Chapter 3

It has been remarked that Lord A has been seen in company with the lovely Miss S on several notable occasions during the past weeks. The observant may have noticed that he danced with her twice at the Marchams’ ball on Friday night. This author wonders if the elusive lord, arguably the biggest prize on the marriage mart, has finally found his lady. Lord K will be disappointed indeed, having thrust his lovely daughter Lady B under the nose of said Lord A most publicly of late.

―Excerpt of an article in the society pages of The Morning Star.

24 th June 1850, The Great North Road, London.

An anxious quarter hour passed as they overtook hackney after hackney, none of which was the one they were after. As they got farther out of town, however, the traffic thinned, but in the far distance, they saw an old hackney ahead of them.

“That’s it,” Leo said.

Vi glanced at him. “How can you tell?”

“The axle is lower on the left side than the right. I think it’s held together with string.”

Vi stared at him, rather impressed he’d noticed such a thing. “Well done,” she said.

To her surprise, he coloured a little. “I’m not a complete fool, Vi.”

“I never thought it!” she exclaimed, stung by the remark. She might think him a lot of things, but a fool was not one of them. “How did they get so far ahead of us?” she asked in dismay as it disappeared over the brow of the hill.

“They’ve not had to check each hackney carriage on the Great North Road before passing it,” he said in frustration.

“I wonder where they’re going?”

“I think you’re right, Vi. I think they’ve had to change their plans. What that means, however, I don’t know. We just need to stick behind them. Those nags won’t last forever. They can’t stop and change horses, for we’ll catch them then, and Persius there is fine fettle. We’ll get them, providing we can keep them in sight.”

Vi nodded her agreement to this, finding with a little surprise that she had complete confidence in Leo. So, she sat back and left him to the business of driving. Islington, North Finchley, and Barnet came and went before Leo turned back to her.

“All right, Vi?” he asked, concern in his eyes.

“Perfectly,” she replied, hoping she sounded calmer than she felt as she patted his arm. “Don’t you fret about me, Leo. Just concentrate on getting Mau back.”

“You’re a great gun, do you know that? A real Trojan,” he said with admiration. “I’ve always known it, but… but I ought to have told you before now. Long, long before now.”

Vi blinked, a little taken aback by what truly was high praise from Leo and meant far more to her than any flattery about her looks. “Thank you,” she replied cautiously, finding herself glowing with happiness at words which some women would have little appreciated. After all, women were supposed to aspire to be fragile creatures who would swoon at the least breath of chill wind, never mind a breakneck race to recover a kidnapped cat. Ought that to be catnapped? She wondered absently, before scolding herself for clearly losing her mind.

“Where are they?” Leo demanded as they reached Potter’s Bar.

They had been gaining steadily upon the hackney, but it had turned a corner and had been out of sight for a few minutes. Now, it had simply vanished.

“I can’t see them,” Vi exclaimed, turning in her seat as they flew down the High Street. “They must have turned off.”

“Hell and damnation!” Leo muttered, which Vi thought a most appropriate response and only wished she’d been brave enough to say it herself.

“Ask this lady,” she suggested, pointing to the side of the road where a woman was walking with a basket on her arm.

Leo nodded and did as she suggested.

“Good afternoon, madam. I beg your pardon, but might you have seen a hackney cab come this way in the past few minutes?”

The elderly woman, who appeared to be returning from the shops with a full basket, gazed up at Leo with blatant admiration and returned a surprisingly coquettish smile. “No, pet, sorry. Did someone run off with your sweetheart? More fool them, if they did,” she remarked with a chuckle. “I’d let you catch me, right enough.”

Leo shook his head, too worried to banter with the lady, as Vi suspected he would have otherwise done. “Not my sweetheart, but they are running away, the villains.”

“Perhaps they’re catching the train. Blasted noisy, dirty things,” she added in disgust. “They opened that new line this year. Horrid thing. My hens won’t lay since those great rattling engines started coming through.”

“Oh, Leo,” Vi said in concern. “You don’t think…?”

“I don’t know,” he said grimly. “But we had best find out. Thank you, madam, for your help.”

“You’d best hurry,” she called after them as the distant but shrill whistle of a steam engine pierced the air.

Cursing, Leo sped the horse and Vi just held on, praying, as he negotiated the streets towards the train station. They had just turned a corner when Leo was forced to pull Persius to a swift halt as a hay-laden cart filled the road before them as the owner negotiated a tight turn into a small farmstead.

“Sorry, sir, won’t be above a moment,” the farmer called out cheerfully, but they could not afford to wait, so Leo backed the tilbury up and with such skill, Vi exclaimed in admiration.

“Oh, well done, Leo!”

He was in no mood to comment now, however, and the moment he could he urged the horse on once more, cantering down the road until they found the next turning. They could hear the train, and Vi’s heart sank as she realised it was moving. They arrived beside the still unfinished station to see the train leaving.

“There’s the hackney!” Vi exclaimed, praying that they had given up on the idea of taking Mau and left him behind. Leo thrust the reins into Vi’s hands, leapt from the tilbury and ran over to the abandoned hackney cab. Vi watched, praying silently as Leo wrenched the door open and looked inside. She knew at once that Mau was not there.

Leo’s shoulders sagged for a moment before he gathered himself and ran back to the tilbury.

“We’ll have to follow the line and ask at each station if anyone has got off carrying a sack,” he said, his tone even as he climbed back in beside her. “Vi—”

“We’re following the trainline, Leo. I can hop on a train back at any time,” she told him firmly, determined not to give him the opportunity to send her home. She could see how worried he was now, and he would need her support. Norton was a good man, she knew, but it was not the same as having a friend with you when things were going wrong.

“Alone?” he said in disgust. “You know that’s not possible, Vi. Anything could happen.”

“I’m sure it could not,” she countered, but the set of his jaw suggested she would not persuade him otherwise.

“Very well, I can send a telegram then, and get someone to meet me,” she suggested. “All the train stations have them these days. I’ll send word to Mama, and she’ll sort something out, for she’ll worry when we don’t come home.”

“Not all the stations have telegraph offices,” he warned her sternly. “Only the larger ones.”

“Well, we shall find one that does, I’m sure,” Vi replied firmly.

“Don’t blame me when your reputation lies in shreds,” he grumbled, though she knew very well he did not mean the harsh words.

“I shan’t do so, don’t fret,” she said comfortably, earning herself a look of sheer incredulity from Leo.

“I must change horses. Persius can’t keep this pace up forever,” he said, returning them to the high street.

“Do I have your approval to ask Norton to go in and arrange a basket of food?” Vi asked him. “It’s dreadfully hot and I think it may be a long afternoon. We shall need to keep our strength up and have a good supply of drinks.”

Leo nodded, absently reaching over and patting her knee. “Good idea, love, thank you.”

Vi blinked, the feel of his gloved hand on her knee burning through her skirts. It just showed the depths of his worry, she supposed, that he had taken to treating her like one of his light o’ loves. More worryingly, she discovered she didn’t mind in the least.

They were back on the road again in good time, and Leo was relieved to discover the new horse was a good goer. Not anywhere near so good as a train, however. The fear that they might not catch up with the villain nagged at him. He wondered if he had done the right thing in setting out after them. Perhaps if he’d gone home, a ransom would have arrived that night and he could have had Mau back beside him before morning. Yet he knew he could not have done such a thing, sensible as it might have been. Mau was his friend, and you did not abandon friends under any circumstances. Leo would find him, no matter what. The worry that the great cat might make the villain’s journey so difficult they disposed of him rather than continue with their plan was something of which he was horribly aware. If they just let him go, perhaps Mau could make his way home. He had heard such stories of animals undertaking vast journeys, but he knew such a trip would be fraught with danger and would take time and, during all that time, he would not know if Mau was dead or alive. His stomach clenched, and he shook off the maudlin sensation. Mau was the cleverest animal he’d ever known, and Leo was determined to find him. Between them they would make it work.

With Vi’s help, of course.

Leo darted a look at her, guilt sitting heavily in his guts. He knew very well he ought to have forced her from the carriage and told Norton to escort her home, but he hadn’t wanted to. He needed Vi beside him, wanted her there. She was far bolder and more courageous than she gave herself credit for. He knew that; it was only Vi herself who had forgotten. As a girl, she’d flung herself into whatever madcap adventure he’d suggested and loved every moment of it, but something had changed. She had grown up, he supposed, into a proper young lady and not a hoyden. Sometimes, however, he felt certain she longed to do something she ought not, something wild and reckless, like joining him in a mad dash across town and country in pursuit of Mau.

After Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City, they stopped at Woolmer Green, where they also changed horse again, all with no luck. By the time they’d arrived at the bustling market town of Biggleswade, it was approaching seven in the evening and Leo knew he must force Vi to be sensible. He knew the stubborn creature well enough to believe her ruination would not be enough to make her agree to marry him. If it were, he’d play his part in it happily enough. But Vi could be ruined ten times over and would endure everything that went with it, rather than be forced into doing something she did not wish to do. He had to admit he admired her principles and her fortitude. He only wished she wasn’t so wilful on this particular subject.

“I’m going to send a telegram to Mama. I think Biggleswade is a big enough station to have one,” she said, as Leo threw the reins to Norton. Leo nodded, beyond relieved he would not have to persuade her to do so, though he wished he could keep her with him more than he dared admit. He’d leave Norton to look after her until her family arrived, whilst he carried on his pursuit alone. A dismal thought.

“That’s the ticket,” he said as he leapt down from the carriage, knowing it was for the best. It was almost five hours since he’d collected her in Piccadilly for a jaunt in the park and she must be worn to a thread. Her family must be fretting by now, too. He looked up at her as he offered her his hand and she stepped neatly down.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling at him.

Damn him, but he wished she didn’t have to go, selfish devil that he was. “Here,” he said, taking a handful of coins from his pocket. “Dashed expensive things, telegrams, and you’ll have not come prepared for such an outlay when you were expecting a quiet turn around Hyde Park.”

“No, indeed,” she agreed ruefully, accepting the coins with a smile.

“Well, I’ll leave Norton to accompany you and make enquiries about our villains,” he said. “Perhaps you could also send a telegram to my father, ask him to keep an eye on my place and see if anyone arrives with a ransom note for Mau. If we can telegram, one must assume the blackguards who have him could. Perhaps they have an associate in town awaiting them.”

Vi reached out and squeezed his fingers. “I shall, of course. That is a wise idea. Good luck,” she said softly. “I’m sure there will be news this time.”

Though she would probably scold him for it, Leo grabbed her hand and pressed it firmly to his lips, kissing her knuckles.

“Thanks, love,” he said, and turned and hurried away before she could do so.

Vi stood for a moment, staring stupidly after Leo. Don’t be a ninny , she warned herself sternly. Shaking off the desire to run after him and not let him out of her sight ever again, she set off with Norton to send the telegrams.

Once her task was completed, and she had finished exclaiming over the exorbitant sum of seven shillings and sixpence for each telegram, she returned to the tilbury. Norton hurried to look over both carriage and horse, having paid a boy to look after them. Finding all in order, he paid the lad and helped Vi back into her seat.

“He won’t like it,” he warned her. “And likely he’ll be mad as fire with me for allowing it.”

“Piffle,” Vi said succinctly. “In the first place, you did not allow me. You have no authority over me, as Leo knows very well. If he can’t make me do as he wishes, he cannot expect you to do so.”

“All the same, Miss Spencer, don’t you think—”

“No, I do not,” she replied, glaring at him. “I believe I have made my feelings clear.”

“Yes, miss, but—”

“No buts!” she said firmly, holding up her hand. “You have made a compelling argument, Norton, of which I am in perfect agreement. However, I will not abandon my friend when Mau is missing. Once he is safely returned, I shall go meekly home, my word upon it.”

Norton groaned and muttered predictions of chaos and destruction under his breath until Leo reappeared. Vi sat up straight, immediately noticing the renewed sense of energy about him.

“They were here!” he said triumphantly. “The station master distinctly remembered a stocky fellow and a tall, rangy man with him, carrying a sack. Said it was howling and hissing, and they were getting hassled by the other passengers who thought him cruel to transport a cat under such conditions.”

“Oh, Leo! That’s marvellous news but poor Mau, he must be so frightened,” Vi exclaimed. “Where did they go?”

His expression faltered a little. “That’s where the good news ends. It seems they cadged a lift with a farmer, but no one knows who, and one witness said they went off northeast in the direction of Tadlow, the other swears blind they went south on the Langford road.”

“So, what shall we do?” she asked.

“Well, I shall carry on to the northeast,” he said decisively. “I don’t like the idea of retracing my steps and if I’m wrong, having to do it all again.”

“That makes sense,” Vi agreed, patting the seat beside her. “Hop up, then. There’s no time to waste. We might have Mau back before nightfall yet.”

“We?” Leo said, still standing beside the carriage. He stared at her intently and Vi felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Determined, she sat a little straighter.

“Yes, Leo, we . Do hurry, now. There’s not a moment to lose.”

“Hold up, Vi,” he said, shaking his head. “I thought you were sending a telegram to your mama?”

“I did do so,” she said, but before she could carry on, Norton cut in.

“She told ’em Mau had been taken, and that she was helping you get him back and not to worry. She didn’t say nothing about coming to fetch her.”

“Norton,” Vi said reproachfully. “That was not helpful.”

“Vi!” Leo exclaimed, snatching the hat from his head. “You wicked girl! You said you were going to send word to your mama to collect you.”

“I never did,” Vi protested. “I merely said I was sending a telegram.”

“Before,” Leo gritted out through clenched teeth. “At Potters Bar, you said—”

“Oh, then,” she said, waving this off dismissively. “That was before. I changed my mind.”

Leo made a sound of frustration and leapt up into the tilbury. His thigh pressed hard against Vi’s, and she shifted nervously, suddenly vibratingly aware of the size of him, and the fact that he was quite furious with her. She had never seen Leo truly angry before and it was an interesting experience.

“I could shake you,” he said, glaring at her.

Vi swallowed. “I can see that.”

“Norton,” Leo said, not taking his eyes from her.

“Yes, sir.”

“Take your place, please.”

“Yes, sir.” Norton fled to the back of the tilbury. Vi rather envied him.

“What are you going to do tonight, Violetta?” Leo asked, his voice low. “If I don’t find Mau, I’ll have to stop for a few hours at least or I’ll not be able to keep going tomorrow. I’ll get a room in one of the inns here. What then, love?”

Vi tried to swallow again but her mouth was dry. “I-I thought of that,” she said unsteadily. “I shall put my shawl over my head and pretend to be your maiden aunt.”

“Ha!” The crack of laughter was so sudden and so loud she jumped, glaring at him with indignation. “In that outfit? I think not, pet. Oh no,” he said, in a tone that made her skin prickle with foreboding. He leaned in, putting his mouth close to her ear, so close his warm breath fluttered against her neck, making her shiver.

“Leo—” she protested, but his next words chased anything she might have said clear from her mind.

“No, love. If you’re staying, I shall take a room for us both. One room, and I shall sign you in as my wife. Unless you prefer to be my mistress?”

“Leo!” Vi said in outrage.

“Want to go home now?” he demanded, his eyes narrowing.

Vi’s stubborn streak leapt to the fore, suppressing the immediate desire she’d just had to do exactly that. “Certainly not,” she retorted, putting up her chin.

“Fine,” Leo said through his teeth.

“Fine,” she shot back, crossing her arms.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered furiously, taking up the reins.

Vi pressed herself against the side of the tilbury as the horse walked on, wanting to be as far from Leo and his obvious displeasure as possible. His anger scalded her, a prickling sensation against her skin. As the minutes ticked past, Vi sighed, telling herself not to be such a ninny. This was Leo – Leo , not some man who might take advantage of her and the situation. Now that the worst was over, she allowed herself to relax a little. Leo might rant and rage and threaten, but the truth was, he would never lay a finger on her or do anything to risk her reputation. She knew it as she knew the sun would rise again in the morning. She trusted him. Still, while the daylight dimmed by degrees and the roads became quieter as they left the town behind, the realisation of what she’d just done sank in.

Oh, lud , she thought desperately, and wondered if she really had lost her mind.