[Previously: On their way visit to the Earl of Kentham at his country estate, Lavinia Le Mersurer and her father were nearly robbed by bandits. Saved at the last minute by a mysterious gentleman/highwayman they continued the rest of their journey unmolested. The first day of their visit has now been completed. Lavinia is becoming better acquainted with the Earl and his household, but is hoping to discover who her rescuer might be, and her father has been given permission to continue his research in the Earl's extensive Library.]

* * * * *

Lavinia's first evening at Kentham was a quiet one. There was only her father, herself and the Earl at the board; Cedric had spent the day at what Lucius had referred to as "the farthest of the nearby farms," and would not be back to Kentham until late. The rain had come and gone while she was dressing for dinner, so it seemed likely that Cedric would have at least a partial moon to light his way home. She hoped he would not encounter any highwaymen.

Most of her thoughts, though, were for the Avenger and what she'd been able to discover about him. He'd first appeared about a year and a half earlier--a darkly clad figure who had descended upon a pair of bullies attempting to rob one of Kentham's oldest citizens. The magistrate, summoned to the scene, had been amazed to find the two ruffians neatly tied up and dangling from a tree branch a few feet above the road.

An auspicious and colourful beginning, Lavinia mused. Her highwayman had a sense of humour and adventure, it seemed. Since then, Jeanne had told her, there had been other rescues every few days, at various locations throughout the surrounding countryside. Who the Avenger was, and from whence he had sprung, no one could say.

Lavinia smiled to herself as she listened with only half an ear to her father's discourse to the Earl about the lost city of Troy. Perhaps no one had yet discovered the Avenger's secret because no one else knew that he was in truth gently born. Because he'd adopted the gruff accents and habits of the true highwayman, everyone else had assumed he was of low birth--possibly a local man who had decided to play knight errant. Armed with her additional bit of intelligence she hoped to find him again. Not for the world would she endanger him ... oh no! But she wanted to see him again, to talk with him and learn more about him. She could hardly wait for the new day to come, and bring with it the first wave of morning callers.


* *

Just as the Earl had prophesied, many of the local gentry paid calls of ceremony to welcome Professeur Le Mersurer and his lovely daughter to their neighbourhood. Most were kind, but one or two came more out of curiosity than anything else. Lavinia found this both amusing and annoying, but it was comforting, too, in a way, to learn that these English were, after all, much like people she'd known in France. Eager at first to meet everyone because she was hoping her highwayman would be among them, after two days of unremitting civilities and no sign of him, or word from him, she began to be discouraged, and even a little hurt.

It was during one such morning call, however, on the third morning since their arrival at Kentham, wherein Squire Wiltkens and his wife, as well as the Reverend Stephen Dodd were in attendance, that Lavinia received the latest news about the Masked Avenger.

It was the Squire who broached the subject, mentioning that the "Masked Avenger, or whatever he's called ..." had been at it again. Lucius was quick to condemn such lawless behaviour, and the Reverend looked grave, but Mrs. Wiltkens said that since the local constabulary seemed incapable of "... stopping these pesky bandits who have been preying upon decent folk ..." she saw no harm in someone else giving it a try--a sentiment with which Lavinia had to agree.

Lavinia tried to get as many details as she could, but the Squire didn't know much beyond what he'd heard: that a traveller's coach had been waylaid the previous night, a few miles south of Kentham, by a couple of louts who had, in turn, been stopped by "that Avenger fellow."

Lavinia was relieved: if her highwayman had been busy about the countryside, then that might explain why she had not encountered him among the morning callers.

Squire Wiltkens, with an indulgent smile for both of the ladies, said he'd also been told that the two robbers had been "... trussed up, as neat as a Michaelmas goose, and left on the local Magistrate's doorstep. This 'Avenger' is a bold one, I'll give him that!" He'd laughed and his wife had shushed him, saying that if more of the men in the neighbourhood were to do the same thing, there wouldn't be any thieves left in the county!

Lucius then mentioned that he was planning on bringing up the question of highway robberies when Parliament next sat, which led the Reverend on to review other measures tried in the past, and the conversation soon drifted off into other areas.

The Squire's news gave Lavinia much to think about. Foremost of which was that the Earl had now been eliminated as a possible candidate for her highwayman's alter ego since he had not left the estate for a long enough period to have effected the latest rescue, which had taken place some distance from Kentham. It was then that she reminded herself that she'd never seriously considered him. He was about the right height and his French was excellent, but.... Try as she might, she couldn't envision him attempting what her highwayman was doing.

There had been so much kindness in her mysterious rescuer--incredible kindness, actually--and she hadn't felt that from the Earl. Certain things he said, or perhaps it was the way he said them, gave her pause. True, he'd been generous about inviting her and her father to stay with him and she'd recently learned that he'd had other French visitors in the past as well. She was very grateful to him for allowing her father to continue his work at Kentham, but such things were easy for him to do, and carried with them no risk or inconvenience to himself. The Avenger, on the other hand, was willing to risk his person, his honour, and even his very life.