ESP 16

chapter 16

Of course Brionie had no intention of living up to her father’s expectations.

Her father didn’t like the olive-colored dress she wore, but she liked it because it held a special memory. It was the dress Keith had given her, saying she should change into it when her clothes got wet on the boat during their honeymoon.

“This color suits your eyes….”

On that trip he had looked uncomfortable the whole time, but at least he gave her the polite words she wanted to hear. Myrtle had been excited, too, insisting the dress was very fashionable.

“Madam, this sophisticated shade is all the rage in society these days. They call it an ‘ethnic’ style.”

The dress was practical as well. It had a small pocket sewn into the skirt hem, and Brionie had hidden a piece of bread in that pocket. She sat on the bed and slowly nibbled the bread to stanch her hunger.

Her cheek still tingled where her father had struck her. But she didn’t cry, and she wouldn’t look into the mirror to see how miserable she looked — that would be exactly what her father wanted.

After finishing the bread, she went to the wardrobe and pulled out a few things: the pouch with all her jewelry and cash, a coat, gloves, a hat, and her outing clothes. She packed them neatly into a large bag and then took down the riding habit hanging in the corner of the wardrobe to change into.

When her preparations were complete, Brionie lay down on the bed to rest. Well — she tried to, but her whole body still trembled and she couldn’t calm herself. She took deep breaths by habit, but the words she’d heard from Gideon kept intruding and her breathing lost its rhythm.

“You act just like your mother.”

“So proud of yourself, looking down on me.”

“What you should do is pick the best suitor at the ball and leave my house quickly.”

…And Lord Weardale’s words, too.

“The hyenas sniffing for dowries will be flocking to Shobury to propose to you before long. If you don’t want to be the centre of gossip any longer, you’d be better off marrying someone with a title and influence like me.”

“Is that so? Is marrying someone else the only thing I can do right now?”

“I’ve been divorced less than a month…?”

She opened the jewelry pouch by her bedside and took out one item: the wedding ring Keith had given her. She had worn it up until the morning she left Ebony. On the way to Shobury, Myrtle had awkwardly pointed it out, so she had reluctantly taken it off and tucked it away. Perhaps the day might come when even this would need to be sold. If she didn’t want that, she would have to follow Lord Weardale’s advice.

Lost in these thoughts, she almost missed the sound.

Tap.

Tap-tap.

Something was knocking on the window. Bolting upright, Brionie ran to the sill. Below, a familiar face stared up at her, eyes full of concern, clutching a handful of pebbles.

“Mi’ad—”

“Shh.”

Brionie hushed Myrtle before she could speak and mouthed the words.

“Sa-da-ri-is-nee-dee-d.”

Myrtle was quick to catch on. She must have already figured out what her mistress intended. But that late at night, Myrtle couldn’t fetch a ladder or the gardener alone. Brionie fished a gold coin from the pocket she had prepared.

Myrtle’s eyes widened when she caught the coin wrapped in the handkerchief Brionie tossed. Brionie stuck her hand out the window and pointed in a direction: the back of Thiery Haven, toward the stables. As with other noble houses, the Arlingtons kept someone on duty in the stables around the clock in case someone had to leave in a hurry at night.

Myrtle nodded and ran toward the stables.

Brionie’s room lay at the eastern end of the second floor; Sir Gideon Arlington’s room was at the far end of the added southern wing. In other words, her father could not see what she was about to do. It was almost a mercy that he preferred to avoid seeing his daughter so often that she had the furthest room in the house. If he had been in the study on the third floor, she silently hoped he wouldn’t look out of the window for nothing.

A few minutes later, Myrtle returned with a burly man bearing a ladder — a rare male servant in Thiery Haven, the ostler.

He, too, was astonished to see Brionie. Myrtle quickly whispered something to him while handing over the gold coin. He glanced between the coin and “the young lady,” then seemed to decide and set the ladder against the wall. As he began to climb, Brionie waved him off.

She could climb a ladder by herself. It was one of the things she had learned while living at Ebony Heights.

When a neighbour’s farmyard hen scrambled onto the roof of a nearby house while only a frail old woman was home and the male servants from Ebony Heights had all gone out to repair a bridge, Keith had gone out to help. Brionie had followed, and while he climbed the ladder, she held it from below. Soon Keith appeared on the roof carrying the white hen.

“Brionie, come up a moment. The sunset’s a show right now.”

After safely lowering the hen, he helped Brionie up the ladder. She doesn’t actually remember how the sunset looked, but she remembered Keith’s earnestness — how he would never hesitate to come to help even for such a trivial request from a tenant’s wife — and the careful way he steadied her on the ladder so she wouldn’t fall. Those small, attentive memories lingered longer in her heart than any number of sunsets: the feel of his hand brushing the back of her hand as they looked at the sky.

Brionie dropped the bag she had prepared down from the window, then climbed down the ladder herself. The ostler fretted, not so much for her safety as for the consequences he would face if something went wrong.

“Um — Miss Brionie, whatever this is for—”

“Get me a gentle mare that two women can ride. I’ll give you another gold coin if it goes well.”

A gold coin was more than most servants earned in ten days. Yet the ostler hesitated — he wasn’t a fool; he could see Brionie intended to leave the house on a horse, and a horse’s value far exceeded a single gold coin.

Brionie reassured him.

“I’ll leave the horse at the public stables in Shobury. You can drop it off there and I’ll collect it early tomorrow morning.”

“But if the master finds out—”

“He won’t like what I’m doing right now either.”

Faced with her threat, the ostler had no choice and led them toward the stables. As they walked close to the mansion wall, Brionie whispered to Myrtle.

“Myrtle, I’m going far from now on. If you think it’ll be too hard, you don’t have to come with me.”

“What kind of life would I have here without you, Miss?”

After a brief pause Myrtle added, “…If you can afford to employ me, please take me with you.”

“You’re one I can manage to look after.”

“I thought you might say that, so I wore my coat in advance.”

The two women clasped hands tightly.

The ostler brought out a gentle brown mare saddled and ready. Brionie stroked the horse’s mane. Gideon had not shown her much affection as a daughter, but he had made sure she learned every accomplishment a future lady should possess. Riding was one such accomplishment.

“Myrtle, you just hold the reins tight and sit still.”

“How far will we ride…?”

Myrtle asked suspiciously, but fell silent when she noticed the ostler nearby listening. Brionie gave the ostler one more instruction.

“We’ll go out the back gate. Open it up for us ahead of time. Close it after we’ve left.”

“Miss, this is dangerous. The mare’s well-trained, but the road is so dark and the back gate path is steep.”

“We won’t race.”

“But what if someone sees you riding out? I’m responsible for Sir Gideon Arlington’s horses.”

He had a point. If he helped for the sake of two gold coins and then lost his job, that would be a hefty loss.

“Then say you had no choice but to obey me,” Brionie said.

“But the master—”

Brionie glanced quickly around. From a spot where tools for caring for the horses hung on the stable wall, she took down a heavy pitchfork and raised it high. The ostler backed up in alarm.

“Miss, that’s dangerous. You’ll strike me.”

“If you don’t give the horse, say I threatened you with this and that’s why you gave it to me.”

The pitchfork was heavy — too heavy to hold aloft for long — but it didn’t take much strength to brandish it to threaten. Brionie’s resolve was firm. If they wasted any more time and Harold or Gideon discovered them, everything would be ruined; she would get that horse even if it meant knocking the ostler out.

The ostler stammered.

“…You don’t actually intend to strike me with that, do you?”

“A scratch here won’t kill you.”

“But an infection would make it quite painful.”

Myrtle chimed in. Myrtle was the clever daughter of Shobury’s only physician. The ostler, therefore, had no choice but to comply with Miss’s demand.

“Please make sure you leave the horse at the public stables. Do not injure it.”

“I won’t harm so much as a hair.”

Brionie stepped on the hand the ostler held and mounted the stirrup. Myrtle clambered up precariously behind. Brionie’s riding skills were average, but a ten-minute canter wouldn’t be hard.

When the two horses reached the shaded path and arrived at the back gate of Thiery Haven, Myrtle whispered softly.

“Miss, if you leave now, you may never be able to come back.”

She meant that Brionie should take one last look at the place where she had spent her childhood. But Brionie did not look back.

This place was a home that wasn’t a home — the place where she had spent an almost unhappy childhood. She had lived there for nearly twenty years with the only blood relative she had, her father, yet he had been worse than a stranger to her.

When she had left Thiery Haven before, though she was going to marry a strange man for the dowry, there had been a sense of relief in knowing she would never have to return. But now her future was utterly uncertain, and she had to flee the Arlingtons as if running away, unable to assert whatever rights she might have had.

“I won’t come back until my father’s dead,” she declared.