“Oh, Richard, Richard!” she cried. “How can this have happened? How did they get you here?”
“I was only halfway down the drive when a man came out from behind one of the trees,” Richard answered. “I did not recognise him at first, then I remembered he was Lockett’s brother, you know, the blacksmith in Havant.”
“Yes, of course.”
“He told me Farlow wanted me, but I said I could not stop, I had to go to the Vicarage. When I said that, he picked me up and started to carry me over his shoulder.
“I shouted and screamed and kicked at him, and then two other men appeared. They gagged me and brought me here hanging over the saddle of a horse.”
Richard paused for a moment, then he said disgustedly,
“It was not only uncomfortable, Wivina, it was beastly humiliating.”
“I am sorry, dearest,” Wiv
