with a hint of a smile. 'But you'll have to catch up on it later. Tonight there
will be plenty of work for you to do.'
'Bleeding hell,' muttered Abercrombie. 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy, as me mum used to say.'
'Then it's a good thing your name isn't Jack,' the colonel said. 'It isn't, is
it?'
'You know it ain't.'
'Then stop complaining. Get a little rest now, so you'll be fresher tonight.'
Abercrombie just scowled and tried to setde down. It was clear he wasn't at all
keen on roughing it. But it was equally apparent that Ross didn't care.
It was starting to get dark when Sarah and Alice arrived on the outskirts of
Bodham. For the last fifteen minutes of the ride, Alice had been absolutely
silent. Sarah glanced at her companion, seeing that the girl's hands were
absolutely white, and that her pretty face was pinched and drawn. She started to
feel guilty about what she'd put the girl through. It was hard for her to
remember sometimes that not everyone was born brave.
'Listen, Alice,' she said, reining in her mount. 'I think you'd better go back
home.'
'No, Sarah,' the other girl answered. Her voice was strained, and she was trying
to put a brave face on it. 'I promised to help you, and I will not back down
now.'
Sarah nodded. 'I know, but I bullied you into it. Look, I think you've done more
than I should have asked. It's much harder for you to go through this than it is
for me. We've had very different upbringings.' An idea struck her. 'Look, ride
back to the Hall and make sure your father stays up for a few hours. Then tell
him where I am and what I'm doing. If I read Sir Edward right, he'll insist on
coming to my help with a rescue party. That way, if I get into trouble, he can
help bail me out of it, can't he?'
'You think that's a good idea?' asked Alice eagerly.
Sarah could see that she was looking for an honourable way out of her dilemma.
She really was terrified of spending the night in a cemetery, but she didn't
want to let Sarah down. 'I'm sure it is,' she said gently.
'But what if you need help?'
'I'll get in touch with Billy, that boy I told you about,' Sarah replied. 'I'm
sure one of the kids will be more than willing to bear messages for me. Someone
will help me, I guarantee it.'
Alice hesitated, not wanting to look too eager to desert her friend. Then she
nodded. 'You can count on me,' she vowed.
'I'm sure I can.' Sarah waved as Alice rode off. Then she sighed. 'Someone will
help me,' she muttered to herself. 'Great line.'
'Luckily for you,' said a familiar voice, 'someone is more than willing to help
out a maiden in distress.'
'Lord,' asked Sarah, her face turned toward the heavens. 'What have I ever done
to deserve this?' Then she glared down at Kipling, who had crept out of hiding
behind a wall to grin lecherously up at her. 'What happened to the other two
Stooges?'
'McBee and Duns?' Kipling laughed. 'They were caught smoking behind the
groundsman's sheds. They're in detention, silly buggers. But I'm here and eager
to help.'
'Lucky me,' said Sarah with a sigh. Well, she supposed it was her own fault. She
had wanted to meet Kipling in the first place, hadn't she? And she could use
someone to keep her awake and alert and to run for help if need be. 'Okay, you
can come along. But you'd better behave. That means no lewd comments,
understand?'
'Absolutely,' assured Kipling. 'The soul of honour, that's me.'
'Why do I find that so hard to believe?' asked Sarah, rolling her eyes. 'Don't
answer that. And follow me.' She rode over to the Pig and Thistle, where she
stabled her borrowed horse. Darkness was closing in on them now. Sarah took the
dark lantern from her saddlebags and slipped it into one pocket of the jacket
she wore. Then she led the way to the small graveyard.
As she'd expected, there was no sign of the portly Faversham. The poor,
overworked man was probably at home right now, snoring his head off. She could
sym-oathize with him. He had to be utterly out of his depth with the strange
occurrences that were going on. On the other hand, she was right in her element
here. In the failing light she examined the small burial ground. Tolliver had
been buried near the entrance, in the poorer section of the cemetery. Several
hundred yards further in, by one of the stone walls, there was a larger, more
impressive monument. Some kind of a mausoleum, she assumed. She could barely
make out the signs of a step well.
'Over there,' she decided. 'We'll be under cover, and we'll have a good view
across at Tolliver's grave.' She grinned at Kipling. 'Not nervous, are you?'
'Me?' Kipling laughed scornfully. 'Not likely. But if you need a little comfort
. . .'
'I won't,' Sarah assured him. 'Trust me on that one.'
Alice was feeling terrible as she rode back from Bodham. Despite everything, she
was certain that she'd let Sarah down. This mission to get her father to help
out was, she was certain, merely a sop to bolster her up. Sarah was doing all of
the work and taking all of the risks, and she had done nothing but - what was
that strange word that Sarah employed? - wimp out.
But she couldn't help herself. She was not by nature a brave person. The thought
of spending the night in a graveyard, even with Sarah for company, terrified
her. It was bad enough just thinking about being surrounded by mouldering
corpses, but Sarah seemed to think there was a real chance of there being living
people turning up, people that were desperate and despicable enough to rob the
graves. She shuddered in horror at the idea.
This was not what she was supposed to do with her life. Her father had never
intended that she should be adventurous. And she knew that Roger would have been
appalled if he'd known what she had almost done. Roger loved her, of that she
was certain, and he would always protect her. Even if he did seem to be a little
odd when on the subject of that friend of his.
As if the thought of him had produced the reality, Edmund Ross stepped out
suddenly into the road ahead of her, waving at her to stop. With a cry of shock,
Alice reined in her steed. Ross marched over and grabbed the reins to prevent
her from leaving.
'A little late to be out riding, isn't it?' he asked pleasantly.
'I'll do what I wish and when I wish it,' Alice replied, with as much courage
and contempt in her voice as she could muster. 'I'll thank you to release those
reins.'
Ross didn't remove his hands. 'Alice,' he said gently, 'there's no need to be so
angry with me.'
'Is there not?' she asked him coldly. 'After what you did to me yesterday? Or is
that of no consequence in your eyes?'
'You can hardly blame me for that,' Ross answered. 'You were trying to go
through my luggage. The drug was merely a sleeping draught I use to protect my
cases when I travel abroad. You'd be surprised how many foreigners have tried to
rob me.'
'I find that a feeble excuse,' she snapped.
'Then I'll try and invent a better one,' Ross promised her. 'Please, Alice,
don't be so harsh in judging me. I assure you that I bear neither you nor anyone
dear to you any malice, nor intend to cause harm to them. But I have work to do,
and that work must not suffer.'
'Work?' she asked, scornfully. 'Work that involves that thieving little friend
of yours, no doubt.'
'Abercrombie, yes,' admitted Ross. 'I know he's not the most appealing person in
the world, but he does have his good points.'
'Such as his skills at burglary?' suggested Alice, annoyed.
Ross didn't bother to deny her accusations. 'There are times when such skills do
come in handy, yes.'
" At Fulbright Hall?'
Ross scowled. 'Alice, I resent the implication that I intend or intended to rob
your family. Do you really think that little of me?'
T don't know what to think of you!' she exclaimed, frustrated. 'You evade simple
questions, you sneak about my home, and you ask me to trust you! How much of a
fool do you think I am?'
'Obviously more of one than you may be,' he answered, equally annoyed. 'And not
as great a fool as I am for thinking that you'd accept anything I had to say.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]