Chapter Twenty-Two
Alittle overan hour after Harry finished his conversation with Crawford, and the still in shock butler had gone down to the stable yard to enlist Joe Miller’s aid, Lissy, followed by Mims and Megs, made her way around to the back of the Hall. They went by ways they knew of old which kept them out of sight of those in the house. Principally Cousin Harry. They didn’t want him finding out they were there. Not yet, at any rate.
Slinking into the stable yard via the open gate under the archway, they found Archie Miller sweeping the yard with his usual diligence. No one else was about.
He stopped as soon as he saw them and tugged his tow-colored forelock in respect, even though they were no longer daughters of the house, so to speak. Color flooded up his cheeks as it always did when he saw Lissy up close. Rather a tiresome happening, but she tolerated it as he was really very sweet, if a bit simple.
She bestowed a smile on him that was not so much a reward but more a bribe for information she hoped might be forthcoming.
Probably a mistake. The poor boy blushed even more hotly and appeared as though he didn’t know what to do with his hands, which were large and deeply tanned.
Megs skipped up to him, unfazed by his reaction to her sister. “Hello, Archie. The yard’s looking very neat and tidy. Just as tidy as when you used to look after it for us. I do miss the yard and all thelovely stables. Keeping our horses in just a plain old barn isn’t quite the same. It’s meant for cows, not horses.”
“Mornin’ Miss Margaret, Miss Miriam, M-miss M-melissa.” He bobbed a bow, made awkward by the fact he was still holding the broom. In fact, he was passing it from one hand to the other in some confusion.
“We need to talk to you,” Lissy said. “But not out here where someone might see us. Come into the stables. Quickly. This is a clandestine meeting and you’re to tell no one you’ve seen us.”
Probably wondering what she meant by clandestine, and still clutching the broom, Archie obediently followed the three girls into the spotlessly clean stable building. A warm scent of fresh hay from the recently filled mangers hung in the air. Lissy had to admit that Megs was right—this was how stables should look. And if they could only prevent the danger threatening Cousin Harry in the morning, and then persuade him and Mama to make a match, which now looked as though it shouldn’t be too hard, they and their horses could be back in these stables in a trice. Perfect.
After a quick glance around to make sure no one else was about, she turned to face Archie. “This is a matter of life and death. Do you understand? You have to swear to tell no one what I’m about to divulge. Do you swear?”
Archie nodded dumbly. Really, it was a shame nothing much was going on between his ears as he was such a handsome young man. But then she might have been tempted, and knowing he had the mental capacity of an eight-year-old had prevented any thoughts of attraction she might have otherwise harbored. He was like a large child and needed to be treated as one.
She took the plunge. “Sir Henry is in danger.”
Archie’s rather blank expression didn’t change. Odd.
“Tomorrow morning,” Megs said. “Tomorrow morning there’s going to be some danger to him. Mortal danger because he might die.And we can’t have that.”
His expression remained the same, cheeks still rosy red, wide brown eyes blank.
“Oh, good heavens,” Mims snapped. “We need you to find out what the danger is. Do you understand? Because you’re a servant here and servants always know everything.”
It seemed most unlikely that Archie knew anything at all, alas.
However, after some rather odd eyebrow movement, he finally licked his lips and began to look as though this was sinking in. He scratched his head. “You mean the duel?”
“What?” Yes, she had said it out loud. Lissy looked at her sisters, both of whose mouths had fallen open in shock, and then back at Archie. “The duel? What duel?” They all knew what a duel was.
Archie glanced over his shoulder as though he feared someone, probably his father, might be creeping up on them. “The one I’m not s’posed to talk about. The one none of us servants is s’posed to tell no one about. The one my pa’s helpin’ with.”
Lissy, shocked as well, managed to nod. She could quite see where the danger was coming from now. “Yes. Definitely that duel. The one you have to tell us everything about. Now. So we can make sure Cousin Harry, I mean Sir Henry, doesn’t get killed.”
Mims gave a little squeak of fear. “A duel? A real duel? That’s the danger he’s in?”
Megs, however, seemed to find this prospect rather exciting. “Like in a romance book? Like in Miss Austen’sSense and Sensibility? A real duel?” She clasped her hands and sighed. She could be such a fool sometimes. “Do you think he’s fighting it over Mama?”
“Most certainly, he is,” Lissy said.
“Did you steal that book from beside my bed?” Mims demanded, with a flounce. “That’s my book and you’re too young to be reading it.”
Lissy ignored this outburst. Who would have thought Megs of allpeople would think a duel involving Harry a good thing? Although, she was rather fond of guns and shooting people, so perhaps it wasn’t so odd after all. Lissy glared at her. “Duels are against the law and definitely dangerous.” She turned back to Archie. “Who is the duel against? Tell us everything you know.” She wagged a finger at him. “Leave nothing out.”
Most of thechores she was capable of helping with finished, Miranda could put off thinking about Harry no longer. Betsey was outside doing something in the garden and she was left alone in the kitchen, with only the dogs for company, nursing the cup of tea Betsey had made twenty minutes ago and was now stone cold. The impulse to tell the faithful Betsey all about what had gone on up by the little wood had been enormous, but so had the fear that this duel was illegal. She didn’t want to involve anyone in something illegal in case it all went wrong. Betsey needed to be able to say she knew nothing about it if she was ever questioned.
So here she sat, her mind in a whirl and her heart pitter-pattering in her chest. All she could think of though, was not really the duel, but the kiss Harry had given her. Oh, that kiss and how it had turned her insides to liquid and made her weak at the knees. And it had been after Sir Julian had challenged him and departed. As if being challenged had awoken something in him that had been up until now lying dormant. So really, it was almost possible to see this duel as a good thing.
And Harry had seemed more than keen to accept the challenge.
