Once they’d settled the children, Helga, and Bruno in the back with the bags and cases stacked around them, Diana allowed Toby to help her up to the bench seat. She sat and glanced at the children. From their comments and the excitement in their voices, they viewed the entire morning thus far as one huge adventure—thrilling, fascinating, and not frightening at all.
The cart dipped as Toby climbed up beside her. He flashed her a confident smile, sat, picked up the reins, and set the horse plodding.
The cart rolled surprisingly smoothly along, and soon, Bergamo had vanished behind them. Diana surveyed the rural landscape—the fields full of ripening grain, the orchards with heavily laden trees, the lavender-hued hills rising to the north, the very few cottages and farms, and the complete lack of people visible from the road.
Lifting her face to the slight breeze, she murmured, “I take it this is your ruse to leave our pursuers guessing.”
“Hmm. With luck, they won’t realize we’re no longer on the train until they reach Milan. Then they’ll have to backtrack, which will mean waiting for the next train in the opposite direction. It’ll be evening at least before they return to Bergamo. They’ll pick up our trail at the station—difficult to get off an empty platform without being noticed—but from the central square onward, it’ll be much harder to divine which way we’ve gone.” Toby briefly met her eyes. “I’m fairly certain no one saw us when we turned down the street to the taverna or when we went inside.”
“And even if someone did, the people at the taverna will deny they’ve ever set eyes on you.”
He grinned. “Just so. And that’s the reason for the cart. Whoever comes chasing us will ask all around about carriages hired and carriages seen leaving the town. But no one will ask about farm carts, and in places like this, the locals never volunteer information, not of their own accord.”
She nodded. “And as our pursuers willneverimagine us taking to a cart, they definitely won’t ask about that.”
So we’re safe, at least for the moment.She didn’t tempt Fate by saying the words aloud.
After a mile of rocking along country lanes, she asked, “So, where are we going?”
He glanced briefly at her, then returned his gaze to the horse. “There’s a place I know where we’ll be as safe as we can possibly be while our pursuers search, then finally move on. Once we’re sure they’ve passed us by and have moved farther west to look for us closer to England, we’ll take to the road again and make our way to a port on the Mediterranean where we can board a British ship bound for home.”
She considered that plan and decided there was nothing about it with which she disagreed.
Lying low for a while, like a fox in a den, sounded like an excellent idea.
CHAPTER9
Noon came and went. Diana sat beside Toby as the heavy-boned horse that the children had named Henry plodded on.
About an hour after they’d left Bergamo, Toby had halted in a small village where a market was in full swing. They’d bought pastries filled with savory meat and flakier ones filled with cheese and had drunk yet more lemonade.
Diana was grateful for the straw hat Toby had bought her. He’d bought one for each of them, along with two large waterskins, after which the children had happily climbed back into the cart, and they’d set off again.
Rolling ponderously through the countryside.
Toby slowed the horse with a croon, and Diana clutched the seat as he turned the beast left, down yet another country lane. Although he’d been tacking this way and that, judging by the position of the sun and the distant mountains to their right, overall, they’d been steadily heading west.
As Henry continued plodding along the lane, she swiveled on the seat and looked into the cart’s bed.
The children were napping, as were Helga and Bruno.
Diana rather envied them but remained where she was. After several moments, she faced forward and quietly asked, “Will we reach your safe place tonight?”
Toby shook his head. “We’ll need to spend one night on the road, but we should reach there tomorrow.”
She debated asking him where “there” was, but decided that if he wanted to be mysterious, she could play a game of guessing, both with herself and, later, with the children.
So she sat and watched the countryside slide by as they rocked and rolled along.
* * *
In midafternoon,Toby steered the cart horse—Henry—into the small village of Cantu. It had been years since he’d traveled this route, but he hadn’t forgotten the best places to stay.
He slowed Henry to a pace that was barely more than a snail’s and glanced back at the children. Alerted by the slower clop of Henry’s hooves, they stirred and blinked, then on realizing they were, in fact, in a village, they sat up, rubbed their eyes, and looked around hopefully.
Facing forward, Toby caught Diana’s eye. “We’re far enough along our road, and this is a good place to stop for the night.”
Diana nodded, feeling distinctly relieved. She was so stiff, and she’d been fearing an outbreak of grumbling from the children once they woke. Instead, having heard Toby’s pronouncement, they were looking about eagerly.
