Dressed in Black

Chapter 19

The travellers' first stopover was at an inn on the border between Cambridge and Northampton, where Mr. Musgrave's coach was to meet him and convey him east while the same one took Borne, his new charge and his niece to the North. Albert had only to pass through Warwickshire, and then there was home – or at least the prospect of home, for Lydbrook would still be a way off. As for the remaining three, their journey was a bit lengthier; they had the whole of Northampton to cross and then the whole of Leicestershire, and when at last in the country of Derbyshire, it would take still another few hours to arrive at their final destination.

They had their dinner at the inn, though Mr. Musgrave professed to have no appetite for any luxurious meals, and contented himself with bread, cheese, and tea, while Catherine and Sarah, inspired by his simple mode of dining, ordered a bowl of strawberries and an ewer of cream. Mr. Borne was the only one to partake of a fashionable dinner, for he was a good deal too urbane to stoop to that level.

"No doubt there are some men who prefer a fashionable dinner to a rustic one, but it is my firm belief that the latter is heartier, for it restores one's strengths without all that unnecessary frill which characterises a gourmet meal," he said, while sipping his milk and wiping the dairy moustache from his upper lip. Catherine had drifted to the chair beside Albert Musgrave, for she then began to feel their impending separation, and how this one would be harder on her than the two preceding ones had been. At length, after they had all done eating and resting, Albert's coach was announced, and he was then obliged to part with his friends. He allowed for no more than a few civilities between himself and Borne, but when it came to parting with Catherine, who knew nothing of his heart, he held on to her hand longer than a more indifferent man would have done, and looked earnestly into her eyes, saying in a confidential whisper, "When will we ever cease to part, Catherine? It's as though our paths always lead us to different places – never to the same one. Nothing in Lydbrook has been the same since you left it – I wish your father had never died, and that we would have carried on in the same manner."

"Only without all the ceremony," she put in with a delighted smile.

"Yes," he mirrored her expression, almost bringing her hand to his lips in a flare of despair. The next moment, however, he dropped her hand and bowed coolly to both she and her guardian – leaving Sarah out, for he was not aware of how matters really stood – walking swiftly out of the parlour and then disappearing behind the door.

"You'll see him again, lass – depend upon it," said Borne, draping his arm over her shoulders, and giving her a light shake. "Your paths shall soon cross."

*

The day they arrived in Creswell, Derbyshire, the weather was fine for a late January afternoon, and though the sunlight was characteristically of a faint yellow, the landscape as the carriage rolled across a Lilliputian stone bridge was quite picturesque. There were trees in plentiful, and the wild grove surrounding Borne's manor afforded only short glimpses of its stone walls. However, as soon as the carriage turned the corner on the winding lane leading up to the house, Catherine, sticking her head out of the window, had a full view of the place.

She was surprised by its antiquity – it had battlements and a turret on the east side, and looked as though it had been built in the Elizabethan era. She was surprised, because though knowing her new guardian to be a wealthy man, she had never supposed him to be of such noble blood.

"D'ye like it?" he asked, as Catherine fell back breathless in her seat.

"It's splendid, Mr. Busick!" she exclaimed with a quiet smile of satisfaction. "Does it have a name?"