Free Darcy's Journey by M. A. Sandiford Page B

put it to good use.
    Facing him at the back of the boat,
Elizabeth had slept through the latter part of the journey, and he felt a
twinge of guilt at the pleasure of having her so close, curled up in the warm
blankets with her hair spilling in all directions.
    Angus and Dougal moored the boat, and
helped Burgess unload Darcy’s trunk, which now held some of Elizabeth’s clothes
as well as his own. He puzzled what to do with Elizabeth herself, still dressed
in her nightgown and probably too drowsy to walk. Eventually he awoke her, then
simply carried her up the steps to the wharf and sat her on the trunk, where
she drew the blankets across her shoulders and awaited events in silence.
    It was time for a parting of the ways. Darcy
extracted two gold ducats from his belt for Angus and Dougal, and gave the
Italian fishermen a silver lira each to compensate them for the missing wine,
sacrificed in order to drug the guards. The men set off in excellent spirits. Without
them Darcy felt a knot of anxiety: if Carandini and company caught up, it would
no longer be possible to resist. He hoped that his pursuers would see the caorlina boat depart, and divide their forces in case Darcy and Elizabeth were still on
it.
    Burgess returned with the welcome news
that a barge was about to leave, and could take them along the Brenta to Padua.
Even better, when tempted by another coin, the bargee sent two men to carry
their luggage.
    It was a low thin vessel with the decks
at both ends laden with barrels, and a covered sitting area recessed in the
middle. As Darcy boarded, the bargee left to talk with a boy who was harnessing
two horses to the side of the boat. On deck there were open boxes of fresh
fish, which Darcy had to side-step as he carried Elizabeth inside. Two other
passengers, dressed like farm workers, watched with interest as he set her down
on one of two wooden benches which ran along the sides. Their presence
obviously disturbed Elizabeth, who had woken up sufficiently to worry about her
hair, but she managed to coil it beneath a blanket, after which she again closed
her eyes.
    As the barge moved slowly off, Burgess
joined them.
    ‘Any sign of Carandini?’ Darcy asked.
    Burgess shook his head. ‘Won’t be long
though, sir. An hour at most, probably less.’
    ‘What would you do in his place?’
    ‘Ask at the wharf. Then hire a horse and
gallop after the barge.’
    ‘Just so.’ Darcy thought for a moment.
‘Which means we have a problem. We cannot hope to reach Padua by barge, because
in an hour’s time we will be overtaken. We must disembark earlier, at a place
they won’t expect.’
    ‘We’ll be seen leaving the barge,’
Burgess pointed out. ‘As soon as Carandini’s men catch up, they will question
the bargee, who will set them back on our trail.’
    Darcy nodded pensively. Of course he had
no proof that Carandini was on their trail at all; the boat following
them out of Lido might have been a fishing craft. But he trusted Mario
Carandini’s account of his cousin’s character. Gabriele would not relinquish
his obsession so easily. He would go to any lengths, spend any amount of money,
to get Elizabeth back …

 
    Darcy woke with a jolt, to discover
that the farm workers had left. He cursed himself for giving way to his weariness
and dropping off. How much time had passed? Had they been overtaken? He shook
Burgess, who was also dozing, and ran up on deck, where the farm workers were
exchanging pleasantries with the bargee as they waited to disembark.
    ‘Where are we?’ Darcy asked in Italian,
joining them.
    The bargee pointed to a villa with a
facade made up of triangles and columns, beautifully composed in the style of a
Greek temple. ‘Villa Foscari.’
    In the dawn light the villa seemed a
fantasy, too good to be true. Darcy looked back along the river bank for evidence
of pursuit, but saw no riders.
    ‘We will disembark now.’
    The bargee regarded him strangely. ‘You
won’t find anyone here from the