The House (Armstrong House Series Book 1)

by A. O'Connor

  “Such a welcome!” he said kissing her back.

  “I never want you to leave me again. Not for a single night!” she said.

  “Then I won’t,” he promised.

  In the library, Edward sat at his desk opening letters while Anna lay out on the couch in front of the fire reading a book.

  “More bills!” complained Edward as he threw another piece of correspondence on top of the others.

  “Do they ever stop?” asked Anna, not looking up from her book.

  “Unfortunately not . . . And the head groom has left. He’s emigrating to America – to make his fortune!” Edward smiled sceptically.

  Anna casually looked up from her reading. “Why don’t you consider Seán for the post?”

  “Seán?” Edward looked at her, surprised.

  “You’ve always said he’s excellent with horses, and full of confidence.”

  “He does have the right qualities. But won’t you need him?”

  “Not really. He was useful when I first came here, as I didn’t know my way around. But it’s my home now, and he’s outlived his usefulness.”

  “Well, if you’re sure. Though I’ll miss him around the house, I’m kind of used to him,” mused Edward.

  “It wouldn’t be fair to keep him back from an opportunity because of that,” nodded Anna with a smile.

  After a while, Anna stopped trying to concentrate on her book and gazed into the fire.

  30

  “I have some rather wonderful news for you, Lady Armstrong. You are expecting a baby,” said Doctor Cantwell, the local doctor.

  Anna’s hands shot up to cover her mouth in excitement and disbelief.

  “Are you sure?” she demanded.

  “As sure as I can be.” He was amused by her reaction, but delighted with the news. The non-arrival of an heir at Armstrongs’ had been the talk of the county and beyond. Lord and Lady Armstrong were such nice people, they deserved this, he thought.

  Anna ran through the house from room to room, eventually storming into the library, startling Edward.

  “Good heavens, what’s the matter with you, Anna?” he asked, looking up from his desk.

  “A baby! Edward . . . we’re expecting a baby!”

  Edward sat motionless, staring at her, with his mouth open.

  Slowly he rose from his chair. He then rushed to her and grabbed her tightly.

  “Anna . . . I’d given up hope. I’d really given up all hope!” He pulled back from her, staring at her.

  She wiped away his tears. “Are you happy?”

  “You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”

  Anna was astounded with the whole outpouring of goodwill shown to her and Edward with the announcement of the pregnancy. They were inundated with letters from friends and acquaintances from across Ireland and Britain offering congratulations. It was like it had been a given that there would be no direct heir to the mighty Armstrong estate and family, and now this news brought unexpected joy. Anna made sure to answer each and every letter directly.

  There was one exception in the chorus of congratulations. Sinclair and Diana had not offered any and had pointedly stayed out of her way. Anna could only imagine their fury and disappointment at being displaced as heirs. She had tried to discuss the matter with Edward but he had been dismissive of the idea that Sinclair would be anything less than happy at the news.

  One afternoon Anna was sitting at the desk in the parlour writing her thank-you notes when Barton entered.

  “Pardon me, there is somebody requesting to see you,” said Barton.

  “Yes, who is it, Barton?” she said, not looking up from her writing.

  “Seán Hegarty.”

  She looked up, startled. “Seán?”

  “Yes, your former manservant.”

  “I know who he is, but what does he want?”

  “He wouldn’t say, apart from that it was of great urgency,” Barton said.

  “Where is he now?”

  “Waiting in the kitchen.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t possibly see him, Barton. Just inform him I’m entertaining guests and am not available.”

  “Very good, ma’am.” Barton nodded and went to exit.

  “Oh, and Barton . . . if he comes to the house again, don’t let him in. He no longer works here and so has no business being here.”

  “As you wish, Lady Anna.” Barton went out and closed the door after him.

  Anna realised her heart was pounding fast. Why on earth did Seán want to see her? She had banished all thoughts of him from her head since he had left, and decided to continue to refuse to think about him. But as she tried to return to writing her thank-you letters, it was hard for her to concentrate.

  31

  Since she had become pregnant, Edward had a permanent smile on his face. His natural good nature had returned. Gone was the nagging distress he had endured when they were heirless, and Anna and he had the marriage she had always envisaged. So it was unusual to see the stress return to his face one afternoon in the summer, after returning from a trip around the estate.

  The summer had been very wet and warm, and Anna was finding it tiresome. She couldn’t often go out for a walk because of the rain, and yet there was a humid feel inside the house.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked as he came into the drawing room, fanning herself.

  “I’m not so sure. The potato crop has failed on a number of the tenant farms on the estate.”

  She looked up, concerned. She was well aware of how the tenants had become reliant on the potato for food, and in turn how their rents were reliant on the potato as well.

  “What do you mean – failed?”

  “The crops are rotten. There’s no yield. You can’t eat them.”

  Anna put down her embroidery. “And how many farms are affected?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Sinclair and his men have set off on a tour of the entire estate to gauge the magnitude of the problem.” Edward went over and poured himself a glass of wine from a crystal decanter and downed it in one.

  Sinclair arrived at the house that night. He came straight into the drawing room where Anna and Edward were waiting.

  He went over and poured himself a whiskey. His sense of entitlement and familiarity still managed to annoy Anna, even though it didn’t have the same impact any more as she fervently believed her baby would be a boy and Sinclair would never be master of her house.

  “Well?” demanded Edward.

  “It’s all over the estate. The crop has failed considerably.”

  “It’s what we all feared. There’s been a blight in Europe, in Belgium and the south of England during the summer. I feared it would arrive here.” Edward sat down, looking despondent.

  “But how will the tenants eat?” asked Anna.

  “Never mind how will they eat, how will they pay their rents?” snapped Sinclair. “I’ve sent messengers to the Foxes and the other neighbouring estates to see if they are affected as well. To see exactly what we are dealing with.”

  They found out quickly that the blight had affected the farmers in the neighbouring estates and beyond. And it soon became clear how extensive the blight was. It was widespread across the country.

  “We’ve had the crops fail before.” Edward tried to be optimistic. “There’s terrible hardship that year, but the next year things come right.”

  “But what do we do for the present? This year?” demanded Sinclair.

  Edward pondered a while, then said, “Evict none of the tenants. Allow them to go into arrears. They can catch up next year.”

  “If the rents are allowed to go into arrears then the estate’s mortgage will go into arrears!” Sinclair had argued. “You might not find the banks so kind in their dealings with you as you are with your tenants!”

  “And who will we get to replace the tenants if we evict them all? This blight has meant there are no other farmers with money able to come in and take their place,” Edward pointed out.<
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  Anna soon knew her husband was speaking the truth as letters offering congratulations over her pregnancy were replaced with letters from friends who owned other great estates, expressing how difficult things were and how hard it was to see the tenants go hungry. Like Edward, everyone was hoping that the following year’s crop would be a success and that the year’s hardship would soon be over. The people could endure that year. Most had some food, some resources to get them by through the winter until the following spring.

  But as the summer was left behind and the winter arrived, it was the hardest and cruellest winter people could remember. The people, already weary from lack of food and resources, suffered the severe weather in the desperate hope that the following year would be better.

  Inside the house, life went on much the same as normal. There were certainly cutbacks in the parties and lavish lifestyle that was normally enjoyed, as there was in all the Big Houses. But as Anna sat in her bedroom in the late stages of pregnancy, looking out at the thick snow across the countryside, she could not help but feel overjoyed at the coming birth of her baby. The suffering of those outside the house, beyond the estate, could not diminish her own happiness.

  32

  Anna went into labour one evening at the end of January 1846. The doctor was on standby and rushed to the house when the time arrived. Edward paced anxiously in the drawing room.

  “Congratulations, Lord Edward,” said the doctor the next morning as he came in to him. “You have a son.”

  “Can I see them?” Edward asked.

  “You can,” consented the doctor.

  Edward rushed out of the room, up the stairs and into the bedroom, where he found Anna with the baby nestling in her arms.

  “Your son and heir,” said Anna as Edward gently took the baby into his arms.

  As Edward cradled the child, he could hardly believe it. After nearly six long years yearning for a child, he finally had a son.

  Edward bent over and kissed Anna.

  Their son, Viscount Lawrence, was to be christened at the beginning of March in the church in the village on the estate. Invitations went far and wide. Mindful of the hardship people were suffering, Edward and Anna decided that the reception would not be as extravagant as it would normally have been, but they still planned a sumptuous banquet at the house to mark their child’s baptism. As Lawrence was christened in the church Anna was overjoyed to see goodwill on everyone’s faces. Her thrilled father and brother and sisters and their families were all there from Dublin. All her cousins from Tullydere were there, including Georgina. Georgina had barely spoken two words to her since she arrived, their once inseparable closeness now gone. Sinclair and Diana did not even bother to try and look happy, their disappointment plainly written across their faces. Anna thought it funny but, now she had her son, she no longer cared about Sinclair and Diana. They were no longer a threat to her.

  After the church, the congregation filed out to the carriages waiting on the green. Anna noticed that none of the locals and their children were waiting there to cheer them. But, as she spotted a few children across the green looking thin and dishevelled, she quickly realised they had more to worry about with the failed crops. Everyone quickly made their ways to their carriages. As Anna stepped up to her carriage, she spotted Seán standing alone across the green staring at her. She got a fright to see him there. His stare unnerved her. She quickly got into the carriage and held Lawrence close to her as they took off back to the house.

  Anna’s father was in conversation with Edward and a group of the other men in the ballroom as the banquet was being served later in the day.

  “On the journey from Dublin, I witnessed first-hand what the people are going through,” said Anna’s father. “There seems to be a lot of people begging on the roads. It’s very pitiful.”

  “Some landlords just evicted their tenants when they couldn’t pay their rent,” said Edward.

  “They now are destitute. I’m in London next week in Parliament and I’m going to bring the situation up as a matter of urgency. We need funds to supply food to these people.”

  “Please do,” said another landlord who had travelled from the south for the christening. “Things are desperate on our estate. And we have no money, with our mortgage, to give out any charity to the tenants. And the local town is in chaos with displaced people. I’ve had to forbid my wife to go near the place any more.”

  “Any help from London will be much appreciated until the harvest comes in this summer,” agreed Edward.

  Anna cut into their circle, smiling. “Gentlemen, I forbid any more talk of this terrible blight today. This is our son’s christening and I want you all to enjoy the day as much as you can. Reality will be there for you all tomorrow, but today is a day for joy.”

  Her father leaned forward and kissed her. “Indeed it is. And where is little Lawrence?”

  “He was tired and so I put him to sleep in the nursery. I’d better go and check on him.”

  She smiled and walked through the crowd of people out to the hall and up the stairs. Even being parted from her son for an hour was too much. Sometimes she would just sit beside his cot and stare at him for hours as he slept. She opened the nursery door and entered the room, closing the door behind her.

  She turned and was shocked to see Georgina standing over the baby’s cot.

  “Georgina! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you down enjoying yourself with everyone else?”

  “I just wanted to see him close up. There’s been so many people crowded around him that I couldn’t get a proper look. Disappointing, considering how close we were, I should be shut out like this.”

  “You haven’t been shut out, Georgina.”

  “I haven’t heard from you in months.”

  “Well, things have been hectic here what with the pregnancy and then the crops failing.”

  “Of course . . .” Georgina looked down at Lawrence and studied him. “He doesn’t look much like you, does he?”

  “I think he has my eyes,” Anna said.

  “No, he hasn’t . . . and he doesn’t look much like Edward either.”

  “That’s a matter of opinion.”

  “Babies are always supposed to look like their fathers in the first few months of their lives. It’s nature’s way of telling the father that this is his child, to form the bond.”

  “I don’t believe that old wives’ tale. As much as every parent thinks their child is remarkable and unique, the reality is they all have two eyes, a nose and a mouth and all look very much the same.”

  “Oh, I always see a likeness between the baby and the parent. And as I said there is no likeness between Lawrence and Edward.” She looked up and stared at Anna. “However, he does look very much like Seán.” She reached into the cot and touched the baby’s fine blonde hair.

  Anna felt sick as she looked at her. “What are you talking about, Georgina?”

  “You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool me. You forget I was a party to all this, it was my suggestion.”

  “Georgina, I now think madness can be added to your other liabilities.”

  “During the riot at that fair, nine months before you gave birth, you said Seán rescued you. Looking at this child, I think he did more than that. Looking at his child here in front of me.”

  Anna became angry. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea you visit here again, Georgina. I don’t want you in my house any more.”

  “Really?”

  “No, I have to put up with you today, but I think you should head back to Tullydere tomorrow first thing.”

  “Well, I’m reliant on my brother and his wife for transport, so I can only leave when they choose to.”

  Anna leaned forward and almost shouted, “I’ll arrange for my own carriage to take you to Tullydere, if it gets rid of you any sooner!”

  The baby started to cry.

  “Look what you’ve done now! You’ve woken Seán’s baby,” said Georgina.

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sp; “I want you to get out of here!” shouted Anna. “Get away from my baby. Get out of my house. You’re not welcome back here again. And I pity poor Joanna who has to put up with you under her roof!”

  “Very well, I’ll go,” said Georgina.

  Anna reached down for Lawrence and, taking him in her arms, started to soothe him.

  As Georgina walked slowly to the door she said, “You can lie to me, Anna. You can lie to Edward. You can lie to everybody else. But you can’t lie to yourself.”

  Anna waited until Georgina had left before she broke down crying, holding the baby tightly to her.