The Wicked Widow Read online

  Kyla thought that it was an old story that had been repeated over and over again.

  At the same time she could understand how much they resented their difficulties, which had been created by cheap food imported into the country from the Continent of Europe and it had undercut the prices of home-grown produce.

  It was just on noon when they came to a coach stop, which she knew was only about two miles from The Castle.

  She then jumped out of the coach, saying a shy ‘farewell’ to the other occupants and they responded without showing any interest.

  Terry climbed down from the top of the coach, saying as it drove off,

  “That was spiffing, Kyla! I liked it up there.”

  “I thought you would,” Kyla said as she smiled, “and now we have a long way to walk and I expect you are hungry. I am very glad I brought some sandwiches for our luncheon. We will have it quite soon.”

  She had told the maid that was what she wanted when they went down to breakfast.

  They did not look very appetising and yet, at least, she thought it would sustain them until they reached Nanny.

  She was quite certain that once that happened, Nanny would want to feed Terry up and her too.

  “I would like a drink,” Terry asked.

  “So would I,” Kyla agreed, “but I think it would be a mistake to be seen in any of the village inns near to The Castle. We had better find Nanny first and arrange how we can hide.”

  “Do you mean we have to hide even when we are with Nanny?” Terry asked.

  Kyla nodded.

  “I am sure that Stepmama will look for us here.”

  ‘If she tries to take us away, I will shoot her,” Terry asserted.

  The way he spoke made Kyla remember the pistols they had in their bags.

  It, however, did seem to be rather a far-fetched situation.

  At the same time her father had warned her so often about keeping their pistols beside them. But it would have been stupid to be caught defenceless.

  What money she had left was very precious and it had to be spent wisely.

  She then rose to her feet and, going under a tree, undid her baggage.

  She felt for her own pistol, which she put into her pocket.

  Then she took out Terry’s smaller one.

  “Now I can protect you,” Terry said valiantly, “and, if anyone comes to take us back to Stepmama, I will shoot them!”

  “You must remember that our Papa said we were never to shoot unless it was absolutely necessary,” Kyla replied, “and I, for one, have no wish to kill anyone.”

  “I would not kill them,” Terry said after thinking for a moment. “I would shoot them in the leg or maybe the arm, so that they could not run away.”

  Kyla drew in her breath.

  It was something she did not want to think about. Instead she concentrated on how they could reach Lilliecote Castle and talk to Nanny without anyone being aware of it.

  She tied up her baggage again and they set off, finding it hard going over a rough field.

  Kyla knew by the map she had studied when planning the journey that they were going in the right direction.

  They had left the main road as soon as the stagecoach had disappeared out of sight.

  Now, as they turned to the left, bearing West, they would fairly soon, she reckoned, see The Castle in the distance.

  Nanny had written in many of her letters to them, just how impressive The Castle was and that it could be seen for miles around as it was built on the top of a hill.

  She had written,

  “It has been in the Earl’s family for hundreds of years and I know that both you and Terry would find it exciting because it has secret passages. There are many beautiful rooms, some of which were added after The Castle was first built.”

  ‘Perhaps we could hide in the secret passages,’ Kyla thought, but did not say it aloud.

  She knew that mentioning it would make Terry determined to do so, whether there was danger or not.

  They walked on, until they came to some trees overlooking a small valley.

  Kyla knew that they had to descend to a stream that ran through it and then up again on the other side.

  She sank down onto the ground.

  “Let’s have something to eat now,” she proposed. “I am finding my baggage very much heavier than I expected.”

  “So is mine,” Terry said, “and I am hungry.”

  She opened the parcel of sandwiches and she found that they were not as unpleasant as she had anticipated they might be.

  The bread was fresh and had been spread with butter and the pieces of ham that filled it were quite edible.

  Terry started to eat the sandwiches with delight.

  He was just telling Kyla again how hungry he was when she heard the sound of a horse coming up behind them.

  Turning round, she gave a gasp of horror.

  The man riding the horse had a handkerchief over the lower part of his face and there was a large pistol in his hand.

  She stared at him in terror.

  Then, before either she or the highwayman could speak, Terry pulled out his pistol.

  The movement of his hand made Kyla remember hers and, taking her pistol from out of her pocket, she pointed it at the intruder.

  He stared at the two of them for a moment and then very unexpectedly he laughed.

  “I don’t believe it!” he exclaimed loudly, looking at Terry. “Is that pistol for real?”

  “Very real,” Kyla said in a voice that shook a little, “as you will see if you try to make demands on us.”

  “Now, what would two children of your age be a-doin’ with pistols?” the highwayman laughed again.

  He put his own weapon back into his pocket and went on,

  “I reckons there’s a story behind all this. Put them dangerous weapons away and if you can spare I a bit to eat, that’s all I’ll make you deliver.”

  The way he spoke was so friendly that Kyla lowered her pistol.

  Only Terry kept his pointed firmly at the highwayman.

  The man next knotted the reins on his horse’s neck.

  It was then that Kyla realised that it was a very fine stallion, so fine that she was sure it was unusual for a highwayman, of all people, to own such a magnificent horse.

  “Where did you get such a wonderful mount?” she asked him impulsively.

  “Where d’you think?” the highwayman laughed. “I stole ’im!”

  He patted the horse on its back and it moved away, lowering its head to crop the grass.

  The highwayman pulled down the handkerchief from his face and sat down beside them under the trees.

  “Now, what be you two up to?” he enquired. “I’m bettin’ you’ve run away from school.”

  ‘It is much worse than that,” Kyla answered. “We are in danger and very frightened, so please don’t make it any worse for us than it is already.”

  “Of course I won’t,” the highwayman replied, scratching his nose.

  He glanced at Terry, who was still standing there with the small pistol in his hand.

  “Put the gun away, Sonny,” he said, “but you’re quite right to protect this pretty lady, who I sees be older than I thinks ’er was.”

  Kyla handed the highwayman a sandwich and he took it gratefully.

  “I be ever so ’ungry,” he said. “I’ve ’ad a couple of real bad days and the only money I ’as goes on the ’orse’s food and not mine.”

  Kyla was thinking that he was not such a bad man after all.

  No man who would put his horse before his own needs could be cruel.

  “Did you really steal him?” she asked.

  “’Course I did,” the highwayman admitted. “It was a real fair do. I left me own ’orse in exchange, though ’e’s a bit long in the tooth and much slower than Samson.”

  “Is that his name?” Terry asked. ‘It’s a good name for a horse.”

  “That’s what I thinks,” the highwayman agreed. “
Now tell me what be you two young ’uns up to?”

  “As I told you, we are in deadly danger,” Kyla replied.

  “Then what be you a-doin’ ’ere?”

  Kyla paused and then somehow she knew instinctively that she could trust this man.

  He might be a highwayman, but at the same time he looked kind and fatherly.

  Anyway it was difficult to think that he could ever be murderous.

  “We are trying to get to Lilliecote Castle,” she said, “where we have a friend. We don’t, however, want anybody to know that we are there until we actually see our friend inside The Castle.”

  “That sounds a bit complicated,” the highwayman admitted, “but I gets your meanin’. Well, I suppose I’ll ’ave to ’elp you then.”

  “Could you do that?” Kyla asked. “We would be so very very grateful.”

  She passed him another sandwich as she spoke, which he accepted without speaking.

  After a long pause he said,

  “I’ve done all sorts of things in me life, but I ’as me principles as no doubt you ’ave yours.”

  “Of course we have ‒ ” Kyla answered.

  “Why are you a highwayman?” Terry interrupted. “If you are caught, you will be hanged from a gibbet.”

  “That’s why I ’as to keep on goin’,” the highwayman replied, “and now I’ve got Samson, it’s not so difficult.”

  “You mean you can get away quickly?” Kyla asked.

  “Aye, that’s the long and the short of it, but I suspects they’ll get I in the end.”

  “Tell me,” Kyla asked him, “so why are you a highwayman?”

  “I were a good gardener,” he replied, “and I ’ad green fingers with flowers, they used to say, but it be not difficult for me, I guess. I comes back ’avin’ served me King and Country, so to speak, and what do I find? Me job’s gone, me wife’s run off with another man and me cottage be occupied by another family. That’s ’ow they treats ’eroes!”

  “I agree with you. It is disgraceful the way that our soldiers and sailors have been left to starve, especially those who were wounded,” Kyla said. “It made my father very angry.”

  “It made I very angry too!” the highwayman said. “So I takes to the road and somehow enjoys meself. “Though you may not think so, at least I be free. For the moment.”

  “You will have to be very careful,” Terry warned him.

  “I am,” he replied. “But I never expects I’d find two babes in arms flashing pistols at I!”

  He laughed until he choked and then he carried on,

  “Anyway, it’s nice to meet you and if you be wantin’ go to The Castle, I’ll give you a lift.”

  “On Samson?” Terry asked excitedly.

  “On Samson,” the highwayman affirmed. “He be strong enough to carry the three of us.”

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Kyla asked. “It is very kind of you and it was very hot when we were walking.”

  “’Course it be. Now give me your baggage, miss.”

  He took it from them and fixed it firmly in a clever way to Samson’s saddle.

  Then he put Terry up in front of him and, having mounted, pulled Kyla up behind him.

  She put her arms round his waist to keep herself steady.

  They set off, moving between the trees and, she was quite certain seen by no one.

  They had gone for some distance when he stopped and announced,

  “Here us be. That’s what you be a-lookin’ for.”

  He pointed and Kyla could see ahead of them silhouetted against the sky the Towers and roofs of what appeared to be a very large building.

  “Is that The Castle?” Terry asked excitedly. “It looks spiffing! I have never been inside a Castle before.”

  “You enjoy it whilst you ’as the chance,” the highwayman said, “but if you ’as to get away in an ’urry, remember if I’m anywhere near ’ere I’ll ’elp you out.”

  “You are very kind,” Kyla said. “Could you not find a better job than holding up people on the highway?”

  “Don’t you worry your pretty little ’ead about I. Jest you take care of yourself and if you be in danger, real danger, you can always get in touch with I.”

  “What is your name?” Kyla asked. “And how can I possibly contact you?”

  The highwayman thought for a moment.

  And then he said,

  “There be a very large oak tree in the Park, as everyone in the village believes ’as magic powers and can ’elp when you’re in trouble or when you be ill. Anyone can tell you where it be.”

  He paused for a few moments as if he was thinking out what he was just about to say.

  “Now what you must do is to put a small red kerchief round one of the boughs of the oak tree at dusk. There be all sorts of charms and little things left there, but I ain’t never seen a red kerchief. A red ribbon’ll do if you ain’t got no kerchief.”

  “Then what will happen?” Kyla asked.

  “I’ll wait for you at the tree when there be no one about and you can tell I what’s amiss.”

  “Thank you – thank you!” Kyla sighed. “It is so very kind of you.”

  The highwayman thought for a moment.

  Then he went on,

  “If things gets too ’ot for me and I ’as to go away quickly, I wouldn’t want you to be disappointed if I didn’t show up.”

  “Then what should I do?” Kyla asked.

  “Well, if it so ’appens,” he said, “I’ll leave sommat on a bough for you. It might be jest a bit of Samson’s mane, but it’ll tell you that I can’t meet you that night.”

  “I will certainly go to the tree every day,” Kyla said. “I would like to see it anyway”

  “So would I,” Terry smiled a toothy smile.

  The highwayman brought Samson to a standstill.

  “I’ll not take you any further,” he said. “It’s only a short walk to The Castle from ’ere.”

  “I think we shall have to hide somewhere in the garden,” Kyla said, “hoping the person I am waiting to see will come out of The Castle and I can have a chance to speak to her alone.”

  The highwayman urged Samson forward and, when he stopped again, he said,

  “If you walk from ’ere and go straight through the shrubbery, then you peeps through the bushes, you’ll see the lawns and the Bowling Green ahead of you

  “Thank you, thank you!” Kyla said. “You are the kindest man we have ever met and I am so grateful to you.”

  “It were nice talkin’ to you,” he replied in a gruff voice. “It ain’t often I gets a chance of speakin’ to a beautiful young lady like you be. I ’ad a daughter meself once, but ’er died after I’d gone to the War.”

  “I am sorry,” Kyla said sympathetically.

  Then she put up her hand to lay it on his.

  “I think perhaps your daughter is glad that we met you and that you have been able to help us.”

  “That be a real good thing for you to say,” the highwayman replied, turning away.

  But Kyla had already seen that there was a hint of moisture in his eyes.

  He turned to Terry.

  “Now, young feller, you look after this pretty lady as I guess ’er must be your sister and don’t you let anyone ’arm ’er.”

  “I will shoot them if they try!” Terry replied aggressively.

  “Of course you will,” the highwayman agreed, “but see you aim straight!”

  He then released their bags from the saddle and, as they fell to the ground, he pulled on Samson’s reins.

  “’Bye,” he called out. “And don’t forget, if anythin’ bad ’appens, leave a message on the old oak.”

  “I will not forget,” Kyla said, “and thank you, thank you again so very much.”

  She paused before she then asked hesitatingly,

  “I would like to have – a name when I – think of you, but perhaps it is wrong for me to ask.”

  The highwayman smiled.

  “
I’ll tell you. ‘Bill’ is what me friends, when I ’ad some, called me.”

  “Then I will call you ‘Bill’ when I pray that you will be safe,” Kyla said.

  “You do that, miss,” the highwayman replied.

  “And when you think of us,” Kyla said, “I am ‘Kyla’ and my brother is ‘Terry’, but no one must know we are here.”

  “I’ll keep me mouth closed.”

  He lifted his hat and, as he did so, Kyla saw that he was going grey.

  As he put it on again, Samson carried him away quickly and they disappeared amongst the trees.

  Terry gave a sigh.

  “Fancy our meeting a real live highwayman!” he exclaimed. “I wish I could tell the boys at school. They would never believe it.”

  “You must promise me that you will tell no one or we will get him into trouble,” Kyla said quickly. “If there are people looking for us, there will certainly be people looking for him too.”

  “Yes, of course,” Terry said, “but he was nice, was he not, Kyla?”

  “Very nice,” Kyla nodded.

  They picked up their baggage and started to walk through some trees that gradually gave way to shrubs.

  Many of them were in bloom and there was a fragrance in the air that was very attractive.

  Kyla moved on cautiously as she had no wish to be found by a gardener, who would ask her what they were doing here.

  Then, through the bushes just ahead of her, she could see green lawns.

  To the right, as the highwayman had told them, there was the Bowling Green.

  Now that she was closer to The Castle, it was even larger and more magnificent than it had seemed from a distance.

  The walls were thick and sturdy with battlements.

  She thought, if they stayed there, even her stepmother would not be able to harm them.

  Then she told herself that this was just ‘wishful thinking’.

  She had to find Nanny, who might think that it would be wiser for them to go somewhere else where nobody knew them.

  Her spirits dropped at the thought.

  Then, as they stared up to the top of The Castle, seeing its turrets and Towers, Terry said suddenly in a whisper,

  “Look, look, Kyla! There is Nanny! I can see her.”

  He was speaking excitedly and he would have run forward.