I would be very obliged to you.’
He shook his head. ‘You’re out of luck. There’s no one there. Except for me, the whole family is spending the day with the Vernons at Stoke Park.’
Miss Staunton sat down rather suddenly on the milestone. ‘Oh dear!’ she said.
‘Weren’t they expecting you?’
‘Well…not exactly. Not today. I’ve come two days early, you see.’
Hugo took a deep breath. ‘You’d better tell me,’ he said with resignation. ‘Just the bare bones.’
Miss Staunton swallowed her resentment and said with dignity, ‘I had to come early for reasons which I won’t go into here. But Mr Hobson refused to take us further than the crossroads.’
‘Who is Mr Hobson?’
‘The owner of the dogcart. I paid him to bring us from Maids Moreton.’
‘The dogcart? You mean to tell me that you’ve come twenty miles in a dogcart? You must be mad!’
‘No, Hugo. Just…just not very rich. But I think I must have miscalculated the distance when making the arrangement with Mr Hobson. When we reached Yardley Gobion he said he’d done the distance we agreed. He wanted more money before he would go any further. It was most unreasonable of him, for what could I have done in Yardley Gobion?’
‘What indeed?’
‘I finally managed to persuade him to come as far as the crossroads at the end of the road here, but he wouldn’t come a yard further unless I paid him some more. And…and I couldn’t do that.’
‘You didn’t have the means?’
Miss Staunton nodded. ‘Because of Mrs Dearborne’s hat.’
Hugo regarded her with fascination. He said after a pause, ‘I’m not going to ask about Mrs Dearborne’s hat. It will have to wait. But the situation, as I understand it, is that Mr Hobson and his dogcart have gone off back to Maids Moreton…’
‘Buckingham. He comes from Buckingham.’
‘Buckingham, leaving your servant and all your worldly goods at the Travellers’ Rest. And there they will stay until you can find some way of conveying them to the Vicarage. Meanwhile, you have been forced to walk the three miles to Abbot Quincey in the heat of the day, accompanied by a large dog and…what is in the cage, anyway?’ He twitched the cover away. A sleepy green parrot with a bright blue and yellow head looked at him with irritation and swore picturesquely. Hugo took a step back.
‘Good God!’
‘Hugo! Look what you’ve done! He was asleep and now you’ve woken him up!’ Deborah snatched the cloth from Hugo’s grasp and rearranged it over the cage. The parrot muttered for a moment then grew silent.
‘Deborah Staunton, do you mean to tell me that you’re taking that—’ Hugo pointed an accusing finger at the cage—‘that parrot to Aunt Elizabeth? At the Vicarage?’ His finger shifted to the dog, now sitting scratching his fleas. ‘And the dog, too? What on earth were you thinking of?’
‘I couldn’t very well leave them behind in Maids Moreton, could I?’
‘I don’t know. But you must have windmills in your head if you expect Aunt Elizabeth to take them in—especially if the parrot often says the sort of thing I’ve just heard. And do you mind telling me why you found it necessary to drag them with you along this road? Why on earth didn’t you leave them with Nanny Humble at the inn?’
‘Er… It wasn’t possible.’
Hugo looked at Miss Staunton’s companions and nodded. ‘I suppose the landlord refused to have them?’
Miss Staunton hung her head. ‘The landlord’s wife took great offence at something the parrot said to her. And she caught Autolycus stealing… Well, he was very hungry, Hugo! I must say I think it was very foolish of her to leave a whole leg of mutton out on the table.’
Hugo surveyed her grimly. ‘You haven’t lost your talent for getting into trouble, have you?’
‘I do try not to, Hugo.’ Miss Staunton sighed. ‘Things just seem to happen. And I’ve had so much to deal with…’
‘And now there’s no one at the Vicarage today to help you…’ Hugo eyed her for a moment, then, with the air of a man facing the inevitable, he said reluctantly, ‘Very well, I shall have to take you to the Hall. I haven’t room in the curricle for the animals, but we’ll tie the dog to that tree over there—he’ll be all right in the shade. And the parrot can stay with him. As soon as we get to the Hall we’ll send someone to fetch Nanny Humble and the rest of your things. They can pick up these two, as well.’
‘Hugo! I wouldn’t dream of tying Autolycus to a tree and leaving him behind. Nor will I leave the parrot. Autolycus and the parrot both stay with me.’
‘Don’t be such a simpleton, Deborah! I can’t take you all. There isn’t nearly enough room in the curricle.’
‘I won’t leave them behind!’ said Miss Staunton stubbornly. Autolycus, hearing further sounds of disagreement, left his fleas to their own devices, got up bristling, and growled again. He advanced on Hugo.
‘Down, sir!’
The authority in Hugo’s voice stopped the dog in his tracks. He looked uncertainly at Miss Staunton, who took a firmer hold of the rope and said gently, ‘Sit, Autolycus dear.’ The dog looked again at Hugo.
‘Sit!’
Autolycus sat. Hugo nodded in satisfaction and then turned to Miss Staunton. ‘You will leave the dog and the bird here,’ he said, quite pleasantly, ‘and I promise that they will be collected within the hour. Come, no more nonsense! Get in, there’s a good girl. My horses won’t tolerate this heat much longer. Get into the curricle, Deborah.’
‘I will not!’
Timothy Potts peered round to gaze again at the creature who had dared to oppose his master’s will with such determination. She looked as if a breath of wind would blow her away, but the pointed chin was raised in defiance, and her voice was firm.
‘It’s no use your trying to bully me, Hugo. My mind is quite made up. The animals and I stay together. So pray continue on your way, and let me continue on mine.’ With this she picked up the cage, gave the rope a slight tug and set off towards Abbot Quincey.
‘Stop!’ She paused without turning round. Hugo ran his hand through his hair and said in exasperation, ‘I can’t leave you to walk the rest of the way in this heat. Be reasonable, Deborah. Look—the animals would do perfectly well in the shade over there, and it wouldn’t be long before they were collected.’
Miss Staunton hesitated, and Hugo pressed his advantage. ‘I’ll come for them myself, if you insist,’ he added with a persuasively charming smile.
‘Very well. I’ll see if they will stay,’ she said, as she coaxed Autolycus over to the tree. Hugo shook his head at such soft-heartedness.
But
