The Bet

Chapter 8: Somewhere on the road to Nottingham

Aunt Mary, Uncle Smith and Amelia departed to Nottingham first. Frances and the rest of the family planned to depart two days later.

Four carriages with fourteen members started from Chestnut house. Frances, Anne and their hand maid were sharing a carriage.

Frances grew irritable as they rolled out of London, she ended up having more verbal spat with Anne than usual .

'Stop leaning towards me, you can look out from your window,' spat Frances.

'I want to look at both sides,' replied Anne.

'It's the same,' said Frances.

'You need to look to be sure, ' replied Anne.

Frances scowled at Anne repeating 'it's the same' and returned to her book. It was important to have the last word in an argument.

Three hours passed, Frances and Anne got into three more verbal spats. They were well past London and riding through the countryside. The carriage suddenly gave a wild lurch and came to a halt.

Frances poked her head out to see what the problem was. Anne mimicked her.

'Don't push me,' said Frances angrily.

'I want to look out too,'

'You always keep pushing me' Frances spat back.

'I am not,'

'You are,'

When Mrs. Sophia Hill came to investigate the problem, the sisters were still at 'I am not' and 'You are.'

Ignoring them she went to the footman to enquire. The rim of a wheel was bent badly and two of the spokes that held the rim had broken. She instructed the footman to take a horse to a nearby village and find someone to fix the wheel.

Mrs.Sophia didn't know what to do next. If they all stayed, they could not make it to Nottingham before nightfall. They were going to have to accommodate both sisters in the remaining carriage, it was going to be cramped. Seeing Frances and Anne still arguing, Mrs. Hill sighed heavily. It was going to be torture.

As Mrs.Hill made arrangements, Anne howled 'I'm not going to sit on her lap for the entire journey.'

'You could sit on the floor,' Frances said vehemently.

'Frances! That's enough, I think you should both take turns sitting on the floor.'

Both Frances and Anne looked outrageous. 'It's all your fault,' accused Anne.

'You should have agreed to sit on my lap,' spat Frances.

That is when a sleek and obviously well-made carriage came to a halt near them. And to Frances' surprise, Marcus and Antony climbed down.

Three hour earlier:

Antony climbed in Marcus' carriage saying 'Don't tell me you are making me attend a house party like the last time I was forced to endure,' with a scowl. Some Duke spawn, held a week long bachelor party which involved whiskey and women.

'However, you still came,' on seeing the look on Antony's face Marcus added, 'No! It is not. It's a week-long wedding party,' said Marcus.

At this Antony looked amused, 'A wedding? And who, pray tell, is getting married?'

'It's Hugo Allen. You don't know him,' said Marcus.

'And you do?' asked Antony mockingly.

'Don't think you fool me for a moment, which lady will be added to the famous Vandam mistress list when we get back,' added Antony.