Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 05] - Nanette by Patricia Veryan Page A

suppose it is?"
    The heavy features darkened, but into that small mind had
crept a familiar name, and from crouching slightly as he made toward
Harry he checked, straightened, and said a cautious, "Bolster… ?"
    "It knows me!" cried Bolster, ecstatic. "I am f-famous, Harry!"
    "I s'pose as you're Lord Bolster. In which case,
you
must be Sir 'Arry Redmond, wot useter own this old ruinated—"
    "I have neither the desire nor the time to further our
acquaintance." Harry's voice dripped ice. "Remove yourself and that
person." He gestured toward the river bank up which the stocky man
crawled with much spluttering.
    "Can't do that, sir. Josiah Plum—Mr. Sanguinet's bailiff, I
is. Come ter clean out the old broken down—"
    A distant scream rose on the chill air. Harry returned to the
saddle with a running leap that brought admiration to Mr. Plum and
alarm to Bolster, who had just dismounted. Lace was whirled about and
Harry was off at the gallop, Bolster rather tardily following.
    A wagon was pulled up on the lane before Mrs. Norah Bacon's
cottage, and two men were filling it with trunks, boxes, and articles
of furniture while exhibiting a marked lack of either interest or care.
They paused, looking up as the pretty bay mare flashed towards them
across the velvet turf. "Cor…" breathed one. "Lookit him go!"
    Harry continued to go, setting Lace at the picket fence
without an instant's hesitation, effecting a sliding dismount while the
mare yet ran, and leaping with hardly a check into the front hall of
the pleasant old cottage.
    A tiny woman, clad in a gown of black bombazine with a torn
but snowy collar, her white lace cap sadly askew, her silver hair
tumbling, clung defiantly to one sturdy beam from which a tall man
attempted to dislodge her. Another shriek rent the air, cut off
abruptly as Harry, the capes of his coat flying, exploded into the
room, launched a right that sent her attacker soaring backwards, and
had her in his arms in a whisper of time. "Norrie, dear," he began
tenderly.
    A strong hand grabbed his shoulder. He was wrenched around and
staggered by a left to the jaw. Shaking his head, savage with delight
at this opportunity to vent some of his frustrations, he plunged at the
two who awaited him confidently. A few moments later, confidence gone,
the second man, sprawled and groaning, was so unwise as to raise his
head. Mrs. Bacon applied her frying pan to it with gusto, then,
surveying the bent handle, murmured, "I never dreamed that wretched pan
would be useful. The bottom was warped y'see, my dear Mister—er—Sir
Harry. And…" Her lip began to tremble. She put down the pan, walked
into his arms, and wept.
    Lord Bolster rushed into the hall, surveyed the mayhem,
scanned his somewhat battered friend, then went outside, closed the
door and, leaning against the wall, folded his arms and waited.
    Moments later a howl interrupted Harry's explanations to his
nurse. He opened the front door hurriedly. His own travelling chaise
stood behind the wagon. A new arrival was staggering about, bent double
and clutching his middle. Bolster, pale with fury, strove mightily
against two men who held his arms. Mr. Plum, reaching for the door
handle, jumped back, threw up his hands, and leered, "No trouble, Sir
Redmond. We don't want no trouble!"
    Mrs. Bacon hurried onto the step and uttered a small cry, one
hand flying to her chest. She had suffered a slight heart seizure some
years earlier, and Harry knew he must get her out of this. He bit back
a pithy response, therefore, and said sharply, "Bolster, don't mess
about there! You know perfectly well the Marquis of Damon expects Mrs.
Bacon!"
    As he'd hoped, the dropping of Camille's famous name was
effective. The bullies restraining Bolster let him go, then ducked as
he swung on them, brandishing his riding crop furiously. The rest of
Norrie's belongings would, Harry assured her, be carefully placed in
the wagon, and he would soon deliver them, along with his own, to the
Priory.