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have had too much to drink.’
    ‘I have not had too much to drink,’ said Lizzie in a wobbly voice. ‘I am not Mrs Seaton, I am Mrs Lizzie Bisley, widow, and we are not yet wed, Captain Seaton, and I will not share your bed until we are.’
    There was a stunned silence.
    ‘We’re as good as married,’ said the captain, breaking the silence. ‘We’re to be married in Exeter.’
    Good heavens, thought Hannah, her nose twitching with excitement. Lizzie is not Mrs Seaton, and Edward is not Edward. Whatever next?
    ‘O’ course you can share with me, my duck,’ said Mrs Bradley, her eyes flashing. ‘Fie, for shame, Cap’n. You pigs o’ men can’t wait to get your leg o’er a lass. Come along, come along. I’ll make you a posset and you’ll sleep like a log.’
    The captain stared ferociously into his glass while Mrs Bradley led Lizzie away. ‘That’s a fine woman, a fine woman, Seaton,’ said the little lawyer, Mr Fletcher, with unexpected ferocity, ‘and deserving of every courtesy and kindness.’
    ‘Want to make something of it?’ sneered the captain.
    ‘Yes,’ said Mr Fletcher, jumping to his feet, his wig askew. He bunched his thin fingers into fists and panted, ‘I’ll draw your cork.’
    ‘Sit down,’ ordered Lord Harley. ‘No one is going to fight anyone. Have we not all endured enough? Back to the sleeping arrangements, if you please.’ His eyes glinted oddly at Edward. ‘I suggest Mr Smith and I will get along tolerably well.’
    Edward turned milk-white. Hannah rose to her feet and leaned on the table and glared at Lord Harley. ‘That will not answer, my lord, and well you know it.’
    ‘Indeed, Miss Pym,’ said his lordship in a silky voice. ‘And may I ask why?’
    ‘I am not Edward Smith,’ said the girl in a voice that shook pathetically. ‘I am Miss Emily Freemantle.’
    ‘I thought so,’ said Lord Harley laconically. ‘You don’t make a very convincing man.’
    ‘Hey!’ said the landlord. ‘What’s a goin’ on?’
    ‘My family betrothed me to that monster against my wishes,’ said Emily. ‘I ran away. I am going to my old nurse at Exeter until they change their minds and call off this disgusting marriage.’
    ‘I do not want to marry a silly little chit like you,’ said Lord Harley icily.
    ‘Then why did you come after me?’ demanded Emily. She had made an odd figure, dining with her beaver hat on. She took it off and placed it on a chair beside her, revealing a crop of auburn curls.
    ‘Your parents, minx, guessed where you had gone and I volunteered to search the posting-inns for you,’ said Lord Harley. ‘Did you never stop for one moment to think of the distress you were causing them?’
    ‘Why?’ said Emily in a voice thick with tears. ‘They never thought of me. They know I am in love with MrPeregrine Williams, but did they listen? No! “You are to marry Lord Ranger Harley,” they said. You are old, sir, and have the reputation of the devil.’
    ‘Why did you both not recognize each other?’ asked Hannah.
    ‘Because we had never met,’ said Emily. ‘My family want his money and title. They are not interested in finding out if we might care for each other.’
    ‘Put your mind at rest, child,’ said Lord Harley in a bored voice, ‘and stop enacting Haymarket tragedies before the interested public of this inn. I was given to understand you wished the marriage. Now I have seen you, I do not wish to be married to you any more than you wish to be married to me. You will return to London with me and marry this Mr Williams if you wish.’
    There was a long silence again.
    The landlord cleared his throat. ‘What a coil,’ he said. ‘Is there anyone else here who isn’t a miss or a man or who ain’t married or who’s running away? Or can I get you all off to bed?’
    ‘You shall come with me,’ said Hannah firmly to Emily.
    Overwrought, Emily burst into tears. Hannah helped her to her feet and led her from the room. ‘Blue Room,’ shouted