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The two highwaymen were still sitting on the side of the road, having seen the whole scene.

“Do you two know who those men were?” Tomas asked them.

“Never seen ’em in my life, my lord,” said the older man, but Elena saw the doubt in Tomas’s eyes and guessed the men were lying and no doubt shocked that the men who had put them up to the stunt were all dead.

“They was Frenchies by the sounds of them. Why’d they have business with you?”

“None of your business, but I can assure you had we not bested them, you two would be dead. They would leave no witnesses.”

“Lucky they are dead then,” said the other highwayman.

“Indeed,” Tomas said and then turned to Elena, who was still kneeling on the ground near the dead man. “He was so young,” she said.

Tomas picked her up and put her in the carriage. “You are in a bit of shock, I expect. Have something sweet from the basket.”

“And how do you know about shock?”

“I have been on many battlefields. I know shock when I see it.” He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “I am going to fetch the highwaymen’s horses. I will not be long.”

Elena found an apple in the basket and waited for Tomas to return. He came back with two more horses, and he and John Driver tied them to the carriage with the others. The two highwaymen were then put in the carriage with her, and they eyed her with malice. Once Tomas was back inside the carriage, they continued on their way.

It was slow going, and by the time they got to the next town, the people on the street stopped to look at a ducal carriage pulling five horses, three with men’s bodies slung over them, rattling through their streets.

*

Thomas jumped out, but not before John was there, aiming his blunderbuss at the two men. As he crossed the street, he noticed a bank and went in. After asking where he could contact the local constable, he returned to the carriage.

“This could take some time, and I do not want to leave you in the carriage with those two. A young clerk from the bank volunteered to fetch the constable. In the meantime, let me get you settled at the inn down the road. This has been one hell of a day, and I think we deserve a good night’s sleep.”

Elena nodded. “What will happen to the two highwaymen?”

“They will go to jail I suspect.”

“I was just thinking that had they not stopped us the Frenchmen may have followed us all the way to your estate. And if they had it would have been more than just us in danger. Obviously Dushard was highly regarded if they sent men to avenge him.”

“That is very true, so in a way, they did us a favor, though I would hate to give them any credit as I believe they were paid to stop us by the French. Had the Frenchmen followed us to Milford House, I hate to think what might have happened. We certainly would not have had the very handy John Driver ready with his blunderbuss.”

“We must tell the duke and ask that he be rewarded for his bravery.”

“I will also reward him once we are safe at Milford.”

“I am glad to hear it.”

Thomas opened the door for Elena and asked for a private room and some food and wine to be sent up. Once she was safely upstairs, he went back to the carriage, where a small crowd had surrounded the carriage.

“Right nosey this lot,” John said, none too happy about the number of people. “Where’s this constable coming from, India?”

“I am sure he will be here soon. You have to admit we are quite a sight. It is not every day a ducal carriage stops in a small town with three dead bodies and two highwaymen in tow.”

A few minutes later the constable arrived. He was the local landowner, Lord Jeremy Thomlinson. He greeted them with some annoyance until he saw the ducal coat of arms on the door.

“Your Grace, what an honor. I was told something about highwaymen?”

“I am Mister Markham. The duke has kindly lent us his carriage for our trip to Weymouth. There are two highwaymen tied up in the carriage but as to the other…men, I would prefer somewhere quiet in which to tell you about them.”

“I am intrigued. My man here will take the two in the carriage to our modest jail here. I will have the doctor fetched for the…other three.”

“No need for the doctor, my lord. They are quite dead,” Thomas informed him.