(There’s a new part of this story dropping Saturday in the Broadsheet, so it’s time to give last month’s part it’s own post so it can be found more easily.)

Find previous chapters (to previous Harriet and the Colonel stories) here.

Edmund was gone. He had been gone for two days now. By now, he had likely met Richard along the way and was soon going to discover the information that Wickham thought he possessed.

Harriet had never met this Wickham fellow. Truth be told, she was not certain she cared to meet him. Although…

“What are you planning?” Samantha asked when Harriet accidentally gave away the fact that she was pondering with a small “hmm.”

Harriet directed the two of them to the right of the pool with the fountain, since the path along which they had been strolling along required them to turn one direction or another.  

“I am not planning anything other than a wedding,” she replied.

Next to her, her sister laughed knowingly. “I believe all you have left to do on that front is make sure your dress fits when you return to town.”

Yes, well, that was true. There was very little left to be done.  She knew the menu for, as well as the songs which she wished to have played at, her wedding breakfast. She had contracted with the appropriate people to have flowers sent and arranged, and she had written up all the schedules for what needed preparation and when.

“I have not packed all my things.”

“And for that, you have servants,” Samantha replied. “So, allow me to repeat myself: What are you planning?”

Harriet sighed. “I truly am not planning anything. I am merely pondering a certain situation.” It was a situation that had taken over much of her quiet time – frustrating her with its seemingly unanswerable questions.

“Does this certain situation include a particularly awful man who kidnapped the colonel’s cousin?” her sister asked. Of course, Samantha would know what Harriet was thinking about. She had nearly always been able to decipher what Harriet was thinking.

“Yes. Something just does not feel right, and there is no way for me to feel less unsettled when questions have not been answered. Or at least, when those answers have not been shared with me.” She huffed. This was all too similar to how she had felt after Andrew’s death.

“You found Andrew’s watch,” Samantha said quietly as if, once again, she knew what her sister was thinking. “Remember that,” she added firmly. “Edmund and his men did not find it. You did. And they gave you no information about it. You did it on your own.” She bumped Harriet’s shoulder with her own. “Do you really need their answers?”

Harriet could not help smiling at that. “It would make it easier.” But was it necessary? Was there truly a way for her to discover useful information from here? And not town? With only the bits she knew? And not with the full scope of information her brother had?

“So what are we planning?” Samantha whispered conspiratorially as they entered the cool shade of the folly, which had been their objective when setting out on their garden stroll.

“We are not planning anything,” Harriet said with a laugh as she took a seat on the settee that was tucked in the back of the folly where it would be sheltered from the weather. “You are far too pregnant to be taking part in schemes.”

Samantha placed her hands on her hips – or the side of her belly, it was rather hard to tell these days where Samantha’s every growing baby began and ended – and scowled down at her younger sister before taking a seat, none too gracefully, next to her. “I will have you know that I am not going to let you carry out whatever plan you concoct without my help. Edmund expects me to see to your care while he is gone.”

“I do not need a nursemaid,” Harriet protested. She pulled her feet up under her and turned sideways on the bench so she could look at her sister while they spoke.

“Perhaps not, but I do need the practise being a mother hen.”

Harriet rolled her eyes. “I think you are well prepared for motherhood on that front. I have made certain of it for you for years now.”

“So then, do not push me aside now. Please.” Samantha sighed. “Our lives are going to change so much in a few months. I will be a mother, and you will be a wife. Let us attempt to enjoy a few weeks this summer of just being sisters.” She patted her belly. “Even if I must bring this little one along on our adventures.”

“Julian would kill me if he knew I allowed you to take part in anything that might in some way be remotely dangerous, and Edmund would assist him.”

“Then, we will not do anything dangerous.” She bit her lip the way she had always done when they were young and she had an idea that she thought was clever. “I am quite certain that taking tea, making calls, and doing a bit of shopping are not overly dangerous.”

A furrow formed between Harriet’s eyebrows. “How will that help me figure out what I need to know?”

“And Edmund thinks you are the clever one,” Samantha teased. “What do we women do best when taking tea and making calls and shopping? We talk and listen.”

Harriet sucked in a quick breath as a smile spread across her face. Why yes! That was how she had finally discovered Andrew’s watch, was it not?

“And what we hear is not the same as what a group of men would hear in a tavern or over a game of cards, now is it?” her sister continued.

A thrilling shiver raced up Harriet’s spine and down her arms. It was brilliant. How had she not considered that? Of course, what women talked about was different from what men did. It was entirely possible that someone might have a story about some fellow who was not at his home during the summer as he normally was or some such thing, would they not?

“In fact,” Samantha said, “I believe we have spent enough days at home as of late. I find a change of scenery would be most beneficial, and I would love to procure a few embellishments for some of my motherly projects, as well as for the dress I plan to wear to your wedding. And I am certain there must be some items left for you to add to your trousseau. If there are not, we can invent a project or two.”

Harriet clapped her hands in delight. “I do love how clever you are.”

“I dare say I am nearly as clever as you,” she said with a laugh. “Now tell me, what information do we hope to discover?”  

---

(There’s a new part of this story dropping Saturday in the Broadsheet, so it’s time to give last month’s part it’s own post so it can be found more easily.)

Find previous chapters (to previous Harriet and the Colonel stories) here.

Chapter 1 (Part 2)

“How so?” Edmund asked with no little amount of interest. Indeed, at the moment, her brother looked to be as interested as Harriet felt. It was quite the change from his normal feigned look of nonchalance in the face of something of interest. Perhaps the country was beginning to bore him just as it was her.

“As you know, we have not caught the traitor we seek, and Wickham believes he can succeed where we have failed. He has told me in confidence that he has information that could be helpful, but he is unwilling to reveal what he knows without some guarantee of protection.” Samuels leaned back in his chair. “For how many months have we circled around and around with what we know? We have visited places and spoken to people but with little progress.” He blew out a breath and shook his head. “I have begun to think we may be doing more harm than good.”

“Are you concerned that your activity may drive the person we seek into deeper hiding,” Harriet said.

Samuels nodded. “We have been careful, but it is anyone’s guess whether the care we have taken is enough or not.”

“It should be,” Edmund said.

“But there is a chance that it is not – especially recently,” Samuels said. “Wickham has been with us on several occasions, and he is not unknown in many of the places we have visited.”

One of Harriet’s eyebrows arched of its own accord at that. Samuels had every reason to be concerned if that were the case, for it begged the question of if they were truly searching for some unknown agent, or if they were leading the villain around and around on some merry chase that would never end. Simply because he was the one helping create the chase.

“How do we know that Wickham is not the traitor?” she asked.

Both her brother and Samuels turned to her in surprise.

“He did help procure some of the maids who ended up carrying information across the channel, did he not?” she added.

“He did,” her brother agreed. “And I suppose we do not know that he is not the traitor.” He shook his head. “That being said, it is unlikely since he was not disposed of when he was first captured.”

Harriet pressed her lips together. She was not as convinced by that fact as her brother sounded to be.

“That is a good sign,” Samuels said while holding Harriet’s gaze as if he knew she was questioning exactly what she was questioning. “But not conclusive.”

Perhaps he did know what she had been thinking.

“Wickham is not a stupid fellow,” he continued, “but I do not think he has the skill or the blunt to be the person for whom we are looking.”

“Then, why is he just now offering information?” There was something not right with this situation. Harriet could not put her finger on what it was, but there was a small battalion of butterflies dancing in her stomach.  And that was a sure sign that something was off.

A smile curled Samuels lips, and his eyes danced as if where chuckling to himself. “He claims that he pieced the information together after our last card game at a particular tavern. It was something he had suspected for a while, but he did not want to say anything until he could have more than a feeling on which to base his conclusions.” Samuels shrugged. “I know he is a questionable informant, but he is the one we have been saddled with.”

“What does the colonel say –?”

“I came to you first.” Samuels answered before Edmund could finish his question. “He will be back in London in three days. You will not be unless your plans change.”

Edmund’s eyebrows rose. “Will you be back in London soon?”

“If we follow the lead Wickham has, it appears we will be. But then, we knew that, eventually, we might end up there or further south. The paths we have traversed up here all seem to point to town – just as we expected them to do.”

“Then, you do not think that whomever we are looking for is in the country for the summer?” Harriet asked.

Samuels shook his head. “Not any longer.”

“He is not at his estate?” Edmund asked.

“Who is not at his estate?” Harriet asked.

Her brother laughed. “Do you mean to tell me that there is something about this case that you have not yet deduced?”

Harriet’s head tipped as a thought struck her. “You were canvassing Derbyshire because Wickham is from there. There was no other reason for it. That is the piece of information that directed you north this summer.”

Samuels inclined his head indicating that her reasoning was correct. “Very few know that. In fact, Wickham has no idea that we are attempting to follow all his connections.”

“Which is why he is known everywhere you go! And that makes it more difficult to keep secrets.”

“And it is why the colonel could not be included in our activities,” Samuels added. “We could not have him and Wickham seen together.”

Harriet chuckled. “That would be like lighting a beacon on a hill.”

“Indeed,” Edmund muttered before standing and pacing to the window and back. “If he is not in the country, then, there has to be a reason for him to be in town.”

“Who?” Harriet asked again.

Edmund only shook his head. “It is best if you do not know just yet.”

Harriet pressed her lips together once again. This time to keep an indignant retort to herself.

“We cannot ruin a man’s reputation without sufficient proof,” her brother added. “Therefore, the fewer who know his name…” He let the rest of the thought explain itself in Harriet’s mind.

Tarnishing the name of an innocent man had to be considered carefully. Harriet could not fault her brother for taking care with that. A reputation that was damaged – whether with cause or not – was a very hard thing to restore.

“I will meet the colonel on the road, so that he will know he is needed at Lillesley house,” Edmund said. “I know the inns he stops at along the way from Matlock to town.”

“How soon are we leaving?” Harriet asked as she rose from her chair.

“We are not leaving,” her brother said with some force. “I am leaving. You will not leave any earlier than planned. It is not unusual for a gentleman to go to town while the ladies stay in the country, but if we all up sticks and leave before expected, it would be noticed.”

Harriet sighed. He was right. And she hated that he was. It was enough to make her scowl and shake her head.

“If things can be arranged with our sister’s husband,” Edmund added in a gentler tone, “then, you may return to town a week early to see to some wedding preparations – at least, that will be the story we will put forward when anyone asks about your early departure.”

---

(There’s a new part of this story dropping Saturday in the Broadsheet, so it’s time to give last month’s part it’s own post so it can be found more easily.)

Find previous chapters (to previous Harriet and the Colonel stories) here.

Chapter 1 (part 1)

“Life is very dull in the country,” Harriet Philips complained to her sister, three-weeks after she had been allowed to help her brother and his men find a missing maid.

Samantha laughed. “Perhaps it is not as exciting here where there are no criminals to outsmart, but the air in the country is so much better than in town during the summer.” She rested a hand on her ever-growing abdomen. “And I am allowed to put my feet up without a pair of stockings in sight.” She wiggled her toes where her feet rested on a tufted footstool.

“I am quite certain that you could do that in town as well,” Harriet grumbled. “However, I will allow that the air in the country is better.” She rose and walked to the open window that faced south – the exact direction in which they would need to travel to return to town in two-week’s time or so.

“I am very glad that you were able to come to Papa’s estate for a time. Your being here does make things a trifle less dull.” She shot a mischievous smile over her shoulder at her sister. “But you truly can do so little now that you have decided to be a mother.”

Samantha clucked her tongue. “Just you wait, Miss Everything Should Be an Adventure, your time of feeling quite miserable and motherly are not so far off.”

“Is it truly dreadful?”

“Currently, yes because it is just so hot – or I am, at least,” her sister replied.

There was a breeze blowing through the window, but it was a warm summer day. Not overly hot, but undoubtedly warm. 

“I declare this child is going to be just like his or her father.” Samantha continued. “Julian is always warm – even in the depths of winter. I am certain that is what is making me overly warm. I am carrying a human furnace.”

Harriet chuckled at that. “Do you wish to go for a walk in the grass? Or perhaps we could procure a large basin of water and sit in the shade with our feet in it?” She held up a finger to keep her sister from answering as she leaned forward to better see the rider who was approaching.

“What is it?” Samantha whispered as she placed her feet on the ground and pushed up from her chair.

“A rider.”

“Is it the Colonel returned from his visit to Hertfordshire?” Samantha crossed to the window to peer out it with her sister.

Harriet shook her head. “He will be returning from there to town.” And that was likely why she was finding it difficult to entertain herself for this past week. She missed Richard – more than she missed any sort of adventure.

“Perhaps it is a letter,” her sister offered.

“It could be that.” It was a hopeful thought that one of them might have something of interest to read and perhaps a bit of news to share with the other. “I think…” she leaned a bit further forward. “I think that is Samuels.”

“Who is Samuels?” Samantha asked.

“He frequents the little library at Lillesley house.” That was where her brother greeted all of the men who worked with him on covert assignments. She tipped her head. “But why is he alone. I thought he was supposed to be watching that Wickham fellow.”

“The horrible kidnapper?” Samantha whispered. There were things her sister was not supposed to know – but did. Who Wickham was and what he had done was one of those things.

But in truth, it was for Samantha’s safety that Harriet had shared a few details of what had happened in London before they had left. Edmund might carry around secrets that posed dangerous to his sisters, but Harriet would not. This was Samantha after all. The woman was capable of keeping a few names and details to herself.

“Yes.” Harriet moved toward the door to the sitting room. “We will require some refreshment for ourselves and our guest,” she said to the butler. “And please see that my brother is made aware that his presence is required in the drawing room. His office is far too stuffy at this time of day.”

“Why am I needed in the drawing room?” the very brother of whom she spoke said from the grand staircase.

“Did you not hear that we are to have a guest? And I am afraid there is no little library here.”

He frowned at her. “A guest?”

She nodded. “Do come down here so that we can speak more privately.” She could see him sigh. It was not a dramatic lifting and lowering of his shoulders, but they had risen and fallen.

“You do know that I am still the master of this house and my professional domain, do you not?” he grumbled when he had reached her.

“Of course, I do, but I am not about to make Samuels sit in your stuffy study when he has had to ride in the sun for who knows how long to get here.”

“Samuels is here?” Edmund hurried across the room to the window where Samantha was still standing.

Harriet allowed him to verify her words without saying anything. It was an impressive feat, if she did say so herself.

“We cannot speak freely here,” Edmund said with a tip of his head at Samantha.

“I can keep a secret,” Samantha said. “But if you prefer, I can take myself to my room. Truly, I would not mind at all, since I am not required to remain dressed there.” She wiggled the neckline of her gown as if trying to cool herself with it. “Yes,” she said very decidedly. “That is just what I need. I will go to my room and have a rest with a cool cloth and a tray of my very own refreshments.”

She gave her brother’s cheek a kiss and left the room.

“Mr. Wickham is not with him,” Harriet said as they stood watching Samuels dismount his horse.

“I noticed that. I am not blind, nor have I forgotten that he was assigned to Samuels.” He turned toward the door to the drawing room and waited for it to open. “I am sure Samuels will explain himself.”

“Good day, Lord Lillesley, Miss Philips,” Samuels said with a bow upon entering the room.

“Please, make yourself comfortable. We will have some refreshments soon.” Harriet took herself back to the chair she had abandoned out of boredom not so very long ago. “Edmund.” She motioned to the chair Samantha had been sitting in.

“I am rather dusty,” Samuels said.

“Well, that is a problem, but not one without a solution.” Harriet rose, retrieved a blanket from a sideboard, and handed it to the man. “This will be easier to clean than the chair.”

“Why do you have blankets in that cupboard?” Edmund asked.

“Because there is no little library,” Harriet replied. “And your study is stuffy at times.” She turned back to Samuels who was arranging the blanket on the chair before taking a seat. “Your companion did not join you?”

“You mean Wickham?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes.”

Samuels chuckled. “I was not about to bring him here. You and your brother might not mind it, but the colonel would be livid. But do not fear, I did not leave him unattended. However…” He was now seated, and leaned forward before speaking in a lower voice. “He is the reason I am here.” 

---

(There’s a new part of this story dropping Saturday in the Broadsheet, so it’s time to give last month’s part it’s own post so it can be found more easily.)

Find previous chapters here.

Chapter 5 (part 1)

Richard tucked Harriet close to his side as he sat in the hackney outside the townhouse that stood at the address on the note found in the watch. “This is not a good idea,” he muttered.

“It is the only way,” Harriet assured him.

He shook his head and blew out a breath. “We could have put your clothes on someone else.”

“That would have been too big a risk,” she countered.

Before he could find a way to refute her argument – which was true, and he knew it – the door to the house opened, and both Louis and another man exited and made their way toward the hackney.

“Stay deep in the shadows until I am out and the door it closed,” Harriet said to Richard before giving him a quick kiss and sliding toward the door.

“If anything happens to you….” He would never be able to live with himself or forgive Lillesley for allowing her to take part in this scheme.

“Nothing will happen.” There was a slight tremor in her voice. “I will be fine.” The tremor was gone. It was as if she had swallowed whatever fear had arisen and vanquished it in a heartbeat. “We will save Louis’s sister, and I will be Mrs. Richard Fitzwilliam. I will be.”

The determination in her voice made him smile despite his nervousness. How he loved his lionhearted lady!

“Where is your sister?” she asked Louis as soon as the door to the hackney was opened.

“She is inside the house,” the man behind Louis said. “She will be allowed to leave as soon as you are inside.”

“No.” Harriet shook her head even as she began sliding out of the carriage. “She must come out before I go in.”

The man’s replying laugh was as icy as a winter’s day. “I do not think a lady with her hands and feet tied is in a position to negotiate with me.” He threw her over his shoulder and grunted. “You are not a slight thing, are you?”

“Are you the man who killed my brother for his watch?” she asked.

Richard quietly exited the carriage through the door on the opposite side as Louis closed the door through which Harriet had gone.

“No. I keep track of the ladies like you.”

Richard heard a thwack.

“I will thank you not to hit my person,” Harriet cried.

“I will hit what I want to hit,” the man said. “Especially when you are asking questions about things that are none of your business. I will remind you only this once that you belong to me now.” 

“Oh, I will not be with you long. My brother and his friend will find you. They are both very good shots you know.”

Again, Richard heard that cold laugh.

“But will they find you?” he asked.

Richard sneered at the back of the man holding Harriet. They did not even have a need to find her. He was here, and Edmund was close by.

“Before we go in, call my sister to the door.”

Louis had stepped between the door and the man they were here to capture.

“One goes in while the other comes out,” he added.

The man cursed. “If it will get rid of you sooner and get her in the house faster, then, open the door.”

Louis obliged.

“Carrick bring the girl,” he called.

“You could put me down while we wait,” Harriet suggested. Her head was up, and she was looking around until she saw Richard standing near the head of the horse attached to the carriage. She gave him a nod. “It cannot be good for your shoulder to be holding me like this. I hear that aches and pains mend less quickly as a man ages.”

Richard could see that Harriet’s hands were free. A few shakes of her feet and the loosely tied rope at her feet would also fall away. She touched her hat as the man grumbled his reply.

“I am not old, and you are not running away. You are mine.”

Her hat fell to the ground.

“How would I run with a rope around my feet?”

“I will not take the chance. You are needed.”

“For what am I needed?”

“For what do you think?” the man replied.

“I am sure I do not know.” That was a blatant lie. Harriet knew far more about what this man was involved in than any proper young lady should.

“For pleasure, of course,” the man answered.

Harriet’s gasp in reply to this was louder than normal. It was a sure sign she was acting the part of a naive lady.

Carrick was at the door with a young maid. My, she was a little thing. Likely younger than her brother Louis, who now had her wrapped in his arms.

“Get out of the way so I can go in,” the man grumbled.

Richard sprang into action as Louis, with his arms still wrapped around his sister, hurried away from the door.

“I think I would like to join you,” Richard said as he bounded up the steps and pushed his way into the house ahead of Harriet. “Put her down.”

“Get out of my way. Carrick!”

Behind him, Richard heard the unmistakable sound of a pistol being made ready to shoot. “I have only to duck or step to the side and you’ll kill your own man. Indeed, at this range, the bullet might go through me and into him.”  He grabbed the guy holding Harriet and pulled him close. “Put her down.”

He pushed Richard away. “She’s mine.”

“No, she is not,” Harriet said right before the man holding her cried out and dropped her.

“My back!” He shouted as he spun around.

Harriet scooted away and freed her legs.

“What did you do to me?” he lunged toward Harriet.

Richard pushed him backward, causing him to fall down the steps.

“I have him,” Jimmy said as he jumped down from his horse. “Go get the others. Lillesley and the rest should be in there already.”

Harriet handed the rope from her feet to Jimmy. “Go,” she said to Richard. “I will stay right here.”

“Promise me?”

“I promise.” She handed him a slightly bloody hat pin. “I case you need it.” He smiled. She would always try to keep him safe, would she not?

“I will make sure nothing happens to her,” Louis added from the door to the hack where his sister was now safely stowed.

And with that assurance, Richard entered the house.

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