Free The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss Page A

from the chair, she dashed across the room and flung open its doors. She searched frantically through every garment hung within but again she found nothing. With a despairing sob, she began yanking the contents from the closet until her eyes fell on a box wrapped in cloth upon the floor of that tiny compartment.
     
    "Probably his jewels," she thought testily as she picked it up.
     
    She pulled the box from its protective cloth. She had no interest in his jewels, if that was what the box held, but the container itself interested her. Made of fine-grained leather, it was elaborately tooled and inlaid with gold with a large "B" dominating the top. It wasn't a very deep or large box, but she was sure it held something of value. Curiosity began spreading within her, and she couldn't stop her fingers from opening the catch and lifting the lid.
     
    Heather gasped in surprise, and she gave a silent prayer of thanksgiving. There, lying in a bed of red velvet, were two of the most beautifully executed flintlocks of French design she had ever seen. She knew little of firearms, but her father had possessed one of this type, only not so finely made. Their butts were of smooth English oak, oiled to a rich luster and bound with heavy brass rings to blue steel barrels. The trigger guards and butt plates were of lightly worked brass, and the locks were of hand-wrought iron, well oiled against the ravages of time.
     
    She examined the pistols, failing to fathom their mechanisms. Her father had never shown her how. She knew the lock pulled back to cock it, yet how it was loaded was a complete mystery. Silently she damned her ignorance and closed the cover on those fine weapons, trying to think of some way to even her odds with George. She cast glances about for anything. Perhaps something to hit him over the head would do. But she realized as she searched that she probably couldn't hope to more than daze him. Unless he was restrained in some fashion, she wouldn't have time to get away.
     
    Opening the box again, she took out one of the heavy pistols and examined it again. Would he know that she didn't have the slightest idea how to use the pistol? Just as long as she pretended how, it might frighten him enough to hand over the key to the door.
     
    She began to take heart now and a smile broke upon her face. Going to the desk and sitting down, she took out pen and paper and began scratching out a note to Captain Birmingham. She would have need of money, but she would never allow herself to be accused of selling her body for it. She would take one pound from the bag of money she had found earlier and leave in its stead the beige gown. It was more than a fair trade.
     
    She folded the note and left it on top of the gown and then carefully hid one of the pistols beneath the pile of maps and papers where it would be easily accessible to her when George returned with the tea she had requested as he cleaned up the broken dishes from the floor. He had seemed anxious to please despite the mess and said there would only be a small delay while he sent a man to buy the leaves. It had worked perfectly, giving her time to search the cabin in his absence. Now she hid the monogramed box in a desk drawer and straightened the cabin so the servant wouldn't become suspicious when he entered and found it had been searched. After doing this, she sat and read from a book she found on the desk. It was the least she could do, since she had promised. She would show Captain Birmingham she was not a person to be kept against her will. She laughed, anticipating the rage that would descend upon George, for whom she could feel nothing but hatred. After all, he had brought her to this disgrace. A fitting reward, she thought.
     
    Shakespeare's Hamlet was not very quieting to her already frayed nerves. She began to feel apprehensive at the delay of George's return and at times would put the book aside to pace the floor. After a few moments, she would snatch up the book