Sylvester Part III

Sylvester is startled to learn that Phoebe has disappeared, and Mrs Orde, Tom's mother calls to the house to say Tom has left a letter which seems to indicate that he has taken Phoebe to Scotland. She is very angry at the idea that her son has been inveigled into a runaway marriage. Lord Marlow sets out to try and find his daughter, and Sylvester, realising that his visit to Austerby has now failed, decides to leave before oncoming bad weather sets in. He has his middle aged groom with him, John Keighley, and is indiffernt to the fact that John has a cold coming on.. He wants to get away in case it snows. When he has gone part of his journey, he runs across a fallen carriage. It emerges that Tom and Phoebe's horse took fright at a donkey in his path, and they had an accident. Tom has broken his leg and the carriage is damaged. Sylvester stops to give aid and gets the young pair to a small and far from fancy inn, where they are able to find rooms. They manage to get a doctor but Tom is clearly going to have to rest for several days before he can go on travelling. The snow starts and Sylvester and John are also stuck in the Inn. He is not pleased as he is used to the best when travelling and the Scalings who run the inn are simple people who are not used to catering for the gentry. Phoebe hopes that the bad weather will keep her father and Tom's from following her, and she settles in to look after the horses and her injured friend. She also tells Sylvester off for not taking better care of his groom, who is now suffering from a cold. For a few days, however she and Tom manage to enjoy their snow bound state. They play games and read, and Tom thinks that Sylvester is not so arrogant, in private as Phoebe made him out to be. She admits to Tom that she likes him better now, he has shown a kindlier side to his nature but he has also shown a lot of arrogance. He cares for his groom but it did not occur to him that the man was not fit to go out in such bad weather. When the snow begins to lift, Squire Orde comes after them but Sylvester manages to get Phoebe off on her journey to London, sending her in his own chaise, while remaining to look after Tom. When she gets to London, her grandmother is glad to see her, and takes her in and says she will make sure that PHoebe has a better time in the social round this time. Phoebe tries to see her publisher to see if she can stop the publication of her novel, as she is worried that people will see that Ugolino is based on Sylvester but they refuse to do this or to make any changes.