Page 13 of The Society Catch
Mrs Fulgrave had removed her remembrancer from her reticule and held it out, open at the right page. Giles studied the address, then delicately lifted one long black hair from the crease in the page. Silently he held it up, dark against Mrs Fulgrave’s own light brown hair. ‘I think she knows.’ He noted the address in his own pocket book and he carefully laid the hair in its folds.
However, their supposition that Grace was the most likely choice for Joanna to make for appeared to be confirmed at the stage coach office. Not only did the book keeper assure Giles that this was the right departure point for Lincoln, but he remembered Joanna. ‘If you mean the young governess, sir? Least, I suppose that was what she was, and very nicely spoken – quite the lady. Remarkable handsome young woman, that I do know. But anxious somehow, that’s why I recall her, sir. That and her looks, if you’ll pardon me saying so. All dressed so demure like and those big eyes.’
‘Where did she buy a ticket to?’ Giles demanded, coming to the conclusion that if he took exception to every man who offended him that day he would not get far.
‘Lincoln, she said. At least, first she asked about Peterborough, then she looked confused and said she wanted Lincoln, sir.’
‘And what would be the town to change for Wisbech?’
‘Peterborough, sir.’
‘And what are the stops between here and Lincoln?’ Giles dug his hand in his pocket and began to sort coins. The manbrightened at the chinking noise.
‘I’ll make you a list shall I? All of the stops or just the junction points?’
‘All of them,’ Giles had replied, tapping a gold coin suggestively on the counter.
Within half an hour his curricle with the matched greys in the shafts and his groom left behind, faintly complaining, swung out onto the Great North Road heading towards Stevenage. Joanna had a full day’s start on him, and he could not risk simply assuming she was going to Peterborough. He was going to have to check at every stopping place on the list. But then, there were French colonels, some of them still alive to remember it, who’d had similar starts on Giles Gregory and who had still found themselves tracked down, outmanoeuvred and defeated. One chit of a girl was not going to elude him now.
Joanna parted from the comforts of the White Hart the next morning with some reluctance. She was anxious to be on her way and to reach Georgy, but the inn and its motherly landlady Mrs Handley had seemed safe and, although she would never have admitted it, she was feeling lonely and not a little daunted.
She was taken up by the stage without any problem and Mrs Handley had come out to see her off and to remind her which inn in Peterborough to get off at in order to pick up the Lynn stage which would drop her in Wisbech.
She eyed her new travelling companions from under the brim of her modest bonnet and was reassured by the sight of a stout farmer’s wife with a basket, a thin young man who promptly fell asleep and a middle aged gentleman in clerical collar and bands who politely raised his hat to her as she got on.
‘I trust I do not intrude,’ he ventured after a few moments. ‘But I heard the good landlady directing you to the Crown and Anchor and I wonder if I might be of assistance? My name isThoroughgood. Dr Thaddeus Thoroughgood and I am changing at that point myself, as I do very frequently. I would be most happy to point out the stage office and so forth when we arrive.’
Joanna thanked him politely, somewhat nervous that he might want to continue talking to her. Conversation with a strange man, even a most respectable-looking clergyman, on a public stage was not what she had been brought up to regard as ladylike behaviour. But he did not say any more and she thanked him and leaned back feeling happier now she knew she had a guide should she need one.
They stopped once on the short distance to Peterborough and what with the exit of the stout farmer’s wife whose basket somehow got jammed in the doorway and Dr Thoroughgood getting up to assist her and slipping on the step and falling heavily against Joanna and the thin young man leaping up to help everyone, it proved a somewhat chaotic halt. However they were soon at the Crown and Anchor and Dr Thoroughgood helped her down with her valise.
‘Now, I shall go and collect my gig,’ he said chattily, ‘and be off home to Sister. You just need to go through that door there and you’ll find our good hostess and a nice parlour and she’ll tell you when the Lynn coach comes in. Now, you do have enough money do you not, my dear young lady?’
‘Oh yes, thank you,’ Joanna replied, confidently. Then, ‘My purse! It has gone.’
‘Great Heavens, that young man must have been a cut-purse. Mrs Wilkins! Mrs Wilkins!’
The landlady came hurrying out wiping her hands on her apron. She smiled at the sight of Hebe’s companion. ‘There you are again, Reverend. Your gig is all ready for you. But, sir, what’s wrong?’
‘My money has been stolen,’ Hebe lamented. ‘This gentleman thinks it was a cut-purse on the stage.’
‘Well now, Miss,’ the landlady said sympathetically, ‘that’s a dreadful thing. Why there is no stopping the impudent rascals. That’s the third time we’ve seen that happen is it not, Reverend?’ She patted Joanna’s arm. ‘We had better be telling the magistrate, miss.’
‘But that won’t get my purse back,’ Joanna stammered. ‘What am I going to do? I have to get to Wisbech.’
There was a silence, then the clergyman said, ‘Normally I would not suggest it of course, but as I have an open gig, and it is still broad daylight, would you consider riding with me to my home where my sister awaits me? You can spend the night most securely under her protection and then in the morning we can consider what is best. To write to your friends in Wisbech perhaps? Or I may have a neighbour who is driving that way.’
‘There now, that is a good idea,’ the landlady said approvingly.
Joanna bit her lip. It did seem the best of the alternatives. Dr Thoroughgood appeared well known and trusted at the inn and he obviously kept his gig there frequently and a clergyman’s sister sounded a most respectable chaperon.
And there was the benefit of it taking her off the main road in case of pursuit. She made up her mind. ‘Thank you, sir,’ she said decisively. ‘If Miss Thoroughgood would not find it an imposition, then I would be most grateful.’
The gig was well kept and pulled by a neat black pony and Joanna felt happier as they progressed at a brisk trot through the lanes. The loss of her money was serious, but at least she was not too many miles from Georgy who was not only the possessor of a vastly generous allowance but who was indulged by her husband in the spending of it. As soon as she knew of Joanna’s predicament she was sure to send both funds and her carriage at once.
The Reverend Thoroughgood did not seem anxious to askpersonal questions or to make encroaching observations, so Joanna was emboldened to introduce herself. ‘I should tell you a little of my circumstances, sir, for I am sure Miss Thoroughgood will not wish to take a total stranger into her home. My name is J…Jane Wilson and I am a governess on my way to my new employer in Wisbech, Lady Brandon.’
It felt shocking to be lying to a man of the cloth, but he would hardly assist her if he knew the truth.
