Page 91 of Miss Flibbertigibbet and the Barbarian
The next morning, Nicholas came down to breakfast in an uncharacteristic grump. He was normally a sound sleeper and didn’t appreciate restless nights.
Adriana was already seated at the large table set up for their group, along with Viola and a sleepy Phillip. To Nicholas’s jaundiced eye, Adriana seemed bright-eyed and in good spirits. He nodded in the group’s general direction and endeavored not to scowl as he made for the sideboard.
After loading a plate with the selections on offer, he approached the table and determinedly claimed the place beside Adriana.
She shot him a careful, questioning look as, his gaze on his plate, he sank onto the chair. “Good morning,” she said.
“Morning,” he replied, including Viola and Phillip with a glance.
Busy eating, they nodded back.
Adriana continued to study him. He could almost hear her unvoicedAnd…?
He cast her a dark glance and lied. “I was wondering what Kirkwood is up to.” He looked at Phillip. “Have you heard?”
Phillip shook his head. “Rory and Young Gillies returned at six o’clock. Viola met them on the stairs.”
Viola picked up her teacup. “They reported they’d seen no sign of Wesley. Harold and Oscar relieved them and are currently on watch.”
Nicholas nodded and applied himself to the food on his plate. He steadily worked his way through the eggs, sausages, and bacon, and gradually, bit by bit, his mood improved.
Eventually, Dickie joined them, but he was no more inclined to conversation than the rest of them.
It was after eight o’clock, and they’d finished their breakfasts, with Adriana and Viola sipping tea and the three men drinking the last of the coffee, when Harold, along with Young Gillies and Rory, appeared in the dining room’s doorway.
Nicholas and Phillip saw, but after taking stock of the pair of traveling salesmen seated at another table, instead of coming forward, the trio drew back into the inn’s front hall and, expectation in their faces, waited.
“It looks like Kirkwood’s on the move,” Nicholas quietly said and pushed back his chair. Adriana started to rise, and he drew out her chair for her. On the opposite side of the table, Phillip did the same for Viola. Dickie reluctantly rose, and as a group, the five of them quickly and quietly left the room.
They joined the grooms and stableman in the hall.
“Harold just brought word.” Young Gillies tipped his head toward the stableman. “Seems our man’s finally ready to go on.”
The pronouncement resulted in a flurry of activity. Nicholas and Phillip went to settle with the innkeeper, while Adriana and Viola rushed upstairs to finish their packing and Dickie and the grooms went to ready the horses and Harold went to round up Jed and Mike.
Five minutes later, everyone met in the inn’s parlor. They reasoned that, having come from the south, Kirkwood would continue northward along the road leading past the inn. Consequently, they gathered in the front parlor and, in a group, stood back from the parlor window and watched.
Several minutes later, Kirkwood appeared, mounted on his nondescript chestnut and leading The Barbarian on a long rein.
As Kirkwood clopped past the inn, The Barbarian turned his huge head and stared at the parlor window.
Addie stared back. “Can he see me, do you think?”
“I sincerely hope not,” Dickie murmured. “The last thing we need is for him to kick up a fuss and insist on coming to you for you to take him for a gallop.”
The huge horse continued to stare their way in an unnervingly determined manner, but to their collective relief, didn’t pull back on the rein. Eventually, The Barbarian faced forward and followed Kirkwood out of the town, and Addie breathed again.
Mere minutes later, their company pulled out of the inn’s yard.
Rory and Young Gillies, the first pair delegated to keep Kirkwood in sight, went ahead. Nicholas, Adriana, and Dickie followed, dawdling until they were far enough behind the grooms to appear unassociated. Jed and Mike came next, followed by Phillip and Viola in the curricle fifty yards or so behind, with Harold and Oscar bringing up the rear.
Addie tried to keep her mind on their pursuit as, just as they’d done the previous day, they trotted, walked, then trotted again in Kirkwood’s wake. As they’d expected, he continued northward out of the town, but very soon after, he started veering west again.
Overall, his direction remained northwesterly, and as he had the day before, he consistently kept to minor lanes and byways. The stablemen and grooms rotated in the same fashion as the day before, with two always keeping their quarry in sight. Luckily, the country through which they were traveling made hanging back easy enough, but by all accounts, Kirkwood remained oblivious to even the notion of being followed.
Those delegated to shadow him were amazed by the man’s overweening arrogance.
Young Gillies shook his head. “He never looks around or checks to see if anyone’s taking notice. You’d never guess he was leading a stolen horse.”
