CHAPTER THREETorilla stepped out of the stagecoach when it reached Hatfield and saw that one of her uncle’s carriages was waiting for her.
She also recognised the groom in his blue livery with silver crested buttons, who smiled as he raised his tall cockaded hat,
“Good afternoon, Miss Torilla. Nice to see you again.”
“And it is nice to see you, too, Ned,” Torilla answered. “I am so relieved that you are here to meet me.”
“Her Ladyship thought miss, you might not be arriving until tomorrow,” Ned replied, “knowing how unpunctual the coaches are.”
He gave a disdainful glance at the unwieldy vehicle, as he picked up Torilla’s valise and carried it to where a closed landau drawn by two well-bred horses was waiting in the yard.
The coachman whom Torilla also knew greeted her and she steppe
