Serpent in the Garden by Janet Gleeson

Author:Janet Gleeson [Gleeson, Janet]
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2009-09-28T19:28:34+00:00

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Chapter Twenty-eight

JOSHUA WAS POISED to broach the subject of Arthur Manning when he heard the slow clopping of hooves and creaking of wheels behind him.

A gig driven by a scruffy urchin wearing no shoes and clothed in the grimiest rags approached from the direction of the town. The vehicle was drawn by a moth-eaten bay, its shaggy coat clogged with dust, and myriad flies causing it to twitch with annoyance. What struck Joshua most about the vehicle, however, was not its sorry horse nor its pathetic driver, but the single passenger.

It was Bridget Quick, his landlady’s daughter. She was clad in a muslin-sprigged gown; her hair was nicely curled beneath a straw bonnet trimmed with roses and forget-me-nots; her cheeks were pink as carnations and her eyes shone. She looked more enticing than ever—as sweet and wholesome as a ripe plum.

“Why, Bridget, how well you look!” Joshua stammered.

“Joshua Pope! Is it you? What a fright you gave me!” she exclaimed. He knew he looked more hideous than the most revolting ruffian she had ever seen in the gutter of a London street.

“Yes, Bridget, it is I.”

“Then you must be expecting me. I sent a letter to you soon after Mr. Bentnick’s visit. Since you weren’t there to meet me, I did what I said and decided to make my way to the house. Perhaps I should not have come without waiting to hear from you. What a state you are in. What on earth have you done to yourself ?”

He was relieved that Bridget expressed concern rather than revulsion. “Forgive me, Bridget. I have met with a misadventure. I have been knocked unconscious and tied up, and I only narrowly escaped with my life.” Why not embellish a little? he thought. “And with all this drama I quite forgot that I had intended to be at the Star and Garter to meet you.”

“I see,” she said. “Then perhaps I can assist in some way? Otherwise I should turn back to London immediately.”

A flood of disappointment enveloped Joshua. He had intended the catalogue of woes to elicit sympathy, not make her run away. After all he had endured, how pleasant it would be to have an hour or two in Bridget’s company without fear of apprehension from her gorgon of a mother. Suddenly none of the pressing matters of Sabine’s necklace, Hoare’s death, and his own reputation seemed so urgent.

“No, Bridget, forgive me for greeting you like this. But the wounds are superficial, and you cannot leave when you have only just arrived. Let us proceed to Astley. I will attend to myself and then we will take a stroll on the hill.”

The temptation of seeing Astley seemed to tip the balance. “I have heard Astley’s gardens are most remarkable. Certainly it would interest me to see them.” Thus she agreed.

With the appearance of Bridget, Joshua speedily determined to alter the plan. He would make an excuse and send Cobb to a lodging house to wait for him. But

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