Free Deborah Goes to Dover by MC Beaton Page A

of Dover. She wondered whether Miss Pym was asleep or not. She got up and found a wrapper and crept out into the corridor. She would just scratch at Miss Pym’s door and if there was no reply, she would return to bed.
    Mrs Conningham was awake also, memorizing each rich item in the room to tell her friends when shereturned to London. To the earl, his ancestral home might seem bleak and badly in need of modernizing, but to Mrs Conningham it was all that a stately home should be: ancient retainers, great carved beds, suits of armour, and long dark twisting corridors hung with ancestral portraits. The maid who had prepared Mrs Conningham for bed had been so old, she had made Mrs Conningham feel quite youthful. Of course, it was a pity Abigail was taking things so badly, but she would soon settle down, as Mrs Conningham herself had had to learn to settle down after her parents had chosen a husband for her. There was too much sensibility and romanticism in this new century. Love and marriage should never be mixed up. A woman’s duty in life was to bear as many children as possible and keep a comfortable home.
    Mrs Conningham’s fears that the captain might have any romantic interest in her daughter had been allayed. He had been polite, almost formal, towards Abigail at supper, nothing to fear there. Like most of the British public, Mrs Conningham despised the British army. Many inns carried signs saying, ‘No redcoats.’ She composed herself for sleep. The earl had promised to send her letter to Henry telling him of the delay. She hoped Jane was behaving herself and looking after the other children.
    Hannah Pym tossed and turned. Her conscience was bothering her. She had not had an opportunity to tell Abigail of that letter to sister Jane. And now, if Jane left immediately as instructed, she would be in Dover before her mother and Abigail. And what ofLord William and Lady Deborah? She had allowed them to go off into possible danger without warning the earl. She should never have given that promise.
    She rang the bell beside the bed and Benjamin, who was in a little bedchamber adjoining her own, came staggering in sleepily, dressed in his night-shirt.
    ‘Benjamin!’ said Hannah, sitting up. ‘I cannot sleep. Jane Conningham will be in Dover before her mother and sister. I should never have interfered. And what of Lady Deborah and her brother, William? Why did I promise Lord William I would say nothing!’
    Benjamin scratched himself lazily and then let out a cavernous yawn. ‘I think,’ he said blearily, ‘that Miss Jane Conningham, if she be like other sisters, might have an interest in pinching her sister’s beau. I would not trouble about it. And as for Lord William and Lady Deborah, why, I didn’t promise to say nuffink, now did I?’
    ‘Oh, Benjamin, how true. Write a note and put it under the earl’s door. Who’s there?’
    There came a timid scratching on the bedroom door. Benjamin opened it. Abigail blushed scarlet at the sight of the footman in his night-wear and Benjamin darted behind a chair, using the back of it as a shield. ‘You may leave us, Benjamin,’ said Hannah, ‘and pray write that letter before you fall asleep.’
    Benjamin grabbed Hannah’s travelling writing-case and darted off to his own room.
    ‘Now, Miss Abigail,’ said Hannah, ‘how may I be of service to you?’
    Abigail sat down gingerly. ‘I wondered whether you had time to hit on an idea.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Hannah, ‘but I do not know whether it will do any good. I have sent money to your sister, Jane, with instructions she is to make her way to Dover at all speed.’
    ‘But why?’ wailed Abigail.
    ‘The way I see it,’ said Hannah, ‘is that Miss Jane, having thought you a fool for not wanting to accept Mr Clegg, may try to get him for herself.’
    Abigail sat frowning and then her face cleared. ‘Oh, but of course she will. She is like that. And she is most monstrous jealous of me. I must tell Mama.’
    ‘No, you