“Nae like them.” Gerard shook his head. “I want to do me business undisturbed. At the moment, everyone looks at me. They’re suspicious. They whisper. I’d like to just able to disappear in the crowd so I nay longer draw attention to meself. Ye should have seen the way they all stared at me when I first turned up at an assembly.”
“I was there that night,” Jeffrey said, still smiling. “I did see it, and yes, it can’t have been nice to be on the receiving end of it, but I also think there’s no bad thing in breaking the mold.”
“How do ye mean?” Gerard asked, pausing with his tankard as another fight broke out across the tavern. They both looked toward it, surprised to see that a solicitor, dressed quite finely, was one of the men now in the brawl.
“Men come in all forms.” Jeffrey prodded a thumb in the direction of the solicitor, clearly in emphasis. “You do not have to be a complete mirror image of the duke that comes before or after you. That is a dull way to live, surely?”
“Well, I agree with ye there.” Gerard smiled and nodded, thinking of what he had said to Charlotte about her wish to find a quiet and polite gentleman would surely bore her.
She surely deep down wants someone that is nae so dull… right?
A feeling curled in his gut at the thought of her, one that was difficult to identify.
Is that envy? Envy for who she is spendin’ her time with right now?
He took a big gulp from his tankard.
“Here, stay hidden,” Charlotte urged, pulling the cloak up tighter around Frederica’s head. She passed the small portmanteau Frederica had borrowed from her, as they huddled together in the darkness outside the coaching inn.
“This is too awful,” Frederica murmured, looking down at the bag in her grasp. “To have to take your things because I cannot risk going back to my own home –”
“Do not think of that now,” Charlotte pleaded and turned to look up and down the cobbled street.
They were nestled under the archway of the dark coaching inn. It was far from being the most popular inn, but rather on the edge of the city center. A short distance away was a tavern, and judging by the sounds coming from within, it was home to many drunkards. Charlotte glanced nervously at the candles in the windows, before looking out for the coach again.
“What time did you say it was leaving?” Frederica asked.
“Midnight.” Charlotte took the pocket watch she had borrowed from Harry out of her reticule and checked the time. “There is not long to go now. It must be nearly here.”
A little further down the street there was a tiny huddle of other people clearly hoping to get on the coach. They were not poshlydressed, but more in rags, a testament to the cheapness of the coach.
That morning, when Charlotte had discovered the coach when she had come to make enquiries with the help of the butler, she had decided such a coach was best. To use an expensive stagecoach ran the risk of her father making enquiries and discovering where she had gone.
“When you reach Cornwall, will you send word to me?” Charlotte pleaded. “It does not have to be a long letter but let me know you are there safe and sound.” She helped Frederica thread a reticule around her wrist. “I shall worry about you until I hear news.”
“Yes, of course.” Frederica nodded, craning her neck to look up and down the street. “Charlotte, if it is discovered you helped me…” She faltered, grimacing.
“What can your father or this hound of a man who has pursued you so do to me?” Charlotte shrugged.
“Tear your name into shreds,” Frederica reminded her in full seriousness.
Charlotte shuddered and looked down. It struck her just how much she was risking, not only her own name but her family’s position, too. She had thought for so long now that if she could marry well, at least the money would help restore her father’s fortune. Yet if she became a fallen woman, her name dragged in the scandal sheets, she would undoubtedly remain a spinster forever.
“No one will discover what I have done,” Charlotte said with urgency just as the sound of horses’ hooves neared their ears. “Come, that must be the coach.”
They turned to see the large carriage pull up. It was being dragged by four horses, a poor and old, thick vehicle, that looked rather rickety and unsafe on its tall wheels. Frederica made a small squeaking sound and stepped back.
“If there was another way, I would have taken it,” Charlotte whispered to her.
“I know you would.” Frederica smiled sadly at her. “You have risked much for me. It is now time to take my own risk.”
They smiled bravely at one another.
Others from the huddle made their way onto the coach as it came to a stop, each presenting small paper tickets in turn. Charlotte took Frederica’s hand and together they stepped out from the cover beneath the archway, crossing the road close to the tavern. Frederica joined the back of the queue as Charlotte stood beside her.
“Stay safe,” Charlotte pleaded. “You have the food I gave you?”
“Yes, I do.” Frederica patted the portmanteau. “Are you sure your parents will not discover I have been there?”
