by A. O'Connor
Diana looked surprised but bored. “Yes. Is that a problem?”
Anna managed to laugh at the audacity of the woman. “Of course it’s a problem. You can’t just borrow our staff without permission and put them to work for some silly dinner party.”
“It’s not a silly dinner party actually. Getting the Earl of Kilronin and his wife to come is quite a coup. I’ve noticed you’ve never managed to get them to sit at your dining table.”
“You’ve mistaken me for somebody who cares!” Anna suddenly shouted.
The servants all jumped with fright and stopped working.
Diana viewed Anna coolly.
Sinclair suddenly appeared in the doorway and entered the room, giving Anna a start.
“What’s all this shouting?” he said.
“It’s cousin Anna,” explained Diana. “She seems somewhat perturbed.”
“I’m not your cousin,” stated Anna. “You are married to my husband’s cousin and that’s where our relationship begins and ends.”
“What is your problem, Anna?” demanded Sinclair.
“My problem is you have taken all our servants without so much as a please or thank you. Who do you think you are?”
“I think you’ll find Edward gave me permission to take them,” said Sinclair.
“No, he didn’t!” Anna challenged him.
“Excuse me?” Sinclair’s eyes flashed dangerously.
“There’s no way Edward would let you take every last servant and leave the house unattended and without so much as informing me.”
“Calling me a liar is insulting me greatly.” Sinclair voice was low but firm.
“And you have insulted me, Sinclair. Do not take my servants again without my express permission . . . Barton!”
The butler appeared in the doorway. “Yes, my lady.”
“Barton, you and the other servants return to your duties in the Big House immediately.”
“Yes, my lady,” Barton nodded.
“Do not, Barton!” Sinclair spoke loud and strong. “Remain here with the work Mrs Armstrong has given you.”
Anna looked at Sinclair disbelievingly. “Sinclair! They are my servants. You can’t overrule me!”
“I can and I do! Barton, the servants will remain at their posts here,” Sinclair pronounced, his dark eyes boring into Anna’s.
Anna felt frightened, but was determined not to show it.
The servants were looking very nervously from Anna to Sinclair.
“Barton, I will not repeat myself again. Do as I order. Return to our house,” Anna insisted, her eyes not leaving Sinclair’s.
“Very good, madam,” said Barton. He clicked his fingers and the servants left what they were doing and walked quickly from the room, Barton in their wake. Anna could hear him in the hall, giving orders to the others. She felt a wave of relief sweep over her. For a minute she had been sure he would ignore her command.
“How dare you come in here and give orders in my house!” Sinclair snarled at her.
“Your house! I think you’ll find Hunter’s Farm belongs to my husband. This is our house. And those are our servants.” She picked up a silver fork from the table. “And this is our silver borrowed from our dining room, again without permission. And no doubt the food our cook was preparing for your esteemed guest tonight came from our pantry!”
“What of it?” demanded Sinclair. “Edward doesn’t mind.”
“Well, I do! And I will not be disrespected.”
Sinclair leaned forward to her, his eyes glistening. “Edward would not deny his heir anything.”
“His heir?” She was taken aback.
“I am Edward’s heir and my son after me . . . in the absence of Edward having any children.”
“We’ll see about that!” Anna said.
“It’s the natural line of succession,” said Diana, speaking coolly and in control. “If anything should happen to Edward, Sinclair is next in line. And after him our Harry.”
“You are being very presumptuous!” said Anna, blinking back tears.
“No, I am not presumptuous – I am presumptive,” said Sinclair. “Because in the absence of you and Edward having a son, the heir apparent, I am the heir presumptive.”
Anna moved towards the door.
“Oh Sinclair!” Diana said sweetly. “We should be kind to her. It’s not her fault that’s she’s . . . barren.”
Anna blinked a few times and quickly left. As she walked out the front door, she could hear Sinclair and Diana laughing loudly behind her. Loud, hollow mocking laughter.
The tears were streaming down her face as she quickly got into the carriage.
“Are you all right, Lady Anna?” asked Seán, full of concern.
“Just take me home, Seán,” she pleaded as she buried her face in her hands.
Anna went straight to her room, and fell on her bed crying loudly, the scene with Sinclair and Diana replaying her mind. She cried until she was exhausted and then drifted off to sleep. When she awoke it was dark and she started to cry again, softly this time. The door opened and Edward walked in. He quietly went around the room lighting candles, before coming to sit on the bed.
“Don’t try to defend them, Edward. I’ve had enough!” she said through her tears.
“I’m not going to defend them.”
“Did you give them permission to take all our staff for their stupid dinner party?”
“No, of course I didn’t. I wouldn’t allow the house to be left unattended like that. You did right to order them home.”
“How dare they!” She sat up and looked him in the face. “You’ve let them take over, Edward! Don’t you see what you’ve done? You can’t let it continue.”
“I’ve spoken stern words to Sinclair and told him it must not happen again. He assures me it won’t.”
“But they spoke to me so appallingly. You have no idea. I know he is your cousin, and I’m sure he does manage the estate wonderfully for you. But I want them gone, Edward! I want them out of Hunter’s Farm. Find a position for them elsewhere away from us and our estate. I can’t stand them here any more!”
“But I can’t, darling.”
“But why?” she was exasperated.
His eyes were filled with desperation. “Because Sinclair is my heir. Sinclair and his son are next in line if we don’t have any children.”
Anna stared at him before giving a low wounded groan that seemed to emerge from the pit of her stomach.
“Why is this happening to us, Edward?”
He shook his head sadly “I don’t know.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Edward, I’m so sorry!” She reached out and held him tightly.
“In fact, I’m meeting with our solicitors next week,” he said, “to ensure everything is in place for the estate and title to pass through to Sinclair and his son, in the event anything should happen to me.”
22
As Christmas 1844 approached, the servants joyfully decorated the house with ivy, mistletoe and holly laden down with red berries. Walking through the house, Anna wished she could reflect their happiness. Georgina amongst others was coming to stay over the Christmas period. Anna would never have believed she would have dreaded a visit from her cousin. But here she was, wishing a letter would arrive from Georgina saying she couldn’t make it for one reason or another. Georgina would only hold up a mirror of Anna’s unhappiness to her, and magnify it further. Since their last altercation, Sinclair and Diana had kept out of her way. They rarely came to the house at all, let alone arrived in unannounced like they used to. But when she did cross their path, even though they were perfectly civil, they looked at her knowingly. Knowing that they were just playing a waiting game, and one day in the future it would be them and their son who would own and run everything. They were to be guests at the house on Christmas Day and she dreaded that as well.
When Georgina and the others arrived on Christmas Eve, it seemed like a jolly house they were entering. The fires were blazing, the b
randy flowing, the parlour games stretched late into the night. Anna avoided being left alone in Georgina’s company. She was trying to postpone the inevitable fraught conversations that would ensue. And most importantly she wanted to avoid another confrontation like they’d had at Tullydere. Georgina’s solution to her problem made her feel ill and yet, like a nagging distant pain, that solution seemed to gnaw at her.
On Christmas morning there was a light fall of snow. Anna sat up in bed and gazed out at the world outside. Edward was already up and ready. She rang the bell and the servants came in, with hot water in a big pitcher for washing and coal for the fire. With the fire blazing to heat up the room, Anna got up to wash and get ready for the day ahead. The carriages brought everyone down to the church in the estate village.
Inside the church, Anna and Edward sat at the top of the church in the family pew, a family pew that seemed to stretch on for ever in its emptiness. She could see Sinclair and Diana in the congregation with Harry.
As the choir sang ‘The Coventry Carol’, Anna looked at her husband, who seemed lost in his thoughts. He seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. She looked up at the altar and prayed for forgiveness for what she was contemplating doing.
At the dinner table, Sinclair and Diana made sure to sit at the very end of the table away from Anna. As the roast turkeys and roasted potatoes and vegetables were served, Anna put on an act of being a cheerful hostess, exuding high spirits and vivacity. The well-known philanderer Lord Browne was a guest as well, and tried to flirt with Anna as he always did.
“Is it true what my husband tells me, Lord Browne, that you have engaged a Catholic solicitor?” asked Anna.
“Indeed I have and why not? I wanted the best solicitor in Cork and that is what I have got, regardless of his religion.”
“My father tells me many Catholics have joined the professional classes but I thought they really only tended to their own,” said Anna.
“I’ve never known a solicitor to turn down money be it from Catholic, Protestant or even Jewish hands!” said Lord Browne, causing everyone at the table to laugh.
“I think that you’re treading into dangerous territory, Lord Browne,” advised Sinclair suddenly from the end of the table. “It might be all very novel having Catholic solicitors or doctors, but we can’t concede any control to Catholics. Who knows where it might end if we encourage it?”
Anna looked at Sinclair. “As ever, you are right, Sinclair. We have to be very careful of people who do not know their place.” She sipped from her red wine.
Sinclair stared down at her. “And as we know a quirk of fate can change a person’s place and position very quickly,” he countered.
Anna raised her glass and smiled broadly at Lord Browne. “Well, I think it’s very progressive of you. In fact, we should do the same and get a Catholic solicitor. What do you think, Edward?”
“I think I’m quite in favour of keeping the status quo, my dear. Catholics should know their place in the order things. Catholics in the professions can only cause problems. Look at what Daniel O’Connell did.”
As the conversation continued Georgina leaned forward and whispered to Anna, “You’ve been avoiding me since I arrived.”
Anna looked at her. “I know. I’m sorry. Let’s go for a walk after dinner.”
She looked at Edward who seemed to be staring almost trance-like into the crystal glass containing his burgundy wine.
It was late afternoon on Christmas Day as Anna and Georgina walked out the front door. They were wrapped up in warm coats with bonnets, scarves and gloves. They walked across the forecourt and down the steps to the first terrace. Down the sloping hill, the lake was frozen over near the shore and some of the guests had gone down and were ice-skating, their shouts of excitement carrying through the quiet countryside.
Anna and Georgina turned off the terrace into the gardens and wandered along the pathways there.
“Sinclair and Diana are the doting parents, aren’t they?” said Georgina as they walked past a fountain that was frozen over, with robins dancing around it.
“Things have deteriorated considerably between me and Sinclair,” said Anna. “We hardly speak and he flaunts his power whenever he gets the opportunity. And I am powerless to get them out of our lives. They being our heirs.”
“Without a child of your own.”
Anna nodded. “Without a child of my own.”
“Anna, you’re in a very precarious position, not only for yourself and Edward but for the whole estate in the future. And what if something happens to Edward and Sinclair becomes the new Lord Armstrong? You’ll be completely at his mercy.”
“I know. I lie awake at night worried sick about it.”
They walked on in silence for a while before Georgina picked up the courage to speak. “Have you given any more thought to what I suggested to you at Tullydere? About having a child with someone else?”
Anna didn’t speak for a while as they continued walking. The sun was setting and spreading an orange glow across the Christmas sky.
“Yes, I have given it thought. I’ve been in turmoil over it. I don’t know if I could do it, Georgina.”
Georgina grabbed her cousin and turned her around to face her. “You must! It’s your only way. Have another man’s child and pass it off as Edward’s.”
“I just don’t think I could go through with it.”
“Anna! This is a drastic situation you are in. And a drastic situation calls for drastic action. Sleep with another man and become pregnant.”
“But who would I choose to father my child? Where would I start, how would I even suggest it?”
“You don’t suggest it! You just do it!”
“But with whom? Lord Browne? He’s ready and willing by the look of him. Is that what you are suggesting? That I wander down to his room tonight and commit adultery with him in my husband’s house? Under my husband’s roof!”
“I’ve been thinking about this, and no. You cannot risk having intercourse with Lord Browne, although I did consider him a suitable candidate. If you did that, you would be risking exposure. Men talk, and women get ruined. You can’t choose Lord Browne or anybody else from our circles. I hear the rumours and scandals about people. If you were unfaithful to Edward with one of our own, you would live your life in the fear of exposure and ruin.”
“So who do you suggest I choose then?” Anna asked, exasperated.
“You have to look beyond our kind, our class. You must look to somebody that will never know who you are or who will never come into our circle. It’s the only way you and your child will be safe from exposure.”
“I don’t understand. Who are you suggesting?”
“A stranger. A Catholic. Somebody with no connection to you and from a different world to yours.”
“A Catholic!” Anna nearly shouted. “You’ve definitely lost your mind, Georgina! I can’t have a child with a Catholic. Who are you suggesting? One of these doctors or solicitors we were discussing earlier?”
“Not even them. There’s always a risk they will meet you one day and your ruse will be discovered. The most important thing is that this deception is never uncovered, because it would mean your ruin and Edward’s ruin.”
“So what exactly are you suggesting?” demanded Anna.
“A random man from a random town. Or from the countryside.”
“A peasant!” Anna was horrified.
“This will be your and Edward’s child, Anna. The real father is of little importance or consequence.”
23
With Georgina so certain of what had to be done, it was easier for Anna to leave the planning to her. Anna’s own mind was a whirlpool of confusion, worry and dread. Georgina was convinced this was the only way she and Edward could be saved. They met and corresponded regularly over the next months, as Georgina put her scheme together.
“Listen to how the servants talk, especially to each other,” she advised. “Listen in to their conversations.
You can’t go to a fair and talk in your normal accent as you’ll stand out. Learn and practise how the servants talk so you can fit in at the fair and talk to potential suitors.”
“The fair?”
“Yes. A fair. That would be a perfect occasion for you to meet a man. A fair brings people from all over. The town would be packed with strangers. But you’ll have to be sure Edward is out of the way, on business.”
Anna felt only dread at the thought.
The perfect opportunity came in April when the Easter Fair was being held in Castlewest. It was one of the biggest fairs of the year. And it happily coincided with Edward being away in Dublin on business. Georgina came to stay in his absence, as she put Anna through the final tutoring.
“If anyone asks, you are a tenant farmer from the other side of the county and you are looking to buy a mare,” she said as they plotted in the drawing room on the eve of the fair. “The town will be packed with strangers, but do your research, look around. Try and select the most handsome man to ensure your child will have looks.”