin upon yourself.”
He leaned nearer. “And her father’s accident. Did you cause that as well?”
The young man groaned.
“No. Manvers killed him. He crowed about it.” The young man groaned again.
