Gathering her clothes together, Evelyn muttered angrily to herself and began to slowly dress. The hay, which had been so soft to lie on, was itchy, and persistent in its attachment. She methodically shook out each garment, before awkwardly shifting about in the small space trying to put them on. Dressing alone was always so much more difficult, and trying to make sure the laces were straight on the back of her corset, was almost impossible. She concentrated hard on the task. Refusing to allow herself to think of Bess, to think of being abandoned and betrayed again. She refused to let it enter her head, refused to remember the night before, and how easily she had given in, how easily she had trusted Bess. She refused to acknowledge how much she had wanted to trust her, to believe in her, and to be with her. She refused to admit how hurt she was.
She tried to refuse.
But as she struggled with the awkward laces, her arms tired and unwilling to co-operate, she couldn't refuse any longer.
A tear spilled over her cheek, she bit her lip, and steadied her jaw, but she no longer had the strength, and she gave in. Sobbing into her hands.
She allowed herself the momentary weakness, before she forced herself to breathe steadily, and wiped the tears from her face.
“Come on Evie” she said “Get out of this.” More determined after her lapse, Evelyn finished dressing. She decided that straight laces were the least of her worries; she was going to have to find the way to Bristol alone. It shouldn't be too difficult; she would just keep walking until she found a town, and then she could ask for directions.
She pulled on her stockings, and boots, finally feeling ready to tackle the world. She noticed that Bess had at least been decent enough to leave the ladder for her to get down from the hayloft, but she refused to allow herself to thank the girl, even silently.
As soon as she was on the ground, she placed the ladder on the floor next to the cart, and did the best job she could of brushing the remaining hay off her skirts. She wasn't sure of the time, but the sun was up, and she knew that there may well be an army of farmhands outside the barn door.
She wondered how they would react to her, and if they would believe her story, or simply have her strung up for trespassing. She took a deep breath and opened the door, just by a slither, glancing out at the courtyard. It was empty, and she felt brave enough to open it wider, until finally she was able to stick her head out and look around.
She could hear the birds happily chirping, but there was no other sound. No shouting or calling, or any other early morning ‘farm noises' that she had expected to hear. She slipped out on to the cobbled yard, and looked up at the timber framed farmhouse, there were plenty of windows should anyone wish to look out and see her, she thought about knocking at the house, explaining her situation; the kidnap, the ransom, the escape. She could turn in William, and Bess, she might even get some breakfast.
She then she thought about Bess, her Highwaywoman, swinging for crimes, not from a tree, but a gallows, in a public hanging, a crowd cheering her death, and she hesitated.
The memory of the night before came back to her, how gentle she'd seemed, how honest. But then she remembered that first night, and how easily Bess had held a pistol to her and the other passengers, how she'd smirked when she talked about the pay, the state of undress she'd found her in with William. She'd lied so easily about everything else, why should she be telling the truth about being his sister. Then finally she allowed herself to admit the feelings of abandonment on waking up, and realising she was alone. She wasn't filled with sorrow, but anger; wrath at being spurned and betrayed. With malice and intent, Evelyn marched up to the farmhouse to turn in the highwaywoman.
She stood at the door, and took a breath before reaching for the knocker.
“Evie!”
Evelyn turned to see Bess at the corner of the house, holding a small bag, and grinning.
“You're up!” she glanced back the way she'd come, before stepping forward, and grabbing Evelyn by the wrist “Come on, we'd better make a run for it.”
***
It felt like hours of being dragged along, along the road, through a field and into the woods, before eventually they came to a stop in clearing, and Bess finally let go of her. She doubled over, gasping, struggling to force breath back into her lungs.
“I don't think anyone followed us.” Said Bess, only slightly breathless, and looking back the way they had come. She turned to Evelyn, and put a hand gently on her shoulder, “Are you alright?”
“Am I alright?” She shot back angrily, shaking off Bess' hand. She stood up, and leaned against a tree. “What was all that about?” she said between panting.
“What?” Said Bess, a little surprised.
“Where were you this morning?!”
“I went to get some food.” She said, lifting the bag.
“And you didn't think to wake me?” Evelyn voice was rising.
“I thought you needed the sleep.”
“So what was I supposed to think when I woke up, and you were gone?”
“I… I didn't think, I'm sorry.”
“And what was all that running about, why have you dragged me all the way here?”
“I thought we might have been seen.”
“Well of course you were seen! You got food didn't you?”
Bess looked away.
“You stole it? You stole food. Well that is wonderful! Why can't you just buy things? What is so wrong about buying things?”
“I don't have any money! How else do you expect me to get food? We can't live off air! Did you bring any money?”
“You stole it all!” she yelled “TWICE!”
Bess sighed. “Well it's done now. I can't very well take it back.” She said.
“You could.”
“And then what would we do?”
“Oh, I don't know” She said, and sat on a fallen log, defeated. Bess sat next to her, and rifled in the bag before offering her a piece of bread. Evelyn looked at it for a moment before taking it, Bess was right; at the moment they had little choice.
***
“Thank you.”
They'd been walking all day, and finally, as the sun had started to fall, Bess had suggested they find a place to camp; there were no convenient barns close by, but they'd managed to find a sheltered spot in the woods, and built a fire.
Bess occasionally poked at the flames with a stick, she sat across from her; they hadn't been on speaking terms since the morning.
“What for?” she asked looking through the fire at Evelyn.
“I don't think I would have been able to walk all day if you hadn't given me that food this morning. So, even though you didn't buy it, I'm glad we have it.”
“That's alright. I just wish it was more than bread.”
They fell back into silence, and Evelyn felt guilty about having been so angry with her. She was starting to wonder if Bess regretted coming with her, regretted putting herself, and her brother in danger. Then she started to wonder how it had all started, and why Bess had taken to being a thief.
“How old were you when it happened?” She asked.
“When what happened?”
Evelyn tried to think of a tactful way of putting it. “When you lost the farm?”
“Well… we didn't really lose it all in one go. My father sold off bits and pieces to pay his creditors… until there was nothing left.” She continued to poke the fire, staring into it. When she eventually started to talk again, her voice was slow and measured. “I was nine, and Billy was about fourteen, when my mother disappeared… She just got up and left one day. Billy told me there had been arguments, about money, about the farm, about cards, and the nights Pa would come home drunk.
At first our father acted as if nothing had happened, as if nothing was different. But it was, everything was different, he didn't just go out some nights any more, he went out every night. It was like he had just… sort of… given up. Billy tried to keep the farm going, but Pa owed so much, it was all he could do to keep us fed, and eventually he sold off the last two fields to the Rakers, and we continued to work it at a rent.”
“Is that when you decided to … you know…”
“Decided to become a thief?” Bess stared at her through the flames, Evelyn looked away, suddenly ashamed at having asked. “No. I stayed at the farm for a few years, then when I was thirteen my mother called for me, and I moved to London to be with her.”
“Well, that must have been a relief, to have her back.”
Bess' look told her it wasn't. “I stayed with her for a while, but it was difficult, she wasn't always sober, and she wasn't easy to be around. Then… I don't know how it happened, a pub brawl or something, but my father was killed—”
“I'm sorry...”
Bess shrugged, and continued with her story “That was when Billy came to find me. We didn't live with my mother for very long. Billy found it harder to be with her than I did, and one day they argued about something or other and he just packed his bags.”
“He left you?”
“We both left.”
“And that was when…?”
Bess laughed “Yes, that was when I started to steal.” She looked back into the fire and paused for a moment before continuing. “At first we both just took whatever we could get, we knew it was a risk… … I knew a boy, just a boy, who was hanged for stealing a watch… a watch!” Bess seemed lost for a moment, Evelyn didn't want to push, but hoped she would go on. “Billy wanted more, he said we deserved more, our grandfather had been titled, and Billy had been to a good school, we'd just…”
“Fallen on hard times?”
“Exactly. We'd fallen on hard times, and Billy said he could get us back to the top, back to where we deserved to be, he said he could get us both married to rich landowners, and our children would never have to go through what we'd been through, they'd never have to know what it was like to break your back in the fields at harvest time, or scrub a man's shoes for a farthing, or hear their mother through the walls earning her keep with the latest caller… he said I would never have to go through that, he promised me that I would never have to stoop as low as our mother had.” Bess looked up at Evelyn, she saw fear, and pleading in her eyes “Please don't turn him in Evie.”
Evelyn was silent she didn't want to promise anything, she wanted to see justice done, to know that her father would see justice done.
“Please don't” Bess repeated “He only did all of this for me, he only did what he thought was right to get us out of this, to make sure we'd be safe. I can't see him hang… I can't.”
“I won't” she said “I won't hand him in. I promise.” The moment the words were out of her mouth she regretted them, she hoped that she would never have to live by that promise, but the relief on Bess' face was clear. She moved around the fire to sit next to her, and slid her fingers betweens Evelyn's.
“Thank you.” She whispered.
***
Evelyn felt the soft warmth of the sun on her face, she opened her eyes, looking around and hoping to see Bess lying next to her. But the space beside her was empty. She sat up, the fire had died, and despite the early morning sun, she felt cold. She started to try and get the fire going again, to try to get warmth back into her bones before she panicked over the highwaywoman's disappearance.
After hearing her story Evelyn was feeling even more drawn to Bess, and started to wonder if, perhaps she really had been telling the truth, right from the beginning. The look in her eyes when she spoke of William was real, she loved him, and after seeing them both in close quarters, Evelyn was staggered that she hadn't noticed their similarities before.
They had the same dark eyes, the same colour hair, and although Bess was frailer and more delicate, they both shared the same features. She wondered if that was why it had been so easy for her to trust Bess, because she felt as though she already knew her through William. She started to wonder; why, when they were so similar, was she drawn to Bess, and not to William. She'd seen some beauty in William, yet she had been reluctant… then, when she met Bess, when she saw her smile, when she touched her, despite everything that stood in their way, she was unable to resist…
She heard a rustle in the trees behind her, and froze.
She wondered if the gang had tracked her down, if they had followed her and Bess, or if Bess had finally betrayed her, she held her breath, hoping that they wouldn't find her in her little sheltered camp.
“Evie!”
She stood, and turned to see Bess, creeping through the undergrowth, it took her a moment to realise that she was pulling a horse after her.
“Where did you get that?”
“Shh!” Bess looked behind her “I think I may have been followed.” She whispered.
“You stole a horse!”
“Yes, its good isn't it?”
“No it is not good! I thought I made it clear yesterday, I don't want you to steal anymore!”
“I thought I made it clear; we have no choice. And you agreed.”
“I did not agree I just… gave in. Besides stealing a horse is completely different to stealing food.”
“They'll hang me for stealing food, they can't hang me more for stealing a horse.”
Evelyn opened and closed her mouth, as flawed as Bess' logic was, she couldn't argue with it.
“Look” said Bess, still whispering “how about, if we take this horse now, but when we get back to your estate, we find out who the horse belonged to, and you can pay them for it.”
“I don't know…”
“Evelyn, please! Think about this. You're suggesting we walk the whole way to Bristol , that could days, maybe weeks, and to do so without food? …we would die of starvation before we got close. With my way, we inconvenience a few people, and get to Bristol by tomorrow, whereupon you can compensate everyone as much as you like.”
“But I can't steal a horse.”
They heard shouts in the distance, Bess looked at her, pleading.
“I love you Evelyn, I really do” she said it so matter-of-factly, Evelyn was a little taken aback “and I am going to Bristol , and I am going on this horse. Are you coming with me?”
Evelyn struggled, she knew that whoever had chased Bess was getting closer, but she felt the longer she was with Bess, the further she was travelling down the wrong path. She closed her eyes. “Yes.”
Bess let out a breath of relief, and threw herself up onto the horse, before giving Evelyn a hand. Then, without looking back, they took off at a gallop through the woods.
***
They'd barely stopped to rest. Evelyn loved to ride, and had often spent a whole day out, especially if she was alone. But this was different, she wondered how long the horse could keep going, especially with two people on its back, but it seemed to recover more quickly than they did, and after only a few minutes rest he seemed to be eager to go again.
By the time it was dark Evelyn felt sure she knew where they were, and it wasn't too far from home. Part of her wanted to push on, through the night, especially when they were so close, in just a few hours she could be sleeping in her own bed, rather than a random spot in the woods. But as soon as her head hit the ground, she was asleep, and it felt like just a few moments between getting off the horse, and Bess gently waking her.
They decided to cross country for the last leg of the journey, it was more direct, and although Evelyn didn't want to admit it to Bess, she wasn't to keen on the idea of being seen by someone she knew.
It was a few hours after sunrise when they rode over the peak of a hill, and she saw it, in the distance, between the trees; a glimpse of home.
“There it is!” she pointed.
“I see it.” Bess replied, as she kicked the horse into a gallop. Evelyn held on tightly as they hurtled across the meadow towards home.
Their pace steadied as they came towards the road, and they cantered along the country lane.
“What are we going to say?” Bess asked.
“I'll tell my father you helped me escape… and we'll go from there. I won't mention William.” ‘ Just yet' she thought.
“Alright.” Bess seemed nervous, but she kept the pace of the horse steady as they approached house.
Evelyn smiled as she thought of seeing her father's face, of eating decent food, a decent bed, clean clothes, and she squeezed Bess slightly in excitement. As they turned the corner, and Abberton Hall came into view, Evelyn let out a breath she felt she'd been holding since the moment she'd left. She loved the sight of her home, and her garden, she expected to see the dogs running out to greet her any moment.
Bess stopped the horse just outside the front door; she paused for a moment before slipping off, and turning to help Evelyn. As she touched the ground, the front door opened, she looked up expecting to see Garret with a look of startled delight. But her face fell as she saw a musket, Bess caught her eye and spun round to see Charlie standing in the doorway, he was masked, and swung the musket up to point directly at them.
“You took you're time.”
To be continued in the final Chapter….