A Mother's Trust

by Dilly Court

  ‘Shouldn’t be surprised if that don’t go for the house in London too,’ Merrydew said grimly. ‘Maggie and me will be in for a nice little nest egg to live on for the rest of our lives. I say we wait for the consignment of silk to be landed in two days’ time and then we alert the revenue men. They’ll nab him and that brother of his too.’

  Chapter Twenty

  PHOEBE STIFLED A gasp of dismay. So that was their plan. She had sensed that something was brewing and she had been right. She turned and tiptoed until she was out of earshot and then she ran. She raced upstairs to the bedroom where Rose was sleeping peacefully, and Phoebe shook her until she awakened with a start. ‘What’s the matter? Is the house on fire?’

  ‘No, but almost as bad,’ Phoebe said in a hoarse whisper. ‘I’ve just overheard Merrydew and his gang plotting to have the Paxmans arrested for smuggling. They’re working for someone they call the Boss, and he’s the one that Rogue has been paying off for years in order to keep the farm.’

  Rose sat up straight. ‘How do you know all this?’

  ‘He mentioned it when he was showing me the house. I didn’t pay too much attention to it then, but now it all makes sense. Whoever this man is he’s going to see to it that the brothers are sent to jail for something they haven’t done. It might be funny if it weren’t so serious.’

  ‘You do care for him, Phoebe. You’re in love with Rogue Paxman. You must be, or you wouldn’t care what happens to him.’

  Phoebe hesitated for a moment, but suddenly she had to confess the feelings that she had hardly dared acknowledge. ‘You’re right, but I wouldn’t say that to anyone other than you.’

  ‘I knew it.’ Rose raised Phoebe’s hand to her cheek. ‘You must tell him how you feel. You can’t marry Gino when you’re in love with another man.’

  Phoebe withdrew her hand gently. ‘What I want isn’t important now. The main thing is we have to warn Rogue, and we mustn’t let the Merrydews know that we suspect anything.’

  ‘What will you do?’

  ‘I should go to London and warn Rogue, but I can’t do that because of Caspar. He might have given up, but on the other hand he might still be searching for me. He’s certainly mad enough to do anything.’

  ‘Then I must go,’ Rose said firmly. ‘Ivy has to stay here and look after Teddy. You can’t go in case you run into Caspar, so that just leaves me. We’ll have to think up a good excuse so that the Merrydews don’t suspect anything.’

  ‘Would you really do that for the Paxmans?’

  Rose smiled. ‘Probably not, but I’d do anything for you, Phoebe. I can’t allow you to suffer a broken heart without trying to do something to prevent it happening in the first place. Besides which, it will be exciting. I’ve never travelled on my own before, and I’ve never been to London. It will be a whole lot of firsts crammed into one.’

  Phoebe angled her head. ‘It’s a lot to ask of you, Rose. But we’d have to pretend that you’re going home to Brighton. We mustn’t let the Merrydews know that you’re travelling to London. Stupid as they are, I’m sure they’d smell a rat and would try to stop you.’

  ‘It’s like being the heroine in a penny dreadful,’ Rose said, cupping her chin in her hands. ‘I could pretend to fall out with you and demand to be taken to the station. I don’t suppose that Merrydew would wait to see me safely on board the train.’

  ‘We could stage an argument,’ Phoebe said, allowing herself to be carried away by Rose’s enthusiasm. ‘But not in front of Teddy, of course. And perhaps we ought not to tell Ivy until you’re away from here. She’s a good sort but she might get nervous and spoil the whole thing. We can’t afford to make mistakes.’

  ‘And if you say there’s only two days until they plan to do this thing, I must leave first thing tomorrow morning.’ Rose hesitated, frowning. ‘There’s just one problem. I haven’t any money.’

  Phoebe delved beneath the mattress and extracted a leather pouch. ‘There’s enough here to get you to London and pay your cab fare to Wilderness Row. Don’t, on any account, walk those streets alone. You’ll be set upon and robbed before you know what’s happening. I don’t mean to scare you, but it’s not like Brighton.’

  Rose took the purse from her, weighing it in her hand. She looked up at Phoebe wide-eyed. ‘But this is the money you’ve been saving to pay for lodgings in Dover. How will you manage without it?’

  ‘Don’t worry about that now. The main thing is to warn Rogue about the Merrydews’ plan.’

  ‘You’d do this for him?’

  Phoebe turned her head away. ‘I’d do it for anyone who was in a similar position.’

  ‘And when I bring him back here, will you promise to tell him how you feel?’

  ‘It’s not that simple, Rose.’

  ‘But you love him, Phoebe.’

  ‘I love my family too. Their honour is at stake here. I don’t expect you to understand that, but it’s everything to them.’

  Rose sighed heavily. ‘I hope you’re doing the right thing. I really do.’

  ‘Go to sleep now,’ Phoebe said gently. ‘You’ve got a long journey ahead of you tomorrow.’

  Rose slid down beneath the covers, closing her eyes. ‘And a great adventure too.’

  It was surprisingly simple. Perhaps working in the theatre and watching actors perform had made it easy for Rose and Phoebe to stage their carefully choreographed quarrel, but enacted in front of the astonished Merrydews and a tearful Ivy, it was enough to convince their audience that the rift between them was irreparable. With genuine tears running down her cheeks, Rose demanded that Merrydew take her to the railway station in Dover. Surprisingly, he offered no resistance and immediately went outside to harness the horse and hitch it to the cart.

  Phoebe waited until they had left and Maggie had gone out to collect eggs from the henhouse before she confided in Ivy, who was seated at the table feeding Teddy with bread and milk. ‘So you see,’ Phoebe concluded, ‘all we can do is hope that Rogue gets here by tomorrow at the latest, or he’ll face serious charges that will certainly land him and his brother in prison.’

  Ivy stared at her with a puzzled frown. ‘Why should you care? I thought you hated the Paxmans.’

  ‘I hate what they stand for, but I won’t see them punished for the one thing they haven’t done.’

  ‘Seems to me they deserve to go to jail, no matter what.’

  ‘Perhaps, but the Merrydews are just as bad, or even worse.’

  ‘What if the revenue men think that we’re all part of the plot? We could all be in trouble for aiding and abetting criminals.’

  Phoebe felt a cold shiver run down her spine. This was something that had simply not occurred to her, but she realised with a pang of dismay that Ivy might have a point. ‘Surely not,’ she said doubtfully.

  ‘I think we ought to leave right now, before things start to turn nasty.’

  ‘We can’t go anywhere at the moment. I gave all my money to Rose. We’ll just have to stay here and hope that she finds Rogue. He deserves a chance to save his home.’

  ‘I don’t like it. You can’t trust men. They walk out on you in your time of need.’ Ivy wiped Teddy’s face on a scrap of towelling. ‘I should know if anyone does.’

  Phoebe rose from the table. Things had seemed so clear last night. She had not thought any further than the need to save Rogue from disaster and disgrace. Now she questioned her own motives. Perhaps she had been blinded by her foolish infatuation for a man who could never be anything to her, and she had put him and his interests before the safety of her brother and her friends. ‘Best get our things together, Ivy. If they haven’t returned by tomorrow morning we’ll leave for Dover.’ She fingered Gino’s heavy gold signet which she had concealed by hanging it around her neck on a length of ribbon. ‘I’ll pawn this and it will keep us for a few days. I’ve asked Rose to get a message to Gino to tell him where we are, so I’m sure it won’t be long before he arrives in Dover, and then all our troubles will be over.’

>   Ivy picked Teddy up and hitched him over her shoulder. ‘Yours will just be starting, if you ask me. I don’t know how I’m going to face Lorenzo after all this.’

  Smitten by a further attack of guilt, Phoebe laid her hand on Ivy’s arm. ‘I’m so sorry that I dragged you into this, but Nenzo is too good a man to think ill of you. He’ll know that I’m the one who brought us to this state.’

  Ivy’s plain face creased into a smile. ‘I came along willingly enough, and if it hadn’t been for you I’d never have met Lorenzo.’ She chuckled as Teddy planted a kiss on her cheek. ‘As for this young man, I love him almost as much as if he was my own dear dead baby. So I’m not complaining, Phoebe. We’ll get through this somehow. You’ll see.’

  The sound of Maggie’s heavy tread and the slamming of the outside door made them both jump. Ivy scuttled from the room taking Teddy with her and Phoebe picked up her bonnet, assuming a casual manner that was at odds with the turmoil raging inside her. She was fastening the ribbons as Maggie stamped into the room carrying a basket of eggs.

  ‘So you’re off somewhere, are you? After that performance this morning I wonder you’ve got the nerve to stand there bold as brass, dressing up with no one to see you. The master might have said he’ll return soon but I wouldn’t count on it, love.’ She set the basket down on the table. ‘Now get out of me way. Some of us have got work to do. This ain’t a hotel.’

  ‘I’m well aware of that, Mrs Merrydew,’ Phoebe said icily. She snatched up her shawl and draped it around her shoulders. ‘I’m going out.’

  ‘Hoity-toity,’ Maggie called after her. ‘Stuck-up bitch.’

  Phoebe set off with a purpose. This was not simply a stroll along the country lanes. Having arrived in the middle of the night she had no idea which route they had taken, but she decided that by heading east they would be going in the right direction for Dover, and she wanted to find the quickest and easiest path for them to take. She followed the narrow twisting lanes between dusty hedgerows laden with scarlet hawthorn berries and brambles bowed down with juicy blackberries, but she ignored autumn’s bounty and continued walking until she reached a crossroads where a signpost pointed its wooden finger in the direction of Dover. She retraced her steps. Now she knew which way to go if they were forced to flee, and all she could do for the rest of the day was to wait and try to appear as though nothing untoward had happened.

  Night came and there was no sign of Rose. Having eaten the meagre supper of bread and cheese provided by a grudging Maggie, Phoebe and Ivy went upstairs. Teddy was already fast asleep in Ivy’s arms, and Phoebe dropped a kiss on his round cheek. ‘I think you’d better have him in your room tonight, Ivy. I don’t think I’m going to get much sleep as it is.’

  Ivy rocked him gently in her arms. ‘I don’t mind in the least.’

  ‘What would I do without you?’ Phoebe leaned over to brush Ivy’s cheek with a kiss. ‘We must carry on as normal in the morning, but if Rose hasn’t returned by noon we’ll leave as quietly as possible.’

  ‘It can’t be soon enough for me,’ Ivy said with feeling. ‘I hope you manage to get some rest, Phoebe.’ She carried Teddy into her room and closed the door.

  Phoebe was suddenly nervous as she entered her bedroom, locking the door behind her. Perhaps it was her over-active imagination but she had noticed Merrydew giving her sly looks all through the evening meal. Perhaps he had intended all along that she would be implicated in the plot to incriminate the Paxmans. She did not undress. Her bag was packed and she was ready for flight. She lay on the bed, but even when she drifted off to sleep she was plagued with bad dreams and awakened at dawn with a headache. She raised herself from the bed and went to the washstand to splash cold water on her face. She glanced out of the window half expecting to see the stable yard crawling with revenue men, but the only living thing she could see was the old horse sticking its head out of its stall.

  Realising that she was dripping water all over the floor, she picked up the huckaback towel and patted her face dry. The coarse material was harsh against her cheek and she remembered hearing Merrydew accusing his wife of selling the best linen at market. Both of them, she thought wryly, would have a lot to explain when Rogue arrived home. She could only hope that it would be soon. Although it was still early, she decided to brave Maggie’s disapproval by going downstairs and making a pot of tea. Since Rogue left for London their position in the house had been difficult, they were neither guests nor paying lodgers, and the Merrydews had taken every opportunity to make them feel unwanted. Phoebe was about to leave the room when she heard the sound of a horse-drawn vehicle entering the stable yard. Her heart gave a great leap of delight. She could not wait to see him and pretending otherwise was simply not an option. She unlocked the door and ran downstairs.

  In the kitchen she was met by a stony-faced Merrydew. ‘You got a visitor, miss.’ He stood aside, ushering the man into the room.

  Phoebe froze at the sight of him. She could neither speak nor move.

  ‘Phoebe. At last I’ve found you.’ Caspar glided across the flagstone floor as if skating on ice. His smile was fixed and his eyes glittered with triumph. He held out his arms. ‘My dear girl. You’ve led me a merry dance.’

  ‘Get away from me,’ Phoebe cried, suddenly finding her voice. ‘What are you doing here?’

  He laid his hand on his heart in a theatrical gesture. ‘How can you be so cruel? You know that my act is nothing without you. I’ve been searching for you night and day. I’d almost given up when I happened to run into that pretty little daughter of the drunken puppeteer.’

  Merrydew cleared his throat noisily. ‘Never mind all that, mate. You want the girl, you take her away now, afore the other one comes down and starts carrying on.’

  Caspar turned on him with a look that made Merrydew recoil. ‘Be silent, you peasant. Do you know who I am?’

  Recovering himself, Merrydew thrust out his chin. ‘No, and I don’t care, mister. I want you and her out of here afore my missis comes in from milking the cows.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere with him,’ Phoebe said, backing towards the inner door. ‘Leave me alone, Caspar. I don’t want anything to do with you.’

  He took a step forward and then stopped, dropping his hands to his sides. ‘My dear, how cruel you are, considering what I did for you in Brighton.’

  ‘Go with him for Gawd’s sake,’ Merrydew growled. ‘I’ve had enough of you city folk coming here and disturbing us. Take her, mister.’

  ‘No,’ Phoebe cried in alarm. ‘You don’t understand, Merrydew. This man is a murderer. He’s on the run from the police.’

  Merrydew blinked, but he shook his head. ‘It’s none of my business. I don’t want no trouble.’

  With her hands behind her back, Phoebe felt for the door handle. If she could just get upstairs to Ivy’s room they could lock and barricade the door, and they would be safe for a while at least. ‘Where’s Rose?’ she demanded. ‘You said you’d seen her. What have you done to her?’

  ‘Nothing, my sweet. On my honour, I happened to be strolling along Saffron Hill when I saw her going into your grandparents’ hovel.’

  ‘You were spying on my family. That’s low even for you, Caspar.’

  He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I still can’t believe that you lived in a place like that. It’s not the sort of house that I would pick for a young woman of your outstanding beauty and talent.’

  ‘If you’ve hurt my family …’ Phoebe heard her voice rise to a screech. She was trembling and her mouth was so dry that she could hardly swallow.

  He raised his hands. ‘Don’t be so melodramatic, my dear. Save that for our stage act. I made discreet enquiries amongst the hokey-pokey people, and on one occasion I called at the house. I merely wanted to ascertain whether or not you were at home, but a big burly brute of a fellow came out onto the pavement, rolling up his sleeves. I retreated to the shadows, of course, but I have him marked.’

  ‘You’re evil,’ Phoebe whispere
d. ‘Rose is the only one who knew I was here. What did you do to make her tell you? Where is she now?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. She was unwilling to part with the information as to your whereabouts at first, but with a little persuasion she came round to my way of thinking. I let her go then. She was no further use to me.’

  Merrydew tapped Caspar on the shoulder. ‘Look here, mate. I like your style, but what I said still goes. I got unfinished business to attend to and it don’t concern you.’

  Caspar turned on him with a reptilian hiss. ‘Take your hands off me, my man. I won’t hesitate to use the dark arts on you, so leave me alone.’

  ‘All right, cully.’ Merrydew backed away. ‘No need to get shirty with me.’

  Seizing the opportunity to escape, Phoebe wrenched the door open and tore along the passageway, heading for the stairs. She did not look back but she could hear Caspar calling her name and the pounding of his footsteps getting closer every second. She managed to get to Ivy’s room but found it locked. She hammered on the door. ‘Ivy, let me in.’ She could hear movement inside and then the door opened just as Caspar reached the top of the stairs. She pushed past Ivy, slamming the door behind her and turning the key in the lock.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Ivy demanded. ‘You look like the devil himself was after you.’

  ‘It might as well be,’ Phoebe said breathlessly. ‘It’s Caspar.’

  ‘No. It can’t be. How did he find us?’

  Phoebe was too busy dragging a chair to the door and wedging it beneath the handle to answer straight away. Outside Caspar was shouting and banging on the wooden panels. ‘He was watching my house and he saw Rose go in. Heaven knows what she was doing in Saffron Hill but somehow he got hold of her and bullied her into telling him where to find us.’

  ‘Come out, you little fool.’ Caspar’s voice accompanied loud thumps on the door. ‘I’ve got all day,’ he added in a slightly calmer tone. ‘You can’t stay in there forever.’