If they caught up, if they managed to overpower him and steal her away…
She dared not think of what that would mean for her future.So she set her mind to praying for luck to be on their side, even as one of the men behind them called out, “There they are.You there, stop or I’ll shoot.”
Heaven help her.
Instead of breaking his stride, Murry pulled Edwina off his shoulder.He placed her between himself and a door through which she could glimpse the outdoors through a small oval window.
“Open it,” he instructed.
She did as requested as fast as she could, turning the lock while he shielded her with his body.A booming sound split the air when she pressed down the handle, and Murry produced a loud grunt.But the door was now open, and she hurried through it, toward the boy who’d arrived with Murry, and a woman Edwina did not know.
Murry stumbled after her, his hands catching the edge of the door and pushing it shut.Gasping for breath, he grabbed the handle and leaned back, putting his weight into holding it closed against those now trying to force it open.
“Tell me what to do,” Edwina told him, ignoring the boy and woman for now.Whatever their purpose, they had to wait.
Murry gritted his teeth.“I need something to…” — he grunted beneath the opposing force – “secure this.Some rope, a leather cord…anything.”
Edwina swept the surrounding area with her gaze, but before she could manage to find something useful, the woman shoved a voluminous garment into Edwina’s arms.Without breaking her stride, she continued toward Murry while pulling a sash from around her waist in one fluid motion.
“This should do the trick,” she said, already tying one end around the doorknob.Once this was accomplished, she pulled the other end tightly upward, toward a mounting bracket that held a large lantern, except she couldn’t quite reach.
“I can’t hold them off much longer,” Murry hissed.
Edwina turned, searching the courtyard with her eyes until she spotted a wooden bucket that stood beneath a water pump.
Tossing the garment she’d been handed, Edwina ran to collect the bucket, then raced back to the woman.She set the bucket beneath the spot the woman was trying to reach, then placed her right hand on the woman’s shoulder and positioned one foot on the bucket’s thick edge.
Empty as it was, the bucket tilted slightly beneath Edwina’s weight, and she sucked in a breath.She quickly brought up the second foot while setting her left palm against the wall for added stability.And expelled a sigh of relief when she found her balance.
Moving her hand away from the wall, she caught the mounting bracket and held on tight.
“Please hurry,” Murry groaned.
“Keep it as tight as you can,” Edwina told the woman while taking hold of the sash’s loose end.She wound it around the mounting bracket, tying it through several times to ensure it would hold.“All done.”
She leapt to the ground in time to see Murry carefully backing away from the door, as though prepared to rush back in to secure it.For now, however, the sash seemed to hold.
“We have to go,” he said, not taking his eyes off the door, behind which the men still shouted and yelled.“They’ll get through eventually or else they’ll retreat to the front of the building and circle around.”
“Surely your pistol will be enough to deter them if they do,” Edwina said, reminding him that he had a weapon at his disposal.
“It’s the one Henshaw fired upstairs so it’s no longer loaded.”
Murry’s revelation increased Edwina’s panic.The threat he’d issued earlier had been empty and probably wouldn’t work twice.“Dear God.”
“Like I said,” Murry told her, “we need to leave.”
“There’s a hackney waitin’ fer ye in the street,” said the boy while the woman snatched up the garment Edwina had tossed aside earlier.
“The cloak you requested,” she said, addressing Murry while throwing it over Edwina’s shoulders.A hood was promptly pulled over her head.
“Thank you, Mrs.Greene.”Murry’s hand caught Edwina’s, urging her to come with him while adding, “I’ll be sure to repay you later.”
They started toward the street.
“There’s really no…”
The last of what Mrs.Greene said was lost to the street noise as they left the courtyard.Pedestrians strode on past, ignoring Edwina and Murry who crossed the pavement and approached the awaiting carriage.
