Page 58 of Feathers in the Wind
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Clutching a bundle containing a clean gown,a change of linen and her comb, a blanket and some food, packed by Bess along with a note expressing her love and concern and praying that Perdita return soon and safely, Perdita strode down the streets to find the supply wagons assembling in the field below the castle.
Ludovic had also passed on a bag of coins and a small, fiendishly sharp knife. ‘For food,’ he had said, but the warning gaze he fixed on her told her it served a second purpose. Her own protection.
Amidst the scurrying figures, the cursing wagoners and bored soldiers, she sought out the harassed young officer whose task it was to organise the convoy. He had just despatched two burly troopers to deal with two women who were brawling, apparently over possession of a piece of cloth.
‘Captain Burns?’
With one eye still on the fracas, he half-turned toward her. ‘Mistress?’
‘Colonel Purefoy has granted me permission to join your convoy.’ While not exactly the truth, she saw no point in bothering Purefoy on such a trivial matter.
He brought his full attention to her. Looking her up and down, no doubt wondering if she was another doxy anxious to follow the soldiers. His sandy eyebrows rose as he scanned her from her well-polished shoe to the white linen coif beneath a wide brimmed hat.
‘If Purefoy has granted you permission then I cannot stop you. Do you mind me asking what your business is that takes you north?’
Perdita saw no reason to lie and, raising her voice over a tremendous cheer from the crowd which had gathered to watch the two brawling women, she said, ‘I am seeking Captain Adam Coulter.’
But the attention of the young man had swung back to the brawl. Two of his troopers had intervened, physically picking up the two spatting women.
‘I beg your pardon, did you say, Coulter?’ He looked back at her. ‘Good heavens Mistress Coulter! I had no idea that you would be joining us or even…’
He had plainly misheard her and Perdita opened her mouth to refute the notion that she was Adam Coulter’s wife, but the young man had already turned and walked away.
‘Please follow me, Mistress Coulter. I will see what we can offer in the way of some small comfort.’
Perdita hurried after him, desperate to correct the misunderstanding. ‘Please Captain, I…’
But his stride was too long and she could not make herself heard above the noise of the baggage train moving off. Towards the rear, a wagon with three women lumbered past. The officer stopped it.
‘Here, mistress. There is room for one more. You there, Peg, make room for Mistress Coulter. She will be travelling with us to the north.’ He bowed. ‘I’ll leave you with these ladies, and if you are free for dinner tonight, I hope you will join me. I shall ensure that there is suitable accommodation found for you.’
He turned and strode away, calling for his horse.
A red-haired woman leaned out of the wagon, holding out her hand.
‘Come aboard, lass.’
Perdita threw her baggage into the wagon and grasped the woman's hand, landing ungracefully on the sacks of grain.
‘Well, well. It looks like we’ve a lady here!’ the red-haired woman remarked to her companions as Perdita settled herself into a corner.
Perdita looked around at her travelling companions, apart from the large red-head, there was a slim dark-haired girl in scarlet petticoats and a sensible matronly woman with a sallow, wrinkled face.
Peg leaned forward. ‘And what business do you have in the north?’
‘I…I’m seeking Adam Coulter. I’ve been told he left the Warwick garrison in January.’
‘You his wife? I heard Burns call you Mistress Coulter,’ the matronly woman said.
The seed of the lie had been sown. What did it matter if these people thought her Adam’s wife? It gave credence to her tale. Perdita nodded and in that moment she became Adam Coulter’s wife in the eyes of her three companions.
If she had said she was the wife of King Charles himself, she could not have produced a more shocked response. All three women stared at her open-mouthed.
‘Adam Coulter has a wife?’ the girl in the scarlet gown said at last.
Perdita met the girl’s astonished gaze. ‘You know my husband?’
