Me happy. Me more than happy. Me totally radiant with happiness. You lovely people. Me no babble no more. Me give you chapter 12. You enjoy.

 (That imbecility was what your love and support reduced me to...)

 CHAPTER 12

Lightly putting Rachel down on her feet, Andrew swiftly scanned the lane in which they found themselves. He made his decision and grasping her hand firmly, started pulling her towards a disused track which ran beside the road. Still feeling dizzy from the jump and her lack of nutrition, Rachel stumbled along in his wake for what seemed like hours. He did not slow down until they had crossed a desolate heath and attained the temporary cover provided by an abandoned little sheepcote; but once inside, he made Rachel lie down on some moldy hay piled in a corner and proffered the piece of bread which, in spite of its insufficient quality and quantity, seemed to be nothing short of manna to Rachel in her currently famished state.

As she sat consuming the morsel, he watched her with a curious expression – a mixture of anxiety, gentleness, and…guilt? She was too far gone at that moment to either analyze his thoughts or to feel conscious about his perusal of her frenzied eating habits. After she gained some colour back into her cheeks, he sat down before her with a determined face.

“I am so, so sorry Miss Warren; more sorry than I can ever express,” he began. “Not just for hurrying you when you were in no condition to walk, but also for your present predicament. This entire mess is my fault, mine and my cousin’s. You were just an innocent by-stander who got embroiled in this sordid affair without any fault of yours. I wish I could explain to you in detail, but,” he darted a cagey glance behind him at the empty doorway which provided scant safety from detection, “we really do not have time now. We need to be on the move constantly in order to throw our pursuers off.

“I will only tell you this much now – I have your best interests at heart. You have been mistaken for a young woman who is currently on the run to save her life. The people who want to harm her confused you with her, and kidnapped you to keep you in their control until they could confirm your identity. They are ruthless people, and you must understand that they will not hesitate to take your life as well. Therefore, it is in our interests to always be on the run and to stay ahead of them at all times.”

It was too much to take in at once, especially on an empty stomach (well, almost empty, anyway). Could she trust such an outlandish story? Her inner common-sense rebelled; such fantastic events happened in books, not real life. She almost opened her mouth to question Andrew, when she happened to look at his eyes for a brief moment. Whatever else she might doubt, she could not question the honesty that shimmered in their depths. He certainly believed in the gravity of the situation. How was her life turned upside down like that in a flash?

But emergencies seldom occur when you are best prepared for them. Rachel knew that, and she literally trusted Andrew with her life now. It was no use prevaricating and putting off her acceptance in the scheme, really. She nodded once before standing up shakily and striding out of the sheepcote, only turning back to counter Andrew’s bemused look with an unexpectedly saucy smile. “Well sir, so are you going to come with me, or am I expected to stay ahead of the bad people on my own?”

Andrew’s relieved laugh echoed off the rotting walls around him.

                                                             Xxxxx

Their pace was brisk and Andrew guided Rachel along swiftly at a speed that discouraged talking. Yet, she had one question which her curiosity demanded to be answered before they went much further, and she got her chance when they were taking a short respite beside some overgrown laurel bushes.

“Just…how did you manage to find me today, Mr. Fairfax?”

Andrew looked at her a little sheepishly. “I should have found you much earlier, and I berate myself for the incident as it is; I fell into one of the oldest ambush traps known to man. Three men were lying in wait for us around a lonely corner yesterday with a fallen tree blocking the road, and just as I brought the carriage to a halt before the obstruction Hargrove hit your head from his perch behind the buggy. To think that the footman is sent along with young women for safety!” he scoffed bitterly, before returning to his narration.

“I was not prepared for such a sudden attack, and was overpowered before I knew what had happened. They had hoped to buy my silence for the kidnapping, but my refusal sealed my fate and they hit me till I fell unconscious as well. I really do not know why they didn’t finish me off then and there; but whatever their reasons, they bound me and brought me into the house as well as you, though I was put in a different room. I suspect Hargrove to be behind this move; he knew that I was suspicious of him at Denbries and might have hoped to grill me later about what I knew. As it was, it took me the rest of the day to recover my consciousness, escape my bonds and finally get out of my prison. Luckily enough I …ahem… happened to have a hairpin in my pocket with which I could pick both my lock and yours when I found you. The fears and remorse which coursed through me on that search – if anything had happened to you…!” he ended feelingly.

Rachel’s heart soared at the evidence of such regard for her safety, though her rational side argued that it was mostly guilt about a blameless person getting into trouble on his behalf. And she felt rather guilty herself now; he must have been as famished as herself, not to mention the beating he had received yesterday. Yet he not only acted with promptitude and poise throughout their unbelievable escape, but also gave up the food to her without keeping even a tiny bit for himself.

Within a few minutes of resuming their walk, Andrew explained that they had been imprisoned in an abandoned lodge which seemed to be some distance away from any civilized habitation, and he could not recognize any landmarks in their hurried escape; but they were not in a particularly barren part of England and there was still hope. In short, he believed that though he did not know where they were now, Rachel should not despair of ultimately reaching some decent shelter if they kept on moving forwards. Suddenly, he turned a beseeching look towards her.

“Your predicament is due to us and therefore, your security is my single consideration now Miss Warren. I know of a perfectly safe place where you could go to stay till the whole situation has resolved itself – but I have a request to make of you. It would be very understandable if you refuse and I and Mira would never hold it against you, but I cannot not ask you either. Miss Warren, if we simply vanish now without a trace the men would search intensely everywhere, but they would also be keeping an eye open at Carillon Hall in case we decide to return there. You see, Mira – my cousin, the one in hiding – is still there. This increases the danger she would be in and, without me around to protect her, I fear for her life. On the other hand, if we appear somewhere publicly for a short while before disappearing, the attention will be shifted from Denbries and my cousin can remain there safely till her danger is removed.

“So the request I have to make is this – we go to Brighton in a hackney from the next village. I’m well-known in Brighton, but Mira is only known by reputation so there would be no chance of your being recognized as an imposter. We need to be there only for a few days (and you will remain out of public sight in any case), before publicly booking a ticket on some outward-bound ship for us as a red herring and instead escaping on foot across country. My idea is that once the searchers hear about your appearance in Brighton, they will conclude that we escaped by sea. In the worst case, their search will be conducted in its periphery and the heat will be lifted from Denbries. I will take you to the village of Headley Down in East Hampshire where my old nurse Miss Trevelyan will harbor you till the threat to your life is past.

“I assure you that I will do my best to protect you the entire time and we would be gone from Brighton long before our abductors could reach us, but I cannot hoodwink you about the dangers involved. It will be a tough time as you will have to impersonate my cousin for a while, we will have to journey largely on foot afterwards, and your danger will be exponentially increased. I will understand perfectly if…”

“Do not say anything more Mr. Fairfax,” Rachel interrupted him. “I would never act so selfishly when I know that the life of someone else is at stake. Of course we would go to Brighton first! I will continue this charade as long as required, so long as Miss…Mira, is that right?...her safety is assured.”

If she were ever in doubt about the rightness of her decision, Rachel felt amply recompensed by the smile which now split Andrew’s face into two.

                                                             Xxxxx

“And what will you do once I am safe in Hampshire, Mr. Fairfax?” Rachel asked him an hour later in a deliberately light voice while navigating a weedy stretch of field. To mask the dreary turn her thoughts were taking, she was now talking gaily to her companion as if she had not a care in the world, and this was all a lark that was going to have an assuredly happy outcome instead of the nightmare it actually was. She had been thrown off balance by the queer turn her life had taken, and Andrew had suddenly become the one steady factor in a rapidly disintegrating world.

On not receiving any reply, she elaborated her earlier question, “I mean, you apparently are not going to stay in hiding with me.” She fought down the lump that rose in her throat at such thoughts, and went on speaking brightly. “Are you planning to play innocent and return as the coachman at Carillon to help your cousin, or are you as much in danger as me now that you helped me escape? Will you lie low and investigate the kidnapping attempt? Talking of kidnapping attempts,” her voice became thoughtful, “why are not people searching for us yet? We must be missing for two days by now.”

Andrew’s visage grew grim. “You disappeared very opportunely, Miss Warren. The household at Carillon thinks you to be safe with your family by now, remember. Your friends and students might feel a bit upset when you do not write to them from London, but they’ll probably put it down to your being busy with your mother. As for your family, I am guessing that they will be quite disturbed by your non-appearance. I suggest that you should send a letter to London as soon as we reach an inn to the effect that you suddenly had to take your two charges to some retreat for a little holiday, and won’t be able to contact your people for some time. It is a shaky excuse, but I cannot conceive of anything else at the moment and hopefully it will prevent anyone from panicking – the less people who know about our unusual situation, the better.”

Rachel hurried to assure him that it was not necessary. In her haste to be gone from Carillon, she had not written to Lucy about her imminent arrival since waiting for an exchange of letters would have taken a while, and she did not want to dally in the house for so long within the reach of (here she blushed furiously) Lord Edgerton’s future steps. She was going to arrive on the Morelands’ doorstep without warning, as she trusted that they would understand the circumstances. Therefore, her family would not be expecting her at all, and they need not be bothered with any prevarication.

“And you? Is your disappearance also accounted for?” she prompted.

Andrew averted his eyes. “During my captivity, I overheard the guards outside the door talking about my situation,” he stated at last with considerable difficulty. “I was not supposed to be missing at all. I was expected to be easy to bribe so that I would hold my tongue when the ruffians carted you off. Since I refused to be so…amenable, they knocked me out and took me along with them so that I could not give the alarm. They were saying that they have hidden away the buggy and will lay some fraudulent charges like theft on my head to explain why I ran away without any warning. And…I will be an easy scapegoat to be blamed for your disappearance if it comes to the Herringfords’ knowledge.”

Rachel was horrified. “But this is wrong! You have not committed any crime, you are a diligent worker. You should not have to suffer such ignominy!”

Andrew cracked a wan smile as he stared up at the wooly clouds floating overhead. “It doesn’t matter, Miss Warren. What I really am afraid of is that Mira would be extremely worried for my safety. You see, I was supposed to be protecting her, and now she does not know whom to turn to for information.

“To answer your first question, I will return as soon as possible to Denbries to assure my cousin of my well-being, and stay somewhere in the vicinity. I can no longer return as Andrew Fairfax the groom since my goose has been properly cooked in that sphere, but I will take up some appropriate disguise and stick around…maybe as a woodsman? I haven’t thought it through yet. Though I will not be on hand all the time, at least she could approach me when required.

“Of course, I would have to remain extremely vigilant since I am a marked man now, like you so astutely mentioned; but I know how to take care of myself. Do not worry on my account,” he finished brusquely, “I am used to subterfuge, unlike you.” So saying, he picked up speed and made determinedly for a hillock visible in the distance.

Rachel understood that the matter was closed for now, and patiently resigned herself to trudging on silently once again with only chaotic thoughts for company.

                                                             Xxxxx

They had been moving without much idea of direction for four hours by the time dusk approached. It was unknown territory for both of them, and all they could think of was that sooner or later, a hamlet or village must occur somewhere. “At least I am not doing this on an empty stomach any more,” thought Rachel optimistically. Apparently, Andrew always hid a tidy sum of money in his high boots as an emergency provision – training, he called it to Rachel’s mild confusion – and they were able to buy some food from a small farm on their way. It went against Andrew’s primal instincts of survival, but his instincts had to ultimately bow before the call of hunger.

They did find a village, but not before sundown; and perforce had to stay the night there since a coach for hire will be available only next morning. Luckily enough, the Herringfords did not insist on livery for their coachmen at all times, and Andrew was out of uniform during their fateful journey; he could safely pass himself off as a weary gentleman travelling with his wife and, having lost their way, they were in need of some place to spend the night.

But a new problem faced them now – a place as small as this did not have any lodgings for guests. At all. It boasted of eight families, a church, a smithy and a tavern, but no inn where gentlefolk could stay. Apparently, there had been no outside visitors to the little community of Marsham-in-the-Vale for a hundred and thirty years.

In such a situation, the distraught couple went to the greatest public figure of the neighborhood – the tavern owner. A big man with a slow manner of speech and the habit of stroking his moustaches to buy time, Mr. Phipps explained that his pub did not have any lodging facilities, certainly none fit for a young woman. After a lot of persuasion he took pity on their predicament and arranged for the tiny attic of his own house to be emptied for the weary travelers, on the condition that they would vacate as early next morning as possible.

After he left them to make the requisite arrangements, Andrew turned towards Rachel and smiled at her stricken look. “Do not worry that we would be spending the night together, Miss Warren. We will wait for some time in the room allotted to you, and then when everyone goes off to sleep I shall creep out and bed down under a hedge somewhere.” He added reassuringly, “I would have done that now, but I think it will be better if I do not leave you alone here until I have assured myself that you will be perfectly safe for the night.”

Rachel attempted to smile. It came out rather shakily, but it appeared – and that was the main thing, after all. It was not as if she did not trust Andrew, he had always been a perfect gentleman in their interactions. Night-time did not really change anything. In any case, this seclusion will give her ample opportunity to get to the bottom of the entire mystery of Andrew’s identity, his cousin and her own involvement in the affair. Yes, it was a desirable situation. She wondered why she was not happier about the matter if it was so desirable.

--xx--xx--

AN: So next chapter is the crucial one when all the mysteries will be unravelled, and the truth about Andrew will come out. Any guesses about who the mysterious 'Mira' can be? (And Rachel dearest will be alone with Andrew darling...at night...with one guttering candle between them as he tells her 'a tale to chill her young blood'... is it only me who finds the notion delicious? Though the 'G' rating stops me from thinking too much ahead. Drat!)