grin.
Rupert had descended with Cooper and Johnson’s guarded permission and handed the ladies into the carriage. Lucia was wearing a mantilla with a black veil, and a large silver cross around her neck, which Rupert assumed was to assert her Catholic beliefs in a heretic establishment. She also carried her rifle. As she boarded, Evans sprang on board and sat beside Miss Herriot, with their backs to the horses. Both Lucia and Evans kept their eyes scanning the road and countryside as they headed for the church.
Rupert tried to chat with Verity but the realisation of the threat, dampened their mood and they lapsed into silence. They travelled to the church and Rupert handed the ladies down although Evans and Lucia reluctantly left their rifles in the coach. Johnson stayed with the carriage, but Cooper slipped into the church and sat at the back.
The church was fairly full, and Lady Verity and Miss Herriot greeted their acquaintances and introduced Lucia and Rupert to those who at least pretended to gentry within the community. Sir Cuthbert was in the church and spoke briefly with Rupert and Verity, then he spent some time talking to Mary Herriot. Rupert noticed that Mary blushed and giggled as the portly magistrate was clearly flirting with her.
“Verity, Sir Cuthbert is a widower, isn’t he?”
“Yes, his wife died three years’ ago of some illness, she had been delicate for some years.”
They sat in the Ellesmere pew and suffered through the service. The hymns were bearable, but the vicar clearly loved the sound of his own voice and there was a lot of shuffling in the pews as his sermon neared the hour mark in length.
“I think we should do something about replacing the vicar before our wedding, this man is a dead bore,” Rupert whispered to Verity, who sat beside him chastely holding his hand.
She covered her mouth to suppress a giggle and turned it into a slight cough in reply. The vicar finally read the notices including publishing the banns for their marriage and then a final hymn and some recessional music for the choir and vicar to process to the vestry by.
They stood up and Lady Verity and Miss Herriot made their goodbyes and accepted the congratulations of their well-wishers. The people trouped out, running the gauntlet of shaking the vicar’s hand. He made a point of congratulating them while wearing a miserable scowl on his face. They were grateful to escape and waited in the porch as Cooper dashed to have the carriage brought round.
It took a little time before the carriage came around, as there were others trying to board their transportations. Despite their caution, no one really expected anything to happen outside the church and they boarded safely and set off once more for Ellesmere Manor. Rupert had invited them to eat, promising to escort the ladies to have them driven to Lady Verity’s before it got dark.
The roads were not particularly busy as it was Sunday, there being no real farm or business traffic. It was sleeting gently and Rupert felt some sympathy for the men on the box and Johnson huddled up behind. Ellesmere Manor came into sight and they all breathed a sigh of relief. They began the turn into the drive and the leaders pulling the carriage reared up, neighing in panic. Tom Coachman pulled up the horses and tossed the reins to Cooper as he went to check on his horses. Both leaders, were preferring their back hooves and clearly lifting their leading foot in some agony. Crooning quietly to the horses, he calmed them down and then bent to examine the right-hand horse’s foot.
“Caltrops, my lord, we are under att…” he yelled, plucking out a small metal contraption, but he was clubbed to the ground by a large ugly man, whose misshapen nose indicated his former profession.
Cooper hefted his rifle and shot the heavy-set man, although as the horses were clearly unsettled, shaking the carriage, it hit low in the man’s belly. He was amazed the horses had not bolted. Then the carriage came under fire from the shelter of a nearby hedge.
Rupert grabbed Verity and dropped down onto the carriage floor while Evans fired at the shooter.
“Down, Mary!” Rupert said sharply.
Miss Herriot quickly joined them on the floor of the carriage. Rupert grabbed and cocked one of the pistols but he could not see anything to shoot at.
“Rupert…” Verity began shakily, and he squeezed her fingers reassuringly.
Cooper jumped down from the nearside and moved quietly