Chapter Four
The trouble began largelybecause Lily was so excited to see the sea that Tabitha instructed the coachman to follow the coast roads as far as possible.
After all, this whole expedition was for Lily’s benefit.Tabitha, beyond the pleasure of reunion with Louisa Hawthorn and one or two other old friends, was infinitely bored with the same-ness of country house parties.And in this case, she would have to be on her best behaviour to chaperone Lily properly.Perhaps it would be more amusing seeing everything through Lily’s innocent eyes.
Like seeing the world through Mr.De’Ath’s almost child-like eagerness, with his enjoyment of bricklayers’ jokes and Romany weddings, and even robbery on the king’s highway.But there was no point in thinking of him.
Unfortunately, changing the direct route known to the coachman meant that by evening, when they were all hungry, they were lost.Struggling inland again in the presumed direction of Hawthorn Court, they found the roads in a shocking state and almost impassible, alternately water-logged into mud, or so dry and rutted that even the excellently-sprung travelling coach bounced painfully over them.
Worse, there were no signposts.The odd local encountered on the road merely gaped and shrugged when James the coachman inquired for the Firkin Inn, where Tabitha had reserved rooms and meals.In this way, she had planned to arrive at Hawthorn Court at a civilized time the following day.
Even before darkness fell into damp blackness beneath the lowering clouds, Tabitha was convinced they were going in circles.
She stuck her head out of the window.“Do you seeanything, James?”
“There’s a few lights ’way to the left there,” James said grimly.“But they seem to be moving.”
He was right.She could make out a ragged little row of them, pale and indistinct as if very far away in the direction she imagined to be the sea.
“Head towards them,” Tabitha ordered.“They must be going somewhere!”
“I’ll try,” James said grimly.
For the next half hour, the carriage bumped and slogged over even worse tracks, some of which were barely wide enough, as James tried to intercept the lights.The tracks did not always co-operate, running too straight or bending in the wrong direction and neither did the lights which frequently vanished from view altogether.
“Perhaps they are lights on fishing boats,” Lily said, “and we are just driving back to the coast.”
It had crossed Tabitha’s mind as well, especially since the clouded skies deprived James of his normally excellent sense of direction.
“I told Ralph and Portia you needed amusement,” she said.
Lily laughed.“I think I need supper more.”
“Think of the poor horses...Oh, look, a signpost!”
The coach’s lanterns had indeed lit up a sign for a place called Garth, pointing along a wider track to the right.The horses came to a halt, and again Tabitha stuck her head out of the window.
“Promising!”she called hopefully to James.
“Maybe.But the lights are to the left and much closer than they were.Which way do you want me to go?No guarantees there’ll be an inn at this Garth place which I’ve never heard of.It might even just be a farm.On the other hand, at least it’s somewhere definite.”
Lily was peering out of the other window.“It says it’s only one mile to Garth.”
Tabitha, watching the lights with growing curiosity, rubbed one finger across her lips.She dropped her hand into her lap.“Then let’s turn left and follow the lights.If they lead nowhere, we at least know where Garth is.”
James shrugged and urged the horses forward and to the left.
“What a very odd decision,” Lily said.“You just want to know what the lights are.”
“Well, they have come quite a long way, and I don’t believe whoever is carrying them has been using any roads.But I won’t drag us far.If they lead nowhere, we’ll return to Garth.”Of course, whether or not they could turn the carriage was another matter.Perhaps she had let curiosity lead her into the poorest of decisions.Again.
However, they had not gone very far at all along the left-hand track when yet another light glimmered through the trees.The track bent toward it and beneath the light which hung over a stone arch, an extremely dirty sign proclaimed—or at least murmured indistinctly—The Headless Horseman Inn.
