"I am going to have to go to England, Rose."
His words finally won her undivided attention as Rose looked up from the table in shock. "What? Father, no… must you?" Anxiety caused her to stop eating. Travel across the ocean to England! Oh my, things must truly be serious for her father to do that. It would take such a long time too; he would be away for months on end.
"Yes, my dear. I'm afraid there is no help for it. It will be a long journey but it is my wish that you accompany me." The statement came as such a shock that Rose leapt to her feet.
"Father, I cannot! I do not want to go to England!" Realizing her rudeness, she slowly took her seat but her appetite flew out the door. "Really, Papa, I will be just fine remaining here."
"I'm afraid in this instance that you do not have a choice in the matter, daughter. It will indeed be a long trip. We will be away from Virginia for over six months, perhaps even as long as a year. Rose, I shall require your presence and Eloise shall accompany you. My dear, you are to be presented to the Prime Minister, Frederick, Lord North and perhaps even to King George the Third and Queen Charlotte of England!"
Rose swallowed hard. She could feel the tears flooding her eyes and choking her throat. Knowing that nothing irritated her father more than tears, she struggled to keep them at bay. Pippin took that moment to spy a chipmunk perched on the window ledge just outside the dining room. His sharp bark of excitement startled both Rose and her father. Pippin raced from under the chair. Leaping towards the window, he began to scratch on the glass furiously. His bark was piercingly loud and Rose's hands moved to cover her ears.
Her father jumped to his feet so fast that he pulled the table cloth and upset the wine glasses. "Get that damned dog out of here!" The shouting stirred Pippin to further action and his bark became even more frantic. Rose let out a shriek of dismay at the little terror.
"Stop Pippin!" Pippin tore out of the dining room and ran into the kitchen and then back again. As Rose dove to catch him, she fell into the table and the platter of fish was knocked to the floor.
"Damn it," Henry demanded, "where's my rifle? I'm going to put an end to that nuisance of a dog right here and now!"
Rose implored her father, "Papa, please I beg you no!" Finally managing to grasp Pippin's wriggling body, she raced through the kitchen and out the back door. The little dog wiggled down, escaping her protective arms and took off at top speed to disappear behind the hedge. Rose ran down the steps through the garden and out toward the James River.
Sure that her father would never carry out his threat to shoot Pippin, her mind was centred on the unsettling news her father had imparted at dinner. Rose decided she would never go to England, not ever! She didn't care how mad her father became. Virginia was more than home, it was in her blood, it was where her mother's remains lay. Rose thought she would rather die before she would leave these shores and travel to that strange land called England.
Two weeks later, Rose found herself aboard the British passenger vessel, The Gwendolyn, commanded by Captain Horace Littleton. Rose had done everything within her power to persuade her father to allow her stay behind but nothing she said had swayed him. Though he had foregone punishing her for her disobedience in keeping Pippin outside that day, his threat of a sound spanking finally put an end to Rose's opposition. Although Henry had never before spanked his daughter, she understood that this time he was sorely tempted when he made his threat. Sensing her father's resolve, she resentfully acquiesced to something that was now beyond her control.
Aboard ship, Rose looked up at the massive sails of The Gwendolyn as they caught the wind and helped move the vessel away from Norfolk, Virginia. Her father's one concession was to allow her to take Pippin along on the voyage. Rose had a little carrier built for him and had asked their blacksmith in town to make Pippin a leash. The saucy pup sat panting on deck as the ship rolled to and fro. Rose stood to one side and watched as the sailors danced their way up and down the rigging while the ship pulled out of the harbour. The Gwendolyn was loaded with all manner of passengers travelling to England.
Nearby, several children argued over a hoop. Rose sighed, six long weeks aboard this horrible block of wood and all for what? For all sake and purposes, she felt that she was sailing into the heart of enemy territory. Rose had never paid much attention to politics before but she considered herself an American as did nearly everyone she knew. She couldn't understand why her father would not move forward and declare himself a patriot instead of behaving as a loyalist. He told her over and over that he meant to maintain ownership of Ash Grove and he was going to make any political moves carefully.
When Rose told her father that she believed principle to be more important than financial gain he abruptly told her to keep her own council or she might otherwise find herself begging bread on the streets of Richmond and Ash Grove held in the grip of the British crown.
How sick and tired she was of being told that she was too young to understand the difficult path her father trod in these duplicitous times. After all, many of her ex-school friends had long since married and a few even already had their first child. Rose felt that eighteen was plenty old enough to have an opinion. However, her father, it seemed, did not agree.
Rose gently rolled Pippin's rubber ball up on the deck and watched as he chased it. She moved to the ship's rail and surveyed the shores of Virginia growing ever fainter in the distance before finally the shore line disappeared completely. She settled herself on the quarter deck and slipped her mother's locket from around her neck. Popping open the latch, she peered at the tiny miniature the locket held. The face that looked back was so much like her own that she felt she were gazing at herself. "If only you were here, Mama," Rose whispered. "I am certain that Papa would listen to you."
The days became one monotonous bore and Rose wondered if time had decided to stand entirely still. She felt marooned in the middle of the never changing grey Atlantic. The very sameness of each and every day was utterly tedious. The sea was calm and the weather set fair and, thankfully, they were not plagued with any major storms. Captain Littleton seemed pleased with his ship's progress, as the prow of The Gwendolyn sliced through the endless grey expanse of water.
Rose watched with interest while the navigator sighted the horizon with the sextant and even talked him into explaining how the instrument worked. She asked about star constellations that were so bright in the clear evenings and she learned to spot the Bear and the Plough.
Walking around the deck one morning, Rose met a young lady named Emily Jones from Brookneal, Virginia. Emily was travelling with an old lady, a Miss Endicott, who explained that after disembarking at Greenwich they would be travelling on to Bath. The old lady had inherited a small cottage from her mother's side of the family and she was on her way to claim it.
Emily's parents had been indentured but their seven year commitment was finished when Emily was old enough to find work. She had applied to Miss Endicott's advertisement for a lady's companion and was lucky enough to be chosen. Emily was a little older and worldlier than the protected Rose. Though Emily did not have the education to become a governess, she had found her employment as a companion to Miss Endicott the perfect placement.
Rose enjoyed hearing about the frontier where Emily's family had lived. Her exciting tales of Indians and the less civilized areas of the Colonies helped to pass the time of day. Rose had seen an Indian or two but Native Americans had been forced from Virginia over a century before and Rose's father did not let her go traipsing about in the wild.
Before long, Emily and Rose became fast friends and spent many hours during their days at sea.
Emily adored Pippin and the two girls played with the dog endlessly trying to keep him busy and active. Although Emily and Rose came from two very different worlds, social class was not quite as strictly enforced aboard the ship amongst the passengers and so these two young women formed a unique bond of companionship.
"I've four brothers, Rose," Emily told her one d
ay. Rose simply could not imagine such a large family. "They're all younger than me and so I had to help Mama an awful lot; I know that she will miss me."
"Oh, Emily, I am certain that she will," replied Rose, "and I for one have been so very glad for your company. This voyage would have been interminable without your friendship to sustain me." The two young ladies shared their hopes and dreams for the future and both wondered what life in England would be like for them.
Being wealthy, Henry could afford a small private cabin which accommodated both himself and his daughter. Eloise, as a servant, was stowed away with the other third class passengers down below deck. Despite the far better accommodations, Rose wondered if perhaps she'd fare better if she shared even a tiny cabin with her friend. She'd no idea her father snored so loudly. If that weren't distraction enough, Pippin often lay beside her head and snorted his doggy breath unpleasantly across her face. She thought that if she did not get off The Gwendolyn soon she would surely go quite mad.
She was still quite angry with her father and they had barely spoken two words the entire seven week voyage. Silence was difficult to maintain in such a small space and by the time they pulled into Greenwich, Rose's nerves were frayed.
The morning land was finally spotted, all the passengers rushed to the ship's rail. The shores of England grew ever larger on the horizon and Rose's stomach dropped. When they finally reached Greenwich, the docks were even uglier than she imagined. Dark and dirty, the wharves were full of busy seamen shouting as they unloaded cargoes. Never had the rolling hills of Virginia seemed so far away, indeed they were almost a world away.
The sailors nimbly scrambled up and down the rigging as the ship made port. Pippin rested happily in her arms while they watched the entire goings on. She tied the sturdy little leash around his neck and bid him follow her as the gangplank was lowered. Several sailors lugged the passenger trunks and her father led the way as Rose followed him out into the dreary dockland.
Emily and Rose hugged good-bye on the dockside. Emily slipped a piece of paper into Rose's hand. "This is the address of Miss Endicott's new home. If ever you get a chance, please come and visit me. I will miss you terribly, Rose."
Rose's eyes welled up with tears. Emily had no idea how much Rose would miss her too. "Oh, Emily, I don't know how I would have survived this journey without the comfort of your presence. I don't know where we will be staying in London but I promise that I shall send word as soon as I am able. Thank you for everything." The two embraced long and hard. Rose slowly turned to face her father, who had procured a carriage for them to take them into London and their lodgings.
Rose had to hold Pippin's leash with both hands when he made a run for a nasty yellow eyed rat scampering across the docks. Climbing quickly inside the carriage, she shuddered at the sight of the enormous rodent. Pippin placed his front paws on the window to watch the sights go by. Eloise took her place beside Rose and Henry tapped the carriage roof with his cane. The carriage moved off with a lurch. Henry finally turned to talk to his sulking daughter.
"You will have only a short time to adjust to your new surroundings, my dear. London will be quite different from home, I know, but given time, you will come to appreciate this country. It is the mother of our colony after all. I expect that you will willingly show deference to me as your father and end this wall of silence you have managed to erect between us these past weeks."
Rose gazed out the window with Pippin and refused to answer. If her father thought she would ever forgive him for forcing her to come to this God forsaken country, he had another think coming. Henry knew her as sweet and amenable but he had no idea just how stubborn she could truly be. Her father could force her to leave Virginia but he could not force her to talk to him.
"Very well then, Rose, if that is how you wish things to be, I tell you I actually prefer your silence to your insolence." Rose stubbornly set her jaw as she watched the world go by outside the window. The docks gave way to town and then to city as London began to look more medieval by the minute. Rose had to admit the sheer age of the place was impressive. The old Tudor houses leaned over the streets and hawkers and merchants lined the thoroughfares. The carriage finally pulled up in front of a most impressive town house. Rose disembarked and descended into a cacophony of street noise.
"Oi gov'nor, gotta penny for a rose?" An old lady with no teeth and a basket full of flowers accosted Henry.
"Be gone, foul beggar!" he spluttered whilst Rose looked on with sympathetic eyes on the old lady. Pippin wagged his tail at her but the lady turned and morosely left. If Rose had been speaking to her father, she would have asked him for a penny for the beggar woman but as it was, she wasn't willing to break the silence between them just yet. Thankfully, her father disappeared into the house and went off with the butler leaving Eloise to help Rose explore their new home. The house had four bedchambers on the first floor and attic bedrooms for the servants. Pippin settled into the bedroom that Rose selected for herself at the back of the house, away from any street noise. Pippin sniffed around the floor and found his way into a corner where he promptly turned about three times before he curled into a ball. Rose found a little bowl and filled it with water for him and set it upon the floor. So then what now…
Her father informed her that he had urgent business with the English Crown and that he absolutely needed her presence to complete a particular business transaction. He made everything sound so desperate and dire that Rose wondered what he could possibly be up to. What could having her here in London possibly accomplish for him? She knew how to pour tea and make Johnny Cake, but beyond those things, she was like a fish out of water in this vast place. She doubted looking pretty at the dinner table was necessary for her father to accomplish a business transaction. Her father had been extremely mysterious about the whole trip and no matter how Rose pried, he refused to give her any real information. She finally gave up and thus began not a wall of silence between them but a war.
Henry was an ambitious and wealthy man and he was set on expanding his wealth within the Colonies. Rose thought that perhaps it was the reason they had travelled so far. The original land grant of Ash Grove had been granted to her grandfather but Henry didn't seem to be satisfied with that. The crop of tobacco that the plantation raised netted him a handsome profit but that didn't seem to satisfy him either. Perhaps he was here to negotiate a higher price for shipment to England?
Rose could not guess her father's plans and since Henry was not forthcoming, she decided to make the best of a difficult situation and see as much as she could of this exotic new country. Exhausted by the journey and weary to her very bones of travel, Rose undressed down to her chemise and lay across the bed to sleep. Pippin, hearing her settle, hopped upon the bed, turned around three times and curled next to her. Despite the fact that she could still feel the sway of the ship though on unmoving soil, the lack of the resonant tone of her father's snores allowed her to quickly fall into a deep sleep.
Chapter Two
Benedict, Lord Mortimer, jumped into the green scummy water of the pond and waded toward the drowning puppy. He grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and lifted it clear of the water. The reason it had been struggling became immediately apparent, water weed was entwined about the puppy's hind quarters. Both the poor creature's back legs were knotted with the stuff. Benedict tucked the small animal into his waistcoat, weeds and all, then made his way to the pond's bank, where he scrambled out.
"My Lord..." Roberts, the butler, looked horrified when he came face to face with the bedraggled Benedict entering the hall at Merriton.
"Roberts!" Benedict mimicked the butler's voice as he laughingly made his way through to the withdrawing room where his sister Imogene was practicing on the harpsichord. She stopped playing and began to giggle when she spied her older brother entering the room, soaking wet and covered with green slime.
"Benedict, what the deuce? Mother will have a pink fit if she sees you in this state!" Benedict grinned cheerfu
lly pulling out the pathetic little scrap that he had rescued from the pond.
"I went fishing and caught a dog-fish, Immy. Have you ever seen such a pathetic little scrap of a thing?" Imogene leapt up from her stool at the harpsichord, and ran over to her brother, stretching out her arms for the tiny creature. Benedict handed over the puppy just as it was, still dripping slime and weed, in total disregard to his sister's pretty, pale green sprigged dress. She cooed at the puppy with equal disregard to her gown, clasping the shivering animal to her breast.
"Poor little mite! I wonder how it ended up in the pond."
"Village children I shouldn't wonder. What breed do you think it might be, Immy? Looks a bit like a Collie to me but I can't really tell, not with this foul weed covering the creature." Benedict began to pull strands of pond scum away from the dog's legs and they dropped down onto the Persian carpet.
"Benedict! Stop that at once! Just look at the mess! Oh, Imogene, your lovely gown! Whatever is going on here?" The Dowager, Lady Beatrice Mortimer, otherwise known as 'Mother' to Benedict and Imogene, swept regally into the drawing room. She stood before the bedraggled group and cast her eyes up and down over her two adult children. "Really... Anyone would think the pair of you had just left the nursery! Is that... pond weed?"
Benedict winked at his sister and grinned at his mother. "Pond weed and a dog fish, Mother. Show her, Imogene."
Imogene held out the now whimpering puppy and the Dowager's face softened. "Oh my," she breathed, gently taking the trembling puppy from Imogene, "what has happened to it?" Benedict explained all and then the three made their way out of the room and into the hall together. Benedict called for a footman and instructed him to take the pup to the boot room and give it some milk and then a warm bath, before fetching it back to the drawing room once again.
His Colonial Rose Page 2