The groom had taken his mount to a box further along the stable, so Roger thrust his head out over the opening in the floor and said in a low voice, 'Hist! Georgina!'
Looking up, she recognized him instantly. Her big black eyes widened and she exclaimed, 'Roger! What are you doing here?'
'I've broken prison and I need your help,' he answered quickly. 'Come up, so that we can talk here unseen by others.'
After a moment's hesitation she hitched her mount to the manger, thrust a carrot in the marc's mouth and came up the stairs.
By then Roger was standing and he asked at once, 'Am I forgiven? I swear I never meant to harm him. I beg you say I am.'
She halted well away from him. A frown darkened her lovely face, and her rich red lips took on a sullen expression. ' 'Tis well enough to say that now,' she replied coldly. 'But hard to believe. And all your protestations will not bring him back to me.'
In a swift spate of words he began to plead with her, but she cut him short, 'You behaved like a drunken bully. To seize a sword in my house and force a fight upon Colonel Gunston in my presence was inexcusable. You may count yourself lucky that by perjuring myself I saved your life and you deserved every day of the sentence you received.'
'Georgina, you're devilish hard on me,' he expostulated. 'That I behaved monstrous ill I do admit. But you must believe that my having killed John Beefy was an accident.'
'I wish I could,' she answered, her eyes still fixed upon him stonily. 'But I know well your ruthless nature, and how you'll let nothing stand in the way of getting what you wish. How can you expect me to forget the way you spoke to me the night before you committed your heinous crime? With a selfishness that almost passes belief you urged me to let the man who meant so much to me go out of my life, simply that you might continue to visit Stillwaters when it was convenient to you. Seeing the many years we had been lovers I could do no less than save you from a hanging, but you cannot expect that my feelings for you should ever again be the same.'
'So be it,' Roger shrugged wearily. 'But I stand here penniless. At least you will not deny me the sum I need to get back to France?'
'How much do you require?'
'I must go by subterranean means, else I'll stand a big risk of being caught. But a hundred guineas should sec me safely out of the country.'
'I have not anywhere near that sum to hand here in the house.'
'You could send in to your bank in Guildford for it. 'Twould take no more than a couple of hours. Meanwhile I can lie up here and be on my way again tonight.'
Georgina nodded, 'I'll send in to Guildford then. Stay here until I come to you again.' Without the least softening of her expression she turned on her heel and left him.
Sadly he sat down on a bale of straw to wait. Two hours drifted by. Thinking that time enough for someone to have ridden into Guildford and cashed a draft for her, he began to keep a look-out for her return through one of the low cobwebby windows that overlooked the yard. After a further twenty minutes he caught the sound of hoof-beats in the distance and thought it probable that they were made by her messenger cantering straight up to the house. Expecting that she would soon now come to him with the money he remained near the window, striving to collect all his powers of appeal for another attempt to soften her heart when she returned to him. A few minutes later he could hardly trust his eyes. Through the arched entrance to the stableyard emerged not Georgina, but her groom accompanied by the tipstaff and two constables.
It was unthinkable, unbelievable. Georgina had betrayed him. Instead of sending her groom into Guildford for the money she had sent him to fetch the law. There could be no other explanation. The man was actually pointing to the end of the loft where Roger had talked to her after she had returned from her ride. Still shocked into immobility, he subconsciously took in the fact that the tipstaff was carrying a blunderbuss and that the constables were armed with long-barrelled pistols as well as their truncheons.
Suddenly Roger came to life. To allow himself to be taken and ignominiously escorted back to gaol would be intolerable. Yet he was unarmed, so could not put up a fight, and was trapped there; for there were no entrances to the building other than those giving on to the yard.
Next moment he had dropped through the hole in the floor. As his feet touched the ground he grabbed the mane of the startled mare in the loose box below to steady himself. Georgina's groom having been sent in to Guildford, he had not yet taken away her saddle to clean it. Lifting the saddle from its bracket Roger threw it on the mare's back and swiftly tightened the girths. In frantic haste he adjusted the bit and bridle then, patting the animal's neck, turned her to face the door. When he had called down to Georgina she had left her riding crop lying on the manger. Snatching it up he vaulted into the saddle, then laid his body flat along the mare's back, so that her head screened a good part of him from sight. In the dim light, there was a good chance that anyone entering the stable would not immediately notice him.
He had got himself into position not a moment too soon. The upper half of the stable door was a little open. It was cautiously opened wide. Then the lower half was unbolted and pulled back. Roger caught only a glimpse of the huddle of figures in the doorway about to enter on tiptoe, no doubt hoping to catch him asleep up in the loft. Jabbing his heels into the marc's flanks he gave a loud shout and launched her forward.
With cries of alarm the group in the doorway attempted to throw themselves out of her way but the tipstaff and one of the constables were bowled over by the charge of the frightened mare. The groom, who had been behind the others and furthest from the door, made a grab at her bridle. But Roger had been ready for that. He brought the whiplash of the crop down with all his force right across the man's face. With a scream he crumpled to the ground. The hooves of the mare clattered loudly on the cobbles. There came the bang of a pistol as the other constable fired his weapon, but the bullet whizzed harmlessly over Roger's shoulder. Thirty seconds later he was through the arch and away.
As he galloped across the lawn towards the cover of the woods on the far side of the lake he considered the best course to take. He was still penniless so must get hold of money somehow. London was only twenty-five miles away and on such a fine mount he felt certain he could outdistance his pursuers. Droopy would help him without question. There was a certain risk in going to him because the Governor of Guildford Gaol, knowing Droopy to be his friend, might anticipate that he would do so and that morning have sent a message to London for the Bow Street Runners to lie in wait for him at Amesbury House. But that risk must be taken.
It had been just before midday when Georgina left him, so it was now getting on towards three in the afternoon. By five o'clock he was in Arlington Street and he felt there was less risk in going straight to the house than waiting until darkness fell. He was confident that he had a lead on his pursuers, but he would lose it within an hour; and if the Runners had not already been alerted to waylay him there, it seemed certain that a message would be sent asking them to do so as soon as the authorities in Guildford learned that he had got away from Stillwaters.
Dismounting in front of the door, he kept the mare's reins over his arm in case he had to remount in a hurry and again make a dash for liberty. The footman who answered the door said that Lord Edward was out, but expected back at about six o'clock. Roger knew the man well and had often given him a good tip; so when he replied to Roger's low-voiced enquiry whether anyone had asked for him and replied, 'No, sir,' Roger had good grounds for believing him. Roger then said that he had called to see Lord Edward on a highly confidential matter so if anyone asked for him he was to be told he was not there. Then he handed the horse over to be taken round to the stable and went upstairs to Droopy's private apartments.