Free The Highwayman by Catherine Reynolds Page A

played her false than she was by the confirmation that Jon was the highwayman, and Jane had to smile. “Well, if it will make you feel any better,” she said, “I am in perfect agreement with you. I believe he is a gentleman, or at least was bred to be one. Furthermore, I do not believe he is beyond being reformed.”
    “Indeed it does make me feel better,” said Agatha after a moment. “If that is so, perhaps my intuition was not so wrong, after all. Still, our first duty must be to get him well enough to leave here, which does not give you much time to reform him. But you know it would not do to have him here when Alice arrives.”
    Nor did it leave much time for her own hopes and plans to mature, she thought sadly, but perhaps that was just as well. As much as she longed to see Jane happily married, she could not suppose that a highwayman—even a reformed one, with the manners of a gentleman—would make an appropriate husband. These reflections, however, Agatha kept to herself.
    “No,” said Jane, “but I do not expect Alice until the end of the week, and in the meantime, I have already begun my campaign to turn our highwayman in another direction.”
    “How?” asked Agatha curiously.
    Jane flushed slightly. “Well, as he expressed an interest in doing so, I am allowing him to look over the account books.”
    “Good heavens!” said her companion, sounding gleeful and shocked at the same time. “I would never have dreamed that you, of all people, would be so vulgar as to permit a near stranger to become privy to your rather straitened circumstances.”
    Jane’s flush deepened. “You know perfectly well that I would not ordinarily do so, but I believe that, in this case, such a breach of good taste may be justified by the result. Do you not see? If Mr. Sebast shows some aptitude for estate management, perhaps... perhaps the vicar may know of someone who may hire him in that capacity.”
    At that moment the discussion was brought to an abrupt end as both women became aware of some sort of commotion in the entry hall. They stared at each other in dismay as a young female voice was heard over the rest of the hubbub.
    Fearing the worst, Jane rose from the table and left the breakfast room.
    In the entry hall, Melrose was staring dumbly at a huge pile of baggage as if he did not understand what it was or how it had got there. He looked up, clearly appalled, as more of the stuff was carried in by two liveried footmen.
    In the midst of this mountain of luggage stood an extremely pretty girl with blond curls framing her heart-shaped face, and dressed in a fashionable sprigged muslin gown. She was removing her gloves as she directed the footmen to set the various pieces down wherever they could find room. Then, catching sight of Jane, she lifted her skirts immodestly high, climbed over the pile of bags, bandboxes and trunks, and hurried towards her hostess.
    “Oh, Miss Lockwood! The most exciting thing has happened. Papa was actually robbed by the highwayman last night! Can you believe it? Oh, how I wish I had been there.”
    “Yes, I am sure it would have been most diverting for you,” said Jane dryly, hiding her dismay at this turn of events. “But, my dear Alice, I was not expecting you quite so soon.”
    “Oh, well. Papa knew that you would not mind in the least,” Alice replied airily. “And you must know how dreadfully overset he was by his encounter with that devilish rogue. He decided that he must spend a few days in Brighton to calm his nerves before setting out for the Continent.”
    Not wishing to begin their relationship by criticizing the girl, Jane had said nothing about the unladylike way in which Alice had climbed over her baggage. But she really could not let this pass. “My dear,” she said quietly, so that none of the servants would hear, “one should always start out as one means to go on, and that being the case, it is my duty to tell you that you must not use such terms as ‘devilish