The Mystery of the Missing Heiress by Riana Everly

Author:Riana Everly [Everly, Riana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781777150440
Publisher: Bay Crest Press
Published: 2020-08-28T20:00:00+00:00

Seven ~ The Journey

The next morning Darcy’s carriage rolled out of London, heading eastward towards Margate. Darcy sat facing forward, watching the world pass by the coach’s windows. Facing him were his cousin Richard and Alexander Lyons, the former staring at the flask of coffee and basket of baked goods at his feet, the latter alternately gazing at the passing scenery and scanning his book of notes. Every now and then he would utter some incomprehensible comment, then apologise and return to his musings until his next exclamation.

Darcy hoped the man had the right destination. One did not undertake a journey of nearly eighty miles on a guess. But Lyons had seemed convinced, and Darcy was willing to do whatever was necessary to find his sister and bring her home to safety.

The man’s argument had been simple: he had seen a name written in Mr. Garrick’s ledger that struck him as being exactly Mrs. Younge’s handwriting. The name the writer had used was Mrs. Frederica Newman. In the section for notes beside this name Mr. Garrick had written, ‘coast; Margate, Ramsgate.’ These, presumably, were the areas in which the person had expressed an interest in visiting. Margate was five miles closer to London than was Ramsgate; therefore, they would begin their search there.

There would be a great deal of time to ruminate on this decision. The journey would take the better part of two days; more, since Lyons had requested a short detour to visit the town of Pugsmuir where Miss Wood had grown up. The town was a mere two miles from the main road. They must stop somewhere to rest the horses and take their refreshments, and Pugsmuir would do as well as anywhere. Lyons insisted he needed only to have a few words with the parson and drop off two or three letters. There seemed little reason to refuse this request.

And so Darcy settled himself into his seat and tried to enjoy the journey.

He had been dreading the trip. Eighty miles—two days—trapped in a carriage heading off to heavens knew where in search of a chimera. Was Georgiana really in Margate? Or had Lyons been mistaken at the name? And even if it was Mrs. Younge’s writing, might she have changed her mind about where to travel? Had they even been at the correct place to ask after her? An indentation on a sheet of paper was hardly a firm piece of evidence on which to base an entire investigation, and yet it was all they had. He was a man given to sober second thought and careful determination. But suddenly, here he was, rushing across England on an instinct. Deep inside him, a very small part of his being revelled in the spontaneity of it all.

More to his surprise, the journey was not at all unpleasant. The weather remained fresh, the countryside beautiful, and his two travelling companions were excellent company. No time spent with Richard was wasted, and Lyons grew on him more and more with each passing mile.

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