The Night of the English Invasion
Chapter 12
Bon Voyage
"Francis!" Mrs Drummond Fortescue said.
"So you're her eldest son," Jim said, shaking hands with the stranger. "I thought you were too busy with your estates."
"Is that what my mother told you, Mr...?"
"West, James West. I'm an agent with the Secret Service." He indicated Artie. "This is my partner, Artemus Gordon."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Mr West, Mr Gordon." Artie bowed his head in acknowledgement. "I am Francis Drummond Fortescue, as you have already guessed. It looks like things are far more serious than I feared. I hope you're not going to arrest my mother."
"That depends," Jim said, "on whether she tells us where she is holding your sister-in-law."
"Mother, what have you been up to?"
"Someone had to do something," Mrs Drummond Fortescue said.
"So you ran off, half across the world without even telling me."
"I didn't want to bother you."
"My brother is dead and his widow and son left all on their own. Of course I want to be bothered. Confess, Mother, you came here without me because you knew I would never approve of the tactics you have employed."
"How can you say such things?" Mrs Drummond Fortescue said.
Francis became aware that his mother was holding a baby. "Is that little Arthur?" he asked, a smile coming to his face. "May I hold him?"
The others looked on as Francis took his tiny nephew in his arms and tickled him under the chin. "He's beautiful," he said, "and so much like his father." A tear came to his eye as he handed the baby back. "Now, mother, where have you hidden Lark?"
"I really don't know what all the fuss is about; she's perfectly safe and quite comfortable," Mrs Fortescue-Drummond said.
"I'm not accusing you of harming her, mother but you must see that if you want to avoid being arrested by these gentlemen here you have to give her up."
"Oh all right, the wretched girl is at Hord's Hotel in Huntsville.
"Thank you," Jim said. "Now, as the Sheriff isn't coming, I suggest that Mr Fortescue-Drummond and I travel to Huntsville to fetch Lark. Mrs Fortescue-Drummond, you will come with us and Sweetie, if you don't mind, can you come and look after the baby on the journey?"
"Why of course, Jim," Sweetie said.
"What about the rest of us?" Mears asked.
"You can go back to the old house and pack up, then bring the luggage to the hotel in Huntsville and book rooms for yourself, your employer and her son. "You," he said, turning to the Hickman brothers. You stay in town and I'll contact you when I return."
"What about me?" Artie asked.
"Lance?" Jim said, prompting his medical advice.
Lance turned to Artie. "You'd better stay here with me for the time being. You still need further rest, especially after your adventures today and there is your twisted ankle to take into consideration. You should stay off that for a few days."
"Jim?" Artie asked.
"I have to agree with the doctor, Artie. I'll come back here when everything has been sorted out and we can return to the Wanderer together."
"Sure," Artie said. The delay in returning to active service suited him very well, though without Sweetie he and Lance would have to fend for themselves. "Maybe I'll get the chance to do some cooking. That's the way I like to relax."
"As long as you don't put pressure on that ankle," Lance warned.
"Well, we'd better set off," Jim said. "I guess your carriage is around here somewhere, Mears?"
"I hid it among the trees behind the property," Mears admitted.
"I shall accompany you and Mrs Kirby, Mother," Francis said.
"All right then," Jim said. "Mears, you can take the buckboard to fetch the luggage. Sweetie, pack up everything you and the baby will need and we'll get going. See you, Artie."
oooooooooo0ooooooooooo
Ten days later –Aboard the Wanderer
"Well, that was a great success," Jim said, taking a sip from the delicious cup of coffee Artie had made for them both.
"It's certainly great to be back on the Wanderer," Artie added. He was lounging on the couch, watching his partner through lazy eyes. "They should all be safely on their way to England by now. By the way, what did you do with the Hickman brothers?"
"I gave them a warning and suggested they stick to honest work from now on. The money Mrs Fortescue-Drummond paid them should help set them up. How are you feeling now?"
"I owe a lot to Lance and that tonic he gave me. The extra week or so we spent with the Kirbys gave me the rest of the time I needed to recover and for you and I to talk at last. I'm sorry I kept things from you for so long but I guess I wasn't thinking straight."
"I'm just sorry that I had to leave you in Beaumont for several days while I sorted things out in Huntsville. I could tell, from the moment that you fell down those cellar steps that something was up with you. You gave away the fact that you were glad that your ankle meant you were out of the action. You were just too quiet and didn't insist on carrying on the way you usually do. Later on you were obviously scared when Jake accidentally fired at you."
"I thought I'd hidden that quite well," Artie said.
"Artie, you screamed like a girl."
"I did not! Did I?"
"Well maybe that's exaggerating a bit," Jim admitted.
"Still everything's back to normal now, thank goodness."
"Yes, but don't go overdoing it in future and don't keep things from me. I'm your friend as well as your partner."
"Okay, hey that sounds like a carriage pulling up outside. Who do you suppose it is?"
"Easy enough to find out," Jim said, getting up to open the door. He got there just as someone knocked on it.
Standing there was Francis Fortescue-Drummond and a pretty, young woman holding a baby in her arms. She had raven-coloured hair and eyes of emerald green.
"I hope you don't mind us dropping by like this," Francis said.
"Of course not; hello, Lark. It's nice to see you both again, come on in."
"Hi," Artie said, standing up and addressing the woman. "I'm Artemus Gordon. We didn't get to meet before. We thought you were on your way back to England by now."
"Hello, Mr Gordon," Lark said.
"Won't you sit down?" Jim said
"Thank you."
"There's coffee in the pot if you'd like some."
"No thank you, "Francis said. "I'm more of a tea drinker anyway. We don't intend to stop long. We're on our way to New York to board a ship back to England."
"We just wanted to say goodbye and to thank you once again for all you did for me," Lark said. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost little Arthur."
"What are your plans now?" Artie asked.
"Francis has suggested that Arthur and I come to live on his estate and then, once Arthur is a little older, he will take me to stay with his mother in London." Her nose wrinkled at that. "Evidently it's necessary for Arthur's sake that I be introduced into Society. I have decided to take him up on his offer," she said, smiling across at him.
"You will take London by storm," Francis said.
Jim and Artie exchanged looks.
"That sounds like a good idea," Artie said, "but what about the property in Texas?"
Francis smiled. "That was easy to arrange," he said. "Lark agreed to appoint an experienced cattle ranch foreman to look after the herd and the breeding programme. The Hickman brothers decided that Texas is not the place for farming and they agreed to sign on as ranch hands."
"When he's older Arthur can make the decision whether he wants to carry on his father's work or he may decide to sell the ranch," Lark pointed out. "He is half American so I want to make sure he has a stake in the country of his birth, but only if he wants to."
Francis smiled at Lark. "I can easily understand why my brother married you," he said.
Lark blushed and held Arthur even closer to her heart; he was all she had left of her husband.
Francis put an arm around her shoulder. "Well," he said, "I'm afraid we must be going, gentlemen. My mother is waiting in the carriage."
"Why didn't you bring her in with you?" Artie asked.
Francis grinned. "I think she was too embarrassed after the way she behaved."
Jim laughed. "I can quite believe it," he said. "Please give her our kind regards and tell her that all is forgiven," he added, "as long as she doesn't show her face on this side of the Atlantic again."
"I'm sure she'll be grateful and I doubt she would ever want to come to America again – no insult on your country intended."
"None taken," Artie said.
They stood up. "Thank you once again for everything," Lark said. "I'm glad I left my baby on your train."
Jim and Artie looked at each other. No, neither of them could agree about that. It had been one hell of a time looking after the little fella.
"Don't mention it," Jim finally said with a smile. "It was actually Jasper who found him and kept him safe."
"Jasper?" Lark queried.
"He was our dog," Artie explained. "But we decided that it wasn't fair to kep him on the train so we left him with the Kirbys."
"I see. I'm sorry I never met him."
"Well, it's been a pleasure to meet you," Artie said, showing their visitors to the door. "Bon voyage!" he added as they walked away, waving. He shut the door and turned to his partner. "That's one brave woman, travelling all the way to England with that mother-in-law and that baby."
"Talking of which..." Jim began.
"Did you see the way Francis looked at her?" Artie interrupted him. "I hope for his sake that she feels the same, once she's gotten over her husband's death."
"...Sweetie is going to have a baby, she told me on the way back from Huntsville."
Artie's head turned so fast he almost made himself dizzy. "What!"
"I'd better pour you some brandy," Jim said with a smile.
"Sweetie having a baby," Artie said with a worried look.
"Don't worry, she's already had two."
"What!"
"Yeah, Little Artie and Jim Junior."
"Jim, I think you'd better sit down and explain yourself."
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The End