Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind Read Online Free PDF Page B

another rush of color. She gasped and clapped her hands to her face to hide her shame.
    Just then, a moan came from the back of the landaulet.
    “Oh, poor Nan!” Ginny cried. She picked up her skirts and moved briskly to the little carriage. How could she have forgotten the abigail for even a moment? And what was she to do for her now? They should have left her at the inn while they brought a doctor back.

    A vision of the taproom at the Swan and Flute rose into her mind. Ginny shuddered. Perhaps Nan was better off lying in a broken-down carriage in the middle of a dusty road with no place to go and no way to get there, accompanied by two people who had no money and less wits between them. She felt her stern resolve to stay cheerful desert her. “Sir Anthony, what are we to do?”
    “I suppose I shall have to go for help and try to find someone who can take us up” He gazed down the long length of the road, the setting sun shining in his eyes.
    “You can’t mean to walk to Bedford! Not before sunset. Not on that ankle.” Ginny could hear the panic in her voice. It wasn’t only his ankle she was worried about. Seb and Dobbs were long gone, but there could be more of their ilk just down the road.
    Sir Anthony looked a shade worried as well. “You stay here with Nan and tidy things up a bit. I’m going to walk down to the next crossroads and try to find a passing carriage.” He retrieved his hat from where it was wedged beneath the seat and placed it on his head.
    Ginny wanted to tell him how beyond hope the hat had become, all crumpled and misshapen. And that hole! On the other hand, the mud on his face and that limp were so fascinating, she rather doubted anyone would notice.
    “Well, I’ll be off then,” he said, walking over to where she stood. “Don’t speak to strangers and try to stay out of the way of any more thieves.” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “We haven’t anything left to give them, after all.”

    “We would have if you hadn’t made me give them the money I had hidden in my gown.”
    Sir Anthony moved closer. “Ah, now, Miss Delacourt, you know that to be faulty reasoning. Those two knew exactly where to look, did they not? You might thank me for saving you the indignity of having them go after it themselves.”
    Ginny willed the rising tide of color from her cheeks. Must she always blush like a schoolgirl? “I wasn’t afraid of them,” she said coolly, despite the warmth caused by his nearness. In truth, she had feared Sir Anthony might have been the one to remove the money from her gown. As abhorrent as it would be to have Seb and Dobbs paw through her skirts, the thought of Sir Anthony doing so terrified her. Madly, her cheeks continued to burn.
    “I don’t think I’m wrong to suppose your charity only goes so far?” Sir Anthony was asking. He cocked one odious eyebrow at her.
    “It is money that only goes so far, Sir Anthony,” Ginny replied. Only, she didn’t think it was money to which he was referring. “Ah, it is charity that never faileth, I believe,” she said.
    One corner of his mouth lifted just a fraction. “Let us hope we find someone possessed of a goodly amount of that before it gets much later.”
    Ginny felt a spasm of guilt. The whole of this wretched affair was her own fault. “Do you think someone will be along soon?”
    “Be brave.” Sir Anthony put a finger under her chin and tilted it up. “We shall come about all right. Some one must pass by soon. Someone respectable, that is.” He dropped his hand to his side. “Remember what I said, watch out for yourself and stay out of trouble.” He shook a finger at her and limped down the road.

    Ginny watched him march away from her and tried to believe what he had said. She hoped he wasn’t simply trying to be polite.
    Sir Anthony’s thoughts at that moment were anything but polite. In fact, they were positively rude. What else could one expect of a perfectly good specimen of masculinity,