The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer Read Free Book Online Page B

scheme itself might be fantastical, but there was a streak of French rationality in her nature which could be trusted to cope with the intricacies of the wildest escapade. She said: ‘We shall need the stable keys.’
    ‘ We , miss?’ faltered Lucy.
    Eustacie nodded. ‘But yes, because I have never saddled a horse, and though I think it would be a better adventure if I did everything quite by myself, one must be practical, after all. Can you saddle a horse?’
    ‘Oh yes, miss!’ replied Lucy, a farmer’s daughter, ‘but –’
    ‘Very well, then, that is arranged. And it is you, moreover, who must steal the stable keys. That will not be a great matter. And you will pack for me two bandboxes, but not any more, because I cannot carry much on horseback. And when I reach Hand Cross I shall let Rufus go, and it is certain that he will find his way home, and that will put my cousin Tristram in a terrible fright when he sees my horse quite riderless. I dare say he will think I am dead.’
    ‘Miss, you don’t really mean it?’ said Lucy, who had been listening open-mouthed.
    ‘But of course I mean it,’ replied Eustacie calmly. ‘When does the night mail reach Hand Cross?’
    ‘Just before midnight, miss, but they do say we shall be having snow, and that would make the mail late as like as not. But, miss, it’s all of five miles to Hand Cross, and the road that lonely, and running through the Forest – oh, I’d be afeard!’
    ‘I am not afraid of anything,’ said Eustacie loftily.
    Lucy sank her voice impressively. ‘Perhaps you haven’t ever heard tell of the Headless Horseman, miss?’
    ‘No!’ Eustacie’s eyes sparkled. ‘Tell me at once all about him!’
    ‘They say he rides the Forest, miss, but never on a horse of his own,’ said Lucy throbbingly. ‘You’ll find him up behind you on the crupper with his arms round your waist.’
    Even in the comfortable daylight this story was hideous enough to daunt the most fearless. Eustacie shuddered, but said stoutly: ‘I do not believe it. It is just a tale!’
    ‘Ask anyone, miss, if it’s not true!’ said Lucy.
    Eustacie, thinking this advice good, asked Sir Tristram at the first opportunity.
    ‘The Headless Horseman?’ he said. ‘Yes, I believe there is some such legend.’
    ‘But is it true?’ asked Eustacie breathlessly.
    ‘Why, no, of course not!’
    ‘You would not then be afraid to ride through the Forest at night?’
    ‘Not in the least. I’ve often done so, and never encountered a headless horseman, I assure you!’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Eustacie. ‘Thank you very much!’
    He looked a little surprised, but as she said nothing more very soon forgot the episode.
    ‘My cousin Tristram,’ Eustacie told Lucy, ‘says that it is nothing but a legend. I shall not regard it.’

Three
    Had Sir Tristram been less preoccupied he might have found something to wonder at in his cousin’s sudden docility. As it was, he was much too busy unravelling the intricacies of Sylvester’s affairs with Mr Pickering to pay any heed to Eustacie’s change of front. If he thought about it at all he supposed merely that she had recovered from a fit of tantrums, and was heartily glad of it. He had half expected her to raise objections to his plan to convey her to Bath on the day after her grandfather’s burial, but when he broached the matter to her she listened to him with folded hands and downcast eyes, and answered never a word. A man more learned in female wiles might have found this circumstance suspicious; Sir Tristram was only grateful. He himself would be returning to Lavenham Court, but he told Eustacie that he did not expect to be obliged to remain for more than a week or two, after which time he would join the household in Bath, and set forward the marriage arrangements. Eustacie curtseyed politely.
    She did not attend Sylvester’s funeral, which took place on the third day after his death, but busied herself instead with choosing from her