A Bouquet of Thorns Read Online Free Page B

kitchen, and then you’m going to tell me all ’bout this convict fellow.’
    Alone for a few minutes, the door wide open, Rose felt hopeful for the first time in a week, and when Florrie bustled back in carrying a tea tray, Rose found herself suddenly ravenous and tucked into Cook’s home-made biscuits with gusto.
    â€˜Now then, cheel.’ Florrie frowned and got up to close the door. ‘Tell it to me from the beginning.’
    Rose took a deep breath and placed her cup and saucer back on the tray. She spoke slowly, her voice quiet and subdued, as she related every detail to Florrie, of how she had found the escapee injured and hiding in the stable. Of how there was something about him that had instantly won her trust, although she was cautious at first. She explained, as Seth had to her, how he had gone to the assistance of a stranger who had been stabbed in the street, but his actions had been misinterpreted and other circumstantial evidence had led to his being wrongly convicted and sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment. The victim was a drunk who had held a grudge against Seth from an incident in an inn a little while earlier, and had sworn that Seth had attacked him so that he could keep the money involved. There had been witnesses to the truth, but as a stranger in Tavistock, Seth had no one to trace them for him and, with his money confiscated as evidence, he couldn’t employ a lawyer. And so he had ended up serving his nine months’ solitary in Millwall and then had been sent to Dartmoor to serve his twelve years in the country’s prison for the worst criminals in the land.
    â€˜And you believed all this?’ Florrie’s mouth was pursed with scepticism.
    Rose looked her straight in the eyes. ‘Yes,’ she answered firmly. ‘And not just because he acted like a gentleman throughout and he were so kind and thoughtful.’
    â€˜A gentleman, eh?’
    â€˜Oh, yes, quite definitely. Of a like class to Charles, I’d say. He came from a well-to-do family in Surrey, but he were bundled off into the army at eighteen because he wanted to marry a girl who they considered far beneath them. They were out to elevate their social standing even further, and weren’t going to have their younger son ruin everything for them!’ Rose paused, lowering her eyes. ‘A bit like me and Charles, really, though Charles has only got himself to answer to. You know, Florrie, he were absolutely furious when I went to Molly and Joe’s wedding, and he does everything he can to stop me seeing all my old friends.’
    â€˜Do he, by heck?’ Florrie lifted her double chin with insulted affront. ‘But you was telling me ’bout this – what did you say his name were – Seth?’
    Rose nodded vigorously. ‘That’s right. Well, his father bought him a commission because his son
had
to be an officer, but Seth hated all that sort of thing. But he managed to get transferred to the cavalry so that he could at least work with horses, which are his great love in life. And then his regiment went out to India and he were promoted to captain, and I’m sure ’twas all true because he told me so much about it. Details he wouldn’t have known unless he’d actually been there. But in the end he resigned his commission without telling his family, came back to England and were just working his way about the countryside when all this happened. And there were so many other things about him. Do you remember me telling you, Florrie?’ She shifted forward on the bed. ‘Just before that first accident at the mills, Molly and I were out walking and we saw Mr Cartwright about to be attacked by a convict and another chap stopped it? Well, that was Seth! I recognized him at once. He was really taking a chance, and I heard from Molly that later he
were
beaten up by some other prisoners because of it. But he scarcely mentioned it, when he