by Anne Herries
The fee offered was generous, enough to pay the outstanding bill for sea coal and also hay and oats for the horses. Samantha had written gratefully that she would be happy to take Jane under her wing. Both she and Jane had enjoyed the arrangement immensely. When another mother had asked her to take her rebellious child in, she had been happy to do so. What had started as a casual arrangement had gradually built up so that she was able after three years to call herself a school, and after another year she could afford two female teachers, who specialised in history, music deportment and French. Samantha had continued to take several classes herself, and there were of course her special girls who took tea with her three times a week. Six years had now passed and she was firmly established in her life.
Samantha knew that this house was her place and the wishing well had shown her that she had certain powers. She was not a witch, though once upon a time she might have been thought one, but she could weave a spell just by the power of her voice and the rapt look on the faces of her girls when she told her stories gave her a great deal of satisfaction.
She shared the secret of the well with those girls who were close to leaving. She knew that some thought it was nonsense…just a fairytale, amusing but unreal. Samantha knew that if you asked the lady for her help she would give it, though not always in the way you might expect. The best way was to make a wish for someone else’s happiness…that often came true, she found.
The years had passed swiftly since she first opened her school and Samantha had thought herself secure for life, and it was all she’d wanted. Once, when she was very young, she had dreamed of a handsome lover who would sweep her off her feet and carry her away with him, but that was mere foolishness.
She knew now that the reality was very different. Only a few young women were fortunate enough to meet a man they could love. Most were guided into a marriage for reasons of position or fortune, which she knew could result in great unhappiness. Her Aunt Hester had suffered such a marriage and died of a broken heart …it was spoken of as the result of a fever, but Samantha’s mother had told her Hester was so unhappy she just did not wish to live.
‘My poor aunt should have married for love, as you did, Mama.’
‘Yes, my darling, as you must. Promise me you will not marry unless you can give your whole self to the man who asks.’
Samantha had promised and it was almost the last thing she had ever said to her mother, for she left for her finishing school the next day and when she returned she had only the house to remind her of all the love and laughter she’d known as a girl.
Samantha did not resent that her father had given all their money away. She had loved him, as everyone did who knew him. He could never turn away from a friend in need and she would not have had him any different. She did not need more than she had – but she did not want to lose what she had. It would break her heart to lose the home she loved.
For the time she spent with Nanny Sylvester, Samantha was able to put her worries from her mind. She returned through the woods at eight that evening, stopping by the well to pay her respects to the lady of the well. It was a magical time of night, the light beginning to fade but the air still warm and filled with the scents of the woods. In the undergrowth she heard rustlings as tiny creatures stirred and she began to sing to herself.
‘I do not ask anything of you for myself,’ she whispered to the lady of the well. ‘I pray that Eleanor will be happy with her choice. Her brother may have fetched her back and if he has I hope that he will not treat her unkindly.’
She waited but did not hear the music that sometimes seemed to come from the well. If the lady was minded to grant your wish she sometimes sang to you, but it was not as a woman might sing…but a faint sweet sound that made Samantha’s spine tingle. She did not hear it that night and walked on, refusing to let herself be cast-down. Taking the pins from her hair, she shook it free so that it cascaded over her shoulders and fell about her face, and then she began to sing her favourite French lullaby.
Where was the damned woman? He had been waiting more than an hour and a half. Miss Hampden had been received by one of the teachers and taken to her room. The companion had been given tea and dispatched back to the inn to discover how Mr Timms went on, and Robert had been left to wait in this very pretty and feminine sitting room, which smelled of a perfume he might have thought haunting had he not been in such a foul mood.
He would not sit here waiting another moment! By God, she would hear what he thought of her when she returned. He too would stay at the inn overnight and return in the morning…
As he walked over to the window to glance out, he saw a woman walking through the gardens at the back of the parlour. Her hair was long and the colour of sunlight; on her face was a dreamy expression of content and well being and she was singing. He could hear the melody through the open window and it intrigued him. Surely he had heard that song long ago when he was a child? It was a French melody that his mother had sung to him as he lay in bed and she stroked his hair.
He drew back from the window as he realised that the woman was about to enter through the French window and realised that she must be Miss Samantha Merlin. When he’d brought Eleanor here he’d hardly glanced at her. Angry at his circumstances and the way his father had simply let the estate go to rack and ruin, forcing him to sell land that had been in their family for generations just to pay their debts and secure his sister’s future, he had dumped her and run. It was merely chance that one of his own investments had suddenly made him rich beyond his dreams. He’d bought the shares in a silver mine in South America with money he’d won in a card game. He’d been offered the chance and taken it on a whim, never dreaming that it would earn him a fortune.
Even now, he could not believe his good fortune. He had sold out his interest at a huge profit, because he could not quite believe in the rich vein that had been found, but he’d heard since that the shares had gone even higher and he might have had more had he held on – but Robert had reinvested in safer things, buying back land and becoming a partner in a wine importing business with a friend.
His thoughts were drifting and it would not do! He must not lose the advantage just because this woman took his breath away. Why had he not seen it the first time? Yet there was something different about her today…something he could not place.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ he demanded. ‘I have been waiting more than an hour – nearly two…’
‘I believe I waited over three,’ she replied calmly. ‘I had another appointment, Lord Brough. Forgive me, I could not let Nanny down. She looks forward to my visits and she has not been well…’
‘I shall admit that I was late,’ he said and glared at her, ‘but I was unavoidably detained. Whatever, the case, it has no bearing on your disgraceful lack of control over your pupils…’
‘I do not rule with a rod of iron here, sir. I treat my girls as young ladies and I expect them to behave with decorum and decency.’
Her answer was perfectly reasonable but not what he had expected. His eyes narrowed in fury. ‘So you would put the blame on Eleanor – when it was you that encouraged her to spread her wings and fly…’
‘In a manner of speaking. I was encouraging the girls to open their minds and look to the sky, to see more than was in front of them. I did not intend Eleanor to think that it was acceptable to run off with a young man. Indeed, I did not imagine she would do so. My girls are taught to behave properly in society and I cannot think why she imagined I was encouraging her to elope for I certainly was not. I hope that you managed to stop her and bring her back?’
‘Had I been able to find her I should naturally have done so, but though I chased all the way to Scotland after I received your letter, I was unable to trace them. They seemed to have disappeared into thin air. You are certain that they intended to go straight to Scotland? She did not send me a note of any kind.’
‘That is certainly what Eleanor said in her letter to me.’ Samantha felt anxious
for her pupil. She had imagined that Lord Brough had the errant pair safe and sound and his sister was back at home and that he was coming only to vent his anger on her. This was far more serious. She went to her desk, unlocked the top drawer and took out the letter, handing it to him. ‘Read it for yourself, sir.’
Robert scanned the untidy lines, his look of disgust deepening.
‘It seems you have taught her nothing if this is the best she can produce.’
‘I dare say it was writ in haste and much distress.’
‘If she was distressed why did she not come to you rather than go off with the rogue? Do you suppose he abducted her?’
‘I think not, my lord,’ Samantha replied. ‘One of the girls told me that Eleanor had been seen to meet the young man – who is, I may say of good family, if not of your quality.’
‘He may be the Duke of Buckingham for all I care; he is still a rogue to carry off a young girl of sixteen years – why she is probably younger than that young miss I rescued on my way here. A certain Miss Hampden’s carriage had met with an accident and I was able to render her a service – which accounts for some of the delay in my arrival.’
‘Oh…well, I must thank you for that,’ Samantha said. In her anxiety she had not realised that Miss Hampden was due that afternoon. ‘Yet I think that you wrong Toby. He is young and impressionable and…I think it may have been Eleanor that persuaded him to elope – if they have, which they may not have done since you could not find them.’
His eyes flashed with temper. ‘So now my sister is the temptress and prime mover in all this…’
‘No, no, of course not. I believe they are two foolish young people who have fallen in love. Why they thought they should elope rather than asking for your permission…’
‘Because Eleanor knew damned well I should not have given it for at least another year. She is too young to think of marriage – and now she has ruined herself.’
‘No one knows where she has gone but you and I,’ Samantha assured him. ‘I have told her friends she was called to a sick aunt’s bedside and I see no reason why she should be ruined, if we keep it to ourselves. If she has married…and yet, if you could not find her at Gretna Green, I do not see how, for she is underage to marry without permission here.’
‘Exactly. The rogue has ruined her and will likely cast her off.’
‘It is obvious that you do not know him,’ Samantha said and could not resist smiling. ‘I assure you that he would do no such thing. I think it more likely that they came a cropper somewhere and are hiding out, not knowing what to do for the best.’
‘I pray that you may be right,’ he said, ‘but she has ruined herself. This is sure to get out…’
‘Not if you keep calm and do not lose your temper…’ Samantha caught her breath as she saw the anger in his face. ‘Forgive me, my lord – but perhaps your attitude to Eleanor may have contributed to her…’ She gasped as he took a step towards her, his expression so murderous that she thought he would strike her. Then he clenched his fists at his sides and contented himself with glaring at her.
‘You are certainly sure of yourself, Miss Merlin. I would have expected at least an apology, but this brazen attitude…’ He was lost for words. ‘You may be sure that my sister will not be returning here when I find her.’
‘I should be very sorry for that, because I liked her very well and I had hoped to help her find herself – but I understand why you feel that way. I do apologise if I sound uncaring. I am distressed that this has happened of course…’
She saw the fury in his eyes and lifted her head in defiance. ‘Of course I regret what has happened, you ridiculous man! I care for all my girls and Eleanor was so lonely and unhappy. All I did was to try and make her smile again – and it seemed to happen, but then she ran away and I do not understand why.’
‘Ridiculous man!’ He stared at her in astonishment. No one had ever addressed him in that manner before and it took his breath away. ‘How dare you…’ For a moment he had a strong desire to throttle her but looking at her white throat and then her lips he was amazed to feel a sudden burning need to catch her in his arms and kiss her. Suddenly, the funny side of it struck him and he gave a harsh laugh. ‘Next you will tell me that it was because I suggested she should leave school and go to stay with Aunt Grace that she…’ He stared at her in horror as he realised that it might have been his letter that had thrust his sister into this desperate flight. ‘No, she wouldn’t…I know our aunt can be a little trying but…’ He swore and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘My aunt thought that she should come home so that she could prepare her for her season next year.’
‘I believe that you will find Eleanor has been taught what she needs here.’ Samantha frowned. ‘Is Aunt Grace, Lady Morrison?’
‘Yes, why?’
‘Eleanor told me that Lady Morrison had been her guardian until you returned from the army and…she dislikes her. She said she was cruel and rude…’
‘Did she indeed? And what did she say of me?’
‘She thinks you care only for the army but believes you are rich because you promised her ten thousand pounds when she marries.’
Robert gave a snort of disgust. ‘If I cared only for my career in the army I should not have come home, nor should I have chased all the way to Scotland. Eleanor is all I have…’
‘Perhaps if you were to tell her…to find someone else to chaperone her during her season…’
‘Have you any more advice for me, Miss Merlin?’
‘I have thought that Eleanor needed someone to love her. Perhaps you could try to like Toby – and agree to an engagement at Christmas and…’
‘That is enough,’ Robert said, eyes snapping with temper once more. ‘How do you suggest I find the runaways? I must discover their whereabouts before I can do anything.’
‘I wish that I knew,’ she said in a sincere tone. ‘I can only suggest that you engage an agent to search for them, sir. If they intended to reach Scotland they must have met with an accident on the way. Perhaps your agent could commence his search in that direction.’
‘You are certain you do not have any idea where else they might have gone?’
‘I do know she was very fond of Merry…’ Samantha said. ‘She is Countess Sutherland now, of course. I know she is staying in the country at the moment, because she invited me to stay. Would you like me to write and ask if she has seen Eleanor? She is very discreet…’
‘I shall drive down there myself,’ Robert said. ‘Could you supply me with the names of any other friends she might have confided in?’
‘Lady Annabelle Wrexham. I believe they may be in London – but I think Merry is the more likely. Eleanor was very fond of her.’
‘Then I shall go there myself and set a search in progress if I receive no help from her friends.’
‘They would do all they could to help you – and if I hear anything I shall of course let you know.’
‘Then I shall take my leave of you,’ Robert said. ‘Do not think you’ve heard the last of this. Good evening, Miss Merlin. You will hear from me again shortly.’
He walked from the room, feeling that somehow he had lost the battle. She had countered all the arguments he’d put to her and he’d ended up feeling that he was responsible for his sister’s flight – which was ridiculous, wasn’t it?
Chapter Three
Samantha breathed a sigh of relief after her visitor left. He had not thanked her for her help, merely ordered her to let him known if his errant sister should turn up here or let her know where she was staying. Yet she believed he was a little calmer, a little less angry than when he’d arrived.
It was a shame that he should have such a bad temper for she thought she might have quite liked him had he been less inclined to erupt into rage at the drop of a hat. He was of course entitled to be annoyed…Eleanor should not have run away as she had, but it was hardly Samantha’s fault. She felt a little guilty if her encouragement had encouraged the gir
l to think it right to run off with her lover, but surely Eleanor knew that what she was doing was wrong? She had written such a tearful letter, because she knew everyone would be cross with her.
Where could the foolish child have gone to? She was undoubtedly in love with Toby, but too young to be thinking of marriage – perhaps next summer might be time enough, once Lord Brough had come to know him…if he ever allowed himself to get beyond knocking the poor man down.
Samantha sighed, wishing she might have convinced Lord Brough that Toby was exactly the kind of young man that Eleanor needed in her life. He was steadier, more thoughtful and…so why had he carried her off to Scotland? That did not quite ring true to Samantha. Toby was more likely to have approached her brother and asked for his permission than elope with his love. Yet the pair had undoubtedly run off together – and Eleanor’s letter had said they were headed for Scotland.
Perhaps the letter had been her idea – to put them off the scent of their true destination. Toby was in Samantha’s estimation far more likely to take her somewhere he would consider safe and then seek out her brother to ask for an interview.
If that were the case, Lord Brough might find a letter waiting for him when he returned home.
Samantha could only pray that it would turn out so fortunately, for otherwise the girl might be in real trouble. If the pair had been together without a chaperone for several days her reputation would be ruined…and that would reflect badly on her school.
No, it did not matter about her, as long as Eleanor could be saved from the consequences of her reckless actions. Samantha would greatly regret it if her school had to close because of this incident, but she would be even more sorry if anything had occurred to harm Eleanor.
‘It is a good thing you came with us, Joan,’ Eleanor said to her companion. ‘Had Toby not insisted on having you as my chaperone we should have been in dire trouble. When that fool drove his cart into the middle of the road and we had to swerve to avoid him…’ She dabbed at her eyes with a lace kerchief. ‘My poor darling Toby was thrown to the ground. He was in such agony and, had that kind gentleman not come to our aid, I do not think he could have driven us another yard let alone five miles to this inn.’