He nodded, and patted her hand in ready sympathy. “Of course. At least your mite will be a comfortable one, since you will have an additional thousand pounds from this mysterious Benefactor. That is a great gift to bestow.”
Nell only laughed.
~~~~~
The lawyer came again, naturally. Lawyers had, among many disagreeable traits, the habit of persistence, although in this case it was very much to Nell’s advantage. They met in the dining room again, and this time Mr Willerton-Forbes placed a roll of notes on the table.
“One thousand pounds,” he said. “These notes will be acceptable at any of the town’s three banks. Does this convince you of the Benefactor’s existence, Mrs Caldicott?”
“Oh, yes!” she said, picking up the roll, and feeling the solidity of it. “This is convincing evidence indeed, sir. You must think me quite mad, but indeed it sounded ridiculous to my ears. I had spent the weeks since my husband’s death seeing desperate poverty bearing down on me, so when you came along and offered me a thousand pounds without conditions… it seemed far too good to be true. Since then, of course, I have heard of many others who have received the Benefactor’s munificence, so I have come to acknowledge that I was mistaken. Happily so, in this case.”
“So you will accept your share of that munificence?”
“Most willingly. What must I do with it? It is too much to keep in my stocking drawer.”
“Such a sum is best deposited with a bank, Mrs Caldicott, and at once, if I may suggest. Now that the Benefactor’s purpose has been revealed, there are persons of ill-intent who are watching all those eligible to receive the gift, looking for an opportunity to prey upon them. If you wish to deposit your bounty in a bank, we will accompany you there at once. We need fear nothing when Captain Edgerton is with us.”
So it was that Nell found herself sitting once more in Mr Vessey’s bank, and this time the meeting was far more agreeable. Madeira was poured, she was congratulated on her unexpected acquisition of wealth, the roll of money was rushed away to be secured in the vaults and a clerk wrote out the record of the transaction.
“And now you will wish to settle your husband’s debts, Mrs Caldicott,” Mr Vessey said, with a rumble of laughter. “Start afresh. Clean sheet. Et cetera.”
“This gift is for Mrs Caldicott alone,” Mr Willerton-Forbes said. “There is no need—”
“It is quite all right,” Nell said. “This money is for me to do with as I please, is it not?”
“Indeed it is.”
“Then it pleases me to settle my husband’s debts. You gave me a reckoning of the outstanding mortgage, Mr Vessey, so you may take that amount, and the twenty seven pounds the account is in debit.”
“Most gracious,” Mr Vessey said, “but there is also the matter of interest.” He laughed, his whole body quivering with merriment.
Mr Willerton-Forbes raised an eyebrow, and looked as if he would speak, but Nell forestalled him.
“You said nothing to me of interest, Mr Vessey, therefore I shall pay none. You may take the amount we agreed, or nothing. The choice is yours.”
Mr Vessey opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Thank you, Mrs Caldicott. I shall take the principal amount, plus the twenty seven pounds.”
He did not laugh.
“You are a lady of formidable courage,” Mr Willerton-Forbes said, as he and the captain accompanied Nell home again. “Mr Vessey struck me as an unpleasant, encroaching sort of fellow, and I very much enjoyed your put down of him.”
“Such men look at me and see only a timid, impoverished widow,” she said. “At such times, I remember that I was once a Godney of Daveney Hall, and that strengthens my resolve not to be browbeaten. I may not be rich or of any importance in the world, but I am respectable and God-fearing, and therefore entitled to be treated honourably by everyone, even bankers.”
And even her husband, she realised, with a sudden spurt of anger. Especially her husband.
14: A Journey North (May)
MAY
Nell’s money worries were at an end. With the residue from the Benefactor’s thousand pounds, the modest annuity Mr Sherrard had arranged for her, Maria’s annuity and the rent from the Lloyds, she found herself with an income of almost two hundred pounds a year. She had discovered some waste in their expenditure which might save a little money, too, and she could still take pupils for music lessons to make a few extra pounds, if she wished. There would be no need to do without tea in the foreseeable future.
No sooner had the service of thanksgiving been held in gratitude for the benevolence of the Benefactor than alarming tales began to circulate concerning the recipients of the gifts. The widow of the Minerva’s carpenter had been burgled, although the thieves had not discovered the hiding place of her money. The cook’s mother had been defrauded of twenty pounds by a man who came to her door and said her husband had owed him money. Mr Blackwell, the Second Mate of the Minerva, who by the greatest good fortune had survived his ship’s foundering, had been attacked outside his house by ruffians in broad daylight. Everyone had suddenly acquired a great many friends, and long-lost relations had decided to visit, to congratulate the recipient in person. Nell’s household was not exempt, for Maria had found a complete stranger in her kitchen, rifling through cupboards and drawers.
“As if anyone would keep a thousand pounds in my knife drawer,” she said, roused to righteous ire. “It is all in the bank, I told him. There is not a farthing of it here. He just grinned at me, like an idiot, so I went for him with my mixing spoon. Pity it wasn’t the rolling pin or the carving knife, but the spoon was what I had in my hand. Still, he will not be back in a hurry.”
“Just as well it was not the carving knife,” Nell said. “I should not like you to be sent to the Assizes for murder.”
Maria only giggled. She was beginning to be more bold, just as Nell was, and perhaps for the same reason. Jude’s unpredictable moods had affected everyone in the household. Maria was more adventurous with her dishes at dinner, now that she had a slightly larger budget to work with. She had even suggested offering meals to paying customers.
“Mr Lloyd has some friends for cards two or three times a week, and he would like to offer them a good supper — something tasty, you know what men are like,” Maria told Nell. “It would be no trouble, in fact I should enjoy it, and we should make a little extra money from it. What do you think?”
“I do not quite know what to think,” Nell said. “I am not sure about opening up as a chop-house.”
“Oh, no, no, no,” Maria said. “Nothing like that. A few very select friends of Mr Lloyd’s, that is all. A modest supper of lightness and delicacy, very refined, and a bottle or two of a decent claret, nothing too elaborate. We could make a few shillings a week on the business.”
“Let me consider it,” Nell said.
Lessons were over one day, but the spring weather was so fine that Nell could not bear to be indoors. She had a new pelisse, too, in fine merino wool, which was just the thing to wear for a walk beside the river. She could consider Maria’s proposal, and try to distract herself from the mysteries of Jude’s life. Louis insisted on going, too, but she never minded his company.
However, as she opened the front door, Nell found Mr Willerton-Forbes coming up the steps, with Captain Edgerton two paces behind. Having established that she was pleasure bound and not rushing off on an errand, they begged leave to accompany her. As they walked down the High Street, Mr Willerton-Forbes made polite conversation with Nell, while Captain Edgerton devoted himself to the task of entertaining Louis with increasingly outrageous tales of his time in the East India Company Army.
“He is very inventive,” Nell said in an undertone to Mr Willerton-Forbes. “Is any of that true?”
“All of it,” Willerton-Forbes said, with a smile. “Captain Edgerton has led a very colourful life. Or perhaps he has the knack of attracting colourful characters about him. The Tiger Blythe of whom he now speaks is perfectly real an
d a very charming lady, despite all the shooting of elephants and tigers. I have met her myself, for she is now Lady Humphrey Marford.”
“A week ago I would have disbelieved every word,” Nell said. “The world is a strange place, Mr Willerton-Forbes.”
When they had passed beyond the town’s walls and reached the area known as the Beach, Captain Edgerton took Louis to the river’s edge while Mr Willerton-Forbes and Nell walked along the path a little higher up.
“You wished to speak to me on some matter, Mr Willerton-Forbes?” Nell said. “I had thought our business was concluded, and most satisfactorily.”
“Indeed it was, but events have occurred… You will have heard, I daresay, of the problems which have arisen for those who have received gifts from the Benefactor. We are doing all we can to help by making it widely known that these large sums of money are safely in the vaults of the various banks, but there is still an assumption that the recipients will have more money about them than before. I imagine you have more coins in your reticule at this moment than would have been the case a month or two ago, is it not so?”
She nodded ruefully. It warmed her heart to walk about with several pounds in her purse, just as she used to, years ago.
“Exactly so,” he said. “Since you are well known in the town, that makes you prey to every rogue and pickpocket for miles about. Nor do you have a man on hand to protect you. My advice, therefore, is to leave Southampton until the fuss has died down. Do you have anywhere you might go? A relation or friend who would take you in for a while?”
“Leave Southampton?” That was unexpected, yet she could see the sense in it. But where could she go? “I have no friends beyond this town, not any more.” Even as she spoke the words, she thought of Mr Harbottle, but that would not do. She could hardly stay with a single gentleman. “And my family… no, that will not be possible, either. My brother has chosen to follow our late father’s decision to pretend that I was never born, and there is no one else I could turn to.”
“Ah. That is a pity. Yet you visited your brother recently, I understand? He sent you home laden with gifts. Or perhaps my information is faulty. One hears rumours, but sometimes they are far from the truth.”
“No, it is true, but he is bound by a deathbed promise to Papa. When we parted, he told me never to return, but to seek out my husband’s family if I need aid. How I am to do that I cannot imagine,” she added in sudden bitterness. “They live in Ireland, but I have no direction for them, no idea even of the town where they might be situated. It is impossible.”
“Your husband was a gentleman, I understand? Everyone speaks of him so, and at the inquiry into the sinking of the Minerva—”
“You were there?”
“I have read the reports,” Willerton-Forbes said. “He was described as a gentleman and a ship owner at one time, but one who had come down in the world. There was some difficulty in tracing his naval record, but he was widely acknowledged as a fine seaman. All those who had sailed under his command spoke of him in the highest terms. And if he was a gentleman, there should be no difficulty in tracing his family in Ireland.”
Nell hesitated, but there was something about Mr Willerton-Forbes which invited confidences. “He was certainly a gentleman, although he seldom talked of his family or his own history. Indeed, his whole life is shrouded in mystery, Mr Willerton-Forbes, and it is the most painful shock to me how little I knew him. He possesses a naval uniform, yet he was never in the navy. We were in desperate financial straits, yet he supported a mistress to the sum of eight hundred pounds a year. He loved me, of that I am certain, and yet… yet he was not kind to me.”
“I have heard something of that,” Willerton-Forbes said softly. “Yet he was raised as a gentleman.”
“Of that I am sure. Once or twice he mentioned the house where he grew up. It had a ballroom, or perhaps a saloon or gallery that might be used in such a way. He liked to see a lady in a ball gown, he said, for it reminded him of his mama. The house was smaller than Daveney Hall, he told me once, and the library a great deal smaller, but it was more elegant, with greater symmetry.”
“Then it should be an easy matter to find the family. Should you wish us to make enquiries? I believe Captain Edgerton has acquaintances there. He has acquaintances everywhere, which is very useful. It is part of our remit to assist the beneficiaries in whatever way we can.”
“That would be excessively kind, and I should be very much obliged to you,” she said. “I do not believe we shall require any assistance from them now that I have money in hand, but I should like Louis to know his kin. As for leaving Southampton—” Abruptly, she knew where she would go. She stopped, and turned to face the lawyer with a smile. “I shall go to Yorkshire. Louis wishes to see the cathedral at York, I have a letter to deliver, and I have a friend there. An acquaintance, anyway.”
“A letter to deliver?” the lawyer said, chuckling. “You do not trust the mail?”
“It was in a locked box under the bed,” Nell said, “along with my husband’s fraudulent naval uniform and the record of his payments to his mistress. All the things he wanted to hide from me. I should very much like to know my husband’s connection to this unknown person in Yorkshire, who has the initials ‘AB’.”
“It would be my pleasure to help you to plan your journey, Mrs Caldicott. And I approve of your choice. Yorkshire is a great distance from Southampton. You should be perfectly safe there.”
~~~~~
The journey was long, but it was neither arduous nor tedious. Mr Willerton-Forbes, through the agency of the Benefactor, arranged for them to travel post up to London. They had the company of another Minerva widow as far as Guildford, where she and her three daughters were to stay with her sister. After that, Nell and Louis travelled on alone. Louis had never journeyed so far before, and Nell not for many years, so every mile brought new delights for them to enjoy, new vistas to feast their eyes upon, villages and small towns, rivers and woods and rolling hills, all in the finest spring greenery.
London was as it always was — big, noisy and foul-smelling, filled with the chaos of busy streets and vast numbers of inhabitants rushing here and there on business too important to care much about the arrival of one widow and her young son. Even so, the liveliness was exhilarating to Nell after her quiet life in Southampton. They were met in Holborn by one of Mr Willerton-Forbes’ lawyer colleagues and his wife, who escorted them to Charing Cross where they were to stay overnight before leaving for the north.
“There has been a small change of plan, Mrs Caldicott,” the lawyer said. “There is a client of ours, a widow like yourself, who is going to Yorkshire also, travelling post. She would be delighted to have company on the journey. I took the liberty of accepting the offer on your behalf. She is a most agreeable lady, and it will be a great deal more comfortable for you to travel post than by the stage. Mrs Young will defray all the expenses of the horses and postilions, so you will only have your inn costs to find.”
Nell envisioned an elderly woman, perhaps maternal enough to take an interest in Louis, but otherwise not likely to be good company. She was startled to discover that Mrs Young was a rather pretty woman of four or five and twenty, and determined to enjoy her widowhood to the utmost.
“I was a good and dutiful wife for seven years, and never went anywhere or saw anyone, so now I shall make up for lost time,” she said, with a gurgle of merriment. “You can do so, too, if you wish. Was your husband horrid? Henry was not exactly horrid, for he quite doted on me and gave me so many jewels and gowns, anything I wanted, nothing was ever like it! Still, it is not pleasant, being married, is it? A wife must do as her husband bids her, whether she wishes it or not. We are better off without them.”
Such a declaration pressed Nell’s conscience powerfully. In part, she could not help but agree with it. She was better off without Jude’s rages, his violence against her. But she could only regret the loss of her loving husband. For four years, until the disaster overwhelmed
them, Jude had loved her passionately and she him, and nothing could ever replace that. Then there was Louis, who had lost his father — how would that affect him in the years to come? Would a fine education compensate for the lack?
But there was no time for introspection, for Mrs Young rattled on at a great pace. She told Nell that she had an ample jointure and had declined the offer of a dower house, choosing instead to spend her time staying with one relative or another, and moving on whenever she felt like it.
“Or when they grow tired of me,” she said, laughing. “But there is always another aunt or cousin or great-uncle to visit. Lord, how I love visiting! But I shall be glad to get back to Yorkshire again. The moors are so beautiful at this time of year. So delightful, and empty of people. I am very tired of people, Mrs Caldicott. I have been in the metropolis for more than a month, and it feels like forever. I am quite worn out by it. So now I am going to my sister-in-law, who lives in a tiny village in the North Riding, and very peaceful it will be, too. But there, I daresay that I shall be tired of being peaceful in a few weeks and shall long for the excitement of the town.” She laughed heartily at the thought. “But I do wish I had some acquaintance or other in Bath. I have never been there, and I long to go. I know no one there I might stay with, however. It is most unfortunate.”
All this and much more she told Nell before they had even reached Barnet, and she chattered on unstoppably as the carriage rolled along the road to the north. Still, she was inoffensive and required no response from Nell, for which she was grateful. As the lawyer had predicted, it was a more comfortable journey than the stage, with a fresh team waiting at every change and an excellent dinner provided at their overnight stops. Mrs Young’s own lady’s maid, a rather stiff woman of above forty, attended to Nell as well, and would accept no vails, being, as she explained, excessively well paid already.
The Widow (Silver Linings Mysteries Book 1) Page 14