Miss Charlotte, with two of her friends

Three riders cantered briskly up the overgrown path leading to the old ruins. Randy could see Charlotte leading the way and his heart leapt in his throat as he looked down at her upright carriage and graceful seat. Miss Charlotte wore a flowing dress that flowed off her shoulders and over her legs in waves of green. She looked like a dryad, a bewitching wood sprite that could easily lure good men deeper and deeper into the woods until he was forever lost.

With a smile Randolph chuckled to himself: "Luckily I'm not a good man."

He turned his attention to Miss Charlotte's two companions. The young man in the scarlet hunting jacket with the sword at his belt he recognized from the other day, the blonde woman in yellow might also have been part of the hunt but he couldn't be sure. He felt a moment of irritation. Why had Miss Charlotte brought those two with her?

Randy watched the three companions wander through the remnants of the papist chapel exploring the ruins much like he had when he had first heard of them as a lad. Several times the gentleman helped the blonde woman climb over the tumbled stonework, but Charlotte laughed at him when he offered her his hand and scrambled past him with ease until she was standing above them on the highest of the remaining walls. Miss Charlotte climbed down from the heights even more gracefully than her assent and led the others back to the baskets that they had carried from their horses.

From his high vantage point overlooking the broken walls he could see them spread out several blankets to sit on and set out a mouthwatering feast. Not since his first day ashore in Portsmouth had he seen this much food all in one place. On the blankets were laid out loaves of bread, several wedges of cheese, a whole salmon and a roast chicken along with many other smaller containers at whose contents he could only guess. Along with the platters and baskets of food three bottles of wine were set onto a fallen block of stone next to three goblets of cut crystal.

His family could have eaten for a week on the food laid out on the blankets and for the money spent on the wine, platters and crystal goblets his family could have survived the entire winter. A cold anger replaced his initial pleasure at seeing Miss Marlton as he watched her and her rich friends sharing the food and wine. From his height he couldn't hear much of the conversation but occasionally a burst of laughter from the gentleman or a much high trill from the lady in gold would reach his ears which only added to his bad mood.

No doubt Miss Marlton was sharing with her friends the story of how she was surprised on her walk home yesterday by Randy and how she sent him on his way with a kiss. The three companions were far more intimate than Randy would have guessed when they first rode up. He watched the petite blonde place slices of fruit directly into first Charlotte's and then the man's mouths and twice while they ate he watched the suave gentleman touch Miss Charlotte possessively on the arm as he sat by her side.

After all three each sampled a cake covered with fruit and cream Miss Charlotte moved to the front of the chapel where a Roman alter once stood. To Randy's surprise she knelt quietly on the mossy flagstones and lowered her head in prayer. She looked almost saintly in her modest dress and reverent pose and Randy had to remind himself of the callous disregard for the people that lived on her lands under her care.

As time passed Randy became aware that Miss Charlotte's two companions were becoming restless watching her kneel in silence. Finally he saw the petite blonde pull the gentleman to his feet and lead him out of the four walls and into the overgrown gardens that surrounded the old chapel.

This was his chance to speak with Lady Marlton, but did he have anything to say to her?