Free The Lantern Moon by Maeve Friel

back.’
    Arthur closed his eyes in dismay.
    â€˜Hold my horse, Arthur.’ The officer passed his horse’s reins to the footman and seized Annie roughly by the shoulder. ‘By God, girl, you will regret this. I shall send for the sergeant-at-arms at once.’
    Lucien Bonaparte swung himself into the saddle of his grey mare. ‘Is it necessary to miss our morning ride for the sake of a petty thief? In another hour, the market square will be full of folk, and God knows, I don’t want to see them any more than they wish to see me. It will only provoke more unpleasantness. Come, Lieutenant-Colonel, Arthur will keep the girl in his custody until we return.’
    He turned his horse towards the gate. The other horse which Arthur was holding tightly on a short rein pulled awayhard and tried to follow it. Its hooves slipped on the wet cobbles.
    â€˜Whoa, there, girl,’ said Arthur.
    The officer was torn between his duty to escort Lucien and his responsibility to deal with the thieving servant. The horses snorted nervously. Arthur, seeing that he was dithering, held out the reins.
    â€˜Do not let her out of your sight,’ the lieutenant-colonel warned, stepping on to the stirrup and swinging himself on to his saddle. ‘Keep her secure till I return. We shall soon get to the bottom of this affair.’
    â€˜You are done for, now, Annie,’ Arthur said as soon as they were gone. ‘Why did you take those things?’
    Annie told the sorry story in between sobs as Arthur led her up the front steps and into one of the small parlours at the back of the house.
    â€˜It would have been better to have left the silver in the shed there to rot, but it is of no matter now for the harm is done.’
    â€˜What will happen to me, Arthur?’
    â€˜I will be honest with you, Annie, so that you understand the trouble you are in. Your father is a transported convict, and you have no family here to put your case. When the sergeant-at-arms sees who you are, he will have you down for a felon like your father, no matter what you say.’
    â€˜They will throw me in jail?’
    Arthur looked long and hard at Annie’s tear-streaked face.‘Worse than that. If they caught you, you could end up swinging at the end of a rope in Shrewsbury Jailhouse. So,’ he said quickly, grabbing hold of Annie for her face had turned so white he was afraid she might faint, ‘I’ll help you get away. You are lucky that Lucien needs an escort when he goes for his morning canter or the officer would have dealt with this himself.’
    He walked over to the window and looked down towards the river and the common. In the far distance he could see Lucien and the officer galloping over the linney. ‘He’ll send for the sergeant-at-arms as soon as they return from their ride so we don’t have much time. I’ll show you where you can hide but you must leave Ludlow as soon as it grows dark. The townfolk are sure to raise a hue and cry to search for you once they know you have gone.’
    â€˜But where shall I go? Where can I hide?’ Annie grabbed hold of Arthur’s hand. ‘God save me, Arthur, I had better let them arrest me for I will never survive out there on my own. Let them hang me for my life is not worth living.’
    Arthur took both Annie’s hands in his. ‘You will survive.’ He drew Annie over to the fire-place. ‘This is your only hope, Annie. Most of the chimneys in this house are connected,’ he explained. ‘If you climb this one, you will find a ledge on your right hand side. There is a narrow passage through to the other side, leading down into the fireplace in the music room. They haven’t lit fires in there since the ladies stopped giving their afternoon concerts. Stay on the ledge until youhear the parish clock strike four o’clock this afternoon. You will hear the bells for I often used to hear them when I was a sweep. Come