Travelling Rifleman

OOC - I couldn't resist!

IC -

It was a long way from Buckler's Hard to Andover. Most travel from the coast was done on horseback or by coach, but Joe Newbury travelled on foot. He had lived on his feet for years during the war and saw no reason to move from one place to another in any other fashion. So he pushed his hat back a little on his head and walked on.

Everything he owned was carried on his back, little as it was. He had left most of his less valuable possessions behind at the family's cottage. The cramped little structure had finally gotten to be too much for him. Had he not enjoyed his work at the Hard, he would have left well before now. Enough was enough, though. Newbury kicked at a stone on the road and thought it funny how fortunes could change.

The winding road running inland shortly got to be the only thing he knew, until he came within sight of Andover. The city itself was not his destination, however. Somewhere out here on these estates was the great house he sought. Hopefully, anyway. He was operating under the assumption that Captain Vickery had settled close to here. If he was mistaken... it was a long walk back to the Hard, wasn't it?

He scratched at the thick stubble on his face and sighed. It would be half a miracle if he got anywhere near those great houses before being run off. Only one way to find out, though. Newbury made a half-hearted effort to beat the dust from his clothes before stirring his feet into motion again. By the look of it, there was a great house some ways off to his left. It couldn't be more than a few miles distant and he wouldn't get there by standing still.

There was a carriage perched rather precariously at the edge of the road, leaning somewhat into a ditch. A woman next to it was offering advice to the driver who was attempting to do something about it. She looked up at the man approaching.

"Ah, Newbury, it's you is it?" Jenny said, as if it had only been hours since she last saw him. "You're just in time, dear. Give us a push. Stand there and - no, driver, you'll do better if you push on the wheel!"

What? He blinked in surprise at being addressed, having not expected to cross paths with anyone who might know him. Especially not Jenny. Where had she...

"Right," Newbury said, moving quickly forward so he could put his shoulder against the carriage. Between himself and the driver, they ought to be able to shift the vehicle back onto the road.

"Yes yes, well done!" she cheered as the carriage returned to its rightful realm, though her tone was tinged with some impatience. "Well, come along then Joe darling, and ride with me. Are you going to Vickery's too? Drive on, man."

With the carriage back on the road where it belonged, Newbury was fully prepared to resume his interrupted walk. Jenny's invitation stopped him short. Ride?

"I was gonna start lookin' for his place, aye," he said, privately relieved at the offer of a ride despite the oddity of it. His feet were beginning to ache. He clambered up into the carriage without needing any further urging. "Where've... seems you been livin' well, Miss."

"What? Oh, haha!" She laughed merrily and hooked her arm in his. "I'd forgotten how you could always make me laugh, dear Joe. This isn't my carriage. How I wish it was. No, no... Oh look, that must be the house!" She leaned across him and looked through his window. "It's been ages since I was in such a fine house!"

No, of course it wasn't hers. Not outright, anyway. Newbury managed a smile and craned his neck to see out the window too. "Cap'n's done all right for himself too, seems."

"Hmm, do you think we could...? No, I suppose better not. Around the back, please, driver!" She gave Newbury a conspiratorial grin. "Servants' entrance. We don't want to give them too much of a warning. Won't they be glad to see you! As I am of course. Come on!"

"Aye," he said, his smile faltering imperceptibly. He kept his face turned toward the window and studied the view. "It's good seein' you again, too."

The driver delivered them, as requested, to the servants' entrance. This was something Newbury had never forgotten, though he hadn't been a servant for many years. He stepped down from the carriage first and turned to offer Jenny a hand down.

He was different. This was different. And strange. And not altogether agreeable to Jenny. But she showed no outward sign of discomfort, taking his hand and laughing as she jumped down. "You're a natural, Joe darling. I can't wait to see you in livery. Let's go in! Nobody's noticed us. Shall we surprise them?"

"If they ain't noticed us yet," Newbury said, a more natural smile now on his face at the thought of possibly being back in livery, "they'll do in a minute. I ain't seen this lot since we disbanded."

Jenny peered through a window while the driver struggled with her trunk. "Maybe they're all out? It looks awfully quiet in there. I think maybe we'd better show ourselves in."

As there was little harm in going into the servants' part of the house, Newbury nodded and reached for the door handle. "Be interestin' to see who we comes across first, sure."

"Hello?" she called as they walked through the passage. It was quiet, but the smell of the kitchens reached them and she hurried forward. "Roast beef! They can't have gone far if there's fresh roast beef. I'm famished! You?"

Beef. Newbury's stomach rumbled faintly. If this was indeed Captain Vickery's house, he could hardly begrudge them a meal after however long on the road.

"Could eat the whole joint myself," he said, following close in her wake.

Gabe Cotton had been taking a rest in the butler's pantry, enjoying a cup of (probably smuggled) tea. The sudden silence in the kitchen caught his attention and he put the cup down to go and see what the matter was. He was rather startled to see a couple of faces from the past. He hadn't expected to see either Joe Newbury or Jenny Ross again after Spain, but here they were, looking rather tired, and Newbury seemed desperately in need of a shave.

No wonder the kitchen staff had gone quiet.

He crossed the room, his hand out. "Joe Newbury, as I live. Good to see you again, mate. An' you, Miss." Was she still Miss Ross, or had Newbury made an honest woman of her yet?

"Cotton," Newbury grinned and reached out to accept the offered hand. "Been awhile, ain't it?"

"Gabriel Cotton," Jenny exclaimed with a smile. "How are you? Where's that lovely wife of yours?"

"Aye, it has that. You look as thought you could both do with a sit-down." And a shave, though he didn't mention that part. He moved over to the fireplace to put a kettle on, only to be nearly pushed aside by a scandalised maid, who clearly thought boiling kettles was no work for the master's valet.

He grinned and stepped aside. "Come on an' rest yourselves," he said, leading the way through into the servants' hall. The butler's pantry would be far too crowded with the three of them in it. "Maggie's around somewhere. Prob'ly chasin' after the kids, I shouldn't wonder."

Newbury chuckled at the white-faced maid's interruption. Kids? He could believe it, even though the notion of little Cottons running around defied crediting.

"Fine livin' here, by the look of it," he observed as he followed, careful not to touch anything.

"Aye, we rub along pretty well," Cotton said. "Won't deny another couple of pairs of hands wouldn't go amiss, though. Well. If that's why you come, that is." He shrugged. "It's a new household, pretty much, we'm still tryin' to figure out what's what."

"Well, I think I'll just go and find Maggie," Jenny said coolly, leaving the kitchen with a trace of awkwardness behind her. She had not even waited for her tea.

"I was hopin' there'd be room for a footman, maybe," Newbury admitted. His smile slipped half away when Jenny departed though. Perhaps he had not been so wise coming here. "Jenny been... she been 'round here long?"

"Room for a footman? Aye, there is." Cotton grinned. "Jenny? No, she jus' come with you. I thought mebbe you was... Well, that you was wed by now." Though that was probably pretty daft of him, to think that, really.

Newbury felt a shiver of relief at first. He had not come all this way for nothing. His relief vanished quickly.

"Wed?" He shook his head once. "Couldn't be so... no. I ain't seen her since Spain, 'til this afternoon."