"There, that will do," she said, putting down her pen and picking up her reticule. They could leave that evening, get up as far as Willesden to spend the night. She would give Jenny and Caleb false information about their destination to put Alexander's enemies off the scent until she could find her brother and gain his assistance.
She was just taking one last pensive look around when a shout across the hall terrified her.
"Sarah! Sarah! Come quickly!" Alexander bellowed.
She ran into the large drawing room, and found the hearth and the wooden settle a blazing inferno. The stench of lamp oil was sickening, though she couldn't imagine where it was coming from, who had spilled it.
Alexander was trapped in the corner over by the pianoforte, the flames already licking along the carpet toward the splendid instrument. She heaved the huge object toward her, pulling with all her might. Her terror had lent her almost superhuman strength. She couldn't even begin to imagine Alexander's panic at being blind and trapped in a burning room.
"Come on, darling, climb over, quickly."
He was already coughing and sputtering, and fear made him clumsy. He tripped over the stool and fell heavily, jangling the keys with a discordant crash that sounds to Sarah like a death knell.
All of her fierce protective instincts rose to the fore. She felt like a tigress protecting her most cherished mate. "This way, my love," she called as he heaved himself to his feet.
She grabbed at his hand and led him to the relative safety of the hall.
"I don't understand," he rasped, clinging to her almost desperately. "What happened? How did it catch on fire?"
"Never mind that now! We need to try to put it out."
Jenny and Caleb, who had been just tidying away the last of the supper things and assembling a basket of food for their trip, came running.
"Lord have mercy!" Jenny exclaimed.
"Jenny, run, get the water pump going, fill the tub, and bring some wet blankets," she called, grabbing from the cupboard under the stairs the buckets they had used for cleaning and washing the wool. "Caleb, Alexander, come help me."
The three of them formed a bucket brigade down the hall to the bathroom, with Caleb at one end and Sarah battling the blaze at the other.
"You and Jenny should leave," Alexander shouted to her about the roaring blaze.
"I'm staying. But you need to get to safety," Sarah urged.
"I'm not leaving you, love," Alexander stated in a tone that brooked no refusal.
Jenny had done her best to help with the bucket brigade and wet blankets, but as the fire continued to devour the carpet she could contain her fear no longer.
"I can't breathe," she gasped.
Before Sarah could say a word, the older woman dived into the kitchen and flung open the back door.
A loud explosion and the smell of powder came wafting through the open portal.
Caleb ran toward it, but Sarah shouted, "No! Get down!"
She grabbed the old man's coat and dragged him to the flagstone floor as a bullet whizzed past them, smacking into the plaster, spraying them with powder.
"Oh, Jesus!" Caleb gasped.
Sarah raised her head to follow the old man's line of vision. In the light that tumbled out of the door onto the garden path, she could see Jenny lying on her back, her eyes staring sightlessly up at the stars. A gaping red hole in her chest told Sarah everything she needed to know. She threw herself forward full length, and slammed and bolted the door, keeping low as more musket balls smacked into the heavy oaken door. She slid the large wooden slat into place, then ran to make sure her companion was unhurt.
"Caleb, the front door! Make sure it's secure. And for pity's sake stay down."
"Sarah, what the hell is happening?" Alexander asked, grabbing her arm as she tried to push past him.
"They're trying to kill you!" she blurted out. "They've been trying since Bath. I wanted to run away, go up north where we might be safe, and get Jonathan's help. But we've run out of time."
Alexander looked dumbstruck. Then he said, "Well, let them take me."
"No! No!" Sarah gasped, tears springing to her eyes.
"They've already killed Jenny, haven't they. Haven't they?" he demanded.
"Yes!" she admitted.
"We don't have a choice. They'll kill us all if I don't come out of here. The house will burn down with all of us in it."
She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard. "I know you don't remember everything that happened in Spain. But do you really think they're just going to let us all walk out of here alive? Do you?"