Page 44 of Beatrix

‘If they’ve accidentally given one of them too much poppy,’ Rob growled, leaving his comment hanging…

‘There’s no more time to waste,’ Henry declared. ‘We need to formulate a plan now and have it ready for implementation as soon as the reinforcements arrive…’

‘What about the added reinforcements likely to be supplied by Arnold?’ Rob questioned. ‘We’ve no notion of how much assistance he’s likely to bring, when they’ll arrive or where he’ll have got them from.’

Henry sighed. ‘We can’t worry about that now. Hopefully, Arnold and the rest of his family will arrive in time to assist us. But we dare not count on it.’

‘We’ll aim for the night after tomorrow,’ he continued. ‘In an ideal world, Gladys will be taken at face value and be able to get information we need from inside the folly. But whether that happens or not, I don’t think we can in good conscience wait much longer. Though what we’ll do with thirty-eight orphans if we manage to free them all is still keeping me awake at night. We can take them to Tavistock Manor initially, but it will not do in the long term.’

At his words, Rob glanced over at Beatrix, and she gave a small nod of her head.

The Australian took a deep breath and said, ‘I’ve had an idea about that.’

Henry raised his eyebrows but said nothing, waiting for whatever Rob had to say on the matter.

‘As you say, a sudden influx of so many children would be too much for the orphanage to cope with. To try and do so would draw exactly the kind of attention we can least afford, and White or whoever he answers to will almost certainly come sniffing around the moment the auction fails to materialise. Logically, we have no choice but to take them there temporarily, but beyond that, we need them to vanish somewhere White and his cronies won’t think to look…’

‘I take it you have a destination in mind,’ Henry interrupted.

Rob nodded. ‘Australia. My family owns land. Our name carries weight enough to stand surety for every orphan. They will be able to build new lives far from Jacob White’s reach.’

For a few seconds, Henry said nothing while the other members of the party simply looked stunned at the very idea.

‘It would be a huge undertaking,’ he said at length.

‘I don’t propose it lightly,’ Rob countered, ‘and I don’t propose it without thought for the cost. Passage for that many won’t come cheap, nor will housing and schooling once they’ve arrived. But my family has both the land and the means to see it through.’

‘And have your family been consulted on this generous disposal of their land and means?’ Charlotte asked him tartly.

‘Not yet,’ Rob admitted. ‘But I know my mother, and I know what she’d say if I wrote home describing thirty-eight children with nowhere else in the world to go.’ He gave a faint, rueful smile. ‘I predict she’ll have the nursery wing cleared before even finishing my letter.’

Henry studied him for a long moment before giving a relieved grin. ‘I believe we have ourselves a plan,’ he said. ‘God willing, it will survive a little longer than first contact.’

* * *

The next day dawned all too swiftly. No one had slept particularly well, which was hardly surprising considering the enormity of the task ahead of them. Billy was the only one who didn’t appear to be showing any anxiety about the task ahead, and watching him play with the inn’s resident cat, Bea marvelled at the resilience of young minds. It gave her heart that the children they rescued would be able to recover from their ordeal without it affecting their entire lives.

Kevin earned himself yet another tip before noon when Henry received a telegrammed reply from Rhys.

ARRIVING 14.30 AXBRIDGE STOP WHOLE FAMILY AGGIE SORRY STOP RHYS END

‘They’re bringing the dog,’ Charlotte repeated, reading over her brother’s shoulder. She shook her head, her expression suggesting that she’d long ago given up hoping that her nieces might, on some future occasion, exercise a scrap of sense between them. ‘As if we haven’t got enough to contend with.’

‘I knew Bernie wouldn’t leave Aggie behind,’ Beatrix commented, unable to keep the smile from her voice. ‘And in fairness, Aunt Charlotte, she did apprehend Muriel Pemberton for Alex and Bella.’

‘She sat on her,’ Charlotte retorted, her voice flat. ‘My doing so would have achieved exactly the same result. And don’t call me aunt.’

Beatrix stifled a chuckle and only just prevented herself from commenting that Aggie had also licked inside the now sadly deceased woman’s ear…

Henry had the innkeeper dispatch the waggonette as two p.m. approached. By this time, the cat had polished off every titbit Billy had to give and had haughtily taken herself off, leaving the boy to appoint himself as lookout at the inn’s front window. Obviously, it was his shout that alerted the wagonette’s return. Indeed, it was highly probable he alerted everybody within a two-mile radius.

‘They brung Aggie,’ he yelled delightedly

Anybody observing the reunion in the inn’s yard could be forgiven for thinking the two parties hadn’t seen one another in months, and Charlotte had to grit her teeth at the unladylike display of emotion on show. Aggie dancing around barking unsurprisingly didn’t help matters, but it was Daisy and Florence tumbling out last in a tangle of skirts and questions, demanding to know everything at once and in no particular order that had their aunt finally reaching for her salts in despair.

‘Thank you for coming so promptly,’ Henry said to Rhys quietly. ‘The situation is much more dire than we’d previously imagined.’

‘I guessed as much,’ Rhys murmured. ‘I hope you don’t object but I took the liberty of telling both Albert and Evans to follow us bringing both carriages. It’s at least a two-day journey and I doubt they’ll get much further than Exeter today, but I thought there was an outside chance they might be needed. I told them to wait for us in Axbridge.’