Part 13 (2/2)

Then, when she pulled her hands apart, the knots tightened so that it appeared as if she could not move.

”If you put your hands close together,” Ula explained, ”you can easily release yourself so as to be able to tie your legs and put what is meant to be a gag over your mouth.”

She went on speaking slowly so that Amy would understand.

”Then, at the last moment, you slip your hands into the towel and lie down, saying that you have been in that position all night.”

She did not say so to Amy, but she thought that when it was discovered that she had run away, there would be so much consternation over her disappearance that they would pay no particular attention to the way in which the maid was tied up.

Ula made Amy rehea.r.s.e what she must do several times before she was quite certain she understood.

Then she said, ”Now I am going to leave, but, Amy, I shall take the key so that when they hear you screaming, they will have to break down the door.”

”'Is Lords.h.i.+p said as 'ow he wanted the key with 'im tonight,” Amy replied.

”When he finds it's not there, he will think you have gone to bed and taken it with you and if, as Newman says, he has drunk a great deal of claret and port, he will not worry about it until the morning.”

She had known for some time that the Earl was accustomed to drink heavily when he was worried about anything or was angry.

In fact always before he beat her she knew that he had drunk several gla.s.ses of wine or brandy. This inflamed his feelings so that she thought he was often more brutal than he really intended to be.

Before Amy came back, Ula had put on her dressing gown which was made of very pale blue wool.

It b.u.t.toned down the front and had a small collar edged with narrow lace.

Her mother had made it for her many years ago and, although it still fitted her, it was rather short.

But she had nothing else to wear and she was only thankful that, when the housemaids had fetched her nightgown from her bedroom, they had brought down her bedroom slippers as well.

”I am going now, Amy,” she said to the maid, who was watching her with frightened eyes. ”Pray as you have never prayed before that I may get away and thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me.”

She kissed Amy gently as she spoke.

Then she opened the door and, going out into the pa.s.sage, turned the key in the lock and started to hurry towards the backstairs.

By this time the maidservants, who all had to rise early, would have retired to the top floor, where they slept in small low-ceilinged rooms.

The menservants slept downstairs and she knew they const.i.tuted a danger.

But there was no sound coming from the pantry as she neared the bottom of the stairs and she had no intention of using the back door, but the one that led into the garden.

It was locked and bolted for the night and she opened it as silently as she could, then stepped out into the fresh air.

The sun had sunk, darkness had come and the stars were still coming out in the sky while the moon which was only half full had just begun to rise above the trees.

Even without its light Ula could have found her way through the gardens and down into the Park.

She was wise enough not to run, but moved slowly, keeping in the shadows of the bushes, since because she was wearing a pale colour it would have been easy for anyone to see her.

Only when she was in the Park was she out of sight of the house and ran quickly into a small wood which led to open fields on the other side of it.

She realised that she must put the longest distance possible between herself and the hall before grooms on horseback would be sent out to look for her as soon as it was discovered that she had escaped.

There was also still the danger that the Earl might sense that something was wrong and insist on Amy being wakened so that he could have the key of the oak room door returned.

If Amy was found to be missing, he would certainly be suspicious and the chase would begin, however late it might be.

'Help me, Papa a please a help me!' Ula prayed as she crossed the fields, walked through small copses of trees and found her soft bedroom slippers of very inadequate protection for her bare feet.

The moonlight grew brighter and now, even though it was easier to see her way, she was still terribly afraid of being noticed.

She tried to keep to the woods, of which there were many, but the pine needles and the rough paths made it painful and difficult to hurry.

It was really easier in the fields.

Then at last, when she knew she had come a long way and was feeling very tired, she saw ahead of her a light, which she could not understand.

It was in the middle of a wood through which it was difficult to move swiftly because of the dense undergrowth.

She thought perhaps it was a fire that had been lit by some woodcutters, in which case she must avoid them. They would certainly think it very strange for a young woman to be roaming about alone late at night.

Then, as she moved a little nearer, she saw with a leap of her heart that it was not woodcutters who were in the open clearing but gypsies.

There were four painted caravans and seated around the fire were the dark-haired gypsy men and their brightly dressed women.

Without hesitating Ula moved towards them.

A man noticed her first and gave an exclamation. Then all the gypsies turned to stare at her with their dark and, she felt, hostile eyes.

She went on until she stood beside them, before she said in Romany, ”Good evening, my friends!”

Now they looked at her in astonishment and a man said, ”Who are you and how do you speak our language?”

”I am your blood sister,” Ula said and she held out her wrist on which there was a small white scar.

One of the gypsies, who was a tall man, rose to his feet and she guessed that he was the leader or father of the family.

He looked at Ula's wrist, then he spoke quickly in Romany to the others. Ula knew that he was telling them that what she said was true, she had exchanged her blood with a gypsy and was, therefore, as she had claimed, their sister.

Every year a tribe of gypsies had camped in a field next to the Vicarage when they came to Worcesters.h.i.+re for the plum picking.

Her father's Parish was in the very heart of the plum picking district and Ula had known and talked to the gypsies ever since she was a small child.

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