Page 118 of Marry in Scarlet
He hesitated. “There were bad men. Kidnappers.”
“I know. But they’ve gone now.”
His arms tightened around Finn. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Your guardian paid the ransom, but nobody collected it. They must have left. Did they let you go?”
He gave a funny secretive smile. “Not on purpose.”
“You mean you escaped? That was clever of you—and very brave.” She could hear her horse, grazing placidly outside Phillip’s hiding place. “How about you come home with me now—back to Lakeside Cottage, I mean. I’m sure you must be hungry. Mrs. Harris will want to make you the biggest dinner with all your favorite things.”
The mention of Mrs. Harris seemed to convince him to trust her. He followed her out of the thicket, and stopped dead when he saw the horse. “On a horse?” He gave her a troubled glance. “I can’t ride.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be with me. I won’t let you fall off. And later, if you want to, the duke and I will teach you to ride. Would you like that?”
He nodded. She mounted, then leaned down and held her hand out. “Take my hand, and when I say three, you jump as high as you can. I’ll swing you up in front of me. One, two, three.” And Phillip jumped.
Joy singing in her heart, George rode back to Lakeside Cottage, Phillip sitting up proudly in front of her. What a lovely surprise this was going to be for Hart.
As they neared the house, she saw him coming over the brow of the hill from the other direction, something bundled over the saddle in front of him. “There’s the duke,” she told Phillip. “What a fine surprise we’re going to give him.”
Both horses rounded the hedge at the same time and came to a halt. “Good God,” Hart exclaimed. The bundle in front of Hart wriggled and, with Hart’s aid, sat up.
They stared, unable to believe their eyes. On the saddle in front of each adult sat a small grubby urchin. George looked from one to the other and back. Small grubbyidenticalurchins.
“Phillip?” Hart exclaimed.
“Danny?” said George.
“Danny,” cried Phillip joyfully.
“Phil,” Hart’s urchin responded.
George and Hart stared at each other, then Hart shook his head. “We’ll get to the bottom of this eventually, I’m sure—”
“But first, food and baths all round,” George finished for him.
***
“We were playing a trick on Mr. Jephcott,” Phillip explained between mouthfuls as the two boys plowed through a mountain of food. Mrs. Harris had cooked up a storm, but she’d insisted on baths before dinner.
“We swapped clothes,” Danny said. “He never even noticed. He doesn’t even know which one of us is which.”
“Has he gone?” Phillip asked.
That was a point. “I don’t know,” Hart said slowly. “I haven’t seen him today at all.”
“Me neither,” George said. “In fact, I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”
Hart glanced at Mrs. Harris who was hovering maternally over the boys, and gave her a silent signal. She nodded and hurried out.
“So we were both dressed in the same kind of clothes—makin’ him see double, you see—and I was all ready to cross the lawn—he was snoozing in the sun as usual—when someone grabbed me and shoved a bag over me head,” Danny said. “I tried to yell, but they shoved a rag in me mouth, and tied me up and threw me into some kind of cart and took off with me.”
“I saw it happen,” Phillip said, “so of course I followed.”
Hart frowned. “You didn’t call for help?”
The two boys exchanged glances. “No,” Phillip said. He was holding something back.
