A Highwayman Came Riding Read Online Free PDF Page A

listen at the door, she might discover where the diamonds were hidden. She could steal them after the men went to sleep. She, the duchess, and the grooms could slip quietly away on foot and report these thieves to the closest constable. Beeton and Tom, she assumed, were sleeping in the stable.
    She might not get another chance. The five years she had spent with the duchess had beaten much of the self-confidence out of her, but she had not always been so diffident. As she considered their predicament, she felt the old energy come to life again. She would do it! As a precaution, she went to the bed and jostled the duchess’s arm. When the old lady grumbled awake, Marianne told her what had happened, and what she was going to do. She wanted someone to know and go to her rescue if she did not return. Or perhaps she wanted the duchess to forbid it.
    “Excellent!” she crowed. “Go now, quickly, before Jack leaves with my diamonds. I am surprised you have it in you, Marianne, for you are usually such a sniveling, missish sort of gel. There is hope for you yet.”
    On these encouraging words, Marianne crept out of the room, into the pitch blackness beyond.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Across the room, slivers of yellow light shimmered in the darkness, showing her the location of the kitchen door. She crept toward it, feeling her way to prevent bumping into furniture in the unfamiliar parlor. The floor gave two light squawks. She froze, waiting for the kitchen door to fly open, shots to echo around her. There was no chair or sofa close enough to hide behind. After a moment, she realized they hadn’t heard the sound, and she continued toward the door.
    It was closed, but through it she could hear two masculine voices speaking in low tones. By pressing her ear to the panel, she could overhear their words. That arrogant buzz was Captain Jack, certainly. The other, however, did not sound like Ned. Was it Miguel? Yes, he had that touch of Irish brogue. Odd name for an Irishman, Miguel.
    “You shouldn’t have gone alone,” he said. “I could have ridden, Cap’n. Sure ‘tis only a scratch on my arm.”
    “Never mind, Mickey. I got him. I got the bastard.” The captain’s voice was gloating, thick with triumph. “I got him” sounded as if he had killed someone. A trickle of ice formed in Marianne’s veins. What sort of monster was so delighted at having killed a fellow man? She took note of that “Mickey” as well. He was Irish, then. Miguel was his nom de guerre, as the other one’s was Captain.
    “How much?” Miguel asked.
    “I haven’t counted it.” She heard the clink of coins.
    “Gorblimey! It’s thousands. How the devil did you carry it?”
    “I can carry a heavy load, when it’s gold,” the captain said, and laughed a bold, triumphant laugh.
    “Wasn’t he riding with guards?”
    “Three of them. I used my lasso, as we did to steal a steer in the old days.”
    “You didn’t kill him?”
    “Oh, no. I didn’t touch a hair on his head.” Marianne listened, frowning. “Got him” was a strange way to refer to robbing someone. Perhaps the captain had said “I caught him.” The door blurred some of their words.
    “Nor his guards?”
    “Why would I hurt his hirelings? I daresay they dislike him as much as I do. In any case they didn’t try very hard to protect him.”
    “Well, you’ve done what you came to do. We can leave now. We’d best do it. He’ll report it to the law.”
    “We’ll lie low here for the nonce. The patrols will be out looking for us.”
    “Where will you hide it, in case they come looking?”
    Marianne stiffened to attention and applied her ear more firmly to the door.
    “In the usual place,” he replied unhelpfully.
    “Along with the diamonds?”
    “Why not?”
    “I’d put them in different places, then if they find one lot, they might not find t’other.”
    “Good thinking. I’ll take care of it. I’ve earned a bottle of the best, don’t you think?”
    “That you