Untitled

by Wendy Bayne

  Edward grimaced. "He is the natural son of Richard Stanhope. The old man has never recognized him, but he gives him an allowance and Franklin uses the Stanhope name, even though he has no claim to it. He’s very adept at cheating at just about anything he puts his hand to. He has no scruples or morals whatsoever and because of that he’s made a small fortune for himself. There is a country house just outside of London where he holds parties, the details of which shouldn’t be spoken of in polite company.

  “Lord Burley’s sons were frequent visitors along with most of the dregs of the ton with singular appetites. I went with Julian only once; the place is little more than a trumped-up gaming hell and whore house out in the country. It was not at all to my tastes, in fact, I left after the first night. Julian spent weeks apologizing to me saying he had no idea what kind of place it was, and I was naïve enough to believe him. But since…well, since his death I started to hear whispers from some of our mutual acquaintances that Randall and Julian were heavily into debt to him. Stanhope’s ploy is to ruin or blackmail those that attend his parties.”

  Sir Thomas looked delighted. “How does he blackmail them, Mr Johnson?”

  Edward shook his head. “I have no idea. But when I was leaving…” he looked at me and Samuel, “I saw your father, Hughes, he was arguing with Stanhope in a small reception room as I waited for my hat and coat to be retrieved. The General was most distressed.”

  “Did you hear what they were saying?”

  Edward shook his head no. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t. It was once I was outside waiting for my curricle that I met Lionel Hopewood and he had the audacity to introduce himself, he was coming, and I was going so I had little time for conversation.”

  Miles was deep in thought looking intently at his brother when I felt Billy pulling on my arm, he looked scared and whispered in my ear. “He was the one that run my mum over.”

  I turned to him. “Who…what do mean, Billy.”

  Then Miles crouched down to look Billy in the eye. “Billy, do you know this Franklin Stanhope?”

  Billy’s eyes were full of terror. “Mr Franklin, he wanted me mum to work for him, he’d come again and again and offered her a lot of money. But she always said no, saying that it wasn’t a fit place and she wouldn’t take me there. I wasn’t supposed to know but I heard him say that he only wanted Mum, not me, unless he could use me for…things…” He started to tear up."

  Miles touched his shoulder. “It’s okay, Billy, I think we understand.”

  He sniffed. “It was him what tried to kill me, but he killed me mum instead.”

  “Why did you never tell anyone, Billy?” Miles spoke softly laying a hand on Billy’s shaking shoulders then pulling him into a hug.

  Billy was sniffling, trying hard not to cry. “No one was going to believe me. No one was going take my part against the likes of him. He’s bad, milord; evil all the way to his heart if he has one.”

  Edward knelt down beside his brother. “I believe you, child, everyone in this room does. Mr Spencer?” He looked over his shoulder, but my uncle and Sir Thomas were both gone, and Aunt Mary had her hand to her mouth with a fearful look on her face. Emilie went and sat beside her as Edward addressed my aunt, “Mr Spencer knows him, doesn’t he, but by another name?” She nodded. Edward looked at Miles. “Should we follow them, Miles?”

  Miles stopped him, placing a hand on his arm. “I need you and Father to stay here with the ladies. Samuel, I think it’s time we find the Major and have a chat. He’s supposed to be at the barracks.”

  Edward grabbed his arm. “Miles, be careful! If he’s working with Stanhope, he’s no fool. Besides that, dear brother, I have no desire to be elevated to the peerage again.” Then he chuckled and clapped him on the back. Giving his father a stern look, “Father and I will stay here as you request.”

  Miles turned to wrap his arms around me while not quite whispering in my ear, “Watch Edward, I’m still not sure I can trust him…with you.” Then he chuckled.

  Edward was laughing out loud now. “Dear brother, that is the only thing you need to fear from me that I may win your lady’s heart…especially since you’re always running off.”

  Miles clipped him on the ear then bent to kiss me. “Pay no attention to him, my love, these artist types are totally unreliable.” The brotherly banter delighted me but personally I didn’t trust Edward completely, so I would be keeping an eye on him regardless of his apparent delight in his change of status.

  After they left Edward paced around the room like a caged cat. Aunt Mary and Emilie were looking over my aunt’s latest needle work and Billy was playing with my aunt’s Spaniel but since they started to get a bit rambunctious, my aunt had banished Billy and Buster to the garden. Edward finally flung himself into the chair across from the Earl who was studying a chess problem that my Uncle Arthur had set out. “Would you care for a game, son?”

  Edward smiled. “No, thank you, Father, I’m too restless to concentrate. I feel like I should be helping Miles or doing something more constructive then just making polite conversation.” But he remained seated in front of his father, gazing out the window watching Billy and Buster chase each other…all the while his one hand appeared to be making tracings on the table top.

  I rose and walked over to my aunt. “Aunt Mary, do you have any drawing materials? I’d like to do something to take my mind off what Miles may be up to.”

  She smiled up at me then glanced at Edward and motioned to a cabinet at the far end the room. As I walked past Edward I touched his shoulder. “Come with me.” I opened the cabinet and Edward immediately grinned from ear to ear reaching out for a tablet and some pencils. I chuckled. “It seems that you and I share the same problem when others are out having adventures and we’re left behind. We both need a distraction, fortunately I can lose myself in my art. Is it the same for you?”

  Edward nodded. “Since I was a child, I found another world in my art. My mother viewed it as a wasteful occupation and would rather that I was at the race course or out hunting. My father surprisingly supported me in whatever my interests were.” He directed his gaze to the Earl concentrating on the chess board then he smiled and looked back at me. “But I failed to appreciate him for it and, so I pretended to distain anything he supported. It was only with my Aunt Millicent that I felt comfortable being me. She tried to tell me that my father only wanted me to be happy, but my mother was a good teacher. If I showed any interest or affection towards him or Miles, I was sternly and repeatedly chastised. When Miles went off to school I was totally at her mercy and Father started spending more and more time in London and abroad than at home. He would invite me to stay with him and Miles on school holidays, but I always refused. I wish now I had followed my heart. My mother loved me, but she hated my father and brother more.” He had a wistful faraway look in his eyes. Then he grimaced. “That’s how I became friends with the Brownes. Lord Burley was a childhood friend of my mother’s, so we spent a great deal of time with his family whenever Father was away.” He looked over his shoulder at his father and sighed. “I should have known that my mother and Lord Burley were lovers, it seemed to be the only time that she was ever happy.” Then he looked down at the materials in his hand. “This is me, it always has been. I would have been much happier all those years perhaps if I had told my father that I wanted to be with him and Miles; but what do children know.” He kept looking down then finally he rallied and smiled at me, but I could see his eyes were glistening when he asked, “Will you join me in sketching Billy?”

  I looked at him with sympathy, picturing him as that confused and lonely boy torn between two parents then I thought of my own childhood. “It would seem, Mr Johnson, that you and I have a few things in common, an interest in art and a less than stellar childhood. I would love to join you in the garden to sketch Billy. It will give me a chance to get to know you better.”

  “Thank you, Miss Turner, I would like that.” He stepped back taking my drawing materials then offe
ring me his arm to escort me out into the garden.

  Billy came rushing up to us asking what we were intent on doing. When we told him that we were going to draw him, he pulled down his mouth. “Okay, but I’m not sitting! Buster and I found an ole rabbit whole and we means to see what’s living in there now.”

  Edward laughed. “By all means, young man, I prefer to draw people doing things, personally I think just sitting for a portrait is overrated.” Billy looked at him like he was daft but then turned and ran after Buster who was jumping and barking at the rabbit hole. We didn’t speak to each as we sat and drew whatever pulled our eye. It was interesting to see our individual visions of the same scene materialize. I stopped drawing after a while and mused over how complex the Johnson brothers were. He must have noticed my lack of attention to my sketch and put his aside. “I would understand, Miss Turner, if you didn’t trust me; after all, I have done little to inspire your confidence in me.”

  I tried to appraise his sincerity from his expression as much as from his words before I responded with “I imagine that you’re practiced in the art of keeping your true feelings hidden, Mr Johnson; you are very like your brother in that respect. So yes and no about your inspiring my confidence. I don’t know you well enough yet, but I see much of your father in you and I trust him.”

  He chuckled. “I can only hope that I will eventually earn your trust and confidence. Perhaps one day I will be as lucky as my brother to find a woman like you.”

  Samuel and Miles eventually returned but they had been unable to locate the Major, in fact he had not been to the barracks in several days; despite having left my parents’ home on multiple occasions pleading business there. Aunt Mary invited us to stay for dinner, but I wanted to return home as did Emilie, so we thanked her and prepared to go our separate ways. I invited the Earl and Edward to join us, but they had a prior engagement. Miles and Edward’s aunt and uncle were in town and they had promised to join them for dinner. I encouraged Miles to go with them, but he declined. “I’ll see my aunt more than both of us may want over the next while. Once she found out I was to marry she announced her intent to journey down to Dorset with us. So, I intend to keep my distance until I can no longer avoid it.” He laughed out loud at the stern look he received from his father. “You know it to be true, Father, Aunt Millicent and I both enjoy a good debate and invariably we get carried away vowing never to speak to each other again. So, I’d rather put that off as long as I can.”

  I looked at Edward for confirmation. “It’s true, they are both extremely passionate about certain causes. But never fear so long as we can direct the conversation away from those topics, all should be pleasant.”

  I wasn’t sure that I was going to like Aunt Millicent, Miles was progressive but compassionate at the same time. “Do they disagree so much that it can cause such discord?”

  The Earl laughed and answered, “Not at all, my dear, they both agree as to the end result, it’s all about the means to reach the end that causes such a hullabaloo at family gatherings. If they would just stop before they started threatening each other, it would only be amusing. And if they could ever compromise and combine their efforts, I think they could move heaven and earth.”

  Miles scoffed shaking his head, “You have greater faith in us than I do, Father. I fully expect Auntie to haunt me to my grave disapproving of the way I died.” Everyone laughed then.

  Finally, Uncle Arthur returned without Sir Thomas. He was glowering and cursing under his breath when he entered the room and slammed his fist against the wall. Aunt Mary went directly to his side and took his arm surreptitiously looking at his fist then at the wall as Uncle Arthur continued, “Stanhope seems to have disappeared. He was not at his town home nor at his club or the other places is he known to frequent. Sir Thomas has sent some men to check out his country home and the docks and warehouses.” Then he looked at me with a softer expression. “In particular the one owned by you, Clarissa.”

  I was shocked. “ME! I don’t own a warehouse…do I?” I looked at my Uncle Samuel. He tipped his head to the side and looked uncomfortable, then it came to me, “Oh, the General’s bequest… I forgot.”

  My Uncle Arthur smiled at me. “The place has remained as it was before you inherited it, all the goods are all still there. Your father had hoped that someone would try to empty it by now, but it hasn’t happened yet.” I grimaced at the thought of being the owner of anything belonging to the General but smuggled goods was even less appealing. “There is a small fortune sitting there and I can’t see Stanhope waiting much longer, especially if he knows we’re onto him.”

  I was stunned. “Onto him? Today is the first time I’ve heard his name mentioned. How long has he been a suspect?”

  Miles took my hand. “Since your father first came back from France and was assigned the task of throttling the on-going smuggling. Sir Thomas knows just as your father does that it can never be stamped out completely, but he means to make the major players pay for their activities. For years, they have effectively been robbing the crown of significant revenue, disrupting honest commerce, ruining lives and livelihoods, all to line the pockets of a few select people.”

  Uncle Arthur was muttering to himself and finally spoke up with a bitter vehemence, “We’ll get him and his associates, then hang them.”

  Chapter 45

  November 25, 1830

  Once we arrived in Dorset my mind was in a constant whirlwind. I had to worry about a wedding, a madman after my family, my father still recovering from a stab wound, my pregnant mother and several aunts fussing over everything. There were gypsies on the property and the townsfolk were all vying for our favour when word spread that Miles would be the next Lord Shellard and that I would soon be his lady.

  This was my first visit back to the site where I had killed a man and Miles had almost died. I could see that to others marrying into the Turner and Hughes family would not be for the faint of heart. Since our first meeting Miles had been shot, tortured, temporarily blinded and if not for the timely intervention from my father and uncle, he would have likely been a victim of madam la guillotine all because he worked with my father. Yet Miles still wanted to marry me, he was a truly an amazing man.

  It was obvious that Miles was in his element in Dorset, the villagers came to him from the district surrounding Poole to ask for his assistance in settling disputes and to act as a spokesperson to the other landowners on their behalf which suited the landed gentry just fine so long as nothing encroached on their own rights. But his father was concerned that he might be taking on too much and spoke to him about having the responsibility of managing two estates, Dorset albeit was a much smaller one but still needed a great deal of attention. And he still needed to refamiliarize himself with the management of the Johnson estates which included more than the ancestral home in Devon. The Earl was pressuring him to go with him to Devon for a few weeks after our wedding. He wanted him to become reacquainted with the residents in the district and to meet with the estate manager. I was terrified at the prospect, but I agreed with the Earl that he could not shirk his responsibilities, but now was not the time to resolve these things as Miles pointed out.

  Mrs Dawson thankfully was unchanged when I met her again in the enormous kitchen. She and Mrs Cripps had sized each other up and decided to be fast friends but only after Mrs Cripps had tasted her pudding and Mrs Dawson had tasted her bread. Both assured me that they would be more than able to handle my Aunt Mary and Miles’ Aunt Millicent with aplomb. Both Mother and Emilie had vowed to leave the menus up to my good judgement, so I intended to leave it up to the two cooks to their great delight.

  The greatest surprise was Mr Dawson, he looked like a new man. He was sober, and sun kissed plus he had shed at least three stone of weight, he was muscular now and not at all sickly. Bita caught my look and jokingly said, “My Jack’s a braw man again, just like when I married him, thanks to Mr Johnson.” Then she smacked the side of her head “Oh the devil, I mean his Lor
dship…that will take some getting used to, miss. But my Jack does love working on this land again and even owning a wee bit of it hisself.” She noticed my surprise and smiled. “Twas a gift from his Lordship for back wages, can you imagine! I swear it’s made Jack twenty years younger.”

  Angel was nowhere to be seen so I asked after her. “Angel’s about somewhere, you know that she married one of Magda’s young men while you were in Paris, one whose pa was English and a school teacher.” She smiled then snorted. “Set Magda right on her ear when he declared that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and became a teacher. He and Angel have set up in one of the tenant cottages and use it as a school as well, she’s so proud of him. Jibben helped Charles go to university before our people had a permanent winter camp here. When he came back, he took a shine to our Angel and there was no stopping them. He’s running the school that his Lordship wanted for the gypsy children and he has just as many of the fisher folk’s children attending as gypsy. Mark my word he’ll be speaking to his Lordship soon about building a real school house. You might want to warn him that Charlie has his eye on a tumbledown barn near the church.” She snorted again. “Strange ways these days, I never thought I’d see the mixing of folks like we have now. One of these days you’ll come here and won’t be able to tell one kind from the other that might not be such a terrible thing either.” She bustled off when she saw Robert come in looking every inch a London valet. She clucked at him then hugged him, she was so proud she was ready to burst.

  Miles came in from the yard and asked me to go for a walk to get away from all the madness inside. I told him about Angel and Charles and their desire to build a school in a tumbledown barn, he groaned but good naturedly, “I’ll have my father speak to him, it was going to be his project anyway.”

  The Rambles as Miles called his home was like an old friend, despite the dark memories it contained. The wall that Miles had jumped from behind to rescue me when Randall intended to run off was still a tumbled wreck, some late roses were now climbed over it, making it an interesting feature. He noticed me studying the wall as we walked past. “I couldn’t decide if I should pull it down, rebuild it or just leave it. But when I saw that the roses had made it home I left it as is.” He laughed. “Edward said it was the best decision that I’d ever made, second only to asking you to marry me.”