The Winter List by S. G. MacLean

Author:S. G. MacLean [MacLean, S. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus Editions Ltd
Published: 2023-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

A Break-in

As the carriage trundled away from her sister Flo’s door, Madge considered that never had she had such a triumph! Her initial shock at seeing the Scots housemaid sitting up in the carriage with her dear Manon, and the master holding open the door like a footman, had been swiftly dealt with. This Griselda Duncan, lately maid to Lady Anne Winter, had been put under her, Madge’s, charge, and would, Lawrence assured her, take her guidance from Madge herself. The look on Flo’s face alone had been worth the trouble of having to squeeze into her place between the Scotswoman and her mistress. Madge would not, of course, consent that the newcomer should take charge of Lizzie for the journey home, but she did, with only a little reluctance, give the child up to her mother.

‘Jedediah would have made a very fine footman, you know,’ she said to Grizel, as her grandson jogged alongside the coach, ‘but he was too bright, of course. The vicar said it – he should be trained to clerking, and now the master will have him at the law!’ The look on the Scotswoman’s face was gratifying. It was a pity that she was so much older – a good bit over thirty, Madge would calculate, to Jed’s twenty. She’d soon have to turn her thoughts to finding him the right wife. The right wife would put an end to her worries.

Such pleasant musings on their short journey from Flo’s were brought to an abrupt end when the carriage drew up outside the green door of the Ingolbys’ house, and Madge saw, almost at the same moment as did Lawrence Ingolby, that the lock had been forced open, and the door was swinging on its hinges.

‘Stay there!’ shouted Lawrence to the women in the carriage. ‘Jed, with me. Draw your knife.’ Madge’s hand flew to her mouth as her grandson followed the master into the darkness of the house. She was about to call out a warning when, to her astonishment, Griselda Duncan jumped from the carriage to disappear through the door after them.

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