Chapter XV - Bloch’s Revenge
Philip looked extremely tired, and rather surprised, when I popped out of the seat.
“Have a merry little trip?” he asked.
“Did you tell the marquis?”
“Is that what you were trying to tell me?” he said, “because if you were, I didn’t. I went back to bed and wondered about you. I wouldn’t have known what to tell him anyway. That Albert’s gone crazy?”
“Well, never mind,” I said. “I can tell him myself, now. Or perhaps in the morning.”
“Yeah, I think morning would be better,” he said. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Too late for me,” I said, yawning. “Oh, Philip?”
“Yes.”
“You remember when you and Hans were talking about that big fight between Prince Hugo and Sigmond? You remember the English maid?”
“I do as a matter of fact. Amazing for this time of the morning.”
“Do you remember the name of her lady?”
“Sorry, that I don’t remember.”
“Could it have been Alice MacGuffin?”
“Come to think of it,” said Philip in surprise. “That sounds familiar. I’m too tired to figure out how you do it, Albert, but that’s right. I think. Good night.”
The sky was already brightening as I left Philip, but I was so tired that I do not even remember getting into bed a moment later.
I slept late again, and this time not by a little. The sun was past my window. It was at least noon, if not later. My first thought was that I was late, and I had to tell the marquis. I could not remember right off just what it was I had to tell him, but I leapt up and headed for the door. My knee ached a bit when I woke, but I had not noticed. Now suddenly it gave out from under me in pain. I was certainly not doing anything on that leg without help. The first thing to do was hobble to the tack room for a bandage. I was now alert enough to remember what had happened the night before. It was important, but I had plenty of time.
Bloch was there, coming out of the tack room as I came in, and I stopped and braced myself for a bawling out for being late again. He did not even acknowledge me. He smiled a little, though, and went on his way. The way he smiled made me take a careful look around the tack room for booby traps.
I did not find any, but I did find a bandage, and with it firmly wrapped around my knee I found I could walk without trouble. It is amazing what a little piece of cloth and a good knot can do.
I headed out of the stable as quickly as I could, not thinking about anything but my message for the marquis. Hans met me the instant I stepped out.
“Albert, at last!” he said, thrusting the reins of two horses into my hands. “These need walking out, and so do those.” He jerked his head toward two sweating mounts, each held by an impatient looking gentleman. He ran to them before I could say anything. I could see I picked the wrong day to oversleep. The yard was very busy, and it was the worst time of day, early afternoon when everyone was coming or going.
I supposed my news could wait a little longer, and I helped Hans out. And then I helped out some more. It seemed to take forever. The stable was in chaos. Bloch was taking no interest in it at all, and Philip more than had his hands full with his usual day duties. It seemed there was always just one more thing to do. It was at least three hours before I could slip off.
“He isn’t in,” said the marquis’ secretary, a small old man in ancient royal livery. “He only just went out.”
“Where did he go?” I asked.
“He’s out driving with Her Majesty.”
“Well, when will he be back? Can you get a message to him? It’s very urgent.”
“You’re Albert, aren’t you?” The man looked at me more closely.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“The marquis very much wants to see you too. Apparently you were hard to find earlier.”
“We’ve been very busy down at the stable. Look can you...?”
“What I would suggest is that you go back to the stable and stay put. As a matter of fact, that was the message he left for you. He said it was an order. Do you understand?”
“Yes, but when will he be back?”
“It’s hard to say. A few hours at least. Now you get along to the stable and stay there. He seemed awfully strong on that point. He didn’t seem to think you would.”
“I will,” I said. “I don’t have much choice, do I?”
I was not paying attention when I returned to the stable. I was trying to think of a way to get the message to the marquis more quickly. For all I knew, he had already fallen for Tybalt’s diversions and was prepared to do the wrong thing that night.
“A...uh...Albert!”
When I heard that voice I forgot all about the marquis. I wheeled around to see Celeste seated on a prancing horse. She was doing her best to shoo Charles away from holding the animal.
“No, no,” she said. “Not you. Um...I used to know that boy. He’s...worked for me before.”
She trotted across the yard. I looked furtively around. There were too many people in the yard, not listening perhaps, but within overhearing distance.
“Hello, Fraulein,” I said cautiously. She bent forward.
“I’ve been riding around this stable for a half hour, just hoping you’d show up,” she whispered. “When we got that letter I just knew....”
“What letter?” I asked, but a carriage came in and Roderick brought it right beside us to unhitch the horses.
“Well, Albert,” she said, glancing at Roderick and taking a superior tone as she did when she talked to servants. “You should hear the excitement that’s hit our stables since you left us.”
“What is it, Fraulein?”
“A horse has been stolen,” she said.
“Stolen?”
“That’s what my mother says.” She emphasized the words to make it obvious they had a deeper meaning. I feared it was obvious to anyone who overheard. “They’ve arrested the stableman.”
“Oh, no!” I said. “Not Andre!”
“Yes, Andre,” she said. “But not for horse stealing. I’m afraid you haven’t heard the worst. My cousin, Anna, has disappeared. Mamma fears she has been kidnapped, or worse. We would not have realized, because Anna was away travelling, but we got a letter from a man named Wilhelm Bloch. He’s found her horse here, in the possession of a suspicious stableboy. When I heard that I just knew....” She whispered the last.
“Thanks, Celeste,” I whispered back.
“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Goodbye, Albert. I must join Mamma in the park now, or she’ll wonder if I’ve been taken too.”
I put my hand over my mouth as she left and tried to think. This was a pretty predicament. The instant Aunt Elfie saw me the game would be up. That would be a quick end to everything.
I turned to dodge into the stable, but Tybalt was standing in the stable door, grinning from ear to ear.
“Quite the charmer, our Albert,” he said. “Having a beautiful young lady warn him off.” He heaved a theatrical sigh and stepped forward, smiling a knowing smile. I hoped he had not heard the whole conversation, but somehow I was sure he had. “Yes, she is rather attractive. Tell me, is she rich? If she’s rich I might go for her myself.”
I was not sure what to say, so I just rolled my eyes in my best imitation of Philip and started to walk away. Tybalt started to laugh.
“To think, the Pipsqueak a horse thief!” he said. I paused. At least he had got it wrong. “I knew you were just like me,” he said, shaking a finger at me. He shook his head and clicked his tongue. “Where’s your righteous indignation now, eh? Quite a crime, stealing a horse, and from a poor little girl. By the way, what happened to the girl? Dead in a ditch with her head bashed in? Or did the wicked stableman carry her off into white slavery?”
“Andre is not wicked.”
“Not wicked? If he carries off yo
ung women, I can’t see as he’s any better than I am. I’m certainly wicked. As wicked as they come. So tell me, what happened to the young lady? I won’t tell anyone.” As he looked at me and waited for an answer his smile slowly faded.
“Unless...,” he said, rubbing his chin and looking me over more closely. The grin suddenly came back twice as big. “Unless you are the young lady yourself.”
“What?” I said as indignantly as I could. “I’m not a girl!”
“It’s easy enough to check, isn’t it?” He reached for me. I jumped away and turned and ran. “Don’t worry, Albert. I won’t tell,” he called, laughing.
I ran. I ran all the way to the other side of the manure pile, where I was alone. I could not go back yet. I needed more time. I was supposed to be safe for three months. But she had put Andre in jail! I put my hands on my head, which had begun to ache, and paced back and forth.
The thing to do for now was to dodge Aunt Elfie. That would give me time, but it would not be easy. She and Bloch would be spreading the word about Albert the horse thief. I was sure she had already told the marquis. That was why he wanted to see me. Oh, the marquis! I had to tell him about Mrs. MacGuffin.
I shook my throbbing head and ran back to the stable. Get Jupiter. That was the most important thing now. That was all I could think of.
When I got to Jupiter’s stall, I found Hans. He was holding a tin of boot black, which he was dabbing over the white markings on Jupiter’s face.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“What does it look like?” he answered in irritation.
“That won’t do any good,” I said. “Everybody knows this horse it Jupiter, and that he has—or had—a white star.”
“Not if he’s in the shed out back of my house they won’t,” he said. “He’ll be just another dark color horse. Especially if you rub a little mud on his coat and tangle burrs in his mane.”
“Thanks, Hans, but there’s no need to get you and your family in trouble.”
“Will you just get your saddle and go?” said Hans in exasperation. “I just now heard Uncle Wil telling Philip. They’ll be down here any minute.”
As I saddled Jupiter, I turned to him. “I didn’t steal him,” I said.
“I don’t care what you did,” he replied. He snatched away my bridle and started putting it on Jupiter himself. He usually had trouble with that, but urgency made him quick and efficient.
“Look,” I said. “I have some things to do. And I don’t know just what I’ll do after that, so I may not come to your house after all. Or I may get caught. In case I don’t see you, goodbye.”
“You better go, you idiot,” he said, looking down the row of stalls. “’Bye.”
I rode far out into the park, where the woods were thick and I could hide while I thought. I thought for a long time, or perhaps I should say I worried for a long time. It seemed as if there were problems to whatever I chose to do. I did not want to do anything, actually. I liked things as they were. I liked being a stableboy. Now, that was the last thing I could be. Now that Aunt Elfie had come, I had to run away again, or go home. I could not just stay.
I put my chin on my hand and stared at Jupiter. He was munching on a little patch of grass and twitching his ears, totally unconcerned. Or perhaps he was. The way his ears moved I could tell he was alert, and whenever I made the slightest movement, even a sigh, he tilted his head, making sure of me, though he never paused in grazing. He was such a beautiful horse, well formed and with a good character. He was attached to me, he knew my moods, and I had been neglecting him. I got up and put my arms around his neck and laid my head against his shoulder. I listened to the vibrations of his eating as they came up his neck. Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!
I could, of course, always run away for a while longer. It might be fun dodging them until my money ran out, but there were more important things to think of. There was Andre. I had to return to get him out of trouble. I could not see as I had any choice about that. Then there was the business of the kidnapping. I had to see it through somehow. I did not want to go home with my adventure unfinished. I would probably never get another chance. I had to, and I had to now. That meant I would have to face the marquis, but I had a plan for that.
I burst out of the bushes on Jupiter. Philip had told me where the queen usually liked to take her drives, and there was the queen’s landau just ahead. It pulled to a halt. I had startled them. The marquis must have thought I was an assassin, for he stood up, producing a pistol. He saw it was me, however, and with a few words to the queen, he put the gun away and climbed out of the carriage.
I bowed toward the carriage and then turned to him. “I found...!” I began.
“Albert,” the marquis interrupted in a quiet, stern voice. “I’ve heard all about you and....” He glanced at Jupiter. “It was foolish of you to try and disguise him.”
“I didn’t do that,” I said. “Ha...A friend did. Look, it really isn’t as bad as you think.”
“Albert, I know you really love that animal, and I know you always have good intentions, but this is too serious. A young lady may have come to harm over this.”
“No....”
“This has to stop. I promise I’ll do what I can for you, but you must go back to the stable right now. I’ll be there shortly.”
“I will,” I said. “But first....”
“Now. You have to face up to this.”
“But....”
“Now, Albert.”
“I’ve found Mrs. MacGuffin,” I said. “I know where she is.”
That took him aback. His mouth was still open to tell me to go back, but I could see his mind working. His jaw worked back and forth and he absently stroked Jupiter’s neck.
“Where is she?” he said at last.
“East,” I said, tossing my head in that direction. “It’s on the park road, only pretty far out. Up in the hills.”
“My information says south,” he said. “At one of Sigmond’s estates.”
“Tybalt wants you to think that,” I said, shaking my head. “I heard him say so. But at this place I actually heard her voice. It’s a great big old wooden house, with a new stone wing. She’s on the top floor in the back, where the two parts meet.”
“How far is this place?”
“Oh, a couple hours’ ride. The only thing you can see from the road is the old gate post. It’s on the right side of the road, and the left post is broken away in the middle so it looks like an hourglass. There’s woods all around, but particularly on the east, and there’s a ravine quite close in back, to the south. Oh, and there’s six men in the house, and they’ve posted a watchman by the gate post.”
“That’s means I should get together a troop. But quietly, I don’t want to alarm Hugo.”
“You’ll have to hurry. They’re going to move her tonight,” I said. “After midnight.”
“Not much time,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Good work. We’ll have to hurry back. Follow the carriage, Albert. Albert!”
“I’ll meet you there!” I called over my shoulder as I spurred Jupiter away.
“Albert! Come back!”
He could not follow cross country in a carriage, and certainly not with the queen.
Autumn is a humid time in Lifbau. We get rain and mist, and on this evening, heavy fog. Things look very strange in that grey shroud. Familiar things are unrecognizable, and unfamiliar things are downright frightening, especially at a full gallop.
I was halfway to Hugo’s lodge when the fog hit. It descended suddenly, as if some napping god had kicked his blanket off and it fell to earth with a thud. Within minutes I could not see beyond Jupiter’s nose. Jupiter, however, is the bravest animal on God’s green earth, and he never hesitated to plunge into the unknown grey beyond each hill and fence. His trust in me was great, but unwarranted. I could not see any better than he could. Somehow we manage
d to reach the road without a major mishap.
The road seemed hardly less tricky than the fields. As we got higher into the mountains it would suddenly rise up or fall away. I rode for a long time, until I was sure I had gone too far or taken the wrong road. Then I saw the gate post. It loomed up suddenly, an isolated black shape against the grey.
The sentinel would hear me, even if I could not see him. I trotted by the gate without hesitating, as if going somewhere further along. At a good distance I halted and dismounted. I wanted to sneak up from the woods.
I led Jupiter as close as I dared to the house and tied him to a tree. I hoped I could find him again. It was getting dark, and the grey atmosphere was turning to charcoal. In the distance I could see some blurred squares of light. I crept toward them and soon the dark form of the house came into view.