Obsession by Claire Lorrimer Page B

stairs. The smoke was stinging their eyes and causing them to cough continuously. As the man had warned, the old inn was entirely constructed of oak, and whilst its former occupants now stood shivering in the cobbled yard, they watched the flames reach the roof and heard the sound of horses’ hooves clattering down the cobbled street bringing a fire engine and firemen. Despite the men’s efforts to quench it by throwing water on to the flames, it soon proved impossible to save the building.
    The heat from the blaze was intense, but Harriet was shivering as she pulled her blue plush mantle more tightly around her. Bessie, she saw, was weeping. She put an arm round her. ‘We may have lost our belongings, Bessie,’ she said gently, ‘but we have not lost our lives. See over there – it’s the landlord’s wife. She will tell us of the nearest inn we can go to …’
    She broke off, realizing that in the haste of their departure, she had not brought the most important item of all – her purse.
They were without money
. Then, her heart beating swiftly in relief, she remembered the sovereigns Bessie had insisted upon sewing into the hem of her dress. She had laughed when Bessie insisted on doing so, saying her father had told her it was never safe to travel anywhere without a hidden amount of money to pay for the journey home.
    ‘We’ll be perfectly safe, Bessie!’ Harriet had said. ‘It’s not as if we will be crossing the ocean to America, which has not long since been in the thick of a civil war.’
    With a frightening crash, the roof suddenly collapsed inwards and sparks shot high into the air. There was a horrified shout from the onlookers.
    ‘We can’t stay here,’ Harriet said, shivering in spite of the scorching heat from the burning building. ‘This is such a big, busy city – there must be another inn close by. We should make our way now before others have the same notion and hire the rooms before we get there. Tomorrow, at first light, you can come back to see if any of our valises have been saved, which I fear is most unlikely. If not, Miss Una will provide us with everything we need when we arrive tomorrow. Thanks to your father’s advice, we have enough money in my skirt to pay for a room and for our ferry passages, and we will be safe with Miss Una by nightfall.’
    They stayed for a short while longer, watching the firemen trying ineffectually to contain the blaze lest it spread to adjacent buildings. In their scanty attire, the warmth of the fire was welcome as a cold breeze had arisen which was fanning the flames. One of the other occupants spoke to them, bemoaning the disaster, and who had, like themselves, lost his belongings.
    ‘I think we should not remain here a moment longer!’ Harriet repeated quietly to Bessie. ‘We will walk until we find a likely inn to take us in.’
    At first, they were obliged to force their way through the crowds who had gathered in the street to gaze at the fire. Above the roar of the flames and the crash of falling wood, they could still hear the whinnying of the frightened horses being led from the stables on the opposite side of the cobbled courtyard. The sounds followed Harriet and Bessie as they turned into a less crowded street. Here, the gas in the street lamps had been turned lower, and Bessie shivered, saying, ‘I think we should go back to the main street, Miss Harriet. It is quite deserted here, and there is no sign of an inn.’
    Harriet sighed. She was feeling very tired and retrospectively distressed by the recent frightening events, and knew that it would take them at least another ten minutes to retrace their steps to the main thoroughfare. She agreed with Bessie that this narrow, poorly lit backstreet was an unlikely place to find the refuge they were seeking. Had it been daytime, she thought, they could have asked passers-by for directions, but there was no sign of life other than the sound of a dog barking in the distance.
    They were not far