Adelaide, bless her, was having none of it. While Hugh seemed to have calmed down a notch, his sister was just getting riled up.
“So, what you are saying is that you will be spending Christmas alone in a boarding house room with no family,” said Adelaide.
Mary clutched the bag tighter to herself, suddenly feeling very alone in the world. She should have written to her mother’s family in Devon and asked to visit for Christmas. Not that she actually knew them, but still, she chided herself for the oversight.
“Hugh, take Mary’s travel bag. Mary, come with us and get into the coach. You are coming to Scotland. We will not allow you to spend Christmas on your own.”
Words of feeble protest struggled to her lips, but when Mary saw Hugh’s tight-set jaw as he stepped forward and took a hold of the bag, she knew they would be to no avail. She released her grip on the travel bag, giving him a wan smile as he tucked it under his arm.
“Good. That is settled. When we return after Christmas, I shall have a word with the dean,” he said.
Mary followed Adelaide and Hugh back to the coach. As she took her seat inside, Charles leaned forward. “You weren’t seriously thinking that they were going to let you spend Christmas on your own, were you? The Radley family’s Christmas motto is that no one gets left behind.”
“Unless of course you are a bloody stubborn duke,” muttered Adelaide.
Chapter Six
With Mary now on board the travel coach, and Hugh’s missing book safely in his hands, they set out across country to meet the Great North Road and continue their journey to Scotland.
While Adelaide and Mary were making polite conversation about the baby and how well he was doing, Hugh was lost in his own thoughts, most of which consisted of him raging at himself. By the time they made their final stop for the day at the Bell Inn in Stilton, he had worked himself into such a foul mood that he cried off supper and went for a long walk instead.
With his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his greatcoat, he trudged through the snow-covered streets of the town. There were only so many ways a man could be angry with himself, but Hugh Radley was determined to work his way through the list. He passed several taverns on the road and was tempted to go inside and have a pint, but he knew he would need more than alcohol to take the edge off his self-loathing.
The walk finally began to have its desired effect and his mood lifted. As he turned and started to head back to the inn, his thoughts returned to Mary. It was a relief to know that she would not be spending Christmas on her own, that she was coming to Scotland with him. He had much to atone for when it came to her.
Mary had not only been dealing with grief over the death of her father, but the impending loss of her home. He, meanwhile, had been so preoccupied with his final exams and career progression that he had failed to see what was happening under his very nose. He had not been there for her when she needed a friend.
“And to top it all off, you forgot to get her a Christmas present. Hugh Radley you are a selfish blackguard,” he muttered.
Back at the inn, he found Charles rugged up in a greatcoat and seated in front of an open fire outside in the rear mews, his back against the wall of the stables. His head was buried in a newspaper. He didn’t look up until Hugh sat down beside him.
Hugh glanced at the newspaper. It was the L’Ami du Peuple; a radical popular newspaper from Paris. With the French king in custody, and the whole of France in turmoil, émigrés such as Charles were constantly in search of news from their homeland.
“What is happening in France?” asked Hugh.
Charles folded the paper up and sat it on his lap. While his hands remained steady, his boot was tapping hard on the stone ground. He sighed. “They have given all French citizens who are living abroad a deadline to return home or forfeit any land that they hold in France. I shall have to sell everything I own within the next twelve months or lose it all. I tell you, Hugh, France is going to hell.”
For the second time that day, Hugh was sharply reminded that the world did not revolve around his studies or himself. Charles had been an open supporter of King Louis, but with the king and his family now under arrest, Charles dared not return home. His brother-in-law was trapped in exile in England.
Charles pulled two cheroots from his pocket and lit them using a lighted taper from the fire. He handed one to Hugh.
“I’m sorry, Charles. It must be so hard to be this close to home but know that you cannot risk going back.”
“If it was only me, I might chance it, but I have a wife and a child to consider now. I would never put Adelaide through that sort of worry, knowing that I might never return. People have started disappearing in France, and I have a feeling that we are only just at the beginning of something terrible,” he said.
Hugh drew back deeply on his cheroot, then held the smoke in his mouth for a moment before pushing it out with his tongue. A pale gray smoke ring formed and hung in the still night air. Charles snorted his appreciation of the trick.
“Astuce,” he said.
Hugh settled back against the stone wall of the stables. It was good to be headed home to Scotland. He had missed Christmas the previous year, being too busy with exams and preparation for his last year at university, and he had spent the last twelve months regretting it.
“I hope you didn’t mind Adelaide and
