Page 38 of The Book of Lost Stories

That his quarry was still at home he knew, for her face appeared at the window once or twice, looking anxiously up and down the street. Then a carriage stopped outside and he became alert, for the horses pulling it were a pair of showy greys that he recognized as Nat Hartwood’s.

No one got out, but a servant knocked for admittance and handed over a note. Then, only a few minutes later, Miss Weston ran out of the house, still tying the strings of her bonnet and jumped into the carriage, which immediately set off.

Jarvis, taken quite by surprise, looked up and down the road for a hack, but none was to be seen – just a boy holding a riding horse a few yards away.

He hesitated for only a moment before striding up and snatching the reins from his hands, despite his protests, and swinging himself into the saddle.

‘Tell the gentleman, when he returns, that his horse has been borrowed on Lord Rayven’s business!

’ he said, and, tossing him a coin, rode off in the direction the chaise had taken, hoping he would not be hanged as a horse thief.

*

Alys had begun to read the letter from her cousin Nat with some reluctance, only to emit a gasp as she took in what it said:

… found a young girl called Sarah here at Templeshore in great distress, but unharmed …

Fear my old friend Lord Chase has become quite unhinged and does not know what he is doing …

Wish to restore her to her friends, so pray come at once.

My carriage awaits you and I have asked Bella to keep you company, for fear you do not trust my intentions after I behaved in so unmannerly a way …

The rest of this flowery apology was lost on Alys as she flew to get her spencer and bonnet and ran out of the house.

‘Oh, Bella,’ she exclaimed, as soon as she was in the carriage, ‘I do not understand what is happening in the least, and Mrs Rivers cannot come for she is gone out, but has Nat then really found the missing child, Sarah?’

‘Yes, so he wrote to me,’ Bella said, ‘but from old friendship with Lord Chase he wishes to avert a scandal if he can. And I was glad to be of service,’ she added earnestly, ‘for I feel that I have been spiteful and childish towards you, and I am very sorry for it.’

‘Thank you, but you had cause to feel yourself slighted by my appearance on the scene. Yet I earnestly assure you that I do not have any expectations that my grandfather will take any further interest in me, for I have made it plain to him that I will not marry Nat, and mean instead to retire and live quietly out of Town.’

‘It is very kind of you, but I know I have not behaved as I should.’

‘Then let us put all that behind us,’ Alys said kindly. ‘We are cousins, after all, and should understand each other better.’

The carriage seemed to be picking up pace, and, looking out, Alys recognized landmarks. ‘We are going to Kew? Is Sarah then still there? But surely not at Lord Chase’s house?’

‘No, but quite nearby.’

‘I suppose I had better read his letter again, for I was in too much of a hurry to take it in the first time,’ Alys said. But when she did, she did not find that it told her much more, apart from a lot of flowery commonplaces.

She looked up, puzzled. ‘You know, it is very odd that he should send word to you, rather than to Mrs Rivers, who is directly concerned in the matter. In fact, the more I think about it, the odder it seems. Where exactly did you say Sarah was?’

‘In the grounds of Templeshore. There is a summer house near the gate on to the road and Nat said he would stay there with her until we arrived.’

‘Why should not Nat restore Sarah to the Red House himself, immediately?’

‘The girl insists she will only get into a carriage if you or Mrs Rivers are in it. She is quite hysterical. Also, I believe Nat wished to consult with you and Mrs Rivers about what is best to be done to avoid scandal.’

‘I do not see how it can be avoided. Lord Chase must be quite mad and should be confined. I only hope it is true that he has not harmed her.’

The more she thought of it, the stranger it all seemed, but when she asked Bella another question, Bella begged to be allowed to be quiet and close her eyes for a little while.

‘I am afraid I am one of those unfortunates in whom the motion of the carriage induces a feeling of strong malaise after only a little time.’

‘I understand,’ Alys said. ‘It is doubly kind of you to come with me, in that case.’

Bella could not have been asleep, for she sat up once they reached the edge of Chase’s estate and rapped on the panel. The carriage drew up next to a little postern gate.

‘This is the spot. I recall it from a Venetian breakfast last year, when Lord Chase’s sister and her husband were staying here.

I was not then out, but Nat persuaded Mama to let me come.

I was wearing a white muslin dress embroidered with small blue flowers …

’ she continued, while Alys marvelled at the recuperative powers of youth.

Alighting, they passed through the gate and found themselves on a narrow path leading through a shrubbery. It was silent except for birdsong and the slight rustle of the breeze through the leaves.

‘Do you know,’ Alys said, following Bella onwards, ‘if this was dusk, it would be just the sort of place my heroine would be lured to on some pretext! You are quite sure that Lord Chase is safely—’

Some slight noise warned her – or perhaps the rushing movement of the air – but too late to avoid the blow that struck her senseless.

Bella looked with horror at the crumpled form on the ground. ‘Oh, Nat, I did not think you meant to hurt her! Is she dead?’

‘Dead? No! As neat a bump on the head as you could wish.’ He bent and picked Alys up in his arms with an ease that belied his dandified appearance. ‘You have done your part, Bella. Return home, and if anyone asks you later what became of Alys, you know your story?’

She nodded, looking slightly frightened.

‘Yes, that she asked me to drive with her, but then confided in me that she was to meet a lover and meant to run away with him that very day. And she made me leave her in the City, where there was a post-chaise waiting, and that is the last I saw of her. And I was too frightened to tell Mama or Uncle.’

‘Very good,’ he nodded. ‘Stick to the story. Do not be tempted to embroider it, although you may turn on the waterworks as much as you please. Now, off you go.’

*

Jarvis rode past the carriage until he had turned a bend in the road before tying up the horse and, after climbing over the wall, making his way back in time to see Nat Hartwood carry off the unconscious form of Miss Weston, her bonnet missing and her long chestnut hair hanging loosely.

Bella Hartwood stared after them for a moment, then turned and headed back towards the carriage. Jarvis stealthily followed her brother.

He came at last to a small folly in the shape of a temple overlooking the river and went inside and Jarvis, hard on his heels, peered cautiously round a white pillar in time to see him pass through an iron door set into the back of the building.

He vanished into the darkness of some void beyond and there was the sound of a bar being drawn across the door.

Jarvis looked about him as though he expected help to be at hand, then suddenly leaped to his feet with an agility that belied his years and began to run back the way he had come.

*

Rayven arrived home in a fine temper and strode into the library to find Harry settled there with the newspaper.

Casting down his hat and greatcoat he exclaimed, ‘Well, I have my answer, I presume!’

‘She refused you?’ Harry said sympathetically.

‘No, she went out, even though she must have known my purpose in requesting an interview alone with her, and what is more, even that rascal Jarvis was not on duty.’

‘If she has gone out, then presumably he will be following her,’ Harry pointed out, laying aside his paper. ‘And I have been thinking while you were gone, Serle, that perhaps Miss Weston did not know your purpose in calling on her.’

Lord Rayven stared at his friend. ‘Not know? How can she possibly not have guessed?’

‘Well, you made the poor girl a very different kind of offer on your first acquaintance, and since then it does not sound to me as though you have gone out of your way to make her think that you possess any warmer feelings towards her.’

‘No, because I do not have any. She is the most objectionable, top-lofty, independent, stubborn—’ He broke off and took a couple of hasty strides about the room. ‘Warmer feelings? Most of the time I want to … to …’

‘Strangle her, I think you said? Admit it, Serle, you love her!’

‘Against my better judgement I do, but that does not mean that I have lost my senses to the point where I do not realize that she is the least suitable of wives for a man in my position.’

‘At least you can offer marriage to the woman you love, which puts you in a luckier case than I. I do not know what came over me, to single out Mrs Rivers in that fashion last night. I must have been mad to be so careless of her good name.’

‘Miss Weston does not find the prospect of marriage appealing,’ Rayven said glumly. ‘I do not think all my great estates and wealth will tempt her … although I was hoping my cellars might just do the trick.’

‘Your cellars?’ Harry said, as though his friend had run mad. They heard the thundering of the door knocker and a commotion in the hall, then Jarvis burst into the room. He was flushed and breathless and seemed to have lost his hat.

‘My lord … Miss Weston!’

Lord Rayven sprang up, paling. ‘What is it? She isn’t …? Speak up, man!’

‘Carried off, my lord, by her cousin Nat Hartwood,’ Jarvis gasped, leaning on a chair back for support.

Harry handed him a glass and he downed the brandy in one gulp. ‘Thank you, sir,’ he said, steadying. ‘My lord, a carriage came and Miss Weston ran out and jumped in. So I followed it, and stole a horse to do so, for there wasn’t a hack to be seen.’

‘Never mind that,’ Rayven snapped. ‘What then?’

‘I followed them out to Kew. They were Hartwood’s horses; I recognized those greys of his.

But I had to go on past when they stopped at a gateway into Lord Chase’s property, and creep back.

By the time I got there, Miss Hartwood was coming back along the path towards the carriage and her brother was carrying Miss Weston away – senseless. ’

‘But not dead?’ Harry asked quickly.

‘No, I am sure she was not. Her head was bleeding, for one thing,’ he added simply, like the old soldier he was, for the dead do not bleed.

‘So, what then?’ demanded Rayven, whose colour had returned along with a look that boded ill for Nat Hartwood when he caught up with him.

‘I did not think I could overpower him by myself, sir,’ Jarvis confessed, ‘sorry though I am, but what with my arm and all …’

‘No one would expect it of you. But go on: where did he take her?’

‘To a sort of little temple building by the river, and through a door at the back of it.’

‘The passageway from the river to the house,’ Rayven said. ‘He has taken her to the cellars of Templeshore House!’

‘But what on earth can he be thinking of?’ Harry exclaimed.

‘Whatever it is, he will regret it,’ Rayven said grimly, taking a pair of pistols from their box and loading them. ‘Ring the bell. Tell them to bring my horse around immediately!’

‘But I’m coming with you. Just let me get my boots and—’

‘There’s no time to waste, Harry. Follow me in the curricle as quickly as you can. We will need a carriage to bring Miss Weston back if … if we are in time.’

The door slammed behind him and he was gone.

‘I’ll go in the curricle with you, sir,’ Jarvis said. ‘But first, what am I to do with the horse I stole?’

‘Damn the horse,’ Harry said, with unusual violence.