The Swan Maid

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Gideon relaxed visibly as they rode off. ‘Miss Lane, are you ready?’

Lottie was accustomed to the large coach horses, but the grey mare was comparatively small and dainty. She stroked the velvety nose and smiled into the animal’s lustrous brown eyes. ‘I hope you’ll be patient with a beginner.’

‘She will be,’ Gideon said. ‘She’s a game little mare, but she knows when to be gentle. Is it true you’ve never ridden a horse?’

‘Quite true.’ Lottie climbed onto the mounting block. ‘How hard can it be?’

After an hour of learning the rise and fall of a trot, Gideon slowed the pace so that his large black horse walked sedately alongside Lottie’s smaller mount, and they found a shady avenue of trees.

‘Why does her ladyship want you to have riding lessons, Lottie?’

The question came suddenly after a period of silence when Lottie was concentrating on keeping her seat. She glanced at Gideon, puzzled. ‘Why do you want to know?’

‘I never saw Merriweather riding a horse. It seems odd, unless she intends you to accompany her to the Crimea.’

‘I only learned that this morning.’

‘They can’t force you to accompany them abroad. You could leave and find another position, you know.’

‘Why would I do that?’ Lottie shot him a curious glance. ‘I’ve always wanted to travel and see more of the world. It might be my only chance.’

‘War isn’t pretty. You’d see things you wished you hadn’t seen, and you might put yourself in harm’s way.’

‘You’ll be going to the Crimea soon.’

‘But I’m a soldier, Lottie. I’m paid to fight for my country. It’s what I do.’

She drew her horse to a halt beneath the shade of a tall oak tree. ‘I asked Miss Nightingale if I could go with her, Gideon. It was you who gave me the idea that I might do something more useful than wash dishes and make beds.’

He reined in beside her. ‘Me? I don’t understand. What have I got to do with all this?’

‘When I was caring for you with your head wound it seemed the most natural thing in the world. Maybe I was destined to be a nurse.’

‘Well, I don’t know whether to be glad or sorry that I’ve brought you to this.’

‘Why would you be sorry? It’s my decision.’

A slow smile spread across his even features. ‘You’re right. I should be glad because now I’ve got the chance to get to know you better. Perhaps it was fate that brought us together.’

‘It was a bump on the head,’ she said, laughing. ‘Come on, I’ll race you to the stables.’

Lottie was stiff and sore after her first lesson, but Lady Aurelia insisted that she rode every day. After breakfast each morning, they walked the short distance to the stables, where their horses were saddled and waiting. Aurelia and Gillingham always led the way on these rides, breaking into a gallop when they were on open land, while Lottie and Gideon followed on at a slower speed. Sometimes they would be completely outpaced and find that they had been left far behind, only catching up with Aurelia and Gillingham when they returned to the barracks. Lottie looked forward to her riding lesson with Gideon, who was a good instructor and an entertaining companion. She was determined to become proficient in the saddle, although she doubted if she would ever be as good a horsewoman as her mistress, who had learned to ride when she was a small child.

The lessons were followed by frequent visits from Aurelia’s dressmaker and her brother, who was a tailor. They had been commissioned to make a habit for Lottie suitable to the winter climate in the Crimea, and a couple of heavyweight woollen skirts, as well as a worsted jacket cut in military style to echo, but not to compete with, the dashing outfits that Aurelia had chosen for herself.

Lady Aurelia was not a demanding mistress, but she was impetuous and unpredictable. Sometimes she would choose to lie in bed all day, refusing to eat or to offer any explanation of her lassitude to her anxious husband. The servants would tiptoe around on these occasions, fearful of making a noise and disturbing her ladyship, and Lottie would find herself banished from the room and forbidden to return until summoned, which invariably occurred in the early evening. Sometimes Aurelia merely wanted a tray of food sent to her room; at other times she decided to dress for dinner.