The four riders trotted to meet them.
“Grace rides well, doesn’t she?” Sebastian commented.
“Hmm,” Cassie agreed thoughtfully.
He kept a straight face. Grace and Cassie were excellent friends, but a faint thread of competitiveness ran through their friendship. “Yes, she looks splendid up there, mastering her horse so effortlessly. Not that it matters, for, as you said, you don’t wish to ride stupid horses.”
She sent him a quick, displeased sidelong glance.
The Merridews arrived, and they exchanged greetings. Hope immediately said, “Cassie, tell me what you think of Grace’s new habit. I think it very fetching, don’t you? But Grace is cross because she wanted velvet.” He immediately perceived her tactics. Cassie had a hidden but growing passion for clothes.
Faith said, clearly repeating an old argument, “Grace is too young for velvet.”
Sebastian added his mite. “I can see it is the finest wool.”
“Yes and the frogging is extremely dashing. Green suits her, doesn’t it? What color is your habit, Cassie?” Hope asked innocently.
“I don’t have a habit.”
“Don’t you?” Grace said in surprise. “Then what do you wear to ride?”
Cassie said nothing.
Sebastian said, “Cassie doesn’t have a habit, because—” Cassie sent him a desperate look of appeal. “Because it’s not yet finished. What color was it to be, Cassie? Dark red? With gold braid?”
“Yes,” Cassie sent him a grateful look. She glanced shyly up at Hope and admitted, “I’ve never ridden a horse before.”
“Would you like to sit up here with me a moment?” Hope offered. “Your brother can lift you up.”
Cassie looked a bit taken aback, but when Sebastian put his hands around her waist, she made no demur. He lifted her into Miss Hope’s lap. It was a bit of a squeeze, with the sidesaddle, and Cassie looked very nervous. “Let us walk a little way,” said Hope, and before Cassie could object, the horse moved off.
She sat, tense and nervous, as Miss Hope bent over her, explaining what was what. Grace walked her horse beside them, chatting animatedly, her presence a wonderfully stiffening factor in Cassie’s determination not to show fear.
“Do you want to come up, too, Dorie?” Miss Faith asked.
Dorie shook her head.
“There’s a boy with a basket of puppies over near the fountain,” Miss Faith said. “Would you like to see them?”
Dorie looked at Sebastian and nodded.
“Come along then. Excuse us, Miss Merridew.” He took her hand and made for where a small crowd of children and adults had gathered around the boy with a basket of squirming black-and-white pups. Dorie held back initially, but as soon as she saw the puppies, she forgot her fears and crowded eagerly forward.
The pups were about six or seven weeks old, a motley breed. The boy was selling them for a few shillings. Dorie was entranced. She watched the puppies with bright eyes, utterly absorbed in their antics as they clambered over each other, rolling and biting and wrestling.
“Sebastian, look at me,” he heard and turned to where Cassie was riding past the crowd, sitting up in front of Hope, as proud as punch. “I’m riding,” she called excitedly.
He grinned and nodded back.
“What are you looking at?” she called.
“Puppies.”
“Oh! Oh! Can I see? Can I get down now, Miss Hope, please?”
“I’ll get you,” Sebastian called. He glanced at Dorie, still entranced with the pups. “I’m just going to lift your sister down,” he told her. Dorie gave no sign she heard, so Sebastian left her and went to lift Cassie down.
“Oh, it was wonderful,” Cassie exclaimed as he lifted her out of Hope’s arms. “I can’t wait to start my lessons. Where is Dorie?”
“I couldn’t drag her away from the puppies. She’s choosing one now.”
“I must see.” She started off.
Sebastian snagged her by the arm. “Say thank you to Miss Hope first.”
“Sorry. Thank you, Miss Hope. Good day to you.” Cassie bobbed a hurried curtsy and ran off.
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “I thought I was in for a puppy. Now I fear there shall be two at least!”
Hope laughed. “It is a wonderful idea.”
He took her hand and looked up at her. “You are the wonderful one.” He said softly, “I haven’t been able to get the thought of last night out of my mind. It was—”
Cassie came running back and thumped him furiously on the arm. “I thought you said Dorie was with the puppies!”
Sebastian frowned. “She is.” Cassie still had some manners to learn.
“No, she’s not! She’s nowhere to be seen,” Cassie said accusingly. “You were supposed to be looking after her!”
Sebastian glanced back at the group around the pups. “Are you sure, Cassie? She was there only a moment ago.”
“She’s not there now.”
“Oh God.” He looked around worriedly, knowing how easily Dorie became frightened. “Hope, can you see her anywhere?”
From her higher vantage on horseback, Hope anxiously scanned the park. “There!” she exclaimed. “Someone’s got her!” and she urged her horse after them.
Sebastian followed on foot, running as if the Devil were after him. In the distance he could see a man running, a small figure in a yellow dress slung over his shoulder. She was struggling. The sight gave him extra speed.
How the devil had the villain snatched a child from among a crowd of people? And why? And why Dorie? Sebastian raced onward, slowly but surely closing the gap between himself and the kidnapper.
Hope, on horseback, gained on the man swiftly, yelling like an Amazon at him. The man sped up. Hope galloped past him, and he swerved. She turned her horse and came back at him. He dodged and changed direction, but as he did, he slipped and dropped Dorie. She scrambled away and started running off as fast as she could, running like a terrified rabbit, in no particular direction, just away. The park gates were not far away. If in her panic, she ran out into the streets, pursuit would be much more difficult.
“Dorie, Dorie, to me, to me!” Sebastian shouted, but she didn’t hear him.
Her abductor started after her, shouting, “Come back ’ere you little rat, or I’ll kill you! And your sister, see if I don’t.” The man pulled a knife and continued his pursuit, repeating his threats.
Her sister? He knew she had a sister?
Dorie faltered. Sebastian’s heart almost stopped when he saw her hesitate. If the abductor got hold of her now, he’d use her as a hostage. Or kill her outright. He’d hang for kidnapping as easily as murder.
“Keep running, Dorie,” Sebastian yelled. “I’ll stop him.”
She heard him this time and started running again, but her hesitation had allowed her pursuer to gain on her. He was three or four yards behind her and gaining fast when Hope came thundering along from behind. As she closed on the child and her pursuer, she yelled, “Dorie, hold out your hand, I’m going to pick you up.”
To Sebastian’s horror, Hope was hanging off her horse in the way she’d done when performing her outlandish tricks. He had no time to tell her to stop, he was almost upon the man himself. Under his horrified gaze, Hope Merridew came galloping down on his frail little sister, bent over, and scooped her up, just as the man’s knife slashed out at her, once, twice.
Hope teetered for a minute—Dorie was much heavier than a twig—then righted herself and continued on. Holding Dorie to her chest, she let out a yell of triumph. “Got her, Sebastian!” Dorie clung to her like a terrified monkey, arms and legs wrapped tightly around Hope. She watched from over Hope’s shoulder, her little face as white as a ghost, but when she saw Sebastian, she gave a little flip of her hand, as if to say,
I’m all right
.
A shout came from the left. The park attendants had been alerted and were coming in hot pursuit.
The man glanced around fearfully and fled.
Sebastian followed, driven now by rage instead of fear for his sister and Hope. He swiftly closed on him and brought him down in a leaping tackle. They both rolled on the ground.
The man scrambled to his feet, swearing horribly and brandishing his knife. He gave a rotten-toothed snarl, “Come on, me fine toff, let’s see the color of yer blood!” He feinted with the knife, a vicious-looking blade. He was desperate. If he was caught, he would hang. He had a knife, and he had nothing to lose. He closed in on Sebastian, clearly intending to wound him and make a getaway.
But Sebastian had learned gutter fighting the hard way, in the backstreets of a factory town. He swayed back just enough to dodge the slashing knife, then followed it instantly through with a kick to the man’s side. The man staggered, off balance, and Sebastian leaped in and smashed a punch in his face. He grabbed the knife hand, twisted it, and slammed his fist down hard on the man’s wrist. The knife dropped from his hand, and Sebastian kicked it away. Half a dozen punches, and the man was on the ground, gasping. He was bleeding from the nose and mouth.
Sebastian stood over him a moment, gasping for breath, but the man didn’t move.
“You got him! Hurrah!” yelled Hope, clearly delighted with the outcome and showing no signs of ladylike distress. Her horse danced around restlessly, affected by her excitement.
“Dorie?” he asked.
Dorie nodded. She hadn’t quite relaxed her death grip on Hope’s neck, but she seemed perfectly happy to remain on the horse. No doubt it had something to do with the alternative. He glanced at the man on the ground, who gave no sign of life. The park keepers were a few hundred yards away. They would take the fellow into custody.
Sebastian walked toward Hope and his sister. He’d seen that knife flash as Dorie had been lifted to safety by his mad, brave, daredevil lady, and it had seemed to him—though he had been running—that the the blade caught in something. “I saw that fellow slash at—”
“Sebastian!” The thin reedy scream was like nothing he’d ever heard. “Behind you!”
He whirled. The man grabbed the discarded knife and tried to plunge it into Sebastian, but the warning had come in time, and the knife glanced off his sleeve. Sebastian threw a mighty punch. The man’s head snapped back, and he collapsed, insensible, just as the park keepers arrived with Cassie, who had fetched them, followed shortly afterward by Faith and Grace Merridew and James on horseback. A small crowd of onlookers was growing, too. His sisters needed to be out of this as soon as possible.
The keepers had seen the villain’s last attempt with the knife and, taking no chances, they bound him hand and foot while he was still unconscious, before making arrangements to take him off to prison. Sebastian gave them his card and promised to call on the nearest magistrate at his earliest convenience. But first, he stressed, he needed to get his ladies home.
“Didn’t you hear—” Hope began excitedly.
Sebastian gave her a quick look and shook his head in a silent message. “We shall return home first,” he said. “Then we can talk. Hand Dorie down to me, please.”
Dorie came willingly, clinging to his chest the way she’d clung to Hope. She was trembling and buried her face in his neck. He hugged her to him and stroked her hair. “You were very brave, little one, but it’s all over now. You’re safe. He can’t harm you ever again.”
He glanced at Cassie, who was staring at the unconscious man. “It was very clever of you to fetch the keepers, Cassie,” he said. “Thank you. Both my sisters are very brave.”
She looked gratified but uneasy. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then thought better of it.
“Tell us what his name is, Cassie,” Sebastian said quietly.
She jumped guiltily and bit her lip.
Sebastian gave her a nod of reassurance. “It’s all right. Just tell them. It’s Mam’s brother, isn’t it?”
“How did you know?” she blurted.
“You forget I knew her. The family resemblance is unmistakable.”
She nodded. “Yes, it’s Albert. Albert Watts. But what did he want Dorie for? He hated us. He never wanted either of us around. He was the one who brought us to London to be sol—”
“Not here!” Sebastian cut her off sharply. He swallowed and forced himself to say in a milder voice, “Sorry, but we’ll talk of these matters in more private surroundings.” Her words had confirmed his worst suspicions. He stared at the unconscious man and briefly wished it had been a killing blow. He wanted to stride forward now and grind the man’s head under his heel. It took several moments to harness his rage and get it under control.
“Gentlemen,” he addressed the keepers. “I shall leave this piece of filth, whose name is Albert Watts, in your capable hands. He is an out-and-out villain. I think you will find he is wanted for other crimes by Bow Street. I shall follow you there when I have taken my sisters home.” He passed them a gold coin each. “Thank you for your prompt assistance.”
One of the keepers shook his head. “Did it all yourself, sir—you and the lady!” He gave Hope an admiring look. “Never seen anything to equal it, miss, not at Astley’s nor nowhere else. Wonderful, you were, picking up the little miss like that from that great big ’orse.”
Hope blushed prettily.
The keeper waxed enthusiastically on, “And as for you, sir, well, I hope you don’t think I’m takin’ liberties when I say as you ought to be in the ring, sir, with a left hook like that. Marvelous it was, sir, marvelous. Gentleman Jackson couldn’t do it better, sir!”
Sebastian inclined his head as best he could with Dorie in his arms. He had no intention of letting her go. He thought most of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle had fallen into place now; he only needed his sisters to fill in the blanks. “Thank you, gentlemen, but I think I’d like to get my little sister home now. She’s had a nasty fright.” He glanced at Cassie. “They both have.”
“Shall I fetch you a hackney, sir?” his admirer asked.
“That would be excellent,” responded Sebastian, and the keepers bustled off, taking the trussed Watts and curious onlookers with them.