There's Room at the Inn

"Ah, you're awake," John says. "I'm going to see about renting us some rooms. I'll ask at the inn first of all. At least someone there should already be up and about, even at this early hour, and if they don't have any rooms free then they should know where I might be able to rent some."

Whilst Moula, Teran and I wait for him to return, I have time to reflect on my situation. What's done is done, but I realise that it was probably a mistake to escape with John and Teran. What I should have done was to get them to take a mesage to Cornelius the next day, whilst I remained in the brothel overnight with no-one there being any the wiser. Then Cornelius could have arrived with whatever number of men he thought necessary to get me out and take me to a place of safety. (Or an I over- estimating the resources at his disposal?)

John returns after a short while, bringing an end to my musing. "I've arranged for two rooms at the inn," he says. "One for the ladies and one for Teran and myself. Let me help you down, Nicky - I mean Hari."

He escorts Moula and myself into the inn, whilst Teran pays off the driver of our carriage. Inside, a porter is waiting to carry our luggage. He is surprised to discover that, apart from a small shoulder bag of Moula's that contains a few personal knick-knacks of hers, we don't have any luggage at all. He is even more surprised when he catches sight of my swollen belly. "You're pregnant!" he says, rather unnecessarily.

"I know," I say drily. "The size I am, I'm beginning to wonder whether I'll have twins. Is my pregnancy a problem?"

"Er no, of course not, Madam. But if your happy event should take place while you are staying here, I'm afraid that we don't have any special facilities for babies."

"I'm sure we'll manage," Moula says.

1. We take a look at our rooms and then come back downstairs for breakfast.

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