“That’s a brave lass,” he complimented her. Nevertheless he didn’t let her go. He turned abruptly and started back toward the carriage. Against her will, she went along with him.
“Did you find him?” Laura was waiting beside the door of the carriage as they came up to it again.
Nan shook her head. What was this all about? Why had old James Blake stopped the search for the missing coachman so suddenly? Exhausted from the day’s events, the landing at Glasgow, the trip to Emberon, the excitement over the Scotch games, and then this mystery, she felt impatient with the old gentleman. She was still afraid that the coachman lay out there in the dark somewhere, injured.
Her feeling of impatience continued as James hustled the girls into the carriage, closed the door after them, and then walked alone to the big gate and pulled three times on the big bell rope.
In the stillness of the night, the girls, huddled in the carriage, could hear very faintly the sound of the bell up at the big house. Then they heard, or thought they heard, the sound of a door, footsteps, and at long last, there was someone at the gate. Though they couldn’t see anyone, they knew that James Blake was in whispered consultation.
Finally, there was the grating noise of the gates swinging back on rusty hinges. James Blake sent a man from the house to drive the carriage the rest of the way. The girls were glad to hear the slapping sound of the reins as the new driver put them in place over the horses’ backs.
The carriage pulled out of a rut, lunged forward and then came to a stop again.
“Careful!” The voice was that of the old steward. The driver tried again. This time a horse stumbled.
“Whoa, there,” James Blake ordered, “we canna drive them. The poor beastie is hurt.”
So it happened that at sometime after midnight, six Lakeview Hall girls and Dr. Prescott got out of a carriage and walked along the lonely entrance road to Emberon Castle.