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.“Shall we go down to the chapel in the woods? There is plenty of shade thereabouts."“Oh, yes, I have never been there.Is there not some romantic story about the chapel? Lady Emma mentioned it but I did not hear the whole.”Wondering why the baronet apparently wanted the Customs officer to know where they were going, Octavia told her the story of Sir Richard Edgcumbe’s escape from his enemies.“It is just like my dream!” exclaimed Julia, much struck.“You remember I told you, Tavy, about Hero and Leander.”“Not in the least! There are no lovers in the tale and no one was drowned.” Octavia saw that her cousin was not listening.“Now attend, Ju.If Sir Tristram carries the picnic basket and I carry a rug to sit on, will you take some cushions?”“There are plenty of servants to carry everything,” Julia protested, then caught herself.“But of course they will be all at sixes and sevens after this morning’s disturbance, and it will be more fun on our own.”She was obviously bursting with questions, nobly suppressed.“Let us go and tell cook what we want,” suggested Octavia, taking pity on her.There was a dragoon stationed in the kitchen court.Octavia pulled Julia aside into an empty scullery.“It’s Mr Wynn,” she hissed.“He’s hiding in the chapel.” Julia turned white.“James is the fugitive they are hunting?” she said faintly.“Is it something he wrote?”“No! They are looking for a smuggler! James came to see you, and Sir Tristram has hidden him.Surely you do not want everyone to know he is here?”“They are not after him? Thank heaven! Oh, Tavy, is he really come? I must go at once.”Octavia managed to persuade her to wait until they had a picnic, pointing out that Mr Wynn could not be expected to survive on love alone.They went on into the kitchens to consult the cook, then back to the Great Hall.Julia was walking on air.As they entered the hall, the corporal came in through another door.The Riding Officer approached him eagerly.“Nary a sign, sir,” reported the trooper.Furious at his disappointment, the officer turned away.“Search the grounds,” he ordered curtly.“No luck?” asked Sir Tristram with great affability.“Perhaps your felon was too badly wounded to swim so far and went to ground in Plymouth.”“If he’s in Plymouth, he can watch the Seamew being sawn in three pieces this afternoon,” said the officer with a sneer.“You’ll excuse me, sir.” Smugly satisfied at the shock on Octavia’s face and Sir Tristram’s tight-lipped disapprobation, he stalked out.“Cut up the Seamew?” cried Octavia.“They cannot!”“They can, and undoubtedly will.Such is the law.”“What a dreadful waste! She is a beautiful ship.Remember how she looked when she came to rescue us that day.”Sir Tristram shook his head sadly.“We must not tell Jack while he is ill,” he said, forgetting Julia’s presence.“The Seamew has been his life.”Julia had not heard a word.She had sat down in a chair, hands folded in her lap in the correct posture for a young lady in company, and was gazing into the middle distance with a dreamy smile on her face.Octavia sighed.“Ju, come and change your shoes.We shall be able to go soon.”Chapter 16It was not a merry party that made its way down the paths of the valley garden.Sir Tristram was glumly silent and Julia was still lost in a happy dream.She kept dropping cushions, until Octavia, exasperated, gave her the rug and took the cushions herself.Not that they were truly necessary for the picnic, but she had thought Mr Wynn might appreciate them in his uncomfortable hiding place.The undergrowth seemed to be full of troopers.One scarlet coat guarded the little arbour by the fish pond, and another the dovecote.A wizened gardener, grumbling at having his work interrupted, was being interrogated by the red-faced corporal.He denied everything, from having seen a wounded stranger to deliberately speaking in Cornish dialect to confuse the city-bred soldier.When they came in sight of the tiny chapel, Julia dropped the rug and ran forward.“James!” she cried, pushing open the heavy wooden door.She looked around, then came out disconsolate.“He is not there.Tavy, you were not teasing me?”“Of course not! He must be somewhere close by.Are you sure he is not inside?”“There is hardly room to hide in there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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