Kitabı oku: «The Silver Squire», sayfa 2

Chapter Two

With a deep, inspiriting breath, Emma took another determined peek around the hazel hedge.

The dilapidated exterior of weatherbeaten boarding and slipping roof tiles had her optimism again ebbing. The cottage looked deserted. Perhaps he had moved away. Please no, don’t let that be! she silently prayed. The London post was already lost to view as the road dipped below the shadow-racing field, and would be well on the way to Bath, some two miles further on.

She had been dropped in the village of Oakdene and had wandered the narrow, rut-scored lanes looking for Nonsuch Cottage with many a villager’s curious stare following her. A bramble embedding in her skirt had quite literally brought her stumbling upon what she sought: it was an aptly named little place, she smilingly realised as her honey gaze weaved past the crude wooden name-plate on the gate, through foxgloves and scarlet roses entwined with bellbind and cow parsley, and on to the crooked door.

Gently reared behind the graceful brick façade of Rosemary House in Cheapside, she had hardly realised that such ram-shackle-looking dwellings existed, let alone expected ever to enter one. As for gardening, nurturing delicate hothouse blooms had been her only experience of the demands of horticulture. The association of a conservatory and exotic plants and happier days with friends evoked a flash of memory, puzzling and niggling at the periphery of her consciousness. She gave it barely a further moment’s concentration before again focussing on the grimy whitewash of the cottage.

On closer inspection it seemed structurally sound. In fact, she decided, it held a definite rustic charm. The interior of the building might be quite neat and tidy; one couldn’t expect a widowed gentleman of straitened means to bother about weeds when he had to attend to the needs of his small children. Curtains were visible at dusty windows high under the eaves, she gladly noted, yet it was so quiet it could have been deserted.

As though to settle that anxiety a female voice shrieked out something unintelligible; there followed a child’s thin wailing. So the property was inhabited, and by a Billingsgate fishwife by the sound of it! A sudden awful suspicion stopped her heart, and she wondered why it had never occurred to her earlier: had Matthew not replied to her letter of six months ago because he had remarried? Before she could torture herself further on the subject, the white-boarded cottage door was flung open. A small mongrel dog hurtled, whining, close to Emma’s skirts then scampered out into the lane.

‘Blasted cur!’ the young woman barked, and was about to slam the door shut when she noticed Emma. Slack-mouthed surprise was soon replaced by a stony expression. ‘Whatever you be sellin’, we don’t want none. Be off with you. We’ve got Bibles aplenty ‘n sermons ‘n pills ‘n potions…’

Emma wasn’t sure whether to laugh or display outrage that this young woman’s first impression of her was as some sort of pedlar! Was her appearance really so drab that she was deemed to be touting from door to door? Her own impression now of this young woman was that she wasn’t Matthew’s wife but his housekeeper, a judgement backed by her rough local dialect and faded black uniform.

Aware of the woman still staring aggressively, Emma finally detached herself from the bramble with a tear to her skirt, a prick to her finger and a spattering of mauve berry juice to her palm. Drawing herself up to her full height, her slender shoulders back, and topaz eyes glass-cool, she haughtily informed the woman, ‘I have just alighted from the London stage and would like to speak to Mr Cavendish. Is he at home?’

Emma’s unexpectedly refined accent had the woman’s jaw dropping again and a keen-eyed scrutiny slipping over her from serviceable tan bonnet to dusty, sturdy shoes.

‘Close that blasted door, will you, Maisie? The draught is taking these papers all over the desk…’ was bellowed from within.

‘Matthew…’ Emma whispered to herself at the sound of that well-modulated, if deeply irritated tone. But the relief she was sure would drench her at the first sight or sound of him was slow in coming. ‘I should like to speak to Mr Cavendish,’ she repeated firmly, with a nod at the door.

‘Wait there,’ the woman snapped discourteously, dark eyes skimming over Emma’s modest attire, then the door was shut in her face. Within what seemed a mere second a tall man was stepping over the threshhold onto the grass-sprouting cobbled pathway. A hand was wiped about his bristly chin and across his eyes as though he was fatigued.

‘Emma…?’ Matthew Cavendish murmured disbelievingly as his fingers pushed a tangle of brown hair back from his brow for a better view of her. A white grin split his shady jaw and, with a cursory straightening of his shirt-cuffs and waistcoat, he was rushing towards her.

‘Emma! How wonderful to see you!’ He gripped her by the shoulders and warm hazel eyes smiled down into her upturned, uncertain face. ‘Why didn’t you send word you were coming? Oh, I’m so sorry…come inside…please. What an oaf you must think me, leaving you planted amongst the weeds! As you can see,’ he added ruefully, gesturing at snaggled greenery, ‘tending the roses isn’t a fond pastime.’ After drawing one of her arms through his they proceeded out of breezy late summer sunlight into the cool, dim interior of the cottage.

‘Maisie will fetch some tea,’ he directed at the woman while helping Emma to slip out of her cumbersome cloak.

Emma’s eyes flicked to the small brunette and noted an odd, insubordinate stare arrow from servant to master. Then, with a twitch of her faded black serge, Maisie was gone.

After a brief pause during which only polite smiles passed between them, there was,

‘I must apologise…’

‘I should explain…’

They had spoken together and simultaneously laughed, embarrassed, too.

‘You first,’ Matthew invited, ushering Emma towards a comfortable-looking chintz-covered fireside chair and pressing her into it. As he leaned towards her and gripped her hands, displaying his pleasure at seeing her, a recognisable sweetish aroma assailed her nostrils. She had too often been about her intoxicated papa not to instantly recognise the smell of strong alcohol about someone’s person. There was a hint of red rimming his eyes too, she noted, with a hesitant smile up into Matthew’s undoubtedly hung-over face.

‘I was about to say, Matthew, I must apologise for visiting you without proper warning. But I had no time to write, or wait for your reply.’ She gave him a wry look. ‘After all, it has been six months since last I wrote and still, daily, I expect your letter…’

Throughout the uncomfortably sultry atmosphere in the coach jolting its way to this village, all that had dominated her mind was Matthew: how she longed to unburden herself to him, beg him to reinstate his marriage proposal of five years ago. Now, oddly, the desperation had evaporated. What remained was simple relief that she had distanced herself from Jarrett Dashwood.

‘You must rest awhile after your journey, then dine with us,’ Matthew said with an emphatic squeeze at her small hands within his.

Emma smiled her thanks; she was hungry; she was also grateful that Matthew was exercising tactful restraint. He had obviously sensed she needed a little time to compose herself before revealing the catastrophe that had forced her to break all codes of etiquette and arrive uninvited and unchaperoned at the home of an unwed man. Acknowledging that impropriety brought another to her attention: remaining with Matthew overnight as his guest, even if he had a female servant and children, was completely out of the question. She would need to find lodgings.

Emma glided small, unobtrusive glances at him as she looked about the untidy small parlour. Oh, he still appealed to her. He hadn’t aged. But his unruly hair was tangled, his skin tone unhealthy and his attire dishevelled.

‘I’ll apologise for my appearance.’ He shrewdly anticipated the reason for her eyes lingering on his unshaven jaw. A sheepish smile preceded, ‘I attended a debate at the village hall last night. It was after midnight when I found my bed.’ He made a determined effort to neaten his hair and clothes with slightly vibrating hands.

‘Was it a literary debate?’ Emma asked quite interestedly.

‘Er…no,’ Matthew laughed. ‘Nothing quite so highbrow, I’m afraid, my blue-stocking Emma. It concerned the siting of a new water pump in the village and how division of the cost is to be made between tenants. Of course, once universal agreement was reached, we had to drink to it…’

‘Of course,’ Emma smiled, pleased and relieved that such an amusingly improbable incident was responsible for his hangover. ‘And as the pump is not yet operative you were forced to settle for whisky rather than water.’

Matthew laughed. ‘That’s my Emma,’ he said, with a gentle touch at her face. ‘Actually, the toast was with ill-gotten geneva,’ he revealed, sliding a finger to cover her lips.

Emma sensed her heartbeat quickening as their eyes held. She smiled against the light caress, then asked quickly, ‘And how are your children? I believe I’ve already had a quick brush with your little dog.’

‘Ah, Trixie…’ Matthew muttered with a laugh. ‘I heard Maisie chiding Rachel for allowing the dog back onto her bed. She’s a rapscallion…’

‘Your dog, your daughter, or your servant?’ Emma asked with a laugh.

‘All three at times…but thankfully not usually together,’ he answered, with a rueful shake of the head.

Their tea arrived and Maisie poured and distributed it all the while sending brooding glances at them both. Reproof, almost warning was apparent in Matthew’s glassy hazel eyes as he and Maisie exchanged a look before she quit the parlour.

‘My apologies for Maisie keeping you on the path,’ Matthew smoothly said. ‘She is a little wary of strangers. But she’s a good girl…’

Emma’s tawny head turned, alert to a muffled noise…a snort of humour or anger from the hallway. Matthew gave no sign he’d heard yet, passing idly by the door, he pressed it firmly shut.

‘Well, Emma,’ Matthew said with a distracting smile. ‘Drink up your tea for there are things to be taken care of: the children above stairs, the dinner, but most importantly, you…’

‘Well, do you think Rachel and Toby much grown?’

‘Indeed. I should never have recognised either of them,’ Emma truthfully admitted. Then, finding nothing positive to add, fell silent again. She gathered her cloak about her as the breeze stiffened and turned her head to gaze out over darkening hedgerows and fields.

The dogcart shuddered and swayed over potholes as they travelled on towards Bath, and her evening’s lodgings. Matthew had not quibbled when, over dinner, she’d informed him that she must seek a place to stay. He had simply asked, quite gravely, whether she had the means to pay for her board. Learning that she did had seemed to relieve him.

Mrs Keene’s rooms in Lower Place, on the outskirts of Bath, were the most fitting place for a gentlewoman to overnight, he had then decisively informed her. But now, as they journeyed on in amicable quiet, she knew Matthew was hoping for some complimentary comment about Rachel and Toby. Yet, on meeting the children again today, Emma had been surprised and disappointed.

Rachel was now nine years old and Toby seven and they no longer bore any resemblance to the bonny children she recalled meeting two years ago.

One mild autumn afternoon the Cavendish family had joined her in Hyde Park for a last stroll together before they quit London for Bath. She and Matthew had exchanged good wishes, reluctant farewells and promises to write, while two fair-haired children, neatly dressed in navy blue clothes, had refused to scrunch through the glorious red-gold carpet underfoot as others were, and stood quiet and solemn. On cue, they had politely shaken her hand before their father led them away.

Today, she had uneasily watched Matthew half-heartedly chiding two grubby-faced urchins for failing to wash or neaten their attire before they sat down to dine with their guest. Reluctantly, almost surlily, they had stamped away to be returned by Maisie some few minutes later in a slightly improved state.

Emma had freshened herself for dinner in a small upstairs chamber, thanking Maisie for the washing water and cloth and receiving little more than a terse grunt for her courtesy.

The meal, prepared by Matthew’s cook—an elderly widow who lived but a few yards along the lane, he had conversationally told her as they ate—had been plentiful and delicious. Roast mutton and veal and a boiled chicken had joined dishes of steaming vegetables and sweet blackcurrant tarts on the dining table. Wine had been set out and although Matthew had poured a glass for both Emma and himself, his own goblet had remained virtually untouched—something Emma had found inordinately reassuring.

Despite Emma’s attempts to talk to the children they’d seemed reluctant to cease chewing for the few moments a response would take. On asking about their lessons, Rachel had informed her with a grimace that Miss Peters at the Vicarage tutored them. As for a friendly enquiry on special aptitudes, neither had given the matter much thought before admitting to knowing of none.

Their fond father had then deemed them too modest and defended their ignorance with recalled good marks in English or arithmetic. But with lowered heads they’d simply set enthusiastically about their meals with an air of concentration that precluded further questions or table manners.

The elderly dun mare pulling Matthew’s dogcart stumbled into a rut, throwing them together. Matthew steadied Emma with a sturdy hand, then raised her slender fingers, touching his lips briefly to them. ‘It’s so good to see you,’ he said softly.

It was his tactful way of saying that an explanation for her presence was long overdue, she realised. ‘I have quit London to avoid being married to a detestable man,’ she informed him simply, gazing over a flat, dusky vista. Instinctively her fingers tightened about his, at the oblique reference to Jarrett Dashwood, as though drawing from his strength.

‘I guessed it to be something like that,’ Matthew said softly, reining back so that the mare slowed its steady trot.

Emma looked at her fragile hand resting in his large fingers. ‘My parents have arranged for me to wed someone in the hope he will set to right my father’s debts. The man is a notorious blackguard.’ Her voice shook with strengthening outrage. ‘I had never believed they would act so brutally. The matter was concluded before I had even a hint of it. I will have none of their plots. They have treated me shabbily…abominably…’

‘They must be in grave trouble to do so, Emma, I’m sure.’ His thumb smoothed gently at her wrist. ‘I’m very happy and flattered that you felt you could turn to me for support.’ His voice became husky. ‘Does this mean that you would now reconsider my offer of marriage?’

The air between them seemed to solidify. It was what she wanted, wasn’t it? She had fled Rosemary House late at night instinctively to seek him and these were the words she had prayed he would utter. She heard herself say, ‘I need time to think, Matthew. I’m confused…plagued by ambivalence. I feel guilty for abandoning my parents, yet, at times, I’m sure I despise them almost as much as Jarrett Dashwood.’ Even with the lowering dusk, Emma could discern Matthew’s abrupt pallor. The cart jolted as he reflexively tightened his grip on the reins and the mare pranced.

‘Dashwood? Dashwood wants to marry you?’

The disbelief was plain and made Emma smile a trifle wryly. ‘He has expressed a desire for a sedate, mature spinster to wed. She must be biddable and, I’ve no doubt, so grateful to attain the marital state, she will not challenge him about any of his disgusting goings-on. I imagine he has no more use for her than as a brood mare.’

Matthew gave her an ironic, sideways smile. ‘Biddable? You, Emma?’

‘Exactly,’ Emma agreed, matching his rueful tone. ‘My mother has a persuasive way with my attributes when she scents a bachelor…whatever his character.’ She sobered and gazed into the distance. ‘Thank you for your proposal, Matthew. I will give it very serious thought in the next few days. And thank you for your kind hospitality and for bringing me to my lodgings tonight. I was so relieved on finding you still resided at Nonsuch Cottage and were not now…remarried.’ An amber glance arrowed at his profile. ‘I know you were keen for your children to have a mother’s care and as I had not heard from you for so long…’

‘I’m sorry not to have replied to your letter. I seem to find so little free time. A pathetic excuse, I know,’ he admitted on a shake of the head. ‘And there has never been anyone else that I’ve met who would suit the children so well as you. You’re so kind and dependable. You’re a genteel lady and educated to such a degree you could tutor them yourself,’ he enthused.

‘And what of you? Do I suit you so very well?’ Emma asked softly, sadly.

‘But of course! That goes without saying, Emma.’

‘This is a respectable house and we keep reg’lar hours. No gentlemen allowed in the parlour after nine o’ the clock. No gentlemen allowed in the upper chambers at any time. Breakfast afore eight or none. Dinner in the parlour if you wants at a shillin’ for a plate o’ hot ordinary.’

‘Yes, I understand,’ Emma told Mrs Keene wearily as she glanced about the spartan room. But at least it looked clean and the bedlinen fresh.

‘So wot’s a nice young lady like yourself doin’ alone in Bath?’ the woman asked with friendly inquisitiveness, now she had laid down the rules of the house. ‘Kin in the area, have you, wot won’t board you?’ The plump woman shelved her crossed arms on her ample bosom. A knowing nod preceded, ‘I gets plenty o’ such spinsters. Poor relations an’ all they’ll get off them wot’s better sitchwated is mutton ‘n porter once or twice a week an’ a faded gown or two. Not that it’s none of my concern, ‘o course, or I’m complainin’, like…for it suits me…’ She wagged an emphasising finger.

‘I’m seeking employment. I have no local family. Just a friend.’ What had she said? Seeking employment? Why had she said that? Why not? echoed back. The logical answer to every pressing problem had helpfully presented itself. She had very little cash; she needed some time to think while she mulled over Matthew’s proposal and meanwhile she needed somewhere to stay. There was little doubt in her mind that Mrs Keene would show her the cobbles as soon as she showed Mrs Keene an I O U.

Her landlady sucked at her few yellowing teeth. ‘Seekin’ employment, are you, miss? Well, not that it’s none of my concern, o’ course, but I’ll keep me eyes and ears open for you. I’m known to run a respectable lodgin’s for genteel ladies wot’s on ‘ard times, and it’s not unknown for those as wants to take on to come to me first for their quality staff. No agency fees, you see. ‘Course I accepts a small consideration—’

‘Thank you…I should be grateful for help…’ Emma cut the woman off. Undoing the ribbons of her bonnet, she dropped the dusty tan-coloured article onto the bed. She shook free her thick fawn hair, raking it back from her creamy brow, aware of the woman’s gimlet eyes on her. Opening her carpet bag, she studiedly hinted, ‘I’m a little tired…’

‘O’ course you are, miss. Will you be wantin’ any supper?’

‘No, thank you. I’ve already dined.’

‘Tomorrow will you be wantin’ any supper?’

‘Yes, thank you.’

‘Seven o’ the clock in the downstairs parlour. Tomorrow’s bacon ‘n carrots. That’ll be a shillin’ an’ you pay afore you eat.’ With a gap-toothed smile at Emma, Mrs Keene was closing the door.

‘You’re late!’

‘I’m here, aren’t I?’

‘Richard, you are becoming quite a trial to your mother,’ Miriam Du Quesne stiffly informed her eldest son.

He seemed unmoved by her complaint and gave her an impenitent smile as he made for the stairs and took them two at a time.

‘Come back! We have guests!’ was hissed in a furious undertone at his broad, dark-jacketed back.

‘And you’re a wonderful hostess, my dear,’ trailed back, bored, over his shoulder as he neared the top of the graceful sweep of mahogany bannisters.

‘If you’re not down these stairs and in the drawing room in ten…fifteen minutes,’ she generously amended, in an enraged choke, ‘well, I shall…I shall just…’

Sir Richard Du Quesne sauntered back to the top of the curving stairwell and looked past the priceless Austrian crystal chandelier, suspended low, at the top of his mother’s elegant coiffure. ‘You shall what?’ he jibed fondly. ‘Beat me? Shut me in my room? Make me go without my supper?’

‘Richard! This is no joke!’ his mother screeched, small fists scrunching her elegant lavender skirts in her rage. Aware that she was creasing the satin, she flung it away and tried desperately to smooth it. She resorted to stamping a small foot instead, while almost jigging on the creamy marble in exasperation. Abruptly changing tack, she stilled, gave him a bright smile and wheedled, ‘Please, dear, don’t keep us all waiting longer. Dinner has been on the warm since eight o’clock. It is now nine-thirty and we are all quite ravenous.’ A tinkly laugh preceded, ‘I’m quite wore out with finding conversation to amuse us all. Besides,’ gritted out through pearly teeth, ‘nothing much is audible over the growling of empty stomachs.’

Her son gave her a conciliatory smile. ‘I’ll be but a few minutes. I’ll just freshen up…’

‘Oh, you look well enough,’ she said irritably, gesturing him down the stairs. He did too, she realised as her blue eyes lingered on her tall, handsome son’s appearance. His sun-streaked blond hair was too long, but suited him that way, she grudgingly allowed. His charcoal-grey clothes were expensive and well-styled; nothing she said or slipped to his valet seemed to make him dress in brighter colours. The bronzed skin tone he had acquired abroad had at first horrified her but, she had to admit, gave him a wickedly foreign air, and those cool grey eyes…A delicious shiver raced through her for they so reminded her of her darling John.

Miriam focussed her far-away gaze back on the top of the stairs to note that, while daydreaming of her late husband, their son had disappeared. She pouted, flounced about and stalked back towards the drawing room with the welcome tidings for their graces the Duke and Duchess of Winstanley and their daughter, Lady Penelope, that dinner was now, indeed, very nearly served.

‘I know where you’ve been, you lucky, randy dog.’

Richard dried his face with the towel, lobbed it carelessly towards the grand four-poster on a raised dais and glanced at Stephen. ‘Where have I been?’ he asked as he fastened his diamond shirt studs and walked to the mirror to inspect his appearance.

‘Come on, this is your dribbling sibling you’re talking to. She must have a jolie amie for your best brother. Preferably blonde but I ain’t fussy.’

‘You’re married.’

‘I’m bored.’

Richard’s icy grey eyes swerved to the reflection of his younger brother’s shrewd, smiling face. ‘You’re married. You’ve got a lovely wife and two beautiful children. What more do you want, for God’s sake?’

Stephen Du Quesne shrugged himself irritably to the window and gazed into the dusk. The fluttering silver-leaved whitebeams that lined the mile-long drive to Silverdale swayed like sinuous, ghostly dancers in the light evening breeze. ‘A little excitement…that’s what I want. A little of what you’ve got…that’s what I want. You get risqué women and I get responsibility. It ain’t fair, I tell you. You’re seven years older than me.’

‘No one forced you to propose to Amelia when you were twenty-one. As I recall you wanted her and nothing was going to stand in your way. Not even her constant rebuffs. You finally won her over and the proof that you were lucky to get it so right is just along the corridor, asleep in the nursery. Grow up.’

‘That’s rich coming from you,’ Stephen moaned as he stalked his elder brother to the head of the stairs. ‘You’re thirty-three and still gadding around as though you’ve dropped a decade somewhere. Even that reprobate of a best friend of yours has been wed these past three years and is now as dangerous as a pussy-cat by all accounts.’

Richard turned a smile on him, knowing immediately to whom he referred. ‘That’s love for you, Stephen,’ he said. ‘It can creep up on you when you’re least expecting it…even when you’re twenty-one and nowhere near ready. There’s no shame in giving in to it.’

‘Such an eloquent expert on finer feelings, aren’t you?’ Stephen ribbed him with a grin. ‘Hard to believe most of your intercourse with the fairer sex is so basic and carried out while you’re horizontal.’

‘Shut up, Stephen, you are drooling,’ Richard said, with a clap on the back for his sulking brother.

As they hit the marble-flagged hallway, Richard swung his brother about by the shoulder and studied him gravely. ‘Look, if you’re desperate for a little illicit entertainment, go ahead. But don’t expect me to arrange it for you, or clear up the mess when it all goes horribly wrong. Amelia might just decide that what’s sauce for the gander…’ He trailed off with an explicit raising of dark brows.

‘She wouldn’t dare!’ Stephen exploded, his face draining of colour. ‘Besides,’ he blustered as his older brother choked a laugh at the terror on his face, ‘she’d never know…I’d be discreet.’

‘Of course she’d know, you fool,’ Richard scoffed. ‘There’d be plenty of concerned ladies just itching to break the news. For her own good, of course. If you want a mistress, go and stand in the Upper Assembly rooms and look available. In five minutes you’ll be knee-deep in frustrated wives, impoverished widows…’ His long fingers tightened emphatically on his brother’s shoulder. ‘You’re both envied, you know. You’ve a good marriage: you love your wife and she adores you and that’s not easily found. It makes for a lot of green eyes and spiteful intentions. If you want to know the truth, I envy you.’

‘Good,’ Stephen said with slightly malicious relish. ‘I think our dear mama is under the impression it’s definitely time you were jealous no more.’