The Reluctant Heiress

by Dilly Court

  ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘Your mama invited us so that she could meet my mama. They are in the parlour getting to know each other, so I thought I’d leave them in peace, and I love flowers. Your garden is lovely.’

  ‘It is quite pretty, I suppose. I come out here to get away from my parents.’ A vague smile replaced the sombre expression in Hedley’s dark eyes. ‘I served in the East India Company Army for ten years.’

  ‘You must have been very young when you joined up.’

  His mouth twisted in a wry grin. ‘I was thirteen, and my parents were missionaries. I ran away and joined the army as a drummer boy. My father bought me a commission before they returned to England, and I stayed on – until my accident.’

  Kate laid her hand on his arm. ‘I’m so sorry. How did it happen?’

  ‘I was thrown from my horse and they say I cracked my skull, but I don’t remember any of it. They all think I’m simple-minded because I forget things. Sometimes I don’t even remember my name.’

  ‘That’s quite shocking. But your mama said you are recovering slowly.’

  ‘Slowly is the right word. I feel, at times, that I’m going to be trapped forever in this peasouper fog that was once my brain.’

  ‘Will you return to India?’

  ‘I don’t know. According to my papa, who reads The Times every day, the East India Company Army is going to be disbanded. I’m not sure if there is any prospect of retaining my old rank if the British Army takes over.’

  ‘But you would like to return to India?’

  He nodded vigorously. ‘I would.’

  ‘As would I, but I doubt if I’ll go back. My uncle had a good position with the East India Company in Delhi, but he was killed during the rebellion.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Hedley said simply.

  ‘Yes, I was very fond of him.’ Kate turned away, struggling with her emotions. The loss of her uncle Edgar still brought tears to her eyes.

  ‘I think we should go indoors,’ Hedley said, taking her by the hand as if she were a small child. ‘There’s a slight chill in the air.’

  Kate nodded wordlessly. She allowed him to lead her to the parlour door where he bowed and was about to walk away. ‘Aren’t you coming in with me?’

  ‘No. I think I’ll go to my room for a while. Mama won’t expect me to join you.’ He smiled. ‘They are used to my foibles by now. I spend a lot of time on my own. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Miss Martin.’

  ‘Kate,’ she said firmly.

  ‘Kate. I won’t forget you.’ Hedley walked away, heading for the staircase, and leaving Kate little alternative but to rejoin her mother and Mrs Courtney. She entered the parlour to find her mother and Mrs Courtney chatting amicably over cups of tea.

  Elaine looked up and smiled. ‘Well, my dear, how did you get on with my son? He must have taken to you because he normally shies away from meeting new people. Perhaps you could come again and spend more time with him? I’m sure that talking to another young person would speed his recovery.’

  ‘I don’t think we’ll be staying at Warren House long enough to make new friends,’ Arabella said firmly. ‘It’s a pretty village, but my home is in Finsbury Square. We have a very large house, and heaven knows what the servants are doing in my absence.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  There seemed little prospect of returning home. Perry advised strongly against it and Monks was still on the run from the police. Until he was caught and imprisoned there was still danger, and they would have to remain at Warren House. Arabella grumbled, but Lady Lyndon was philosophical and Annie positively blossomed, especially when Perry was present.

  Autumn had turned the countryside into a kaleidoscope of colour. The marshes were all shades of green and brown, and the leaves on the trees hung like golden coins, ready to be plucked by the next gale. Kate had ridden into Epping Forest on several occasions, sometimes with Perry and Annie, whom he was teaching to ride. Annie was an apt pupil and she revelled openly in the fact that the horse was her eyes, taking her to places where she would never have ventured on foot. Kate was touched by Perry’s gentleness and the protective way in which he treated Annie, while allowing her an amount of independence previously denied her. It was a pleasure to ride behind them, listening to Annie’s trills of laughter when Perry said something amusing, and his obvious pleasure in her company. Kate’s initial reaction had been one of pique, but that had faded almost instantly and she could see now that the couple were well suited. Whenever Perry arrived – which was every ten days or so – Kate always asked for news of Harry, and the answer never varied. Harry was still in prison and Monks was still at large, but the Metropolitan Police were working as hard as they could to bring him to justice.

  Kate visited the vicarage at least twice a week to spend time with Hedley. On these occasions she was always accompanied by Jenny, who sat quietly at her side, listening to their reminiscence of India. At first Hedley seemed to enjoy their conversations, but sometimes he preferred to remain in his room, refusing to see anyone. Neither of his parents seemed able to cope with him when he was overtaken by deep depression. Kate could only sympathise and walk away. She had grown fond of Hedley during their short acquaintance, and she suspected that his condition was worsened by the fact that he was desperate to return to his regiment. His mother fussed over him constantly, and when Kate met the Reverend Humphrey Courtney she could understand why Hedley kept himself to himself.

  The vicar was a tall, thin man with a loud booming voice and a commanding manner. Kate could imagine that as a missionary he might have frightened naïve peasants into adopting Christianity simply in order to placate him. His sermons on Sundays were impassioned and very long, and although Kate and almost everybody at Warren House attended matins, she had seen Martha and Lady Lyndon nodding off occasionally. Ivy attended with her older children, who had to be bribed with pieces of cake to keep them from disrupting the service, and the little ones were left at home in the care of Tilly, a young girl from the village who had been taken on to help in the kitchen.

  The biggest surprise for Kate came when her mother decided that county life was not as terrible as she had first thought. Arabella stopped talking about her old home in Finsbury Square and threw herself into committee work with Elaine Courtney. They were now in the process of organising a sale of work to raise funds for the village children’s Christmas party. Arabella had taken it upon herself to visit the large houses and estates dotted around the area, and had managed to persuade several well-to-do ladies to attend meetings and donate items for the sale. Kate could hardly believe the change in her mother from the sad, dispirited widow, to a happy energetic woman with a purpose in life. Despite the differences in their situations, Arabella and Elaine were a partnership to be reckoned with, and Kate wondered if Walthamstow would ever be the same again. There was still a little frostiness in the air when Arabella and Lady Lyndon were in the same room, but Kate continued to be optimistic. The fault was mainly her mother’s, but Kate did not expect miracles. Perhaps in time her mother would forgive Harry Lyndon for involving them in the criminal world, and at least they were safe from Monks and his gang.

  Kate had fallen in love with Warren House and she continued to put her inheritance to good use. She paid for extra staff to help Morrison in the gardens and now, in their autumnal glory, they were looking quite splendid. She had engaged three daily women from the village to do the heavy work around the house, and a washerwoman came in once a week to see to the laundry. Martha was delighted to be in charge of the servants and Arthur took it upon himself to organise the work outside. Ivy and Martha had formed an alliance and it amused Kate to see them chatting together as if they had known each other all their lives. Elaine Courtney had made sure that Frankie, May, Nellie and Jimmy attended school, leaving the twins, Charlie and baby John in their mother’s care. Tilly proved to be a useful nursery maid when Ivy was busy, and for the most part peace reigned in the household, with only the occasional dis
agreement to ripple the harmony.

  With Goodfellow at her side, Kate bought a horse for herself as well as one for Annie, and a pony so that Ivy’s children could be taught how to ride. Goodfellow had met Marie Parker, a comely if rather loud-mouthed widow, at church. Since then Kate had not heard him mention his desire to return to London. The cottage formerly used by the head groom was decorated and refurbished to his taste, although Kate suspected that Widow Parker had inspired Goodfellow’s sudden interest in domesticity. With the extra horses to care for and a carriage and a dog cart to maintain, Kate hired a stable boy to help Goodfellow.

  By now Kate was well known in the village. She enjoyed walking to the local shop to purchase items that might not have been put on the weekly order, and she always stopped to chat to anyone who wanted to pass the time of day. It was pleasant to be greeted by friendly faces. Although she had been born and bred in the city, if she were to be truthful, she enjoyed living in the country and had no real desire to return to the house in Finsbury Square. She still felt that her heart was held captive in Delhi, but she tried not to think of Ashok. Even so, he stole into her dreams and she often awakened to find her pillow wet with tears. However, life had to go on.

  As the days grew shorter and colder, Martha and Ivy were busy making preserves from the fruit grown in the walled garden and berries that the children had gathered from the hedgerows. Martha made rosehip syrup, which she swore by as a remedy for coughs and colds, and the kitchen was filled with the tangy aroma. She was an expert when it came to making herbal medicines, and Ivy was an eager learner. In the walled garden Morrison, with the help of his underlings, had built clamps in which root vegetables were stored between layers of soil and straw so that they lasted throughout the winter months. Kate viewed the pyramid-shaped mounds with admiration. She had bought vegetables from costermongers’ stalls, but she had never given any thought as to where they came from or how they happened to be available even in the worst of the weather.

  The day of the sale in the church hall to raise funds for the village children’s Christmas party arrived and everyone, including Arthur Boggis, had been bribed, persuaded or bullied into helping. Even Lady Lyndon was not immune from Arabella’s determination to make the event a huge success. Goodfellow decked the Warren House carriage with swags of ivy into which the heads of the last chrysanthemums had been woven, and dressed in his coachman’s outfit he drove round the village picking up anyone who was too infirm to walk to the church hall. Martha had found an old tea urn at the back of one of the cupboards and it had been cleaned and polished until the copper shone like molten metal. Martha and Ivy had baked rock cakes and jam tarts, which they laid out on their stall, together with a large jug of milk and a pound of tea, purchased by Kate, plus a whole cone of sugar snipped into small lumps. Refreshments at a halfpenny a time were waiting for the hungry and thirsty people whom they hoped would flock into the sale.

  All the ladies from Elaine’s committee were on hand to serve the prospective customers, and Annie was seated on the rostrum playing her concertina to welcome everyone with cheerful jigs and popular songs. Lady Lyndon stood next to Annie, preparing to make the opening speech. Kate could see that her mother resented the fact that Elaine had asked Lady Lyndon to officiate, but Arabella was presenting a determinedly pleasant smile despite what she must have been feeling. However, as the landowner, Sir Harry Lyndon, was mysteriously unavailable to attend, his mother was the obvious choice.

  Hedley had been persuaded, or more likely bribed by his mother, to attend, dressing imposingly in his captain’s uniform, but he looked embarrassed and ill at ease until Jenny asked him to help sell the raffle tickets. They did this together and Kate was amazed to find that they had sold every last one. Even more surprising was the fact that Hedley seemed to be enjoying himself and Jenny was seized with a fit of the giggles at something her unlikely partner had said. It all boded well for the success of the sale.

  It was Kate’s job to keep the tea urn topped up with boiling water from the range in the vicarage kitchen. It entailed a swift walk across the lawn and through a gap in the hedge to the back door of the hall, and she had eight-year-old Frankie to help her. They stood together, waiting for instructions from Martha, who was in charge of the urn, with Ivy standing by to pour the milk. It was seven-year-old May’s job to pass round the sugar and to keep cheeky boys from stealing the precious and expensive glistening lumps of sweetness.

  Arabella and Elaine marshalled the other committee ladies to their stations behind the various stalls, selling all manner of second-hand articles, quite a few of which had come from the large houses in the area. These were the items that many of the village women seemed to prize most, and Kate expected to see Mrs Whitely, the butcher’s wife, wearing a bonnet donated by Lady Martin or Lady Lyndon at next Sunday’s church service. There were embroidered hankies, fur tippets and lacy woollen shawls, as well as jars of homemade hand cream, lotions and a vast array of cheaper second-hand clothes, caps, gloves and mufflers. The glass jars filled with colourful boiled sweets were temptation enough, but there were also pyramids of sugared almonds, and trays of toffee with vicious-looking pincers to break it into irresistible chunks. Crowds of children jostled for position, although most of them were simply onlookers, having no pennies to spend. Kate could see their small faces alight with pleasure simply imagining the delights of munching on such treats, and she had a bag of farthings saved for this occasion, which she would hand out surreptitiously so that no one went home feeling disappointed.

  The doors opened and Kate noticed that everyone who came through the doors was wearing their Sunday best for the occasion, even though it was Saturday. When the hall was crammed with people Elaine Courtney stepped onto the rostrum and patted Annie on the shoulder, which was a signal to stop playing. Elaine clapped her hands to gain the hall’s attention, and then she welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. She handed over to Lady Lyndon, who was dressed like a duchess and looked resplendent in lilac silk trimmed with blonde lace and a purple velvet mantle with a fur collar and cuffs. Her silver hair had been coiffed by Miss Hattersley, who kept herself to herself and took her meals on a tray in her room rather than mix with Martha and the servants. Miss Hattersley was not present, using a headache as an excuse, but she had been well enough to help her mistress dress and to add the finishing touch of a perky little fur hat with a black lace veil.

  There was silence in the hall while her ladyship made the opening speech and then the voices rose in a crescendo as everyone pushed and shoved in their attempts to find bargains.

  Ivy nudged Kate in the ribs. ‘The tea urn is half empty. We’re going to need more hot water very soon.’

  Kate nodded. ‘I’ll go and fetch the kettle from the vicarage kitchen. I can’t see Frankie; I think he’s met up with some friends from his school, but I don’t need him yet.’ Kate edged her way through the crowd and went outside. It was a relief to be in the fresh air, but it was chilly even though the sun was shining. She hurried across the yard and was about to enter the vicarage garden when a man emerged from behind the box hedge.

  ‘Kate, there you are. I’ve been searching for you.’

  She stifled a cry of surprise, glancing over her shoulder to make sure there was no one about. ‘Harry! What are you doing here? Have you escaped from prison?’

  He seized her hand and dragged her into the privacy of the vicarage garden. ‘No one must know I’m here, not even my mother.’

  ‘You broke out? Are you on the run?’ She stared at him in dismay. Harry had always been immaculate and clean shaven, but now he had a straggly beard and moustache, and his face was gaunt, but his eyes still held the same old spark of humour.

  ‘In a manner of speaking,’ he said in a low voice. ‘But I’ll explain everything later. I mustn’t be seen.’

  ‘You were taking a chance by coming here in broad daylight. You’d better come into the kitchen,’ Kate said hastily. ‘They’ve all gone to the sale so there w
on’t be anyone around.’ She led the way across the lawn to the back of the house, checking first that there was no one in the kitchen before she hustled Harry inside. She leaned against the table, looking him up and down. ‘You look terrible. I doubt if anyone would recognise you as Sir Harry Lyndon.’

  He gave her a wry smile. ‘I know, and I probably smell dreadful.’

  ‘Are the police after you, Harry?’

  ‘I’m more worried that Monks will track me down. I have to lie low until he and all his gang are safely behind bars.’

  ‘But if words gets round that you’re here it won’t be a secret for long.’

  ‘You’ve learned that already. I’m impressed.’ Harry’s smiled faded. ‘I’ll leave now and head back to the house.’

  ‘You’ve been there already? How did you know where to find me?’

  ‘Morrison was burning dead leaves. I followed my nose and found him in the walled garden. Don’t worry, Kate. I’ve known him since I was a boy. He told me where you were and he also said how much you’d done for him. You’ve made a friend there.’

  ‘I only did what was necessary … But more importantly, what will you do now?’

  ‘I have a plan and it involves you, but we won’t go into that at the moment. I’d better make myself scarce before someone comes looking for you.’

  ‘Where will you stay? You wouldn’t be able to hide in a house filled with people.’

  ‘Morrison has a small cottage on the edge of the estate. I’ll stay there for a while and keep the old fellow company.’

  Kate glanced out of the window. ‘Frankie is crossing the lawn.’ She snatched the kettle from the range and made a move towards the door. ‘I’ll see you later, unless Constable Middlemiss arrests you on the way home.’ She did not wait for his answer and she hurried from the house, meeting Frankie halfway. ‘Sorry I took so long. I had to wait for the water to heat up.’

  Frankie took the kettle from her. ‘I got longer legs than you, miss. They’re crying out for more tea in there.’ He raced off, spilling water on the ground in his hurry.