“My horse and cart were sold when my sister married.A draft horse, a bay Clydesdale, fourteen hands, and a four-wheeler with a fixed axle.I’d like to know what became of them.”
“Mr Penwick has said nothing to me about this.”
Jed’s heart sank.
“Can’t you just tell me what happened to my horse and cart, sir?You must have it wrote down in one of your books here.”Surely one of the incomprehensible rows of black-inked loops and lines must hold Bess’s fate.
“No doubt we do, yes.”He made no move to open any of the ledgers.“I’m afraid I can’t be of any use to you, my good man.If I had received word from Mr Penwick, or if you had a letter from him, it would be a different matter.But as things stand—”
Jed gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay polite.“I beg you to reconsider, sir.It would be a great kindness on your part.”
“I won’t take up any more of your time.”Mr Morgan rang a little bell.“My housemaid will show you out.”
With difficulty, Jed swallowed the angry retorts that rose to his lips.He needed to keep in this fellow’s good graces.
Reluctantly, he stood up.“If you should change your mind, sir, you can find me at—” But he was unwilling to give out his exact whereabouts.Instead, he named an inn whose landlord he was acquainted with from his younger days.“A letter left at the Royal Oak on the Taunton road will find me.”
Mr Morgan’s expression said that he was highly unlikely to be making use of that information.
“This way,” said the housemaid, gesturing at the door to the street.
Chapter Nine
Mrs Drake’s yard was the largest and busiest in Barnstaple.Jed, who had never aspired to own more than one cart, took a certain jaundiced interest in seeing up close the operation of such a big yard, with its strings of packhorses, three long waggons, and diverse carts.He might almost have enjoyed the experience—had he been a visitor and not a hired man.
“You’re late,” the head yardman said when Jed and Norris returned from Heasley Mill.“Stopped for a drink, did you?”
Jed bit down an angry retort.But Norris only shrugged.“Where do you want these reams?”
Once the rolls of cloth had been unloaded and counted, and the horses stabled, Jed went in search of Solomon.He found him in the tack room, hanging up harness.Bill was there too.
“—come on, I’ll bet you have a story or two in you,” he was saying to Solomon as Jed came in.“Left London in a hurry, from what I hear at the Boar?”He winked at the two grooms who sat polishing tack on a nearby bench.
Solomon gave Bill a broad, toothy smile quite unlike the little half-smile he usually bestowed on Jed.“You shouldn’t credit everything you hear,” he said easily, but Jed could see the tension in his jaw muscles.
“So who were you running from, eh?”Bill persisted.“An angry father or an angry husband?”
The two grooms sniggered.
Bill was holding one of the large, soft rags used for drying off the horses.Jed eyed it thoughtfully, then raised his voice.“That you as left the mare with the wet legs outside, Bill?Funny way to treat the beast.”
Bill scowled, but he did turn and leave the room.Solomon flashed Jed a little smile of greeting—his real smile, not the grimace he’d given Bill.
“You nearly done here?”Jed said, stepping forward to help Solomon hang up the last of the collars.They left the tack room together.
“Thanks,” Solomon said once they were outside in the yard.Bill had already led his horse away to the stables, and they were alone.“I suppose it’s only natural that he should be curious—as you too must be.Every other man in the yard but Wallace and me must have been born and raised within thirty miles of here.”
Jed was indeed damned curious; that was no lie.But it had not escaped him that Solomon didn’t like to talk about it.“None of my business,” he said.
Solomon gave him a look, but said only, “Did you manage to see Penwick’s agent?”
“Yes, much good that it did me.”Briefly, he told Solomon what Mr Morgan had said.
“I’m sorry, Jed.That’s a hard blow.”
“Hah, you’ve said it!I would have liked to punch that sour old bugger right in his sour old face.”Oddly enough, though, the worst of his anger had dissipated now that he had told Solomon about it.
“So what are you going to do?”
