Stranger-Danger
The Wednesday morning sun shone bright, and Ese’s cup of anticipation was filled to overflowing. She had thought of Samuel for each day of her wait and had wished she had set their meeting for an earlier date. Although she was impatient about meeting the man, none in her household, save her sister, could detect anything unusual about her.
“I am getting more convinced by the minute that you are up to no good, Ese, and if you do not take me into your confidence this minute, I shall tell papa that you are up to mischief.” Her younger sister of 18 years said, after Ese inquired of the hour for what must have been the fifth time that morning.
“You would not dare, Afa!” Ese exclaimed, giving her a warning glare.
“Would I not? What have I to lose? You can be sure that papa shall seek to interrogate you at once. He shall be more than eager to avert whatever the Duchess of mischief has planned.”
“You cunning little child!” the older sister muttered begrudgingly.
“You must acknowledge that I am no longer a child, and I can be trusted with your adventures.”
“One would think you are merely seeking my favour and not coercing me to take you into my confidence.”
“Now dearest sister, coercion is a strong word. I have only intelligently foreseen your actions and hope to become a voice of reasoning.”
“Well then, since you have so cleverly chosen to be in my confidence, I might very well make good use of you. Instead of telling you what my secret is, I shall show you. At noon, I shall take you with me to see what it is I am up to.”
This response appeared sufficient to capitulate her sister, who asked no further questions. Some minutes before noon, the duo left the large house. Ese made sure to charge her maid with the orders to tell anyone who asked, that they had gone for a ride in the fields.
Carrigan, the stables man of their family, had prepared her horse. He was a man who had seen more than sixty summers. He had escaped to Roshi from his slave master’s Stables more ten years before and had been taken into Sir Davies employ on his second day in the country. He had bonded with Eses over her interest in horses, and had taught her to ride, whilst she taught him to read and write and speak properly.
“Now miss, whilst I am happy to be a part of one of your tricks, do not do anything dangerous, for your Papa shall have my head. I shall gladly give it if I have to avoid anger of your Mama.”
“Cease your worrying, old Carrigan, I have my sister with me, I shall never contrive to do anything fun.” Ese responded snickering.
“Do not make me sound like such a bore. I shall simply become a representaton of your conscience, you so dearly ignore, and keep you out of trouble.” her sister stated with a snide smile.
“Well miss, I have left the door of the fence ajar, so your guest may gain entry…” Old Carrigan had barely finished uttering the words when a gallant looking male on a chestnut horse rode towards them and dismounted.
“I see you did find me sir, and right on time too.” Ese said to him with a smile she could not withhold.
“Did you doubt me?” He questioned with a smile, as his eyes moved from her to her sister. His appreciative look turned to a questioning one.
“Ah, Samuel, this is Miss Afa Davies.” She introduced, gesturing at her flustered sister, “Afa, this is Samuel. We met at the Ecclesia estate when Mama made me go for that ridiculous social gathering.”
Afa simply nodded and gave a small curtsy in response to his bowing. She appeared stunned and unable to say anything for a while. However, as soon as Samuel turned to tend to his horse, she drew closer to Ese and whispered in her ear.
“You both are an awful lot informal, for people who have only just met. If I recall correctly, it has barely been a week since that event. Except for church on Sunday, you have not stepped your feet out of the house till now. And do not dare claim you met him again at Church, for I was by your side the whole time and would have noticed such a magnificent individual if he attended.”
“Yes, wise little one, I have only met him once at the Ecclesia estate. I was up to mischief, but my plan failed, and I ended up lost in the garden maze, where I met Samuel. He works at the stables of the estate, and did pretend to be lost at first. Well, after hours of conversing, I can say we are well acquainted.” Afa stared at her, like she had just told the most incredible story. She looked as though she was about to voice an unkind opinion when Samuel returned to them.
“Well, what do you have planned for our race, Ese?”
“We shall race to the river beyond the fields and back here. My sister shall be the judge and decide who wins.” Ese turned to her sister with a look, as though daring her to defy her, but the younger lady only nodded timidly.
Ese smiled mischievously at her sister’s complaisance. Although Afa was out in the society, she did all to avoid speaking to eligible bachelors. It was the reason the younger maiden refrained from attendingsocial gatherings. The usually confident Afa became a flustered mess anytime she was around men.
“I just would not know what to say to them. They always seem to be interested in the most absurd things and usually seek opportunities to show off their prowess and authority.” She had explained admittedly when Ese asked her about it. Since their Mama’s present preoccupation was seeing Ese well established in a beneficial marriage, Afa had little worry about being forced to go to gatherings where she would have to see and converse with any male.
This was the reason Ese did not tell her of Samuel when she asked to be brought along. She wished to use the element of surprise to bend her unsuspecting sister to her will.
“Come, Samuel, I shall show you all that old Carrigan has taught me.”
“And who is this old Carrigan?” the man asked curiously.
“Oh, Pardon me.” Ese said, and gestured to the stables man, who had somehow, gone to stand at a distance, to come closer. The man strode hesitantly towards them with his head bowed. “This is Mr Carrigan, our stables man and my trainer. Old Carrigan, this is Samuel, from the Ecclesia stables.” Samuel stretched his hands, and the older man slowly and hesitantly took it.
“Why do you call him old Carrigan?” Samuel whispered to Ese, as soon as the older man turned his back to them.
“Because he is old, and Carrigan is his name.” She responded humorously but spoke again when Samuel raised a brow. “You are no fun. We simply chose to call him that to remind him of his age so as to stop him from overworking himself.” Samuel nodded, appearing satisfied with that response.
At first old Carrigan seemed wary and distrustful of the younger man, causing Ese to wonder if his years as a slave still haunted him. However, as soon as Samuel requested to see the Davies horses and spoke on how well and strong, they seemed, the older man became at ease, and even commended Samuel’s knowledge of horses. The two got so carried away in their discussions about the animal, that it seemed like the ladies were forgotten. Ese had to call their attention an remind them of the horse race.
Do not fear old Carrigan, I shall not put you to shame.” Ese said, as the old stables man helped her mount her white horse next to Samuel’s. She could tell by Samuel’s smirk that he was underestimating her abilities, but decided she’d use it to her advantage.
In the few moments following, Afa shouted the orders for the race to begin and after several minutes, it was completed with Ese as the winner. Samuel did not hide his surprise at her ability and even asked for another chance to show that her victory was just a fluke. Ese happily proved to him beyond all doubt that she was simply better than he was at the sport.
For many weeks following, it became a regular thing for the trio to meet on Wednesdays at the Davies stables. They engaged in horse riding or racing competitions, picnics, and even hide and seek games. Since Sir Davies and his wife usually had several engagements on that day of the week, their children continued meeting with the Ecclesia stable’s man and became quite attached to him. Even old Carrigan seemed to look forward to his presence for he had a vast knowledge on horses and could speak about horses that the older man had never heard of.
Samuel always looked ever so happy to be at the Davies fields and continued visiting every wednesday from the warm spring into the hot summer.
One Sunny Wednesday afternoon, after waiting several minutes, the ladies had decided that Samuel was not visiting that day and were about to return to the house when the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance. To their surprise, their friend was not alone as usual. Instead, two horses approached them. Samuel was accompanied by a younger man that looked to be in his early twenties. The men dismounted from their horses and approached the women.
“Forgive me my ladies for arriving so late. I was delayed by this man.” Samuel explained, but Ese raised a questioning brow, and Afa stared warily at the stranger. “Ah, please forgive my impudence. This is my cousin who has come visiting me from the countryside. Just like your Afa, he has coerced me into bringing him along.”
Ese looked at the stranger with a smirk. He was a tall, handsome man with brown curly hair and blue eyes. He was only a little shorter than Samuel, and possessed a similar bulky build that bore semblance to the athletes of ancient Rome she had seen in paintings. “Say no more, Samuel. I sympathise with you.” She said, but took a step closer to whisper to him. “Can he be trusted?” She asked.
“Yes, I believe he is the only person in my confidence.” Samuel whispered back, then cleared his throat to speak louder. “Ladies, this is Gideon. Gideon, Miss Ese Davies and Miss Afa Davies.”
“It is my pleasure ladies; I have heard so much about you.” Gideon said with a bow and a smile.
“Ah, what a shame, we have heard nothing of you.” It was Afa that responded to the amazement of her sister. Ese was not only surprised at her apparent rudeness, but the fact that she did not appear to be at all affected or flustered by the presence of another male.
“I trust you have heard of my undefeated record of winning horse races.” Ese said quckly, in a bid to cover up for her sister’s rude comment. She thrust out her hand to him in a polite manner. Thankfully, the man ignored Afa’s comment and shook her hand.
“I have indeed! I came in the hopes of meeting the renowned horse racing champion.” He said smiling in such a good-natured way that made him all the more handsome. He turned to Afa and offered his hand. Ese had her heart in her mouth as her sister stared at the man’s fingers for what seemed to her like an hour. She sighed in relief when the younger lady took his hand briefly. “Well, you must be the judge.” Gideon said simply and turned to speak to Samuel about joining the horse race for the day.
“What in the good Lord’s name is wrong with you, Afa? Our Papa did not raise us to be rude to any one regardless of who they are!” Ese whispered in a harsh tone to her sister. She assumed her sister was rude to him because he was from the country, but even that was out of character for Afa. She was one who considered everyone including the servants as equals.
The younger woman in question simply shrugged as she stared at the newcomer with a frown. “I do not trust him. There is an air of pride about him that irks me.”
Ese shifted her gaze from her sister to the man, who was laughing with his cousin. She did not share her sister’s opinion, but whenever Afa formed an opinion of any individual, nothing would prevail on her to change it. She knew for certain that the girl already disliked the newcomer but decided against attempting to convince her otherwise.
The only problem was that, the younger maiden was usually a good judge of character and her opinions always proved right. She breathed heavily and hoped that for the first time in her eighteen years Afa was wrong in her judgement.
THE WRITTEN FAITH 