(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 4 (part 1)
The carriage rattled to a stop in the courtyard of a familiar inn. It was the one where Harriet and her brother always stopped for an extended period when traveling from their estate to town or from town to their estate. In fact, it was the same inn at which she had stopped with Andrew and her father and mother when they were alive.
“That bench between the inn and the stables,” Richard whispered in Harriet’s ear, “is where Edmund met Elizabeth.”
Harriet smiled. That was her favourite place to sit with a sandwich on nice days when they stopped – Edmund enjoyed it as well. Yes, it smelled a bit of horses out here, but the tree lent a nice bit of shade when its leaves were still attached to its limbs, and the noise of horses, carriages, and the people who worked with them was preferable to the din that could grow quite raucous indoors.
“Are we taking a full half hour?” Richard asked Julian.
“Do you need it, dear?” Julian asked Samantha.
“Oh my, I would love a day and a half,” she replied as she rubbed her back. “I doubt a half hour would be any better than a quarter hour.” She smiled at Harriet.
“Do not rush on my account,” Harriet said. “I posted my message to Edmund at the last inn. It is well on its way to informing him to be careful.” She turned to Richard. “We will take the full half hour and a private room.”
“Does that meet with your approval?” Richard asked Julian.
Julian laughed. “I dare say it must if Harriet has decreed it to be necessary. She does know her sister well. Samantha would press on without a stop at all if she could.”
“This is true,” Samantha agreed. “I do not enjoy travelling overly much. To be certain, the scenery is lovely, but the constant bumping along the road does make one grow weary. And in my current state, I find it makes me twice as weary.” She punctuated this with a small pat of her belly. “Harriet is likely wise to force me to take some time away from the carriage.” She sighed. “I am just anxious to see Edmund with my own eyes.”
“I still cannot believe that you have been involved in an intrigue that is attached to dangerous people.” This was not the first time Julian had scolded Harriet with a severe look as he had said something similar.
“I was perfectly safe,” Samantha replied. “And Harriet will do her best to keep herself safe, because if she does not, she will never get to marry her colonel.”
Richard chuckled at that just as he had each time Samantha had said the same thing in reply to Julian’s scolding.
“I promised Richard I would be careful,” Harriet replied as always. “And I would never lie to him. Nor would I do anything to put my sister in danger.”
“Not purposefully,” Julian grumbled.
Harriet sighed.
“No one is going to be in danger,” Richard said as he helped Harriet out of the carriage. “Edmund will be warned in time.”
He had taken Harriet’s troubling thought about Edmund being led into a trap with great seriousness. It was he who had decided that they needed to apprise Samantha and Julian about some of the details of their investigation. The results of doing so had been beneficial, since it had helped them start their journey earlier than originally planned, for both Samantha and Julian were anxious to be certain that Edmund was safe.
Together, the four of them entered the inn, and after a few minutes of waiting, were escorted to a private room. It was less than five minutes later that a tea service was set out for them.
Their half hour had stretched to thirty-five minutes before Richard suggested that he and Harriet take a stroll of the yard before they re-entered the carriage.
And that was how they came to be almost to Harriet’s favourite bench when Samuels rode into the courtyard to request a new horse.
“He is alone again,” Harriet said, while Richard lifted a hand in greeting to draw the man’s attention to them. Thankfully, the gesture worked and neither of them would have to hire a horse to ride after him to discover why he was here instead of in town. Or more precisely, Richard would not have to hire a horse. Because Harriet would insist upon riding after him, and Richard would insist that he was the one to do it.
“Colonel, Miss Phillips,” Samuels said as he approached them. “Are you headed to town? Lillesley mentioned you would be returning early to prepare for your wedding.” He added a wink to his words to indicate he knew precisely why they were travelling.
“Have you seen my brother recently?” Harriet asked as one might when coming upon a common acquaintance. It would not draw any undue attention, despite the fact that her curiosity was spurred by more than it being just a socially accepted nicety.
Samuels nodded. “I was at Lillesley house just yesterday.”
“And he was well?” Harriet pressed.
Worry filled the man’s eyes. “He seemed to be. Is there a reason he might not be?” He glanced to the right for a moment before turning his attention to their left.
Harriet followed his gaze in both directions. No one was within hearing distance.
“Have you learned something?” Samuels asked.
“Nothing that I am sure you do not already know,” Harriet replied.
“[name] has a connection to Wickham,” Richard added softly. “I do not know if Lillesley knows that.”
Harriet’s mouth popped open on a small gasp. “That is important, is it not?” she said to herself more than the men with her.
“It is,” Samuels agreed. He shook his head as his cheeks puffed out and then, he expelled a breath. “Even more so now,” he added.
Nervous butterflies began a jig in Harriet’s belly. “Why do you say even more so now?”
Samuels knocked his hat against his leg, as if he were trying to rid it of dirt from the road. “He is why I am here.” He looked very much like he did not want to admit anything further, but he did. “No one of our lot has seen him in two days.”
