Memoirs of a Hoyden Read Online Free PDF Page B

account the coastal contours. We shall travel east together. If we don’t overtake them before we reach, say, Ashford, then Ronald and I will go on to Dungeness, while you go to Dover and make your report to the colonel. I think that about settles it,” I said, and got up from my knees, brushing the dust from my skirt and hands.
    “You are certainly a lady who knows her own mind—and everyone else’s,” Kestrel replied. “Have you also decided how we are to obtain mounts? I have no money.’’
    “I have plenty of that,” I told him. The suspicion arose that he already knew my purse had escaped the robbers. Was that why he gave in to my persuasions? “I’m accustomed to traveling with a deal of cash. I adopted the habit during my travels. One never knows when she might have to hire a dozen guards or bribe a pasha or buy a camel. I can stand buff for the expenses. I am happy to do it, to help my country.”
    I could see Kestrel wasn’t happy to be at my mercy, but he had only Hobson’s choice in the matter. “Now that you’ve been robbed once, I don’t have to point out the folly of carrying large amounts of money with you. You may not be so lucky another time,” he said.
    “I don’t depend on luck. What I have learned from this incident is that I must buy a larger reticule, one that allows room for a small pistol. If I am ever asked to stand and deliver again, what I shall deliver is a bullet. It’s shocking that a carriage holding four gentlemen plus a groom was defenseless against a couple of thugs.”
    “What shocks me, ma’am, is that they weren’t defenseless against you.”
    “Experience, sir. I shall be better prepared another time, I promise you.”
    “The roads will be free of scamps in no time,” Kestrel prophesied, in a satirical way that belittled my abilities.
    He was not chastised for this innuendo, as my brain was active with a different notion. It occurred to me that this courier business Kestrel was involved in might prove interesting for myself, and Aurelia. Travel abroad was proving difficult during the war with Napoleon. Getting berth on a frigate depended as much on luck as connections. I might be sitting on my thumbs for months, and would enjoy the excitement.
    “How did you come to win the job as courier, Lord Kestrel?” I asked.
    “Win it?” he asked, eyes flashing. I feared I had unintentionally trod on the toes of his pride to suggest it had been gained in any other manner than by his abilities—such as they were. “I was coerced into it by Castlereagh. I needed his support for a bill I’m trying to get through Parliament, and to dilute his opposition—I can’t use the phrase ‘win his support,’ as he hasn’t lifted a finger to help me—I agreed to act as go-between for the government and the army.”
    This put a new complexion on the matter. Couriers, it seemed, were actually in short supply! “I should be happy to do this sort of work myself.’’
    “They don’t employ ladies to do men’s work.”
    “It’s a pity men have requisitioned all the exciting jobs for themselves. Ladies would do nothing but sew and sip tea if they didn’t infringe on men’s prerogatives from time to time. Never having used a lady before is all the more reason to hire me. The Frenchies wouldn’t be looking for any mischief from a woman.”
    He gave me a weary look. “The French, I believe, are more realistic in that respect. Since Marie Antoinette’s causing a revolution, they have come to expect mischief from their ladies.”
    “This isn’t the time or place for a lesson in history, though I expect you know where the fault for that revolution lies. I may be a woman, but I assure you, I could handle myself in any emergency.’’
    “Spare me the details of your brawls with Arabs,” he drawled, and drew out his watch. I did the same and saw it was half after five. “That rain seems to be letting up,” he said.
    The hammering on the roof had slackened to a patter, but