On arriving in Leeds Sir Kenelm stabled Mephisto at the usual inn, and walked to Mr Littlewood's house, not far away. He swiftly explained the situation, and both men then went to Mr Littlewood's offices. There the address Miss Busby had given was soon found.
'There is no need to get any money until you have spoken with her,' Mr Littlewood said. 'The bankers would be unwilling, at this time of day, to open their vaults, and if she gives you the information you need, tells you where they are hidden, there will be no need for it.'
'True. Thank you. I will now go and see what she has to say.'
'Not alone,' Mr Littlewood said. 'I will come with you, and we must take a constable. It's possible that rascally Captain will be there.'
'I can deal with him.'
'But there must have been two men involved. Didn't the boy who brought you the ransom note say another was waiting? They might both be there. And there's Miss Busby's brother, his wife too, and perhaps some sons. You can't overpower them all. And if you kill them, which I can see you are itching to do, you'll be the one ending up in court.'
Sir Kenelm laughed. 'I see you are determined to protect me. Very well, let us take a couple of constables, and if I am wrong and no one is there, I will apologise to them for wasting their time.'
When they arrived at Enoch Busby's house and Dora opened the front door they could hear men's voices coming from the parlour. Sir Kenelm burst in, and as he stepped into the room Mr Littlewood and two burly constables crowded in after him. Dora, protesting angrily, pushed in after them, and stood, arms akimbo, trying unavailingly to see past these tall, bulky men.
Captain Thomas rose to his feet while Enoch shrank back in his chair. Miss Busby seemed to be frozen, half turned towards them.
'What the devil do you mean, sirrah, breaking into this house?' the Captain demanded, but not venturing to approach Sir Kenelm and his pistols.
Sir Kenelm surveyed him sardonically.
'Take your hand away from that pocket,' he ordered. 'If, as I suspect, you have a pistol there and show it, I will shoot you before you can draw it.'
' 'Ere, sir, yer can't go shootin' folk like that,' one of the constables protested. 'We dain't know yer was armed.'
'I won't kill him,' Sir Kenelm promised, with a slight laugh. Now he knew the man he suspected of kidnapping Joanna and Amelia he was sure he would find them. 'I'll just make it exceedingly painful for him so that he tells me what I want to know.'
'I don't like it.'
'Then, Constable, go and relieve him of any guns he may have. But be careful not to get between me and him.'
The younger constable, urged on by the other, looking nervous, approached Captain Thomas and searched his pockets, finding not only a pistol but a long, very sharp knife. He put both on a small table near the door. Then he looked warily at Sir Kenelm's pistols, but when Sir Kenelm slid them into his pockets clearly decided not to demand their surrender too.
'You, I take it, are Mr Busby,' Sir Kenelm said. 'Are you armed too? If so, I advise you to hand your weapons to the constable here. And you, Miss Busby, what weapons do you have?'
'I – I don't 'ave no guns,' Enoch said hurriedly, and turned out his pockets to show they were empty. A couple of coins and a snuff box fell to the floor, the snuff box falling open and spilling its contents.
Miss Busby remained silent, but Sir Kenelm could see her hands, clutched together in front of her, were trembling.
'Where are my wife and daughter?' Sir Kenelm asked, facing the Captain.
The man sank back onto the chair, and leaned back, thrusting out his legs before him in an effort to appear at ease. One eyelid, the one above the branded cheek, was fluttering wildly, and he swallowed several times. Once he raised his hand as if to loosen his neckcloth, but swiftly dropped it again and began to twist a flashy ring on his finger.
'Who?' he asked. 'How should I know? Aren't they at home? Have they run away from you?'
He sniggered, and winked at Enoch. Sir Kenelm had to restrain the urge to take the man's thick neck between his hands and squeeze the life out of him. Instead he pulled the ransom note out of his pocket and held it for Enoch to see.
'Is this that wretch's hand?' he asked.
Enoch shivered, first shaking his head, then nodding.
'I never seen 'is writing,' he said.
Sir Kenelm turned to Miss Busby.
'You, however, Miss Busby, being such a superior governess, can no doubt tell me,' he said.
She started defiantly at him but refused to either look at the note or answer. After a moment she turned away her head and appeared to be contemplating something of immense interest in the flames.
Dora had by now succeeded in pushing her way past the men in the doorway, and went to stand by Enoch.
'I told yer no good 'ld come of listenin' ter that jumped up madam,' she said. 'Got yer inter trouble now, aint 'er?'
'Be quiet!' he hissed. 'Let Emmy talk 'er way outta this.'
'Where are my wife and daughter?' Sir Kenelm repeated. 'You'll get no ransom, so you might as well make things as easy for yourself as you can by telling me. If you leave them to die you'll swing. This way maybe you'll only be transported.'
'I 'ad nowt ter do wi' it,' Enoch suddenly said. 'It were Emmy's plan, 'er sent me ter find 'im,' he added, pointing a trembling finger at the Captain. 'All I did was let 'er stay 'ere.'
'Then no doubt, if you tell that to the magistrate, they will be lenient with you. Constable, I think we had better take the Captain and Miss Busby to the lock up, where we can question them – er, properly.'
At this Miss Busby's calm deserted her.
'You can't mean to take me to a prison!' she almost shrieked. 'Not me! I'm a respectable woman, I won't be locked up with whores and thieves!'
Sir Kenelm took a deep breath to calm himself.
'Are you not a thief, attempting to steal from me, and in a most despicable manner, using an innocent child and the woman you have always been jealous of because she is above you in every way? If you cooperate perhaps the law will be lenient. Do you know where they are hidden?'
She began to sob, dry racking sobs, and the tears fell unheeded down her cheeks.
'All I know is they're in some abandoned hut, on the moor. Dickon would tell you.'
'Dickon? The other man? Do you know him? he asked the constables, and they both nodded.
'Then let us lock these two up and go to find him. I think we can depend on Enoch and his wife here to remain in the house, but perhaps one of you could stay on watch?'
*
Joanna and Amelia arrived back at Rock Castle as dawn was breaking. They were both desperately weary and footsore. Joanna's riding boots were not suitable for tramping miles across moorland. Her feet were blistered, and she had been hobbling painfully for the past two miles. Her arms, after the effort of breaking through the thatch, ached. Amelia was drooping, but had not suffered so badly.
As they came down from the moor one of the farm labourers had seen them, and rushed to tell the farmer at the nearby farm. He immediately came out to meet them.
'My lady! Oh, thanks be you're both safe and well!'
'Safe, but not so well,' Joanna said, with a shaky laugh. 'We have walked miles and are weary.'
'Then come in and rest for a moment, while I harness the pony to the gig. I'll take you rest of way.'
They sat in the farm kitchen, where the farmer's wife plied them with warm milk straight from the cow, and newly-baked rolls lavishly spread with sweet butter.
Joanna sighed in contentment.
'This is delicious. I hadn't been thinking of food,' she said, 'but we haven't eaten since early yesterday. We found a stream, so we had some water to drink, and without that would have been in far worse state.'
'I'll cook you some ham and eggs,' the farm wife offered.
'Thank you, but no. I hear your husband with the gig, and we must get to the Castle as soon as possible. They will be worried.'
'Aye. They had everyone out searching yesterday, and they will be out again no doubt unless you get there to stop them.'
It was a tremendous effort to move, to rise from the bench in that warm, friendly kitchen, but Joanna wanted to get home. Home? She smiled. The Castle was her home now. She no longer felt a stranger, an intruder, there, despite the odd nature of her marriage.
They met a couple of grooms riding out of the stable yard as the gig approached.
'My lady! Miss Amelia! Thank God you're safe. We must tell Mr Potts at once.'
Joanna nodded. 'Where is Sir Kenelm?'
'He went off to Leeds last night.'
Before she could ask further Potts emerged, also mounted.
'My lady!'
'Why did my husband go to Leeds?' Joanna asked. 'Here, help me down, and thank you so much for helping us,' she added to the farmer.
He was clearly eager to stay and hear all about it, for Joanna had not told him much apart from saying they had been stranded on the moors. Potts, however, dismounted and handed the reins to one of the grooms, then came to lift Joanna down from the gig. He had no option but to turn and go back home.
She stumbled, and Potts almost carried her to the doorway into the house, while Amelia ran after them. Mrs Aston met them as they entered, and seeing how weary Joanna was, said she must immediately go to her bed and rest.
Joanna nodded, but turned to Potts.
'Thank you. Can you send someone to Leeds to inform Sir Kenelm we are back?' she said.
'I'll go myself, my lady. He won't wish to be getting the money now you're back, safe.'
Mrs Aston was ordering one of the footmen to carry Joanna upstairs, but Joanna protested.
'No, I can manage, with an arm to lean on,' she said. It would be too shaming to have to be carried like a baby. 'I would so like a bath, though.'
Mrs Aston nodded. 'As you will. Amelia, can you manage? Go to Brigid, and she will see to you. Benjamin, go and get hot water for my lady, and plenty of it. Send Betsy to me. Come, my lady, I'll help you.'
Amelia nodded, and rather shyly came towards Joanna. She stretched up and kissed her.
'Thank you for rescuing me, Joanna,' she said, and turned away to scuttle up the stairs.
Joanna almost laughed at the astonished expression on her housekeeper's face. The entire household knew of Amelia's antagonism towards her step-mother.
'I think we are friends now,' she said softly as she began the agonising process of climbing the stairs.
'She called you by your given name!' Mrs Aston said, disapproval plain in her tone.
'I suggested it, as we are not far apart in age, and I will seem less the wicked step-mother.'
'I see. Well, if you think it will help. Ah, here's Betsy. Go and prepare the tub for her ladyship.'
*
It took all night, but at last the Captain agreed to lead them to the hut where he had imprisoned Joanna and Amelia.
'He only gave way because he knew we had caught Dickon,' Mr Littlewood said as they sat over a mug of ale in the constable's parlour, while he went to arrange for a vehicle to transport the Captain, under guard, to the hut.
'He knew the game was up, Dickon would not keep silent. I suspect he hoped to mitigate his sentence if he cooperated. At least we do not have to trouble the bankers for money this morning.'
Sir Kenelm laughed. 'When Miss Busby realised how much the Captain had demanded she was only too ready to put all the blame on him, saying it was his plan, she had naught to do with it.'
'So he turned on her.'
'I am grateful for your help. Go home and sleep now, you have been up all night.'
'And you?'
'I must go and rescue Joanna and Amelia as soon as possible. One of the constable's men will drive another gig they can ride home in. Now I will go and eat something before I set off. Mephisto will be rested.'
He was weary, but many cups of coffee, with several slices of beef and some eggs restored most of his energy, and he mounted Mephisto and went to follow the constable's gig which would keep to the main road out of Leeds for the first few miles.
They were only a couple of miles on their way when Potts came galloping up, pulling his sweating mount to a halt beside Sir Kenelm.
'Sir Kenelm,' he gasped. 'They are back home, they escaped! I wanted to stop you getting out the money, it's not needed!'
'Escaped? How?'
'I don't know, but they had to walk a long way. Got home at dawn, they did. I came straight away to tell you.'
'Thank you. We were on our way, the gallant Captain agreed to show us where they were. I will go and tell the constable they can take him back to gaol, then I'll head for home. Give your poor horse a rest before you follow me!'
Potts looked somewhat shamefaced.
'Yes, Sir Kenelm. I was in a hurry,' he excused himself. 'I knew you'd want to know they were safe as soon as possible.'
Within minutes the constable and his prisoner were on their way back to Leeds, and Sir Kenelm, again going cross country where he could, heading for the Castle. He would be needed later to give evidence, but his most urgent desire was to make sure Joanna and his daughter were safe and unharmed.
*
Joanna sank into the fragrant, scented hot water and began to relax. Brigid, as soon as Amelia appeared, had left the child with Sally and come to hear what had happened.
'She's so excited I can't understand the half of it. How does a hole in a roof come in?'
Briefly Joanna explained. 'How is she? My feet are battered, hers must be too.'
'She'll have a bath and be put to bed. But she called you Joanna. Is that from excitement?'
Again Joanna explained. 'I hoped it would make her accept me more readily.'
'I think you are her heroine, now! But I'll leave you to rest, I can see you are bone weary.'
Joanna then had to endure Betsy's questions, and when the maid saw the state of her feet, her appalled fury.
'I've some salve Mrs Aston makes, I'll fetch it. It will ease those terrible blisters.'
Joanna felt cosseted and was grateful. Soon she was climbing into bed. It was so warm and soft, and the bath had relaxed her, but her feet, despite the salve which had helped a little, were burning. She wondered whether they would prevent her from sleeping, but as soon as her head touched the pillow she was fast asleep.
She awoke, rested, and glanced at the window. It was dusk already, and she felt remarkably hungry. She turned over and gasped. Sir Kenelm was seated beside the bed, reading a book. For a few moments she watched him, while he was unaware of her regard. His face was drawn, and she wondered whether he had slept the previous night. From what Betsy had told her the entire household had been searching for as long as it was light. Then Sir Kenelm had gone off to Leeds. When had he returned?
She must have made some sound, for he looked up from his book, and when he saw she was awake he dropped it to the floor and stood up to approach the bed.
'My dear Joanna! Amelia has told me what happened, how you escaped from that dreadful place.'
'Is she all right?'
'She had a long sleep, but from what she told me I understand she slept for a while in the hut, and she didn't have to work like you did, making that hole. How very ingenious of you! But you must stay in bed and rest. Betsy says your feet are in a dreadful state.'
'I'm feeling much better, and amazingly hungry! Is it nearly dinner time?'
'You will have it in bed, at once.'
Joanna did not feel up to arguing, and her feet were still painful, so she did not wish to have to dress and don even the softest slippers.
'Will you have a table laid in here, and eat with me?' she asked shyly. 'Or is Henry still here?'
'He went home this morning, when he knew you were safe, in case rumours had reached Albinia and she was worried.'
Somehow Joanna did not think her sister-in-law would have been unduly concerned about her fate.
'I don't know what happened here,' she said slowly. 'They asked for a ransom, I believe?'
'I will have dinner brought here, and we can exchange our stories,' he said, and went to pull the bell and give orders to Firbank, who came in so promptly Joanna suspected he had been hovering just outside the door.
Joanna insisted she was well enough to get out of bed if she did not have to wear shoes, so the table was set before the fire. Betsy came to brush her hair and help her into a dressing gown, and after the food had been brought she and Sir Kenelm began to explain what had happened to each of them.
It was quite like a meal in a simple home, husband and wife seated comfortably by their fireside, instead of in state in a formal dining room, Joanna thought wistfully.
'What will happen to the Captain? And Miss Busby?'
'I hope they will be transported to Botany Bay!'
Joanna shivered. They had heard dreadful tales of the conditions suffered by some of the convicts on the long sea journey to the other side of the world, and the privations and near starvation they had endured during the first few years of the penal colony's existence.
'How could a woman have conceived such a plot? It was her suggestion, you said.'
'That is what the Captain said. And Dickon, I believe, is squealing, and has already said the Captain cheated at cards and dice. The constable found some dice in his pockets, and smashed them. They were loaded, so he will be charged with that too. And there were some playing cards in his room that were marked. It's no doubt he is a cheat.'
'Do they have any notion who branded him?'
'No, but it was most likely a man he had cheated. I do not think he will ever be discovered.'
'So no one thinks it was you?'
He laughed. 'That was a wicked invention of Miss Busby's. I know it won't help, but it's certain Thomas cheated your father. It's apparently been his way of life ever since he left the army.'
They sat and chatted until Sir Kenelm, suddenly aware of the time, said she must go back to bed, and if she felt better in the morning she might get up for a few hours.
'Yes, doctor!'
'Minx! I'll say goodnight, and ring for Betsy to help you back to bed.'
If only it were he who would help her, Joanna thought, and stay with her. She blushed rosily and turned away as he left the room.
*
Sir Kenelm needed to see where Joanna had been incarcerated. A few days later, when she had recovered, he suggested to her they ride out and look.
'I want to know what it was like,' he explained over breakfast. 'I know it will be difficult for you, going back there, but those men are in prison, and I will be with you.'
Joanna frowned and drank more coffee. 'I think I would like to see it in daylight,' she said thoughtfully. 'At the time I had small opportunity of seeing the outside of it before we were thrown into it, and when we escaped, of course, the only light was the moon. Not that I stopped to inspect it, I was too anxious to get as far away from it as possible, in case those men came back.'
'Of course. 'You don't mind going back? It will not distress you?'
She shook her head.
'I sometimes wonder if it was all a horrid dream, until my feet remind me of the hours we spent tramping over the moors! When do you wish to go?'
'It's a fine clear day, and warm. Have you anything planned, or could we go this morning?'
Joanna nodded. 'If I can pull on my riding boots. They are ruined, and I have no new ones yet.'
He stretched out a hand to her.
'My dear, forgive me. I hadn't thought that could be a problem. You tell me the blisters are all gone, and you can walk without pain now, but the boots might be too tight.'
'I will try them. If they are uncomfortable I will make slits in the sides. After all, they are already ruined. I'll do it straight away, and to be out in the fresh air and riding again would be pleasant.'
She came downstairs a little while later to where he sat in the library, dressed in her habit and carrying a hat.
'It was a struggle, but they are not painful, so I am ready. Betsy even managed to clean my habit, though it will never be quite the same again.'
'That is only the cheap one you bought before our wedding. You must order a new, better one. I'll send to the stables.'
Half an hour later they were up on the moors. Sir Kenelm had ordered Potts to accompany them, and despite what he had said to Joanna about her captors being in prison, both he and Potts carried pistols. There could have been other men involved in the plot, about whom he knew nothing. He had visited the alehouse Captain Thomas had been using, and found it a dirty, unappetising place, but the only man there had been a poor thing, with a vacant stare and limited understanding. His wife, who had no hesitation in ordering him about, had been the mainstay of it. Sir Kenelm doubted they had any involvement in what had been planned, apart from acting as a post office for the money. They were just convenient dupes who would ask no questions.
They soon reached the trees where the ambush had happened, and Joanna led the way.
'I am fairly sure this is the path we took,' she said. 'Yes, this is the hollow, I remember it,' she said some time later.
The hut lay in the middle of the slight hollow, well protected from the wind and invisible until they rode over the rim of the depression. Sir Kenelm halted and looked round him, then urged Mephisto forward again.
They rode up to the hut and dismounted. The bar Joanna had described was still in place, and was obviously new.
'No shepherd would have secured his hut this way,' Sir Kenelm said. 'It had obviously been prepared. Potts, can you remove it, do you think?'
Potts nodded. He was already reaching into a saddle bag, and he brought out some tools. Soon both the bar and the brackets had been removed, and tied to his horse's saddle.
'I want these to show the magistrates,' Sir Kenelm explained. 'Now, let me see inside.'
He pulled open the door, and sunlight lit up the interior. The hole Joanna had made let in more light, and he could see how unnaturally bare the hut was.
'I would have expected some old things to be lying round,' he murmured, before moving in and stretching up to the thatched roof. 'Joanna, my dear, come and show me how you reached up here.'
She did so, and he saw how she had to strain to reach the branches of heather. He had been furiously angry with her abductors before, but seeing what effort she had had to make in order to pull down the thatch, he thought that if Thomas had been there at that moment he would not have been able to stop throttling him – slowly and as painfully as possible.
He suppressed the anger and moved outside.
'Thank you, I have seen enough,' he said, and Joanna looked at him, a query in her eyes. 'I did not fully realise how bad it must have been for you,' he said as he lifted her into the saddle. 'I trust they have really dreadful conditions when they are transported, but however bad they will be will not be bad enough. Come, let us go home.'
*