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That morning, before the coffin was moved to the church, Lady Rose relieved Winters from his vigil so she could say a final goodbye to her love before he was carried out on the shoulders of his family to the undertaker’s carriage which would transport him to the church.

The women all stood in support of the Dowager Duchess as she farewelled her husband when the carriages departed the front of the house.

The funeral was understandably very well attended.

All Saints church was packed with men from royalty down to servants.

Mr. Winters was given a place of honour behind the family, the only servant to have a seat in the pews.

The Archbishop, assisted by Mr. Chadwick, had kept the service short with a sermon that extoled the exemplary life lived by his Grace, Sedgwick Aaron Bennet, Duke of Bedford.

After the service, the cortège slowly made its way to the graveyard behind the church at Longfield Meadows where all of the previous Dukes of Bedford had been laid to rest. The route was lined with tenants, servants, and citizens of Bedford all with heads bowed and hats in hand.

There were not a few tears shed by the mourners as the coffin was lowered into the ground and then covered up as Lord Sedgewick Bennet was entombed in his resting place.

The Archbishop deferred to Mr. Chadwick who read Psalm nine and thirty from the Book of Common Prayer:

“I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.

Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee.

Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.”

When he completed the reading, he intoned a final prayer, asking God to accept Sedgwick Aaron Bennet’s eternal soul into His care.

After the clergyman had concluded, the vast crowd dispersed, leaving Lord Thomas, his brother, his sons, and his sons-in-law alone to say their own silent goodbyes.

When they were done, all but Lord Thomas withdrew from the graveside to wait some paces away in an offer of both respect and privacy.

“My big brother is with you now, Mama and Papa,” he said as a single tear rolled down his cheek. “Look after him until we join you. I love you, Brother.” Thomas Bennet touched the headstone and then joined the other men for the sombre walk back to the manner house.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

The Coastal Trader , sailed into the harbour at Bundoran as the sun started to rise on the morning of the tenth of June.

The ships doctor and surgeon, Mr. Clive Tetley, who was at his leisure, was standing on the starboard side when he looked up and noticed a sloop at anchor as they glided toward the dock.

At first, he thought that he was projecting, so he rubbed his eyes and read the name again to find that he was not mistaken.

It was the very one the entire fleet was on the lookout for, the Stealthy Runner !

Mr. Tetley walked as fast as he could to the quarterdeck.

“You cum’ ta’ learn ta’ be a real sailor?” the first mate, John Cox, teased the doctor.

“No, Mr. Cox. Captain, I need to speak to you most urgently,” Tetley said and simply pointed at the sloop that they were passing. The captain read the name and nodded once that he understood.

“Jones,” he beckoned a seaman on the port side of the deck.

“Yes Cap’an” Jones snapped to attention.

“Go summon Mr. Clements. Now!” Captain Beauclerk barked.

“Aye, aye Cap’an.” Jones nodded once and headed to the forecastle where Jack Clements was standing to supervise the men with the lines that would secure the ship to the quay. After a brief conversation, Clements told Jones to take his place and made his way to the quarterdeck.

“Reporting as ordered, Captain,” the ex-royal marine reported in, almost saluting before he remembered that he was no long in the King’s navy. Captain Beauclerk inclined his head toward the sloop at anchor. The captain did not miss the man’s look of pure rage when he saw the ship.

“Why the anger, Clements?” the Captain asked.

Clements explained that the murdered Sergeant Hamms had been a mate of his, so he was itching to repay the debt.

He begged to be able to find those responsible and ‘deal’ with them.

“As much as I would love to give you that satisfaction, we will be back in Dublin in five days, and I will make sure that the ship that departs for Liverpool the day after we dock will have a missive for his Grace.

By the time we return in a month we will have our orders.

“What if they move before we return?” Clements asked reasonably.

“We are carrying six of your men, are we not?” The captain asked and his head guard nodded.

“In that case, let us make a show of ‘dismissing’ three of your men for pilfering. That way their remaining here after we sail will not raise any suspicion, then if the ship seems like she is getting ready to put to sea, they can find a way to join the crew, even if they are the cause of why the Stealthy Runner needs replacement crew members.” Clements agreed with the plan; he knew exactly who to choose and was equally sure that they would relish the assignment as one of the three had also served with Hamms.

The Captain was not worried that the activity on board the Coastal Trader would rouse any suspicion on the other vessel, as any sailor would know that the ship’s crew would be running hither and yon as they docked.

He assigned a group of three seamen to watch the ship at all times.

The man who took the first watch reported that there was no activity on board, surmising that the crew was sleeping off a night of revelry at the Happy Leprechaun.

Clements summoned Greg Jones, Julius Forester, and Mark Tibbson to meet him on the crew’s mess deck.

The three accepted the assignment with anticipation, and Forester was most gratified to be included in the group as Hamms had been a good friend of his.

The three were instructed to remain below decks until the ship was docked, and the rest of the crew was informed about the ‘pilferage’ and ‘dismissal’ so that if they met any crew members of the Runner at the inn, the story would not be contradicted.

Tony álvarez felt his excitement mount as he watched the Dennington Line vessel dock.

He was more convinced than ever that the decision that he had made was the only choice he had, unless he wanted to waste his life as his father had, and like the three schemers most certainly would if they did not change course, which he had no cause to believe they might.

He had no intention to stay with them for the next two to three months as they had planned, their expectation was that the search for them would be over, and it would be safe for them to return to England to act.

He observed that the Trader was quite a lot larger that the Runner .

Even though they were both classed as sloops, they were on opposite ends of the scale of sizes for that class of vessel.

Tony had a plan; he had got himself employed with the crew of locals that would unload and then reload the ship.

He would help unload and then when the ship was half again loaded, he would hide himself in the hold and wait until the ship sailed with the tide on the morrow before revealing himself.

He knew that his mother and her cohorts would not start to seek him for a day or two.

Since he had decided to leave, he had started to ‘explore’ the surrounding area, setting out for one or two days at a time.

His mother had accepted his excuse of learning about the area in case they had to make an escape, and the seaward side was cut off, had lauded it even.

The three schemers had planned to keep out of sight while the ship was in port just in case, so Tony was sure that none of them would notice he was part of the work crew, but just to make certain he had ‘borrowed’ a blonde wig from Karen Younge which hid his jet-black hair.

With his hat pulled down over his eyes, even his mother would walk past him without recognising him as her son.

Before any of the unloaders he was waiting with were allowed on board, the crew of the ship assembled on deck, and three men were led onto it with their hands initially tied, though they were untied when they stood before the assembly.

Anyone close to the ship heard the captain dismiss the men without pay for attempted pilferage.

While the crew jeered them, the disgraced men were roughly dragged off the ship, and they and their clothing were thrown onto the dock.

The three slunk away in the direction of the inn, their disgrace making all who had witnessed the scene give them a wide birth.