by Anne Herries
103
THE WICKED & WONDERFUL MISS MERLIN
ANNE HERRIES
The Wishing Well Series book 2
This book is the copyright of Linda Sole published 2012
All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce this book in any form without the permission of the publisher or author.
I thank Jane Odiwe for permission to use her design as my cover for this series.
The characters in this book are entirely fictional and bear no resemblance to any person living or dead, except where a historical reference is used.
Chapter One
Samantha Merlin looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. Her reflection showed a woman of spirit with bright bold eyes that were a deep azure when she was thoughtful, long hair that sparkled like threads of gold, which had been drawn back into a tight knot, and lips the colour of soft rose. It was not the image she wished to see reflected.
Would a pair of spectacles help? She wondered if the glasses she had purchased with plain glass, perched on the end of her pert nose, would make her look older and wiser – or would she still look far too young and irresponsible?
Samantha Merlin was a good teacher; she knew she was the right person to have charge of her school. The other teachers she employed were all perfectly respectable and her girls received a proper education that fitted them for the world that awaited them, but she liked to give them more.
She tried with her stories to lift their eyes from the ground or the mundane things in life, to give them imagination and set their spirits soaring. Of course not all girls were suitable material and she chose her special girls carefully, but somehow Eleanor Brough’s lost lonely look had got beneath her skin and she’d taken her in with a group of older girls, who were steadier. She’d hoped that it would bring the girl out of herself, and it had. Unfortunately, she had taken Samantha’s words too literally. She’d spoken of letting their spirit take flight, of lifting themselves and reaching out for what they wanted…
Unknown to Samantha, Eleanor had wanted a young man by the name of Toby Brockleton. He was the son of the local squire and Eleanor had apparently met him after the girls had been to church one Sunday morning. She’d lingered behind the others, ostensibly to tie a shoelace – or so Samantha had been told since. In actual fact she had begun her secret assignation that day and it had continued for six months, until a few weeks before her seventeenth birthday, when the lovestruck pair had fled together, leaving a tearful, ill-spelled and blotted note for Samantha.
The realisation that the girl had fled to Scotland with a young man had hit her like a bucket of ice cold water. Lord Brough was said to be a stern guardian of his only sister and she had found him rather cold when they met briefly. He’d told her to expect Eleanor, given her a draft on his bank for the whole first year and left without disclosing any personal details either of himself or his sister.
It was from Eleanor that she learned her parents had died a few months earlier, in a terrible carriage accident. Her brother Robert had been away serving in the army and had been forced to give up a life he loved to look after the estate and her. Apparently, there had been debts but Robert had by some miracle paid them and Eleanor was sure her brother was rich.
‘He says I may have a season when I finish school,’ she confided once she began to lose her shyness. ‘I am to marry a man of good character but not to worry about his fortune for Robert will give me ten thousand pounds when I marry – so he must be rich, mustn’t he?’
‘Yes, perhaps,’ Samantha said. ‘Perhaps he has put the money aside for you from the estate because he cares for your happiness?’
‘I do not think Robert cares for anyone or anything but soldiering,’ his sister said. ‘When he was younger he used to tease me and I thought he cared for me then – but something happened. All the joy went out of his life and then he went away to join the army.’
‘Do you know what happened to change him?’
‘No. I was in the schoolroom, for I had a governess then and I seldom saw my parents or my brother. Once a day I was taken down to Mama and then I did not see her again…though I think sometimes she kissed me when I was in bed and almost asleep.’
Samantha listened feeling angry. Many fine ladies thought it right to see their child just once a day until they were out of the schoolroom and it was an iniquitous way to treat their own flesh and blood. Leaving them to the care of a governess, many of whom punished ruthlessly with a cane, never giving the youngsters any reason to laugh or enjoy their childhood. It was one of the reasons she had started her school, because she wanted to repair broken hearts and crushed spirits – and she believed with some of her pupils she’d done just that. Merry and Annabel were two of her successes, both now happily married and in love.
She had failed with Eleanor Brough, or looked at another way, perhaps she had succeeded too well. The girl had cast off her crippling shyness, cast off her reserve to the extent where she was willing to run off to be married.
And her brother was going to blame her head teacher. Of course he would. She expected it and she had prepared herself for his arrival. Looking at the clock, she drew a deep breath. He would be here at any moment and he would be angry. She must go downstairs to receive him in her parlour.
Lord Robert Brough swore as one of his horses pulled up lame. He had been held up by a problem with one of his tenants before he left home and now this – and he had particularly wanted to be on time. Miss Samantha Merlin was going to wish she had never been born by the time he’d finished with her.
‘It’s his left right hock, sir,’ the groom said. ‘I’ve suspected a splint might be forming for a while but I put a poultice on last night and the swelling went down. I should have said something, my lord.’
Robert got down from his chaise. He went to one of his favourite horses and ran a hand over Thruster’s hind leg. It had swollen and would take some time to heal. Frowning, he bit back the furious words that rose to his tongue. Jenkins was a good man as a rule and perhaps he’d made things worse by pushing the horses in his haste.
‘He will have to be led to the nearest hostelry. You must stay with him. Release him and go back to the inn we passed earlier. ‘I shall ride Thunderer and leave the chaise here with my baggage. Send someone to fetch it immediately.’
‘Yes, sir. I apologise, my lord.’
‘Apology accepted.’ He did not wish to dismiss the man for one mistake. ‘I shall take my small bag with me, but nothing else.’
It was a risk to leave the chaise and his trunk unattended, for there were beggars and thieves roaming the roads, though he normally found most folk were honest, but what else could he do?
Looking about him, he saw a young lad chewing a blade of grass.
‘Here to me, boy!’
‘Me, sor?’ the lad asked in a thick accent that made his words almost unintelligible. ‘Ain’t dun nuffin’, sor…’
‘I am not accusing you of anything, lad. If I give you a shilling will you stay here and guard my chaise until they come from the inn to fetch it?’
The lad’s face brightened, his eyes taking on an acquisitive look. ‘Ought ter be at work, sor – but fer two silver shillin’ I’ll stay and mind yer bits, milor.’
‘You cheeky little…’ Robert laughed, amused by the lad’s enterprise. ‘I’ll give you your two shillings – and if everything is as it should be when I return, I’ll give you a job too. Leave your name and direction with my man and I’ll send for you. You can learn to be a groom in my stables, if you behave.’
‘Ain’t nobody gonna get near yer fings, sor. Jed Turnbill says it on his ‘onour, sor.’
‘See that they don
’t.’ Robert hid his smile.
Jenkins had been freeing the horses from their shafts. Robert mounted the horse that was still hale, admonished his groom to take good care of Thruster and set off at a smart pace down the road.
‘Cor, he’s a right un’, ain’t he?’ the lad said. ‘It takes summat ter ride a carriage horse wiv no saddle.’
‘His lordship had his favourite horse shot from under him in battle. He got up and caught a bolting horse and was back in the thick of it before you could sneeze – if you was wanting to,’ Jenkins said. ‘Give us your direction then lad. You won’t find a better master – he’s tough but fair…’
‘Ah, I reckon…’
Unaware of the speculation or burning ambition to become a groom he had left gathering in one young breast, Robert leaned forward over his horse’s neck. He had to grip hard with his knees, because he had neither saddle nor stirrups and the horse he was riding was a mettlesome brute. It was not completely unused to being ridden for the grooms sometimes amused themselves by riding bareback in the yard, and as a lad Robert had practised balancing in a standing position to ride round the yard or out in the meadow. His mother had seen him once and shrieked at him to be careful, which had resulted in him jerking and falling. He’d bruised himself but fortunately nothing was broken and it had not stopped him from trying out all kinds of tricks with the horses.
He was glad of it now for Thruster knew he was being ridden by a master and did not try to throw him off. The delay caused by his horse going lame might soon be caught up providing he was not…cursing, Robert saw the carriage lying across the road ahead of him. It had clearly met with an unfortunate accident, its leading pole broken and the occupants standing dejectedly by the side of the road.
He could of course have ridden by on the grass verge, but one of the dejected persons was a young lady of a similar age to Eleanor and the other was clearly a companion, who looked to be at the end of her tether.
‘I don’t know what to do, miss, and that’s a fact,’ the governess said in a loud voice. ‘Indeed, I think there is nothing to be done – until the groom can fetch help.’
‘But poor Timms has broken his arm in the accident,’ the young lady replied, ‘he cannot walk all the way – it is more than five miles, and so it must be one of us…’
‘Indeed, you will not go, miss, for it would be most improper and I’m sure I cannot walk so far for my ankle was twisted as I jumped from the carriage.’
Robert did not hear exactly what the ladies were saying but he caught a few words and realised that they were in some trouble. Halting, his horse, he looked down at them.
‘You have had an accident – has anyone gone for help?’
‘Poor Timms has broken his arm,’ the young lady said. ‘Papa would have sent Jack with us but he was needed elsewhere and he thought we must be safe enough with Timms because Miss Merlin’s school was not more than twenty miles – which is why I agreed to go, because I can go home at the weekends if I wish…’
She was clearly a young lady of spirit, a very pretty bright and determined young lady by the look of her. Robert frowned for he did not like to think of another innocent being gathered into that incompetent woman’s net.
‘I shall immediately ride on to the next hostelry and bring help back to you,’ Robert said. ‘You will be safe enough until I return?’
‘Oh, thank you, sir,’ the young woman replied, giving him a smile calculated to bring most men dropping to their knees. ‘I am Anne Hampden…my father is Sir William of Kneadsmare Manor.’
‘Delighted to meet you, Miss Hampden. Does your groom have a pistol – and is he able to use it?’
‘I think not but I certainly am, and Papa says that I am one of the best shots he knows, which is why he was prepared to let me come with just dear old Timms and Miss Mead.’
Robert held back his smile. She was certainly a precocious miss and at any other time he might have fallen under her spell, but he was angry that his sister had run off with a scoundrel and refused to be charmed by an underage enchantress.
‘Then I shall leave you for as long as it takes,’ he said, tipped his hat to her and rode off, cursing under his breath at the delay his errand must cause.
Yet he was too much of a gentleman to pass anyone by and the look of gratitude in the companion’s eyes must be his reward for putting himself to so much trouble.
Fortunately for Robert, he reached the hostelry, which he knew to be a good one, without further mishap. He was able to arrange for Thunderer to be stabled, fed and watered, to hire a chaise and send grooms to fetch in the disabled carriage and horses. He drove the borrowed chaise himself, leading the way to the stranded ladies.
At least an hour had passed by the time he was able to settle the ladies into his chaise. Their own carriage was to be taken to the inn and a wagon would transport poor Timms in comfort to the nearest doctor. The young lady’s trunks would be delivered to Miss Merlin’s school and Mr Timms would wait until his employer could be contacted to fetch both him and the carriage home. After seeing her charge settled, the companion would return to the inn to see how Mr Timms went on and they would travel home together.
The discussions and negotiations had taken at least another twenty minutes. Glancing at his gold pocket watch, Robert knew that he was hopelessly after his time. He had wished to retain the high ground in order to put Miss Merlin firmly in her place but he was a stickler for punctuality himself and she would be within her rights to deny him her time.
Miss Hampden was thanking him, chattering on about some inconsequential thing. He replied in words of one syllable, not wanting to be rude but annoyed with his himself for failing to keep his appointment and after a few moments the young lady lapsed into silence.
Realising he must have offended her, Robert forced himself to ask if she and her companion were comfortable and then to inquire if she was looking forward to her new school. Miss Hampden recovered her spirits and began to chatter again, and this time he did his best to answer her.
She was a pretty, clever little thing and he wished his poor sister had been a little more like her – perhaps then she would not have been so easily led astray by a fortune-hunting rogue…
Chapter Two
Samantha looked at the gilt clock on the mantle. It had just chimed five and she’d been waiting over two and a half hours for Lord Brough. He might be a rich lord and he was no doubt angry with her for allowing Eleanor to run away but to be so late was nothing short of rudeness. She had other people to see and she had promised to visit an elderly lady in the village at half-past five. Well, if Lord Brough decided to turn up now he would just have to wait. She would not keep Nanny Sylvester waiting for him!
Leaving her sitting room, where she had meant to receive Lord Brough and offer him tea or refreshments, she went down to the kitchen and picked up the basket she’d prepared earlier. It contained jars of her preserves and jams, sweet biscuits, a ham, some fresh eggs from her special chickens, and a crock of farm butter, also a small bottle of brandy – for medicinal purposes, of course. Nanny Sylvester loved a drop of brandy in her tea before she went to bed, because it helped her to sleep.
Leaving the schoolhouse by the back door, Samantha walked through the gardens, past the hives that gave her such wonderful honey, remembering to thank them as she passed, because the bees liked that and gave more honey. She had relaxed after so many hours of tension and she sang a little French verse as she walked, enjoying the evening sunshine. Perhaps Lord Brough would just go after his sister, take her away from the school and leave it at that…and yet that might be the worst scenario, because if he told everyone she was not fit to have the care of his sister she might have other parents taking their daughters away.
Samantha frowned, because she was not sure what she would do with her life if her school failed. It would not make her rich but it did enable her to live in her beautiful house without worrying where the money would come from to pay her next bill.
&nbs
p; Left to cope on her own at the age of nineteen, when she had just come down from her finishing school in Switzerland, Samantha had discovered that her parents had left her the house and woods, but very little money. They had loved life and enjoyed every minute to the full, entertaining their friends and giving them lavish hospitality. Her father was forever loaning money to his friends and very few paid him back; he had a happy-go-lucky attitude to life and always believed that his friends would pay their debts in the end, but when he died there had been several thousand pounds outstanding. Samantha did not have the details. Her father’s lawyer had told her that he would do all he could and she believed he had recovered a few hundred pounds but most of the money seemed irrecoverable.
Samantha had not known where to go for though her father had many friends, none of them was in a position to help her. She had expected a season and she was indeed invited to stay with a friend of her mother’s for a few weeks, but although she had enjoyed herself immensely no one she could possibly have considered had asked for her in marriage.
Lady Melbourne had offered to give her another try the following year, but by then Samantha had discovered the wishing well in the woods. She had thrown her coin into the water and asked the lady to show her the way – and two days later a friend of her mama’s had written to ask if she would consider taking her daughter under her wing.
‘My Jane does not get on well with her governess and yet a boarding school is such a big step. Your dear mama told me how clever you are, Samantha – would you do me a great favour and teach my little Jane how to behave in society and if you could possibly guide her about what books she should read and her clothes…? I should of course be happy to pay for her board and lodgings.’