Free The Song of the Siren by Philippa Carr

mistress,” said Jem shaking his head, “and I never like it when things start to go awry.”
    “He’ll get a good scolding when arrives at the Abbass, I promise you.”
    “Oh, mistress, he weren’t to know how strong the cider were.”
    “We knew by the first mouthful,” I protested.
    In fact we were able to get along more quickly without torn and the saddle horses, even so twilight was fading when we reached the Black Boar.
    As we rode into the courtyard I was astonished by the activity there. Grooms were running about attending to the horses and there was a general air of bustle, which was unusual.
    Jem helped me dismount and I went into the inn. The host came out to meet me rubbing his hands together with an air of consternation.
    “My lady,” he said, “Oh, my lady, we are in such a turmoil. We are full to overflowing.”
    I was dismayed.
    ‘You cannot mean that you have no room for us?” I cried in dismay.
    “I fear so, my lady. I have let the whole of the floor to a party. They are most important gentlemen and one of them is sick.”
    I felt a twinge of apprehension. I remembered Jem’s saying that if
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    one thing went wrong, it started a chain of events. If it had not been for that stupid groom drinking too much cider we should have arrived two hours earlier and have had our rooms before the important gentleman came. Always before there had been room at the Black Boar. It was not as though it was one of those inns on the main road to a big city. It was quite off the beaten track, and never before when travelling back and forth between Eyot Abbass and Eversleigh had I encountered such a situation.
    “What can we do?” I cried in distress. “It will be quite dark soon.”
    “There’s only the Queen’s Head as I can think of and that’s ten miles on.”
    “Ten miles. We couldn’t do it. The horses are tired. There are only three of us-the grooms and myself. I have left one behind at the Rose and Crown to sleep off a surfeit of cider. It is because of him that we have arrived so late.”
    The innkeeper’s face lightened a little. “Well,” he said, “I do wonder . . .”
    “Yes.” I said. “Yes. You wonder what?”
    “There is a little room-well, ‘tis scarce worthy of the name. A big cupboard more like. But there is a pallet in it and a table and chair ... no more, mind. ‘Tis on the same floor as the gentlemen have took. I said naught about it. One of our maids sleeps there sometimes.”
    “I’ll take it,” I said. “After all, we shall be off early tomorrow morning. What about my grooms?”
    “Well, I be thinking of them too. There’s a farmhouse a mile along the road. Reckon they could sleep in the loft over the stable if they was prepared to pay for it.”
    “I will pay,” I said. “Now show me this ... cupboard.”
    “ ‘Tisn’t what I like to offer you, my lady....”
    “It will suffice, I’m sure,” I said. “It will teach me to be early in future.”
    He was immensely relieved and I followed him up the stairs.
    We were on a landing which I remembered from the past. The first door was that of my cupboard. There were four other doors on the landing.
    The innkeeper opened the door. I was dismayed, I had to admit. It was indeed little more than a cupboard. The pallet occupied one side of it and a stool and a small table were all else that it contained.
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    There was a small window in it which would make it just tolerable.
    The innkeeper was looking at me dubiously. I said: “It will have to do.” Then I turned to him. “There are four good rooms on this floor,” I went on, “and only six in the party, you say. Perhaps they would agree to share more evenly, so that I could have one of the rooms.”
    The innkeeper shook his head. “They were most certain what they wanted. It was all that floor. They paid me well for them ... right on the nail. They said the whole floor. They had this sick gentleman. They said they didn’t want him disturbed. Best say nothing,