by Anna Jacobs
‘Thank you,’ said Sarah, rather enjoying his frankness. ‘May I stay and talk to you for a while?’
‘Talking's free and there’s a seat over yonder. Send that silly wench back to the big house or we’ll not get a word in edgewise. Never stops nattering, she don’t!’
‘Well!’ Mary flounced off, pausing at the corner of the house to throw over her shoulder, ‘Don’t you put up with none of his rudeness, mistress!’
Daniel ignored this jibe and went on digging slowly and carefully, not wasting a movement. Sarah simply sat for a few minutes watching him. ‘Your garden's beautiful,’ she said at last.
He nodded in acknowledgement of this compliment, but didn’t waste any breath on a reply. When he came to the end of the row, he leaned on his spade and looked at her. ‘Be you really going to stay on at the Manor? They d’say so in the village.’
‘Yes. And I wondered - if you had time - if you would help me grow some vegetables. Petey can do the heavy digging for you, but I don’t know anything about gardening. I would pay you, of course.’
‘Mmm. Thass an idea.’ He paused and eyed her sideways from a pair of still bright blue eyes, ‘I don’t need money, but I never could get the hang o’ cookin'. Messin' around in a kitchen is women's work. I’d welcome some proper vittles reg’lar like. Mind, I’ll not help you fill the garden up with fancy rockeries an’ statues. I don’t like statues! Nasty, heathen things, statues are, folk with no clothes on! What folks want to put ’em in their gardens for, I’ve never knowed. He bought some statues once. Dangy things got broke one stormy night, they did.’
As he chortled softly to himself, she smiled, guessing that the breakages had not been accidental. She waited patiently for him to finish enjoying his memory of old mischiefs before speaking. ‘I’ve neither the money nor the inclination to purchase statues, but if we could grow some food, well, the less I have to buy, the more money I’ll have left for repairs.’
He nodded approvingly. ‘Sensible, that. You’re like your grandmother. And yes, I’ll help you, mistress, and glad to.’ He wiped his dirty hands on the side of his breeches and solemnly shook hands with her to seal the bargain. ‘Now,’ he said, looking round with satisfaction, ‘this be all the digging I can do for today. We’d better go an’ see what’s left in that old kitchen garden of yours so I can decide what’s needed, hadn't we?’
As they began to walk, he cackled again. ‘Eh, what wi’ your lameness an’ my rheumatiz, we make a good pair walkin’ together, don’t we?’
And she found herself chuckling with him. It didn’t seem to matter to these people that she was lame, though it had always been a secret shame to her when urchins shouted after her in the street.
So now, she thought later, as she strolled back to the house after exploring the vegetable garden with Daniel, she had five servants, she who had always had everything to do for herself. Five servants, a great wreck of a house and an extremely hostile neighbour.
A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of Mr Sewell. She was sure she hadn’t heard the last of him. Then she lifted her chin. Let him do his worst! She wasn’t alone any more.
A stray memory of the way Will Pursley had protected her today, of his earnest face gazing at her across the fireplace, sent her smiling into sleep that night.
Chapter 6
Two hours later Sarah was woken up by something. She lay for a moment, trying to gather her wits, then sat up in shock as she heard the sound again. It sounded like someone moving about downstairs.
She sat bolt upright, her heart thudding, as she realised there was someone downstairs!. There was no one to call to for help, so she would have to go and investigate. Well, she’d done that before now, in one or two of their lodging houses. Sliding out of bed, she swung her cloak over her white nightgown and looked round for something heavy to carry, in case she was attacked. Her heart thudding, she picked up one of the pewter candlesticks and hefted it in her hand. Yes, that would do!
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and crept down the dark stairs in her bare feet. The noises seemed to be coming from the big parlour. Who could it be? Surely everyone in the village knew that there was nothing worth stealing at the Manor?
Then she smelled burning. Without thinking of her own safety, she threw open the door of the parlour, screaming at the top of her voice for Hannah and Mary. In the dimness she saw two figures crouched over a pile of what looked like smouldering twigs near one of the chairs. They weren’t going to set fire to her house! Still acting on sheer instinct, she rushed across at them, brandishing the candlestick.
As they tried to grab hold of her, she caught one of them a glancing blow on the head and heard him yelp then swear. The other seized her arm. She screamed again and swung the candlestick, but the men pushed her over. As the flames shot higher, one of them tried to muffle her mouth and hold her back, but she managed to bite him and scream again.
There were voices coming from the hallway now, shouting incoherently. When figures appeared at the door, the men let go of Sarah and dived for the window. By the time she stood up, they were outside and she could hear their feet crunching down the gravel driveway.
Her attention was now focused on the fire. Swinging the cloak off her shoulders, she threw it over the flames in one swift movement and began to stamp out the blaze beneath it. There was an acrid smell of burning wool, but the flames were soon smothered. Hannah had rushed to her side to help, but Mary stood frozen by the door, and Petey could be heard whimpering somewhere down the hallway.
There was a patter of footsteps and Hetty appeared in the doorway carrying a lit candle. As she moved forward, it flickered in the draft from the open window, but still threw enough light for the two women to check there was no one else lurking in the room.
‘Good child!’ Hannah went to pull the sash window down. She turned to take the candle, lighting another for Sarah then starting to examine the damage. ‘Not as bad as I’d feared. We’ll need to replace two or three floorboards and the chair is damaged, but that’s all. What happened here, mistress?’
‘I heard a noise and came to investigate. Two men were in here - they must have broken in - I think they were trying to set the house on fire. Luckily, I’m a light sleeper.’
‘Whatever would anyone want to do that for?’ gasped Mary, still clutching the doorpost.
There was silence as Sarah and Hannah looked at each other. 'Why indeed?’ asked Sarah slowly.
‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house,’ quoted Hannah. Her eyes met Sarah’s and she shook her head slowly from side to side in disapproval.
There was no mistaking her meaning.
‘He doesn’t want the house, just the land. And we cannot be sure it was his men, so we’d better not make any accusations. It was too dark for me to see them clearly.’
‘Who else could it be, mistress? This isn’t a lawless district. I’ve never heard of a robbery round here, no, nor anything else much, ’cept a bit o’ poaching.’
‘But we have no proof,’ Sarah repeated quietly, ‘so we can do nothing.’
‘What be you sayin’?’ quavered Mary.
Sarah didn’t try to explain. If Mary hadn’t guessed who was behind this incursion, best to leave her in ignorance. ‘There’s nothing more to be done now,’ she said soothingly. ‘I don’t think they’ll be back, but I shall sleep down here for the rest of the night - just in case.’
‘I’ll bide with you, mistress,’ announced Hannah. ‘You can’t stay here on your own.’
‘Thank you.’ Sarah sat down on a chair, the delayed shock making her legs feel suddenly shaky.
‘We need a dog, mistress,’ Hannah declared. ‘Ted Haplin's got some pups from his bitch Nan. Good dog, she is, cleverest I’ve ever seen. We could get one, two even.’
‘A pup wouldn’t be much protection,’ objected Sarah.
‘No, but it’d give us warning if anyone came prowling round. And pups soon grow into dogs. ’Specially Nan’s pups. She
’s big and strong, she is.’
‘Petey's afeared o’ dogs,’ said Mary, who was still hovering in the doorway, her arm around her son.
Standing trembling beside her, he nodded his head vigorously in agreement.
‘Petey wouldn’t be afraid of a baby dog, would you Petey?’ asked Hetty, going over to pat his arm.
‘Dogs bite you,’ declared Petey, rolling his eyes.
‘Baby dogs don’t bite,’ said Hetty reassuringly. ‘I’ll show you how to make friends with a dog, Petey. Dogs are nice if you treat them kindly.’
He didn’t appear convinced.
‘Mary, you and your son may as well get back to bed,’ Sarah said, wanting to think things through. ‘No use losing all your sleep.’
‘I’ll take you to bed, Hetty,’ Hannah told her daughter. ‘Then I’ll go and get some blankets for us, Mistress Sarah. We might as well make ourselves comfortable and you’re shivering now.’
When she’d gone, Sarah sat worrying. Was there nothing that man wouldn’t do to get hold of her house? Apparently not. ‘He’ll have to kill me first,’ she vowed. Then shivered again. Surely he wouldn’t go to such lengths?
But a memory of his angry face made her think he might.
* * * *
Hannah insisted Sarah return to her bedroom once it was fully light. ‘Now that the others are up and about now, we’ll know if anyone comes to the house.’
The bed looked so inviting Sarah lay down for an hour’s rest, feeling exhausted. There had been no more disturbances, but she’d not been comfortable on the armchair and had started awake at intervals thinking she heard intruders.
She woke some time later, amazed that she’d gone back to sleep so easily. Getting up, she pulled back the bed curtains, then the window draperies, gazing in pride at the room as the light flooded in. Everything was clean now, with window panes that twinkled when the sun shone on them and furniture gleaming with a first polishing of beeswax and elbow grease. If there were worn patches in the carpet and hangings, it mattered little to her, for they were still grander than anything she’d ever known, and anyway, a little judicious rearrangement of the furniture had hidden the worst of the carpet’s holes.
She smiled as she swung her feet over the side of the bed, easing her stiff hip carefully into movement until her joints loosened up.
Downstairs she found Hannah at work in the kitchen and Hetty sitting at one end of the wooden table. The little girl stared solemnly at Sarah with wide blue eyes as she took a bite of a thick slice of bread. Like her mother she was dressed in dark clothes, with a mobcap hiding her curls and a voluminous bibbed pinafore over her dress. The two of them looked neat and alert, as if they hadn’t had a disturbed night.
‘Where's your manners, child?’ scolded Hannah. ‘Up and curtsey to the mistress!’
Sarah waved one hand dismissively. 'There’s no need for her to do that.’
But the child was already off her stool and bobbing a curtsey, after which she stood and waited for further instructions from her mother, her head on one side, her expression alert and interested.
‘She must learn her manners, Mistress Sarah,’ Hannah insisted. ‘Finish your breakfast now, child, then you can go and help Daniel and Petey - if the mistress doesn’t want you to do anything else, that is.’ She looked questioningly at Sarah.
‘No, no! Daniel is anxious to get some ground dug and seeds planted as soon as possible, and I can’t see him being very patient with Petey.’
Hannah pulled out a stool and gestured to it. ‘I didn’t expect for you to be up yet, Mistress Sarah, after such a night. If I’d known you were awake, I’d have brought you some hot water.’
‘No need. I washed in cold.’
Hannah's lips pressed into a firm line. ‘No call for that. The kettle's over the hob and there’s hot water always ready. 'Tis a fine, big kitchen, this. If you ring your bell when you wake from now on, I’ll bring you some hot water up. Mary's told me how things should be done and I don’t need telling twice!’
‘Thank you. I’ll remember in future,’ said Sarah meekly and was rewarded with an approving nod from her stern handmaiden.
‘Now, what do you eat for breakfast, mistress? I don’t know your habits yet, or I’d have had that ready too.’
‘The same as Hetty, a piece of bread and butter. And I’ll eat it in the kitchen. I want no time wasted on people carrying my meals to and fro, and no money wasted on fancy food for me, either. I’ve never been rich enough to afford to be choosy, so I’ll be quite happy to eat what you eat.’
She hesitated, then decided on absolute honesty. ‘I need all the money I can save to repair the house, Hannah - and as well, all the help I can get from you and Mary to clean and refurbish. The only time I’ll want you to wait on me is if anyone calls on me - any of the gentry, that is - and I have to offer them refreshments. Mr Jamieson thought Lord Tarnly might come, for my mother’s sake. She was his god-daughter, you see. I’ll show you how to set a tray for that later.’
Hannah inclined her head to signify assent, but she had no intention of feeding her mistress on the sort of slops that Petey was used to eating, any more than she intended to feed Petey like a lord.
She had assumed control of the kitchen that morning after seeing how Mary worked the previous evening. ‘If it’s all right with you, Mistress Sarah, I’ll see to the food from now on. I like cooking and I do b’lieve I can make the food go further than Mary would, for she’s careless with the leftovers. She says she’s agreeable to it.’
'Very well,’ agreed Sarah. ‘Mary can do the washing and rough work, and anything else that's needed. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that Mr Pursley is to pasture his new cows in the home park and will provide us with milk, butter and cheese in exchange, so that'll help out considerably. But I thought we might get some hens and then we’d have our own eggs too, wouldn’t we? And if you have any other ideas, please tell me!’
‘Well, there be rabbits and pigeons in the woods, and fish in the river. That Ted Haplin as lives on the Waste is a feckless creature, but he’d come up and catch them for us if you let him keep a few for himself.’
‘What a good idea! I’d never have thought of that! So I won’t have to buy much meat, then?’
'With all this land, Mistress Sarah, you shouldn't have to buy much of any sort of food, except for flour, once the garden gets going. Not if you don’t eat fancy. Though a side of bacon might come in useful till we get our own pigs.’
* * * *
In the afternoon William Pursley arrived with his new cows. The front door was open to let in some fresh air and help dispel the musty odour that still lingered in the house. Oblivious to the cold, Sarah was polishing the oak panelling in the hallway with some beeswax obtained from Daniel Macey, who still kept a hive or two. She was humming happily to herself, standing back from time to time to admire the sheen on the fine old wood.
William stayed for a moment in the doorway, watching her approvingly, before clearing his throat to signal his presence.
‘Oh, Mr Pursley! I didn’t hear you come in! Isn't this wood beautiful?’ Sarah gave the panel a final rub.
‘It comes up nice,’ he admitted.
‘Did you want something?’ Her mind was still on her polishing.
‘I’ve brought the cows over. I thought - I thought maybe you'd like to see them.’
His pride in the new animals showed clearly in spite of his stiff bearing, so she said immediately, ‘Oh yes. I would indeed.’
They walked out of the house together. On the lawn at the front Rob Cox, the former cowman from Hay Nook Farm, was leaning on a tall staff, watching with an air of satisfaction the six animals grazing placidly there.
‘Rob lost his livelihood when we had to leave Haynook - and his cottage too,’ Will Pursley said in a low voice. ‘Some of the men got work elsewhere, but Rob has fallen foul of Sewell because of me, so he can’t find anything permanent.’
‘Mr Sewell seems to have a lot to answe
r for,’ she replied, equally quietly. ‘Is Rob coming to work for you again?’
‘Not all the time. I can’t afford it. But I give him a day's work whenever I can, and if you have any work about the grounds, you'll find him an honest man and a hard worker.’
The whole household had come out to see the new beasts by now. Petey stood, as always, on the periphery of the group, but he had caught the general excitement and was jigging up and down, making little noises in his throat. Hetty went over to stroke the cows’ noses and they nuzzled her gently.
Sarah approached the animals with caution. They were bigger than she’d expected and were swishing their tails restlessly, making sudden movements as they got used to this new place. Fine countrywoman I am, she thought wryly, afraid of a few cows. Even Petey doesn’t show any nervousness of them! She was relieved that no one seemed to notice her cautiousness. Or if they did, made no comment.
Hannah and Mary, having inspected the animals more closely, were discussing their finer points with William and the cowman.
‘Nice long teats, they've got. Milk'll come easy,’ said Mary knowledgeably.
Sarah blinked and averted her eyes, then resolutely brought them back again. She must learn not to flinch from such frank talk. ‘How often do you milk them?’ she asked, trying to join in the conversation.
‘Twice a day, o’ course,’ answered Mary, unable to hide her astonishment at such a question.
‘There'll be milk for you every day - just let me know how much you need,’ said William, coming back to stand by Sarah’s side. ‘Perhaps Hetty would like to come across the yard to fetch it in the mornings?’
The child nodded solemnly.
Sarah watched him slap a cow's flank to make it move out of his way! How happy he looked today!
He looked up, caught Sarah’s eyes on him and fairly beamed at her. ‘It’ll be nice to have more milk. My mother's a rare dairywoman, given the chance.’ He moved closer to the animals, with Sarah trailing uneasily behind him. ‘Look at that! Picture of health, they are. And that's how I mean to keep them. They’ve stood the journey well, haven’t they, Rob? Mind you keep those big gates shut from now on, Petey and Hetty! I didn’t want any of my animals going near the village cattle. I’ll get my own bull to service them.’