The Colonel's Spinster - Audrey Harrison Page 0,61

kick your heels if these disturbances carry on. We have just sent a unit to the north. Poor blighters, they won’t be able to understand a word the locals say. It’s like they speak a foreign language, I tell you.”

“Where in the north?” Fitzwilliam’s relaxed stance had disappeared. He knew almost without asking.

“Manchester. They went a few days ago. There has been a lot of unrest on the streets there recently. It seems to be getting worse by the day.”

“Sir. I need you to send me there.”

“What? No! You’re not needed.”

“Sir. I have family there. Involved with the mills. I need to check on their safety,” Fitzwilliam said.

“Have you indeed? This family of yours has caused me a whole lot of problems recently.”

“I apologise sir, but understand that I would not be asking lightly. I will ensure my presence will be useful and not a waste of your resources.”

“It’s highly irregular.”

“I would not ask if I did not think it important, sir.”

“If you must check on them, I suppose you should go. Family is important, although yours is becoming a damned nuisance.”

“Thank you, sir. They would not intentionally cause problems, I assure you, but in this instance, I have concerns about their safety,” Fitzwilliam said.

When dismissed, Fitzwilliam ran to his lodgings. He had never felt panic like it when he realised that Manchester was the focus of the problems. Hoping that Prudence was safe enough in Stretford, he quickly arranged with his batman what needed to be taken with them. Both used to travelling for active duty, they were soon on the road again.

For Fitzwilliam, it was going to be a long journey.

*

Prudence hurried down the street towards her father’s second mill. It was a journey she must have done a thousand times, but today it felt different.

There was a tension in the air that had never been there previously, and she was consciously aware of everything and everyone around her. Breathing a sigh of relief when she reached the mill yard, she hurried across the flagged space to the main mill building.

Entering her father’s office, she took off her gloves and closed the door behind her, remaining dressed in the rest of her outerwear.

“Papa, you need to return home. We need to leave.”

Mr. Bamber looked up. “I thought you would stay at home today. I told you how it has been lately,” he scolded gently.

“I should have listened to you more. I did not imagine quite how the atmosphere has changed. Although it does make my journey even more important as I wanted to make sure you were safe and to persuade you for once to leave the mill early,” Prudence explained.

“It is safe inside the mill. No one would breach the gates.”

“You don’t know that, Papa. I have never felt anything like what is currently swirling out there, and it’s nothing to do with the fog that is starting to descend.”

“I am not going to get any peace until I give in and come home, am I?”

“No,” Prudence said. She pulled on her gloves and tightened the ribbon on her bonnet. “Can we leave immediately?”

“I suppose I must,” Mr. Bamber said. He reluctantly pushed the chair away from the table and took his greatcoat from the hook on the back of the closed door.

Prudence helped her father fasten his coat and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. I could not settle at home with you still here.”

“Fusspot.”

“I do not apologise for it,” Prudence said, completely unrepentant. “You are more precious to me than anyone else, and I would like to keep you safe.”

“What? I rank above a certain young cavalry officer? I think you are funning with me. I refuse to believe I rate so high.”

Laughing, Prudence took her father’s arm. “You are a beast. Fine. I admit you are equal. Is that better?”

“Most certainly. I never had you down for a girl prone to Banbury tales. Now let us get home and spend some time with Miss Anne.”

Prudence shook her head at her father. He never gave Anne her title, but it was not done out of rudeness; he was already very fond of her and spent a while visiting her each day. Anne had been embarrassed and shy at first with the uncle she had never met, but it wasn’t very long before Mr. Bamber had charmed her.

Anne was still far from fully recovered, but each day she was spending more time awake, and although not yet ready to leave her bed, she could sit up and