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‘Don’t be a ninnyhammer, Sophie.’
‘I am not a ninnyhammer. It is a perfectly sensible suggestion.’
‘It is not. Mark entrusted me to see you safely home and that is what I intend to do. What do you take me for?’
She smiled. ‘Not a ninnyhammer, at any rate.’
‘I apologise for that, but you must see that I could never leave you.’
‘Never?’ she queried, raising her eyebrows at him.
‘You know what I mean. I must go and speak to the good lady of the house.’
* * *
He strode from the room before he said something he would regret. She was really getting inside his skin with her flashes of insight interspersed with outspokenness and brave attempts to flirt with him. She was a strange mixture of naivety and wisdom and he was never quite sure how to respond to her. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.
He found Mrs Brown in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches to a homely meal. ‘Madam,’ he began. ‘I asked for food, not a feast, and I fear we have put you to a great deal of trouble...’
‘We have plenty of food, my lord, if not much else. You are welcome. I would not leave a dog out in this weather.’ This statement was borne out by the fact that the mongrel was lying on a rough blanket under the table.
‘My cousin tells me that you are going to find a bed for her maid.’
‘Yes. She i’n’t well. I don’t think she oughta travel until she is better, begging your pardon, my lord.’
‘In that case, we must all stay. My cousin will not go on without her and I will not go on without my cousin.’
‘My lord...’ Bessie protested. ‘I shall manage.’
He turned to look at her, huddled in the corner enveloped in a blanket. Her eyes were puffy and her nose red. ‘We will decide on that tomorrow. It is to be hoped your mistress does not succumb.’ Turning back to their hostess, he said, ‘Do you have a room for Miss Cavenhurst?’
‘Yes, my lord, but...’ She paused and he guessed she was weighing up the prospect of giving up her own bed to one of them.
‘The men will manage in the coach,’ he told her. ‘Someone ought to keep an eye on it, in any case. I will do very well on the sofa.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, I am. And you do not need to lay up the table in the parlour. We can all eat in here. We do not want to put you to any more inconvenience than we can help.’
‘Very well, my lord, I’ll do as you say. It will be ready in five minutes.’
‘I will go and fetch the men.’
‘It’s still a-rainin’. Take Mr Brown’s big coat.’ She nodded to where it hung on the back of the door.
He draped it over his shoulders and made his way across the flooded yard and into the barn. Alfred and the coachman were sitting in the coach talking about the dwindling prospects of going on. ‘It’s still rainin’, but there ain’t no more thunder and lightning,’ Joe was saying. ‘I reckon we could make it through.’
‘Through what?’ Adam asked.
‘The flood, my lord,’ Farley replied. ‘I went to take a look. There’s a dip in the road as it goes down to the river. It’s about two feet deep. I rode Swift through it, though she wasn’t keen. The bridge is an old stone one and looked sound to me and the road is passable beyond it.’
‘We are not going on today,’ Adam said. ‘Miss Sadler has caught cold and the good farmer’s wife is making up a bed for her, which means we all have to stay. There is a meal waiting for us in the farm kitchen, so let us go and have it. We will worry about tomorrow when it comes.’
‘I don’t reckon we ought to leave the coach unattended,’ Joe said.
‘Then you stay here and I’ll have something sent out to you. Alfred, come with me.’
They picked their way over the muddy farmyard. The rain was easing and the water was slowly draining away. ‘I reckon it will be gone by tomorrow,’ Farley said. ‘Pity about Miss Sadler.’
‘Yes. Did you hear the horse just after we turned into the barn?’
‘Yes, my lord.’ He grinned. ‘Galloped right past, he did. I wonder how far he got before he twigged he’d lost us.’
Adam laughed. ‘However far it was, he will have been very wet.’
‘Serve him right.’
‘Not a word now.’
They entered the house and made their way to the kitchen, where a substantial meal was set out on the big table. Bessie was no longer there and he assumed she had gone to bed. Mr Brown and Sophie were already seated at the table. She looked up as they entered. ‘Is everything all right?’ she asked.
