“Are we at the coast?” she asked, blowing on her cold fingertips and brushing the straw from her skirts.
“We are at my yard. We’ll leave the box here and take my chaise down to the port, it’ll be quicker.”
He helped Dorianna climb out of the horsebox and then transferred herself and her bag into a smart open chaise, pulled by a lean black horse.
All around them were green-painted stable doors, some with horses’ heads looking over them.
Tubs of flowers were growing outside a small stone cottage and, as she settled herself into the chaise, a plump woman came out of the cottage and gave her a bowl of hot coffee and a piece of warm bread.
“There you are, my dear,” she said. “You’ll be cold and hungry and you’ve a long journey ahead – take good care of her, Jim, and find her a nice safe ship to take her over the water!”
The chaise lurched as Mr. Jackson jumped up.
“I will, Mrs. J, don’t you worry. And remember, I have gone out on business, if anyone should ask!”
Mrs. Jackson smiled and put a finger to her lips.
She waved gaily as her husband cracked the whip and the chaise rattled out of the yard.
Dorianna caught her breath in delight as she saw a wide flat plain stretching away in front of them, gleaming silver and blue in the early morning light.
“These summer mornings in the Marsh can be very chill,” muttered Mr. Jackson, pulling up his scarf.
“But it’s so beautiful. I have never seen anything like it!”
“Ah – but it’s not to everyone’s taste, my Lady, but them that loves the Marsh, they think it’s the best place in the whole world. It’s almost like a separate little country, hidden away down here on the South Coast.”
As they flew along the narrow road, which wound its way through rushes and silvery willow trees, Dorianna looked back at the high ground they were leaving behind.
In the distance she could see a large white house on top of a small hill. Its walls shone almost golden in the early morning light and it was surrounded by graceful trees and rolling parkland.
“Who lives there?” she asked.
“That be Uplands Park. It belongs to a very learned man, a great scholar, as I believe.”
‘It’s even lovelier than Ashburton Hall,’ Dorianna thought, so surprised that she should think anywhere could be finer than her home.
She imagined a wide library with tall bookshelves, and an old man in thick spectacles bent over his desk as he studied the pages of an ancient tome.
“There’s no one there at present,” Mr. Jackson was saying, “for his Lordship has gone abroad for his studies.”
He shook the reins, urging the horse to go faster.
“Now, my Lady, when we reach the port, you’ll see there’ll be a good number of ships there ready to leave, and I will make enquiries for you as to which might be the best to take you over to the Continent.”
“You are very kind and your wife too – ”
She drank the last drop of coffee from the bowl.
“Ah,” Mr. Jackson smiled, his weather-beaten face lighting up, “my Duchess, that’s what she is.”
“You must love her very much,” added Dorianna, feeling a tightness round her heart. “I’ve never been loved, but – it must be the most important thing in the whole wide world.
“That’s why – I had to leave – I couldn’t – ” she confided and found herself beginning to cry.
Mr. Jackson reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a red-and-white spotted handkerchief.
“I’d be nowhere without Mrs. J,” he said, looking steadily forward at the road ahead before continuing,
“Life is far too short to be unhappy. I saw yesterday how miserable you were and wondered how you might get on, hitched up to that young man, Lord Buxton. For the pair of you are like chalk and cheese.”
“Yes!” gasped Dorianna. “He’s such a silly goose. I couldn’t – I just couldn’t marry him. And now, what will become of me?”
“We all have to take our chances. You are a clever girl with all your wits about you and Audrey told me you have a little money. You have made a bold leap to be free and now you are out in the world, you will find your way, I am sure.”
His words made Dorianna feel much calmer.
She took a deep breath and wiped away her tears.
Then she told him how she had thought about Lady Atalanta, as she sat in the horsebox the night before.
“What will become of her, do you think? I felt so sorry for her last night – at the mercy of those thoughtless cruel men, who just want to make money out of her.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her, never fear. I’ve known that one since she was a wee foal and I wouldn’t want her to come to no harm. If she wins her races, nothing will be too good for her – she’ll be treated like a Queen.
“If she fails and cannot win – then they won’t want her and I’ll take her back and find her a good home where she can run in the fields and raise fine foals of her own.”
“You are a kind man and being with you makes me realise there must be many others like you in the world. I am not so afraid of setting out now – all on my own.”
The chaise raced along the road and soon they were approaching a small town with black and white buildings clustered round a windmill and a Church.
“Is that the port?” Dorianna asked, but Mr. Jackson kept on driving, urging the horse down the road, which ran along the bank of a river.
“We’ll keep well out of the town, my Lady. It’s still early, but the fewer people that see us, the better.”
Now the wonderful salt smell of the sea was filling Dorianna’s nose and, as they turned a bend in the road, she saw some more buildings and a wide expanse of dark blue stretching away to the horizon.
Soon she would be far away on the other side of the water and she felt a pang of sadness as she remembered her Mama left behind at Rouston Hall.
‘I hope that all be well for my Mama,’ she thought, ‘and that Mr. Shawcroft will understand that it was all my fault and that she knew nothing of my plan to run away.’
She thought too of Audrey, and prayed with all her heart that her scheme had worked out in the Chapel and that she was now safely in the arms of her beloved Joshua, planning their wedding.
Mr. Jackson pulled the horse to a stop by the edge of the water.
They had come to the port at last, but there were no ships’ masts or sails to be seen anywhere.
The harbour was empty.
“What has happened?” cried Dorianna. “I thought there would be plenty of ships to choose from.”
“We’re too late,” Mr. Jackson replied, his face grim with disappointment. “We’ve missed the tide.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“The high tide has come and gone. I thought we were in good time, but I was wrong. Look – ”
Mr. Jackson pointed out to sea.
A cluster of sails could just be seen, speeding away from the land.
Dorianna’s heart sank as she watched her hopes of immediate escape disappearing towards the horizon.
“Looks like you will have to swim for it, my Lady, for I don’t how else you’ll get to the Continent today.”
“Isn’t there another port we could go to?” she asked him in desperation.
Mr. Jackson sighed.
“There is – a few miles up the coast, but like as not we’ll find the same, as the tide will have turned there too and any ship leaving this morning will have sailed.”
“Can’t we at least try?” she implored, looking at the deserted buildings that surrounded the harbour.
There was nowhere to hide here and she knew that she should leave Mr. Jackson as soon as possible. If they were discovered together, the consequences for him could be serious.
All of sudden she heard a familiar rhythmic puffing noise coming from somewhere upriver.
Her heart gave a bound of joy.
“Listen to that! I don’t
need to be a burden to you any more, Mr. Jackson. I will take the train!”
Mr. Jackson looked at her with a worried frown.
“Train?” he queried. “There’s no train about here.”
“Can’t you hear it?”
Mr. Jackson cupped a hand behind his ear and then broke into a smile.
“That ain’t no train, my Lady!”
He pointed at the bend in the river.
“Look there and you shall see just what it is.”
The puffing noise grew louder and as she watched, the slim pointed prow of a boat slid into view between the high banks of the river.
“What on earth is it?” she gasped.
The boat was moving swiftly, but in spite of two tall wooden masts, there were no sails to catch the wind.
Instead from a short funnel in the centre of the boat, white puffs of smoke were rising up into the morning sky.
“What a beautiful ship!” Dorianna exclaimed.
The side of the boat was painted glossy white with brass portholes and on the deck was a row of neat wooden cabins, their windows gleaming in the sunshine.
“It looks like a racehorse!”
She admired the long lean lines of the boatand she could not have imagined that anything powered by steam could look quite so elegant.
Mr. Jackson smiled.
“It’s the Athene. The learned gentleman I told you of earlier had it built last year, so he could go travelling in it. I must say, I’m surprised to see it today, as I thought he had left England several days ago.”
A tall man in blue uniform emerged from one of the buildings and ran down to the water, waving at the boat.
“Oh, they are stopping!” she cried in delight, as the puffing slowed and the boat drew close to a wharf.
Two sailors came out onto the deck and picked up coils of rope, ready to throw them ashore.
When the Athene was safely tied up, a woman in a dark dress and cloak emerged from one of the cabins and spoke to the man in blue uniform.
“Of course, Mrs. Farley,” he replied, “the hampers of fruit are all ready for you.”
“She is the housekeeper from Uplands Park,” Mr. Jackson whispered to Dorianna. “They must be taking on extra supplies for the voyage.”
The man in blue uniform was now staggering to the boat carrying two immense wicker hampers, piled one on top of the other, which he passed over to the sailors.
“Jackson!” The housekeeper called across from the boat. “What are you doing down here this morning?”
“Good morning to you, Mrs. Farley!” he responded cheerily. “How are you?”
The woman sighed. Her lined skin was so pale it looked almost yellow.
“Not so good, I fear,” she replied. “I suffer most terribly at sea. Even when we are still on the river, I begin to feel unwell. But I shall not grumble.”
“Oh, the poor woman!” mumbled Dorianna. “My dear Mama was seasick when she crossed only to Jersey on her honeymoon and she told me she had never felt so ill.”
“Wait here, will you?” said Mr. Jackson under his breath. “I have an idea.”
And he jumped down from the chaise and ran over to Mrs. Farley.
They spoke together for several moments and then Mr. Jackson came back.
“Come quickly,” he called, taking Dorianna’s arm. “Mrs. Farley has agreed to take you on as her assistant for the voyage!”
“But – ”
Dorianna was shocked.
“What will I have to do? Where is the boat going?”
“I didn’t ask,” he replied, heaving the carpetbag on his shoulder. “But she is most respectable and I am sure you will come to no harm if she’s in charge of you.
“I told her you are a young woman of good family fallen on hard times and that you are looking to find work with an English family abroad.”
“Thank you,” muttered Dorianna as she clasped Mr. Jackson’s hand and stepped over the side of the Athene and onto the clean scrubbed planks of the deck.
He handed over her carpetbag and stepped back, an anxious frown on his face.
Dorianna smiled bravely back at him, clutching the handles of the carpetbag and he nodded to her, raising his hand in farewell.
Immediately the man in the blue uniform untied the ropes and hurled them back to the two sailors and Dorianna felt the planks judder as the engines began to puff again.
Mr. Jackson was climbing back into the chaise and turning his horse around.
She waved fondly to him, praying it would not be discovered that he had helped her.
“Well, miss,” the housekeeper was saying, staring at Dorianna with cold green eyes. “You had better tell me your name!”
‘She must not know who I really am,’ she decided and quickly gave the first name that came into her head.
“Dorothy, madam, Dorothy – Dale.”
It was too difficult all at once to think of a different surname as well.
“You look as if you have been working on a farm!” remarked Mrs. Farley suspiciously regarding Dorianna’s blue woollen dress, which still showed traces of straw.
“I hope you’ve got good sea legs?”
The Athene was now pulling away from the wharf and heading out into the middle of the river, bouncing over the choppy waves.
“Oh, yes! Yes, I have,” answered Dorianna.
She had never been to sea in her life, but the feeling of the Athene rising and falling under her feet like a living being was delightful.
‘I am sure that I am not going to be seasick,’ she thought, looking at Mrs. Farley’s face, which was already turning greeny-yellow.
“Are we leaving now?” she asked. “Don’t we have to wait for the tide?”
“We are leaving now. Our crew is the best that can be found in these parts and I’m sure they will navigate us safely out of this river, be it high tide or low. After all, we are just a pleasure yacht not a great clipper ship.”
Mrs. Farley gave Dorianna a forbidding look.
“I will show you to your cabin, Dorothy, and then I must proceed to the galley to supervise the preparations for luncheon.”
Dorianna followed her down a tiny metal staircase and along a narrow corridor to a cabin – her new home!
There was a bunk bed, a small porcelain sink and, beyond the brass-rimmed porthole, a view of the riverbank gliding swiftly past.
Once she had put her carpetbag down, there was hardly room for Dorianna to take a single step in the little cabin, but it was neat and clean and felt welcoming.
Mrs. Farley turned even greener and, for a moment, she looked as if she were going to walk away.
But she stopped in the doorway of the cabin with a stern look on her face.
“I have done something most irregular, Dorothy, in taking you on board without consulting my employer. I am thinking only of him, for if I become too unwell to wait on him, you will be here to replace me. But until such time as that may happen, I would ask you keep out of the way.”
“Yes, of course, Mrs. Farley, I shall remain quietly here in the cabin and await your instructions.”
The housekeeper gave a pale smile and left.
Dorianna heard her feet rattle on the staircase and then it was quiet, except for the distant puff of the yacht’s steam engine.
She climbed onto the bunk and then looked out of the porthole.
The riverbank was gone and she could see a myriad of green waves tossing up and down, some of them capped with white foam.
A seagull flew past the porthole, turning its head to look in at her.
‘Oh, this is so wonderful!’ she thought. ‘I just love being on this yacht!’
She remembered seeing the barge with the red sails setting off on the Thames and how much she had wished she was on board – and now she was actually at sea!
And she thought too of the Earl of Claremont, just for a moment.
He was the sort of person who would love all this too – and share her joy in the waves and
the wild seagull.
A little shiver of sadness passed through her, as she realised how alone she was.
‘I must not allow myself to become miserable,’ she mused, ‘as this is the greatest adventure I have ever had!’
And then she lay back on the soft cover of the bunk and within an instant fell deeply asleep.
*
When she awoke the cabin was pitching and tossing around her.
The porthole was drenched as the waves became much taller, slapping hard against it and breaking into cascades of bubbling foam.
Above the thumping of the waves and the whistling of the wind, Dorianna could hear tapping at the cabin door.
It was one of the young sailors she had seen at the harbour.
“Afternoon, miss,” he smiled at her, “you’re needed for duty in the galley. Mrs. Farley has been taken poorly and someone must take her place to serve tea. She’s sent you this to wear.”
He handed her a pile of folded clothes and retreated along the narrow passageway.
Dorianna felt rather relieved that her first task on board the Athene should be to serve tea.
‘I have done that so often at Ashburton Hall, I shall be able to discharge my duties with no difficulties,’ she thought proudly.
She did not feel so proud when she realised that the pile of clothes was a maid’s uniform, clearly intended for a much larger girl than herself.
The black dress hung limply around her when she put it on.
‘I must not complain,’ she told herself. ‘At least I will be completely unrecognisable in this outfit!’
She peered at herself in the small mirror on the wall and adjusted the maid’s cap. It was much too big, covering her hair completely and drooping down over her forehead.
It was strange to think that only a short while ago, Audrey had been disguised as an aristocratic lady and now she, Dorianna, was dressing up in a maid’s uniform!
She made her way to the ship’s galley, which was more like a passageway than a kitchen.
Most of it was taken up by the chef, who was a very fat man indeed.
He turned around to greet Dorianna, giving her a wide toothless smile.
“Kettle’s boilin’, my dear,” he lisped. “You’ll find all you need under there.”
And he pointed at a small white cupboard down by his feet.
To Heaven With Love Page 10