by Anna Jacobs
Eyes brightening in anticipation, the two maids came down the stairs.
Nathan followed the constable out of the hall to a spacious study, where he spoke on the telephone to the operator, insisting she connect him to the police station immediately.
Jack didn’t move but one maid kicked him in the ribs anyway, glaring down at him. ‘I wish you’d been killed as well. Then you wouldn’t hurt no other lasses.’
The other moved forward to join her. ‘I’ll hit him over the head for you any time you like, Mr Keller.’
Before Fergus could stop her, she kicked Jack in a very painful part of his body, making him writhe about on the floor in agony.
Fergus found himself smiling, something he hadn’t expected to do after he’d seen a man killed. ‘I didn’t see you do that, but you’d better not do it again, lass.’
‘Can I if he tries to move?’
‘Definitely.’
Jack shrank away from them, curling up, trying to protect himself as well as a man with his hands bound behind his back could.
Fergus went across to his daughter. ‘Are you all right, Kathleen Frances?’
‘Yes, Da. Thank you for helping me.’
‘I wasn’t going to let them do what they’d planned to you, if I could help it. That son of yours is a brave lad. Well done, Christopher.’
Fergus turned back to his daughter. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner. I was hiding in the scullery trying to work out how to rescue you, because there were four of them and only one of me. Good thing that new fellow of yours brought in the police.’
Nathan and the constable came back as he said this. ‘The police are on their way.’
There was the sound of a car stopping outside and Kathleen gasped. ‘It could be the people from the brothel.’
Fergus went to peer out of the front door. ‘There’s a car stopped. Come here, Constable. Let them see your uniform.’
The policeman joined him in the doorway and there was the sound of a vehicle driving off.
‘That’s got rid of them devils,’ Fergus said in satisfaction.
But Nathan and Kathleen weren’t listening to him. He was walking across to her, with eyes for no one else.
Fergus took a step backwards and winked at the policeman.
Nathan spoke to her as if the two of them were the only people in the world. ‘Are you all right, Kathleen? He didn’t … hurt you?’
‘He humiliated me, and my face feels bruised. But no, that fiend didn’t hurt me in the way you mean.’
‘Thank goodness! Ah, hell, I can’t do it, can’t wait any longer.’ He pulled her into his arms and held her close. ‘I died a thousand deaths on the way here, worrying that he’d kill you before I could get to you.’
She shivered and glanced sideways at the corpse, which no one had touched. ‘He had much worse plans in mind for me. I’m glad he’s dead.’ She huddled against Nathan, utterly exhausted all of a sudden. ‘How did you find me?’
‘Where else would they take you but to Seaton’s?’ He kissed her forehead, then her lips. ‘I can’t marry you till I’ve sorted out the mess in our family business, but if you’ll wait …’
She pulled her head back a little, staring at him. ‘You’d marry me?’
‘Of course I would. It’s what I want most in the world. Don’t you feel how right it is when we’re together?’ He brushed her hair gently back from her forehead and kissed her nearest cheek. ‘I love you, Kathleen.’
‘Yes, of course I feel how right it is. And I love you too. But … you’re a gentleman.’
‘And you’re a wonderful, brave woman. If you like, I’ll court you slowly, but it’ll come to the same thing in the end, if you give me even half a chance.’
Her lips curved into a smile. ‘I’ll give you a full chance, Nathan Perry.’
He pulled her close and kissed her again.
Kit rolled his eyes at the sight. Fergus smiled and bent to whisper to his grandson, ‘Isn’t that grand? They’re going to get married.’
‘It’s not grand if they keep on kissing one another. It’s soppy.’
‘Let them be soppy, then. One day you’ll feel the same about a woman.’
‘Ugh! No, I won’t!’
There were sounds outside. ‘Ah, that sounds like the police.’ Fergus tapped Nathan on the shoulder. ‘You’d better stop billing and cooing, and talk to the police.’
The only person missing from this final scene was Mrs Seaton, and she was found later so fast asleep that no one could wake her properly.
‘He gives her a drink every night, says it’s a tonic, but it sends her straight to sleep,’ a maid told the police sergeant. ‘She’ll do anything he asks.’ Her eyes went towards the corpse, now decently covered by a blanket. ‘I don’t like her, but that wasn’t a fair way to treat her, was it?’
‘Does she have any other family we can bring in to help her?’
‘I don’t think so. There’s a lawyer comes sometimes, Mr Morton. He was helping her till Mr Godfrey moved in. Then Mr Morton didn’t come here any more.’
‘We’ll be getting the lawyer back, then. Can you keep an eye on her for us till this Mr Morton gets here?’ the sergeant asked.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Now, will someone please explain exactly how this happened? No rushing it this time. Tell me every single thing you did, every step along the way. No, on second thoughts we’d better go to the police station and do things properly. We can lock that other scoundrel up safely there.’
It took several hours for explanations to be made and full notes to be taken. By which time they were all exhausted.
‘I’ll see to the horses at the yard till that lawyer comes,’ Fergus said. He turned to his daughter. ‘I hope I’ve redeemed myself, Kathleen Frances. I’m sorry I hurt you when you were younger. I think it was the booze. Godfrey was right about that, at least. For me it’s the devil’s brew. It puts a madness into me. And your fool of a mother made it worse the way she wasted the money I earned.’
She nodded, then said slowly, ‘I’d rather you didn’t tell the lawyer or Mrs Seaton about me and the children.’
He stared at her. ‘But they’re the heirs now. Of course she should know about them.’
‘No. His wife can have all the money and do what she wants with it. I don’t want my two bringing up in that unhappy house. Their father was unhappy here, their uncle Alex left home and hasn’t been back. It just feels horrible the minute you go through the door.’
‘You don’t want them to have the money?’
‘No. I want them to have a happy life. I’ll give them a good education, make sure they can earn their own money.’
Nathan put his arm round her shoulders. ‘I’ll play the father’s part, Mr Keller, and help them grow up into decent people, I hope. And we’ll have enough to live in modest comfort.’
Fergus shook his head in bafflement. ‘You’re sure about this, Kathleen Frances?’
‘Yes, very sure.’
‘Then I’ll not tell the old lady about you and the children. She’s not very clever at the best of times and her wits have been further addled by what that sod had been giving her. She’ll never know you exist.’
It felt as if a weight had fallen from Kathleen’s shoulders. She turned to Nathan. ‘Will you take me home now?’
‘It’ll be my pleasure. Come on, young fellow. I thought I’d left you behind.’
‘I rode in the luggage rack. It was cold.’
‘Well, you can ride back inside the car.’
Nathan put his arm round her shoulders and they walked out together, followed by Kit, yawning as he stumbled along.
Nathan drove slowly back to Honeyfield as dawn was lightening the sky in the east.
Kathleen sat in the front of the car beside him and they conversed in low voices, while Kit slept soundly in the back, sprawled across the fine leather upholstery.
‘May I come a-courting you, then?’ Nathan asked with a smile.
‘I’d love it. I don’t want to rush into anything. I want to savour each step along the way. I was rushed into marriage before.’
‘That’ll suit me too, because I like to do things properly. Besides, I have my father’s debts to clear before we can marry.’
‘It’ll be good to get to know you better before we become man and wife. The little things, what you like for tea, who your friends are, that sort of thing.’
‘Then we’re agreed.’
‘Yes. Only, will you kiss me like that now and then? It was wonderful. I’ve never been kissed that way before.’
‘Didn’t your husband …?’
‘He was a kind man, but slow-thinking and not … not a skilful lover. Ernest married me to save me from my father forcing me to marry a bully he used to drink with. I always felt I was more Ernest’s mother than his wife.’
After a pause, she spoke her thoughts aloud, ‘I’d really like to be just me, Kathleen, for a while.’
They didn’t say much as they drove the last couple of miles, but they smiled at one another from time to time.
And Kathleen knew in her heart that this was her man, the one she was meant to marry, the one who would make her happy.
As for waiting a couple of years, no. That was too long. She’d see about that later, once this horrible incident was behind them. A few months, perhaps. She needed that time.
‘It’s going to be another beautiful day,’ she murmured as they turned off the main road towards Honeyfield House.
‘It’s going to be one of the happiest days of my life,’ Nathan said and, after he’d stopped, he kissed her senseless before helping her out of the car.
Of all the things he’d ever found, this was the most precious, the love of a wonderful woman.
Endnote
1 Greyladies: This book is about people helped by the Greyladies Trust. Anna Jacobs has also written a three-part series about the owners of Greyladies, set in the early twentieth century: Heir to Greyladies, Mistress of Greyladies and Legacy of Greyladies, all available from Allison & Busby.
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About the Author
ANNA JACOBS is the author of over seventy novels and is addicted to storytelling. She grew up in Lancashire, emigrated to Australia in the 1970s and writes stories set in both countries. She loves to return to England regularly to visit her family and soak up the history. She has two grown-up daughters and a grandson, and lives with her husband in a spacious home near the Swan Valley, the earliest wine-growing area in Western Australia. Her house is crammed with thousands of books.
annajacobs.com
By Anna Jacobs
THE HONEYFIELD SERIES
The Honeyfield Bequest
THE GREYLADIES SERIES
Heir to Greyladies
Mistress of Greyladies
Legacy of Greyladies
THE WILTSHIRE GIRLS SERIES
Cherry Tree Lane
Elm Tree Road
Yew Tree Gardens
THE PEPPERCORN STREET SERIES
Peppercorn Street
Cinnamon Gardens
Winds of Change
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
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London W1T 6DW
allisonandbusby.com
First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2016. This ebook edition published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2016.
Copyright © 2016 by ANNA JACOBS
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–2005–7