A Loving Family by Dilly Court

Author:Dilly Court [Dilly Court]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2013-11-07T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

‘YOU MARRIED GERVASE Rivenhall?’ Stella could hardly believe her ears. ‘Why?’

‘I had no choice,’ Jacinta said sleepily. ‘He made it impossible for me to refuse.’

‘But that’s ridiculous.’ Stella hesitated, hardly daring to state the obvious. ‘I mean, he’s a gentleman and . . .’ She broke off, not wanting to offend her mother.

‘He married me to prevent me from testifying against him in court. I had no choice.’ Jacinta closed her eyes and slept.

‘Don’t that beat all?’ Spike said, shaking his head. ‘Your ma is lady of the manor or something like that.’

Stella perched on the edge of the bed. ‘This is unbelievable. We’re in a living nightmare. She’s tied to that dreadful man by marriage.’ She squared her shoulders. ‘But it stops here. I’m not going to allow Gervase Rivenhall to ruin all our lives.’

‘What will you do, miss?’

‘I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something. Get some sleep, Spike. We’ll need all our wits about us in the morning when Rivenhall’s men come looking for us.’

‘I saved you some bread and cheese,’ Spike said, eyeing the food hopefully.

‘I’m not hungry. You’d better finish it up.’

When they settled down to sleep she lay beside her mother staring at the undulating shadows on the roughly hewn roof of the cavern. The fire had all but gone out and she was tempted to get up and riddle the embers, but suddenly an idea came to her. She closed her eyes. She must sleep and wake early to put the plan that was forming in her brain into action.

‘The chimney is wide enough,’ Stella said as she knelt before the empty grate, peering upwards into the circle of blue sky. ‘This must have been a ventilation shaft when the caves were excavated hundreds of years ago.’

‘I ain’t a sweep’s boy,’ Spike said nervously. ‘Me crooked legs won’t take me up there, miss.’

She sat back on her haunches. ‘No, I know that, Spike. Take off your breeches. We’re going to swop clothes and I’m going to try and climb up the chimney to get help.’

‘Take off me trousers? Never.’

She scrambled to her feet. ‘You can wrap a blanket round you or wear my skirt. I don’t care which, but I can’t climb in petticoats and we’re about the same size.’

He backed away from her. ‘I can’t wear a skirt, miss. Don’t make me.’

‘Do you want to get out of here alive, or do you want those bad men to roast you on a spit like a suckling pig?’

His green eyes widened in horror. ‘They’d never do that.’

‘We’re not going to wait to find out.’ She held out her hand. ‘Are you going to take them off, or do I have to undress you like a baby?’

The jagged flints cut into her hands and knees as she edged upwards, coughing as the dislodged soot burned her eyes and throat, but she was determined to escape. She had left Spike hunched up on the end of her mother’s bed with a blanket wrapped around his lower limbs.

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