Brothers at Arms

depressing. He felt a stab of regret as he approached the church, and then forced his gaze beyond, looking towards the cottages beside the inn on the village green. He knew he should stop and speak with the innkeeper. It was what the villagers had a right to expect, but he did not feel disposed to tarry today.
    Tom saw a sudden flurry of movement to the right side of his vision as a piercing sound shattered his reverie. “Squire Norbery, please stop…”
    He hardly had time to react.
    Hearing the shout, Joshua braced himself for the impact as a figure dashed through the churchyard gate into the path of the Linmore chaise. He hunched his shoulders and covered his eyes, not wanting to see the person trampled under the horses’ hooves. If they were not dead, his father was bound to be furious with the person for causing him to snatch at the reins and hurt the horses’ mouths.
    By the time he opened his eyes, the chaise had stopped shaking and his father was down from his seat, calming the horses. Fear ebbed away, leaving him feeling foolish, but rather than admit it, he adopted a nonchalant attitude.
    “Oh no,” he said, “not more of them. I’m afraid you will have to get used to this now you are living with us, Charlie.”
    In truth, Joshua was proud of his father’s popularity. There was nothing new about people waving and wanting to speak to him – but they did not usually risk life and limb to get attention.
    “Who is that man?” Charlie asked.
    “I don’t know,” Joshua whispered, “but I expect Papa does. He knows everyone in the area.”
    Charlie was awestruck. “Does Uncle Tom ever call them by the wrong name? I’m sure I would…”
    “It’s worse now he is a Member of Parliament as well as being squire.”
    “Be quiet, boys,” an irascible voice said.
    Joshua lapsed into shocked silence as his father turned to the hapless cause of the incident, cowering at the roadside. It was the church verger.
    “What the devil do you mean by dashing into the road, Drakestone? You could have caused me to overturn the chaise. It was a damn fool thing to do.”
    The man was too mortified to speak, but the smartly dressed woman who swept through the lych-gate in his wake was not intimidated.
    “I beg your pardon for stopping you, sir,” she said, “but there is something we think you ought to see.”
    Squire Norbery immediately modified his tone. Joshua could not hear his father’s words, but whatever he said made the woman’s cheeks flush with pleasure, and she kept smiling. What a relief, he hated acrimony.
    As he glanced towards Charlie, his attention fixed on the woman’s hat. It was an amazing creation, the like of which he had never seen. It was formed in a dark blue material to match her pelisse, and trimmed with an array of flowers in various shades of pink, red, white, yellow and little trailing bits of blue, which looked so realistic he suspected they were hand-picked from her garden. He could almost smell the scent. Clearly, she was a person of some importance.
    With an effort, Joshua dragged his attention back to the conversation, just as his father said, “About what was it you wished to consult me, Mrs Grimble?”
    That was the name of one of their tenant farmers.
    “Well, sir,” said the woman. “I was just putting flowers on Grimble’s mother’s grave, and the verger called to me to come to the porch, because he had found a basket of rags.”
    Joshua giggled and bit his lip when Charlie nudged him.
    “Be silent, Joshua,” his father rebuked. “A basket of rags, Mrs Grimble, and is that all it contained?”
    “Oh no, sir,” she said. “There was a baby in it. Ever such a tiny tot and it don’t look more than a few days old.”
    “Is the child still in the church porch?”
    “Yes, sir, but it shouldn’t be left there. We were wondering if you could tell us where we should take it.”
    Joshua waited to hear his father’s decision.
    “Where is Reverend Snitterfield?” Squire