Page 36 of The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin (The Ill-Mannered Ladies #2)

36

We left Deele’s coach still under the aimed guns of Evan and Kent. Miss Grant and Hester were crammed in the narrow groom’s seat behind Julia and me—not the arrangement I had favored, but the high-seat squeeze did keep Hester upright. Beside me, Julia was handling the reins nicely, keeping the pair at a brisk trot. I had Hades across my knees, ready to fire if anyone followed. I really should have been driving, but I was a much better shot than Julia.

We drove in silence for a few miles, my reticence due to a deep wash of fatigue, and Julia’s, I think, due to concentration. The road was treacherous. Finally, we saw a crossroad up ahead.

“Turn left here,” I said over the rumble of our wheels. “This road can take us back in the direction of Liverpool.”

“We are not going to Liverpool,” Julia said.

I dug my feet against the footboard as we bounced over a series of ruts. Of course, Julia did not know the new plan.

“We are not going to Holyhead now. It is too far away,” I said. “We are going to Liverpool—it is much closer and we’ll be able to find a ship sooner.”

I forced down the rising misery of Evan’s departure. I had been living with the possibility for months. Surely I should be used to the hollow sense of loss by now.

“We are not going to Liverpool either.” Julia glanced across at me, her face set into determined lines. “We are going to Llangollen.”

“What?” I said, trying to move my thoughts beyond the obvious stupidity of the plan. “You cannot be serious. Brummell and Alvanley are there! We agreed Alvanley is a danger.”

My sister’s expression, however, was very serious. “Things have changed, Gus. This is the best course of action now.”

“No, it is a terrible idea. Take the turn! We have to go to Liverpool.”

Her hand tightened on the reins. “We are going to Llangollen, and as fast as possible; time is of the essence. Miss Grant and Hester will stay with Miss Ponsonby and Lady Butler, if the ladies are willing to take them in. And I am sure they will be.”

“Deele will just find them and take Hester back,” I said. How could Julia not see that?

“He will not. I am sure of it.”

“Sure of it?”

I looked over my shoulder at Miss Grant, grimly holding on to Lady Hester. The racing suspension of the phaeton was more intense between the two larger wheels and Lady Hester had slumped sideways across Miss Grant’s lap. “Neither you nor Lady Hester knows the ladies, do you?”

Miss Grant shook her head.

I turned back to my sister, my confusion shifting into anger. “They are not even acquainted, Julia. There is no guarantee the ladies will take them in. Besides, Evan and Kent will not know where we have gone!”

“Weatherly knows the plan. He will tell them. I have told him to do so within Deele’s hearing.”

“What? In Deele’s hearing?”

Had she gone mad? Had the mercury done something to her brain?

Julia leaned forward, loosening the reins and urging the horses into a canter, clearly meaning to drive past the intersection of roads.

“Julia, you are making a mistake. This is a terrible idea. Take the turn!”

“No!”

We were almost upon the crossroad. “Julia, turn!” I acted before I fully knew what I was doing: the worst transgression of carriage etiquette. I leaned over my sister and wrenched the reins out of her hand.

“Gus, what are you doing?” Julia yelled, grabbing back at the reins.

The odd feel of the reins made the horses turn sharply. The phaeton swung wildly to the left, jolting Julia hard against me. Behind us, I heard Miss Grant shriek as the horses broke into a confused gallop. Dear God, what had I done?

I slapped away Julia’s hands and let the pair have their head for a few strides, then eased them back, letting them know someone was in charge, my heart pounding as I drew them gradually down into a walk and, finally, a stop.

I looked sideways at my sister. She sat ramrod straight, her jaw set into a hard line of righteous fury, her chest rising and falling in hard, quick breaths.

“How dare you take the reins from me, Augusta,” she said. “How dare you.” She turned in her seat to face Miss Grant. “Are you and Hester unharmed?”

“Yes.” Miss Grant’s voice wavered upon the word. I turned to meet her glare. Her arms were tight around the still insensible Hester. “But barely. I nearly lost hold of her.”

Julia turned back to me. “What possessed you? That was dangerous and completely unnecessary!”

At her scathing tone, my hot shame shifted into fury. “What possessed me? What possessed you to inform Deele of your idiotic plan? If you take Hester to the Ladies of Llangollen, she will be back in Deele’s control before you know it! Especially since you are telling him where she is!” I shouted the last, the fright and confusion of the last few minutes bursting out of me. The horses shifted, jolting the phaeton.

“You don’t always know best, Gus!” Julia yelled back. “Other people have good ideas too. It is not up to you to solve every problem. You are not responsible for everything!” She drew a shaking breath. I opened my mouth to protest, but she gave an angry shake of her head, not finished yet. “You have to let people live their own lives. Make their own choices. I know it is the way you show that you care, but you are being too high-handed. Too interfering. I am sorry, but that is the truth.”

High-handed? Interfering? I stared at her, a dry ache welling up into my throat. She did not, I think, mean only for Hester and Elizabeth, but herself too.

I shook my head. She did not understand what I was trying to do.

“My plan is good,” she added defiantly, “and Elizabeth thinks it is the best way to go ahead. It is her choice and it is what we are going to do.”

So, it was Elizabeth now: it seemed Miss Grant and my sister had suddenly become intimate friends.

“Oh, so that is what Elizabeth thinks, is it?” I said, unable to temper my hurt. “And how is leading Deele straight to Lady Hester the best way to go ahead?”

“If you let me explain, you will know!”

I returned my sister’s belligerent stare. “Tell me how this idiocy is going to work, then.”

She drew a long breath through pinched nostrils. “When we were following you in the phaeton, Elizabeth told me about Deele and his obsession with reputation. He is just like Duffy, Gus. Everything is sacrificed upon the altar of the family name. It is what drives him to treat Hester so badly; she must not sully the family’s reputation in the eyes of good society. Not after he has worked so hard to reinstate it.”

I had to admit, I had heard him say as much to Evan just minutes before. But I was not ready to concede the point gracefully.

“So?”

“We turn the situation upon its head,” Julia said. “We show Lord Deele that the bon ton accepts Hester and Elizabeth and condemns any bad treatment of them. More to the point, his treatment of them.”

“How do you propose to do that?”

“The bon ton is basically staying with the Ladies of Llangollen, Gus. Mr. Brummell and Lord Alvanley are society. Well, the leaders of it, anyway. What they do and think will be what everyone else will do and think. And by staying with the ladies, are they not declaring their support of that singular arrangement? The same arrangement that Elizabeth and Hester wish to achieve?”

I tilted my head; this point I had to concede. “It is true for Brummell, but we cannot know Alvanley’s thoughts. He is a friend of Deele’s.”

“Brummell is all that matters, Gus. Even Lord Alvanley bows to Mr. Brummell; everyone knows that. Once Lord Deele realizes he would be condemned more for interfering with Hester than for leaving her alone, I believe he will back down.”

“You believe he will? That is quite a risk, Julia.”

“I understand how people think and feel, Gus. Better than you do. You have said so yourself. Besides, every plan you have devised for Miss Grant and Lady Hester has come with risk, often without consultation.” My sister paused upon that accusation, then continued. “This is a risk they know about and are willing to take. Is that not so, Elizabeth?”

“I cannot speak for Hester,” Miss Grant said, tenderly stroking Hester’s hair, “but I believe Lady Julia is right. Reputation is what is important to Lord Deele, and he will not wish to go against society.”

“Do you see, Gus? It would never have worked before because we were trying to keep Hester’s whereabouts and our involvement a secret. But we no longer have to obscure either of those. Deele knows both, and we can—no, we must—reveal Hester to Mr. Brummell and Lord Alvanley.”

I sat back in the phaeton seat. It was a good plan. A clever plan. Even so, I said, “There are a lot of ifs.”

“Perhaps, but taking Hester to Liverpool to board a ship has just as many, and, frankly, she is too frail to make a sea journey.”

That was true, and besides, this new plan might mean Evan would not leave the country quite yet. I handed Julia the reins.

“To the Ladies of Llangollen, then.”

Julia nodded. “I think it would be best if you drive now. We must put a good amount of ground between us and Lord Deele so that we can speak to the ladies and prepare for his arrival.”

“So you want me to take over now?” I asked, a little petulantly.

“Only the phaeton,” Julia said dryly.

She handed back the reins. And with them, a brief touch upon my hand. “This will work, Gus.”

I was not entirely convinced, but I had been outvoted. And besides, if this did not work, we could always flee back to Liverpool.