A Woman of Honour

Chapter 26

'There's no one down here,' Ralph said to Alex after they had checked the cellars.

Alex nodded. 'He hasn't brought her down here. I hope Rachel's had a bit more luck trying to find her.'

As they were ascending the staircase from the cellars, Deveraux, still dressed as a footman, greeted them. 'There's a commotion going on outside,' Deveraux said, as he joined Alex and Ralph. 'I can hear dogs barking. It looks like they're sending out a search party.'

'Rachel must have found Helen,' Alex said, as they continued to climb the stairs. 'Knowing Rachel, she will have gone to the stables. She'll know that they won't stand a chance of escaping if they stay on foot.'

'We should go and find them,' Ralph said urgently.

They crept down the corridor behind Deveraux until they had reached the servants' quarters. It was busy in the kitchens. Melrose's entertainments were always lavish affairs, and the amount of food and drink consumed was immense. To keep the guests supplied with their every need, lots of servants had been employed for the evening. The addition of three more men, one dressed as a footman, did not even raise an eyebrow.

As soon as they were in the kitchen courtyard that led to the stables, they immediately saw a group of men. Some of them were holding vicious looking dogs on leads, and the sharp peel of their barks ricocheted around the courtyard. In the centre of the group, Ralph saw Hepworth giving orders to the men before they were dispatched to make their search of the surrounding area.

'Follow me,' Deveraux said quietly, 'I know a way to the stables that will avoid running into them.'

They followed Deveraux as he skirted around the edge of the courtyard, keeping to the shadows at all times. As they approached the stables, Ralph could see that they were busy. All the guests had arrived by carriage. The coachmen and grooms that had brought them were patiently waiting in groups awaiting their orders.

Deveraux motioned for them to follow him through the back door into the stables. No one noticed them as they crept past, they were all too busy chatting to each other and enjoying large mugs of ale. Once they were inside, Deveraux then brought them into the empty tack room.

'Change into these,' Deveraux said, as he handed Ralph and Alex jackets that had been hanging up on hooks on the wall. 'They'll be less likely to pay you any attention if you are dressed as stablehands.'

They all quickly changed their clothes and put on flat caps to cover their heads and hopefully make them a little less distinctive. Two smartly dressed gentlemen and a liveried footman would be very conspicuous in these surroundings.

'We should spread out,' Alex said, looking around him, 'we'll be able to cover more ground separately.'

'Here take these,' Deveraux said as he handed Ralph and Alex a Brown Bess musket. 'There's powder and shot over there.'

Ralph watched Alex as he primed his musket, and then he followed his brother's lead. Alex loaded the musket with practised ease. Even though officers rarely used muskets or rifles, Ralph knew that his brother had often carried one when he had been in Spain.

Ralph looked around the tack room and saw a cutting knife and a hammer. He picked up these tools and put them in the leather belt he had just fastened around his waist. He would only get one shot with the musket, so he needed to rely on other weapons to defend himself.

Once they had loaded the muskets, they left the tack room. Now Ralph was dressed as a stable hand, none of the coachmen even gave him a second glance. He walked over to the main part of the stables, where Melrose kept his best hunters. The horses in their stalls were agitated with the sound of the barking dogs, making it unlikely that anyone would risk hiding in them. However, he still carefully checked each one.