Saratoga by David Garland

Author:David Garland [Garland, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David Garland
Published: 2005-06-04T04:00:00+00:00

"Do you know where Captain Skoyles is?" asked Elizabeth Rainham.

"On his way to Fort Anne."

She was dismayed. "Fort Anne? Is he involved in an attack?"

"No, Miss Rainham," said Tom Caffrey jocularly. "Jamie Skoyles is a brave man but even he wouldn't consider an attack when there are only two of them. He's on a scouting expedition."

"Oh, I see."

"Is there any message I can give him?"

It had taken Elizabeth a few days to recover from the events at Bitter Creek and to realize just how much she owed to Jamie Skoyles. Since her return to Skenesborough, she had been monopolized by Harry Featherstone and therefore unable to make contact with Skoyles. She felt guilty that she had not been able to express her gratitude properly and, with Nan Wyatt beside her, had come in search of him. Caffrey had met the two women outside Skoyles's tent.

"You might give him this," said Elizabeth, handing over a letter. "I was going to leave it in the captain's tent."

"I'll make sure that he gets it."

"When do you expect him back, Sergeant?"

"Impossible to say."

"I'll hope to catch him another time."

"Jamie will be delighted to hear that, Miss Rainham," said Caffrey, beaming. "May I ask how you're feeling now?"

"Much better, thank you."

"What happened at Bitter Creek was very upsetting for you."

"It taught me an important lesson," said Elizabeth seriously. "It was very naïve of me to treat a military campaign as if it were a pleasant excursion. I know better now."

"Stay in the camp where it's safe, ma'am," cautioned Nan.

"Oh, I will."

"Leave the soldiering to trained soldiers. I'd never have dared to ride off the way that you did." She turned to Caffrey. "I daresay that Polly takes the same view as me."

"She does," he agreed. "Polly knows how treacherous our enemies can be. She wouldn't venture outside the camp."

Elizabeth felt a twinge of remorse at the mention of Polly Bragg. She had been told to ensure that Nan Wyatt spurned the other woman in future but she had deliberately refrained from doing so. For one thing, she did not like being given orders, even if they came from Harry Featherstone. But the main reason she had disobeyed him was that the friendship between Nan and Polly was indirectly valuable to her. While the latter was primed to pick up any gossip about Elizabeth, her maid always brought back snippets of information about Jamie Skoyles. And Elizabeth had started to take an obsessive interest in him.

"Thank you, Sergeant Caffrey," she said. "We'll not detain you."

"No," Nan added. "I know that you and the other surgeons are always busy. Polly tells me that you're on duty twenty-four hours a day."

"It feels much longer than that somehow," he said.

"You must have so many thankful patients."

"They thank me best by staying alive."

"Do you ever get time to sleep?" asked Elizabeth.

"Sleep?" He laughed drily. "That's not part of my army rations, I'm afraid. I wish it was."

"You knew Captain Skoyles when he was in the ranks, I believe?"

"That's correct, Miss Rainham," he said cheerily.

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