Hunting for Silence

29. A Lady Taking Charge

'This is very kind of you, Mr...Karim, was it?'

'Hrmph.'

'What an interesting name. And an interesting hat. I've never met a coachman with a turban before.'

'Hm.'

'Or with that kind of accent. Where did you say you were from, again?'

'Hrm.'

'But, really, this isn't necessary. I'm quite sure if someone supported me I could walk down the stairs on my own two feet quite easily. Just—'

Ella shifted, bringing it home to Karim all too clearly that he was carrying a female dressed only in her nightgown in his arms. The poor man. He looked about to expire. Maybe I should offer my sympathies?

Karim's eyes found me and bored into me.

Well...maybe better not. Inconspicuously, I sidled out of the room. Outside, Edmund was waiting with the expression of a young man whose fiancée was currently in the clutches of an unknown seven-foot-tall bearded giant.

'Um...Miss Linton?'

'Yes?'

'Do you think it was wise to ask the gentleman from the coach stable to...um...you know...'

'Know what?'

Edmund gave up. 'Is Ella all right?'

I patted his shoulder. 'Perfectly all right. She'll be down here in a minute.'

'Err...In one piece?'

'Probably. She might be a bit squashed, though.'

'It's absolutely scandalous!' Maria exclaimed. 'Touched by some kind of savage from God only knows where! It's indecent, that's what it is!'

'Indecent?' I gave her a bright smile. 'Why, you should have said so before! Of course, if he's indecent, you're perfectly welcome to walk all the way to the coast instead of letting him drive you. Doesn't that sound like fun?'

Maria opened her mouth—and shut it again.

It wasn't long before Karim arrived downstairs with his precious load. With the care usually reserved for crown jewels, he deposited my little sister in the first of the carriages, and Edmund, Lisbeth, Gertrude and I climbed in after her. Edmund's parents, meanwhile, who had been staring at me with a strange mix of puzzlement and awe ever since their son had dragged them out of the house to tell them about the free holiday they were about to get, went to keep Anne and Maria company in the other coach, so at least someone in there would behave like an adult.

With a click, the coach door closed behind us.

'Am I dreaming?' Ella whispered as she gazed out at the elegant coach drawn by four of the fastest horses in London. 'Or is this really happening?'

I pinched her.

'Ouch!'

'The latter,' I informed her jovially. 'Sit down and relax. Would you like a piece of solid chocolate?'

'Lil...how? Shaking her head, she stared at me as if she were seeing me for the very first time. And maybe, in a way, she was. 'How is this possible?'

I glanced out of the window, back towards the house. Through the mist, beyond the second coach travelling behind us, I thought I could just about make out the dark outline of a tall man, staff in hand, top hat sitting atop his head. Another carriage rolled up beside him. With one swift move, he pulled open the door and swung himself inside.