Flower Of Hope – Episode 21
Flower Of Hope
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TWO days on, Jane found her mistress in the garden, painting, her face hidden beneath a large straw hat.
“Signor Bartolini says he has mules, Miss Waters,” she whispered. “And a donkey, if you need one.”
“Will he come with us?”
“Yes. Should I ask the signora, too?” Jane said.
“No,” Caroline said. “The household needs her here, for my sister’s sake.”
Jane took a deep breath.
“I spoke to the doctor when he attended Mrs Field. He knows the place we seek, and will guide us.”
“I don’t like asking him to keep secrets.” Caroline frowned. “Signora Smith has taken great pains to obtain written permission from the authorities for me, but my poor sister’s health means she cannot yet be told – or allowed to travel.”
“Doctor Bradlin understands, I think. Perhaps we’ll be back before Mrs Field has time to notice we’ve left.”
Jane studied her mistress’s painting.
“You have that yellow bloom perfectly, Miss Waters,” she marvelled.
“Thank you. Tomorrow, then. Can you ride, Jane?”
“No, Miss Waters. But I can drive the old cart!”
Jane left her mistress, her heart thumping. She bolted through the kitchen to the outer yard and found her dear Fabio chopping wood.
“Tomorrow,” she whispered. “At dawn.”
“I am there,” Fabio promised.
He checked they were alone.
“We shall bring the young man home to his dear mamma very soon, little one. Never fear!” he whispered, one strong arm holding her close.
Next morning Caroline stood beside the cart. She wore the stout boots she never changed for anything more fashionable, even in London.
“You will manage?” she asked Jane as Fabio appeared leading another strong-looking mule.
“Signor Bartolini showed me how to drive the cart. Don’t worry.” Jane climbed on, pushing an old blanket ahead of her.
Caroline checked the letter of authority she carried in her pocket. She tightened her girths, then swung herself aboard her long-eared mule and urged it forward.
They’d arranged to meet Dr Bradlin outside the city, where the road became a track into the hills. Caroline greeted him with a grateful smile, relieved that they had his company.
The track grew steep. In such unsettled times there were few travellers.
“It’s no distance as the crow flies,” Joseph Bradlin said, coming alongside Caroline. “But we must take account of the hilly track.”
“How long?”
“Another hour, perhaps. I shall be glad on Mrs Field’s behalf. I dislike to see anyone so ill with fretting.”
“You are kind to help.”
Caroline gave him a smile.
She mentally rehearsed every likely scene, from first encounters with monks and workers to the final rescue of a grateful nephew.
She renewed her grip on the reins. She was sure she’d thought of everything.
“Miss Waters!”
Caroline looked over her shoulder to see the doctor waving at a small building, half hidden above the track.
A chapel clung to the hillside, reached by a narrow passage overhung with leaves. Behind it lay the tumbling rooftops of the monastery.
The flat, baked land that stretched away in the distance was edged with lines of trees as slim as pencils. Caroline saw far-off figures working.
The first man they met was toiling at the field’s edge and could only point. The second spoke volubly to Fabio.
Caroline and the doctor left their mounts with Jane and Fabio and strode forward.
