Page 8 of My Gentleman Spy
She moved faster than even he expected. By the time he reached the door, she was well out into the street and headed for the nearby town square in which the market was being held. He ran afterher.
Taking a firm hold of her arm he stopped her in mid stride. When he saw her tears, Will instantly felt lower than a gutter rat'spaw.
“It's alright, I won't leave you,” he said, trying his best to offerreassurance.
Hattie's face said it all, she was in dire straits. Whether it was of her own making or not, it did not matter. He had tohelp.
“I just want to go home,” shesobbed.
His senses sprang to attention. A soft tingling in his left ear, which rapidly became a sharp ringing warned him that they were in danger. His gaze shifted slowly from Hattie to their nearbysurroundings.
The people around them in the market place began to shoot disapproving glances hisway.
It did not take a genius to realize that the locals had assumed he and she were acouple.
From the loud clicking of tongues and whisperedbestiait was also obvious that they held him responsible for her current miserablecondition.
Hattie’s hair was an unkempt disaster, plastered all over her head. Her clothes, though slowly beginning to dry, made her look like she had been dragged backwards through a hedgerow. She looked at best untidy, at worstmistreated.
A heavy knock on the shoulder from a passing stall holder revealed the depth of enmity beginning to build amongst the crowd. Will was the villain of the piece. If he did not bring the situation under control, and fast, he was likely to find himself on the receiving end of a solid fist ortwo.
“Alright, alright. I will take you home. Just please stop crying,” Willpleaded.
The local women who had gathered to stand behind Hattie looked to one another. Will caught the glimpse of a donkey whip in one woman's hand and sizeable pieces of rock in the hands of severalothers.
The buzz of the crowd rose inpitch.
Their adopted daughter however did not appear to comprehend what was going on around her. Hattie's head dropped and she stared at the stone paving. Unwittingly she held the crowd and therefore both her and Will's safety in the palm of herhand.
“They want to know if everything is alright,” heexplained.
“What?” she replied, when she finally looked athim.
He took a step forward, intent on speaking more privately to her, but the crowd murmured itsdisapproval.
“Bienbien,” he said, taking two overly long steps backward, hands help up insurrender.
Hattie's gaze fell on the nearest of the women. The woman's finger was pointed at Hattie's disheveledgown.
Hattie looked down at her gown and frowned. “Oh, Isee.”
As she attempted to straighten her skirts, a bright patch of red appeared on her cheeks. Will's heart went out to her once more. The poor girl was embarrassed at the bedraggled state of her clothes in front of thesestrangers.
The creased and partly shrunken gown refused to yield to her attentions. Nothing she did to make it appear more presentable made the slightest of difference. White sea salt lines had begun to appear on the few dry patches of thebodice.
Finally, with a sad huff, she gave up. Her hands hung limply by hersides.
The crowd, which was rapidly increasing in size coalesced into a single angry beast, and growled. The ringing in Will's ear rose to a deafening clang. It was like a bell being tolled inside hishead.
Realization of the crowd's mood finally dawned on Hattie's face. She turned to the crowd andpleaded.
“No, no it's not his fault. He is trying to help me. Herescued...”
“Come darling,” Willinterjected.
While it was all well and good for her to attempt to paint him to be a savior, it did not further their cause if those gathered in the town square got the wrong idea. Her Spanish was likely non-existent and he for one did not think the townsfolk were in any mood to listen to his explanation, no matter how eloquently or fluently it wasgiven.
There was also the matter of exactly what he would say to the townsfolk if he was given any kind of hearing. He would be a dead man if they thought he was trying to accost an innocentstranger.
