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“I’m sorry, we are expecting no deliveries tonight. Good evening to you.” Then the old man straightened to his full height and turned back toward the house.
“Wait!” Laurence cried. “I am not delivering anything…uh, sir. Mister. Sir.”
The gentleman turned back toward him once more and gave him a sidelong glance. “Wentworth. Are you sure you are not lost?”
“I certainly have been enough today, Mister, ah, Wentworth. But I am hoping my fortune may have finally taken a turn for the better. Is this the Ramsbury residence, perchance?”
If the look he was given before was penetrating, this one cut like a razor blade. “If it were, what business would you have with either of the Miss Ramsburys?”
This is it!Laurence thought, his heart thundering with excitement and relief. But the look of the man behind the gate was not a promising one, and the sounds of the dogs were now mingling with other, more sinister noises.I have to get inside. Can’t be turned back now.
Mister Wentworth continued to inspect Laurence, seemingly uninterested in waiting for a reply. As his eyes lingered on the horse, though, his frown deepened in a strain to recollect a familiar sight. Then he snapped his fingers as though realizing something. “Are you bearing a message from the countryside for Miss Grace, then? We had one of your ilk here not long ago.”
Laurence barely hesitated before blurting out, “Indeed I am.”
Wentworth gave a business-like nod, then extended his empty hand. “Very well. Hand it here and we shall see about your payment.”
Uh-oh.“I have…ridden long and hard today,” Laurence said cautiously. “So if I might be permitted to speak with her instead…?”
“Absolutely not,” said the old man, unmoving from his stance on the far side of the bars. “A request like that is quite unacceptable, not to mention highly unusual. Why do you not simply give the message to me so I can deliver it? Quickly, so both of us can be back to our business promptly?”
Laurence racked his brain for any suitable excuse. Being unused to subtlety, he found himself unable to conjure a reason to refuse this request.Think, damn you,he cursed himself, seeing Mister Wentworth’s foot begin to tap impatiently. In desperation, he turned to literature for inspiration, as he often did, and quickly found a solution in some chivalric story whose name he could not recall at the moment.
“I…cannot,” he said at last, marshalling his thoughts as quickly as he could. When the other man gave him a sceptical raise of his eyebrow, Laurence clarified with a rush of enthusiasm, “The…contents of the message are too precious to be written down. If they fell into the wrong hands, my…employer told me the consequences would be ruinous. So I memorized the message instead.”
The old retainer blinked, looking taken aback for the first time.
“Miss Grace will be most unhappy if she does not receive this news promptly,” Laurence ventured, hoping he was not overextending his luck. “It is quite urgent.”
Wentworth gave a strange, preoccupied sigh. “I shall have to inquire with Miss Grace about this. Wait here,” he said, then hastened away before Laurence could object.
Laurence peered through the gate after the man, hoping his artifice was believable enough to get him in the door.I pray you will forgive me for the deception, Alicia,he thought, wondering which of the darkened windows on the far side of the gate was hers.
