The Colonel's Spinster - Audrey Harrison Page 0,64

away from the front door, she entered the dining room, thankful she had made it downstairs without being seen. She opened one of the full-length windows and stepped out to the side of the house. It reminded her of the time at Rosings when she had escaped from the library with Fitzwilliam. The thought made her smile. Closing the window, she hurried across the paving stones and headed around the back of the house to the stables.

“Saddle Scarlett for me please, John,” she said to the stable-hand when she walked into the stable block.

“Scarlett, Miss Prudence?” came the surprised response.

“Yes.” Prudence could not help a smile twitching her lips. Scarlett was the calmest of the whole stable; nothing seemed to worry her. She was far too docile to go cantering over the fields at a neck-or-nothing speed, but she was perfect to be ridden into an unknown situation with crowds of people. Prudence hoped so anyway.

“The coachman said it was very dangerous in the city, Miss Prudence,” John said.

Prudence could have stamped her foot in frustration. The trouble with staff who had known you for years was that they tended to guess your actions. “I know. I need to find my father and get him to leave the city.”

“Let me come with you.”

“No! I will be quicker on my own. I shall go straight to the mill. I understand the carriage could not get through, but I’ll be able to avoid the main streets. I am more than capable of fending for myself. A crowd of workers does not frighten me.”

“You’d be safer with my escort. Your father would certainly agree.”

“He would also curse me to the devil for inconveniencing you for no reason. The streets are full. The mill is in no danger. We shall return in Papa’s carriage as soon as the crowds have gone.”

“I’d be happier if I accompanied you.”

“I am going on my own, John. Your escort is unnecessary. How many hundreds of times have I travelled it alone? I will be safe.”

John did not look convinced, but he knew, one way or another, Prudence would find a way into the city. Better on horseback than walking, which he was sure she would try if he refused to saddle the horse.

Prudence waited impatiently until Scarlett was ready, and then using the mounting block, she settled herself in the saddle, and nodding her goodbye, turned the horse towards the gate.

“Come on, girl. We are to find Papa.”

The closer Prudence got to the city centre, the more people she had to try to steer her way around. Most of the time she was ignored, but occasionally she would receive a curse. People were walking in the road as well as on the pavement, slowing anything down. She understood why the carriage had struggled to get through. She was finding it difficult enough.

Using some of the side streets as cut throughs, she had almost reached her father’s largest mill before movement was severely restricted. She coaxed Scarlett on, feeling sorry for the beast who was now surrounded by people in a way she had never been before.

The crowd was tense rather than angry. A few people recognised Prudence and shouted comments to her. At one point one of the old foremen from her father’s mill called up to her.

“Miss Bamber! You need to get away from here!” he shouted to her above the noise of the crowd.

“I need to get to the mill!” Prudence answered, but she was beginning to think she would never reach it. Afraid of being unable to push through if she dismounted, she was grimly clinging to the reins and urging Scarlett forward.

The foreman pushed his way through the throng and reached her side. “Trying to get through this crowd is madness!” he scolded her.

“I agree! But I can’t turn back now,” she insisted. “Would you take care of my horse if I carried on by foot?”

“It’s not safe,” he said. “They are wanting someone’s blood, and it could get serious very quickly. It’s only going to take a spark, and it will turn nasty. Let me lead you to the mill. I need to get you away from here.”

Taking hold of the reins, the foreman pushed and cursed his way through the crowd. Prudence had doubted that he would have more of an impact than she would on a horse, but he did. It probably had more to do with the fact that most people knew him and responded to his cursing.

Eventually, they reached