Lucy hugged him to her, while tears of relief and exhaustion ran down her cheeks. ‘Oh, Johnny, thank God. I thought you were lost. Why, why did you go out alone?’
‘I wanted to go tobogganing again and Mr Gorridge said he knew a much better place.’
‘Mr Gorridge!’ The exclamation came from Myles and Lucy simultaneously.
‘Yes, he said if I met him at the back of the stables with my sled, he’d take me. He said not to tell anyone or they would all want to come and it was a secret place.’
Lucy looked up at Myles, a puzzled frown on her brow. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Then what happened?’ Myles prompted.
‘We went a long way up a hill, but it was snowing so hard and I didn’t want to go any farther. He called me a baby and he said babies didn’t deserve to be given sleds if they didn’t have the stomach to use them. He sat me on it and gave it a push. It was very steep and I went down very fast and then I fell off. I called out, but no one came. Then the lady came and brought me here.’
Lucy looked from her brother to Myles. ‘He abandoned him,’ she said. ‘Why would he do that? He must have known Johnny could not survive out there on his own.’
Myles said nothing, but it was not difficult to guess the man’s motives. Without Johnny, the Earl would have no heir and Gorridge evidently had not given up on the idea of marrying Lucy and inheriting Luffenham Hall as well as Linwood Park. The greed, callousness and sheer conceit of the man was unparalleled. But what had Lottie Middleton to do with it? Was she in league with Gorridge, or was it simply a coincidence that she was the one to find him? Was it ransom rather than reward she was thinking of? He should have sent her from the site the first time he had caught her with Gorridge, but James was a good worker and he had a wife and other children to care for and he couldn’t have condemned them all because Lottie fell for the blandishments of the so-called gentleman.
‘You are safe now and your sister needs to rest, young man,’ he said, picking the boy off the bed and standing him on the floor. ‘She has been very brave coming out in the snow to look for you, but you can’t go home for a little while, not until the snows stops and Lady Lucinda is stronger.’
‘But, Myles…’ she protested.
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘When the snow stops and someone can get through, I will send a message to say you and the young master are safe and well, but going now is out of the question.’
Kathy brought a bowl of soup and a spoon and Myles took it from her and sat on the side of the bed, intending to feed Lucy from it. ‘I can manage,’ she told him.
He smiled. ‘Perhaps you can, but it will give me pleasure to see you take every drop. It’s good soup, I can vouch for that. There’s many a time I’ve had Kathy’s soup warming my insides.’
Kathy put her arm about Johnny’s shoulders. ‘Come, young master, let’s leave your sister to enjoy her dinner. You come with me and I’ll find something tasty for you.’ She led him away and dropped the curtain behind her.
‘It is good,’ Lucy said, tasting the first mouthful.
‘You are not to speak until it’s all gone.’ He smiled and popped a second spoonful into her mouth. He wanted to know exactly what had happened at the Hall after he left, why Gorridge was still about the place, but he could wait. She was here with him, and though their surroundings were not what he would have wished for her it could not be helped; at least Kathy, unlike many of the navvy women, was clean and respectful and her home kept as spotless as was possible given the conditions under which the navvies lived.
‘Now, my darling,’ he said, when she had finished and he had set the bowl and spoon on the floor. ‘I want to know everything.’
‘I told you, I was looking for Johnny and Midge threw me. It wasn’t her fault, poor thing…’
‘I did not mean that and you know it.’ He hitched himself closer to her and took both her hands in his. ‘I want to know what happened after you left me last time. What happened to Gorridge?’ He checked suddenly. ‘I don’t think you will be going to any ball this evening.’
‘I wouldn’t have, anyway. Papa cancelled it. There was an awful row and he sent Mr Gorridge away and Viscount and Lady Gorridge said they would go, too, only there was so much snow, they couldn’t leave until yesterday morning. I watched them go. Poor Lady Gorridge was distraught.’
‘Obviously Gorridge did not go far.’
‘He must have stayed in the village. Why? Did he mean to harm Johnny? What can he have against him?’
‘Revenge, perhaps. If he was sent away…’
‘But surely if it was vengeance he wanted, he would have taken it on me, not my brother.’
‘Are you quite sure he doesn’t expect to be allowed back to Luffenham Hall to marry you?’
‘If he does, he will be disappointed. I will never consent.’
‘So, there is to be no marriage.’
She smiled. ‘Not to Mr Gorridge.’
‘Ah, you think there might be one to someone else?’
She twisted her head to smile up at him. ‘If he were to ask me.’
He smiled and bent to put his lips to hers. ‘Has your father relented?’
‘I pray that he will.’
‘I hope so. But it isn’t a case of off with the old and on with the new, is it? Your mama said that we had to give it time. His lordship will not suddenly turn round and say he approves of me.’
‘No, but your people saved Johnny’s life and you saved mine.’
‘Do you think that will have any bearing on the matter? I do not think so. I am still a brute of a navvy who aspires to be a gentleman, an upstart in his eyes. He would most definitely think so if he could see us now. Here I am, almost in bed with you, and you are wearing nothing but…What is it?’
‘Mrs O’Malley’s nightgown. It’s much too big for me.’
‘So I noticed.’ She looked down to see that the garment had fallen off one shoulder and the top of a rosy breast was visible. Hurriedly she pulled the neckline back into place.
‘Why are you being so negative, Myles?’
‘I am being realistic. It was you who insisted on saying goodbye.’
‘I know.’ She sighed. ‘I could see no way forward and it broke my heart. But if I have to say I was in bed with you, then I will.’
‘Don’t tempt me, Lucy.’ He smiled, but moved a little away from her, knowing how easy it would be to give way. ‘What do you think that would do to your reputation as a virtuous young lady, or to my good name? Navvy or gentleman, I value my honour.’
‘I know you do. I was only teasing.’
‘Teasing or not, the sooner we get you out of this compromising situation, the better.’
‘You said the snow was too thick to get through.’
‘To Luffenham, yes, but Goodthorpe Manor is nearer and the terrain easier to traverse. We will have the railway line to guide us back to the road and once we are on the main road, the snow shouldn’t be so bad. It had been cleared when I came along it earlier.’
‘Goodthorpe Manor. Will your parents welcome us?’
‘Of course they will.’ The only problem as far as he could see was not with his parents, but how to transport her and her brother. It was clear she was not strong enough to walk or even ride. He might have to wait until the morning and what would her father say to that? He would be for ever condemned. Lucy might have been teasing, but the world would see a young, aristocratic lady staying among labourers whose reputation for depravity was legendary. All the excuses in the world would not save her reputation. He bent to kiss her and picked up the empty soup bowl. ‘Try to get some sleep.’
Johnny, who was on the floor playing five stones with Adam, looked up as Myles came into the room. ‘Has Lucy finished her dinner?’
‘Yes, son, and now she is resting. Be a good boy and don’t disturb her.’
‘Aren’t we going home?’
‘Not today, Johnny. We can’t get through the snow. As soon as I can I will
send a message to Luffenham Hall to let them know where you are. You don’t mind that, do you?’
‘No, I don’t mind. I like it here. There are so many other boys to play with. I wish I hadn’t lost my sled. We could have had some rides.’
‘We’ll find it when the snow has gone.’
He went outside. The snow had stopped falling and a watery sun was trying to break through the clouds, but the afternoon was well advanced and darkness would fall rapidly once the sun sank below the crest of the hill. It was all very well to say he would take them to Goodthorpe Manor, but how? Trojan could not carry all three, even if Lucy was strong enough to ride. She needed a carriage. But there was no carriage on a navvy site. He looked about him for inspiration. The snow was deep, the line of the track barely visible. An empty bogey stood on the rails, covered in snow. An old cart, its shafts pointing skyward, had been abandoned beside one of the huts. The trouble was that however many horses he hitched to it, they would never be able to pull it through the snow. The cart would fall to pieces first. He smiled suddenly and went to find Pat, who had gone back to the grog shop where it was warm. ‘Call the men together, Pat. I’ll give them their wages. After that I’ve a job for them to do.’
He had a couple of hundred navvies with nothing to do under his command, navvies accustomed to shifting tons of earth every day—moving a few tons of snow would be nothing to them. He sat at a table in the grog shop and gave each man his wages. When all had been paid and most had used some of their wages to pay off their tommy-ticket debts and had a tankard of ale in their hands, he went outside and stood on the bogey to address them.
‘Most of you know that Lady Lucinda Vernley is in Pat’s shanty, recovering from being caught out in the snow. She is weak and shaken by her ordeal and I want to take her home.’
‘Ain’t Kathy O’Malley’s place good enough for ’er, then?’ someone shouted.
‘Of course it is, but she’s taking up Pat’s bed. Can’t have that, can we?’
‘You ain’t goin’ to share it with ’er, then?’ another called out and they all laughed.
He grinned. ‘What do you think Lord Luffenham would say to that?’
There were several more ribald comments, which he ignored. They were all good natured because there wasn’t one among them that had not been affected by Lucy’s kindness. ‘I’ll give double pay to those of you prepared to clear the rails of snow back to the crossing on the lane.’
‘That’s all of three miles. We’ll not be done by dark and if it snows again…’
‘Then we must hope that it does not. Will you at least attempt it?’
‘Oh, aye, for double pay we’ll try anything.’
‘Off you go, then. Pat…you, George Munster and Will Williams, come with me. I’ve another job for you.’
The men dispersed and were soon busy with their shovels. Some of the children, thinking it was a great joke, found smaller spades and went to help, Johnny among them. Myles went over to the cart and examined it carefully. ‘Seems stout enough.’
‘What are you going to do with it?’ Pat asked.
‘Put in on the bogey to make a railway carriage. We’ll harness a couple of horses to the bogey and, once the line is clear, we’ll run it back to the crossing.’
‘Then what?’
‘We’ll take the cart off and harness the horses to that. They ought to be able to manage it along the road as far as Goodthorpe Manor.’
‘I hope you know what you’re doing, Mr Moorcroft,’ Will said. ‘If they can’t get through, you’ll hev took the lady out of a warm bed for nothing.’
‘He’s right,’ Pat put in. ‘And I don’t begrudge her my bed.’
‘I know you don’t, Pat, but it’s the way she’s been raised. She is in what gentlefolk would call a compromising situation and they would not believe she had not been taken advantage of while she was here.’
‘Then gentlefolk are bloody hypocrites, beggin’ your pardon, sir. It ain’t her fault. Nor your’n, neither.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ he said, with a wry smile. ‘But there’s also your lodgers to consider. They can’t come back to your shanty while she is there and where else would they sleep? Most of the huts are full.’
Pat shrugged his shoulders. ‘Have it your own way, but if you think we’ll let you go the rest of the way on your own, you can think again, Mr Moorcroft. You’ll have an escort all the way.’
Myles smiled. ‘For double pay, no doubt.’
‘They’d do it for no pay at all, but seeing you’ve offered…’ And he laughed.
They dragged the cart to the line and managed to run it up some planks on to the flat bed of the bogey, where they tied it securely with strong rope. Then Myles rigged up a canvas top, begged some blankets and hot bricks and went back to O’Malley’s hut, while the others fetched two strong horses, used to pulling wagons full of soil, and harnessed them to the bogey.
Lucy was sitting by the fire on a stool by the fire, talking to Kathy. She was wearing her own clothes. They looked bedraggled, but at least they were dry and decent. She looked up as Myles came in. He was smiling. ‘My lady, your carriage awaits.’ He swept her an elaborate bow.
She got up and went to him. ‘How have you managed that?’
‘Come and see.’ He wrapped a blanket round her and picked her up as if she weighed no more than a feather.
Lucy looked back at Kathy from the safety of his arms. ‘Thank you, Mrs O’Malley. I shan’t forget your kindness.’
‘You’re welcome, my lady. God bless you.’
Myles strode out with her in his arms and deposited her in the cart, calling to her brother as he went. ‘Come on, Johnny, you’re going for a ride.’ The boy gave his spade to Adam and ran to climb up beside his sister. Myles put the hot bricks at their feet and wrapped them in more blankets. They were rough and worn, not what they were used to, but they would keep the pair of them warm. Pat, Will and George climbed up on the bogey to make sure the cart did not slip and Myles mounted Trojan. The rest of the men were some way ahead, clearing the rails. He had taken a terrible gamble, but would it work?
Chapter Eleven
They reached the crossing without mishap. From here, they had to go for a mile or two along a narrow lane and then on to the main road, which he hoped was still clear. Another couple of miles and they would be at the gates of Goodthorpe Manor and he knew the servants would have kept the drive free of drifting snow.
Lucy and Johnny climbed down while the cart was taken off the bogey and the horses harnessed to it. With so many willing hands it was soon done, but standing waiting took its toll of Lucy and she began to shiver uncontrollably, although Johnny was so excited he danced up and down and did not appear to feel the cold. As soon as the cart was ready, Myles helped them both back on to it, made sure they were well wrapped up and climbed up on the cross plank to drive it. Pat led Trojan. They were strong horses and used to much heavier loads, but the last snowstorm had piled the snow up into fresh drifts and it was hard going. The navvies refused to return to the camp, but continued clearing a passage all the way to Goodthorpe Manor gates. By then it was dark, but he had the lights of the house to guide him.
‘You’ll manage now,’ Pat said, hitching Trojan on to the back of the cart.
‘Yes. You have my gratitude. If the weather holds, I’ll be back at the works tomorrow with your extra pay.’
‘No need, Mr Moorcroft, no need at all.’
Lucy leaned forward. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Say thank you to everyone for me.’ It seemed inadequate for what they had done, but she meant to make sure her father acknowledged his debt to them. She would make him understand their bad reputation was undeserved. They turned and marched off back down the road they had so willingly and so nobly cleared.
The door opened as they reached the front door and a footman stood in a pool of light, uncertain whether this was a visitor he ought to welcome or send packing. Myles jumped down and called to him. ‘It’s me, Craske, come an
d help.’
He carried Lucy into the house, followed by the footman carrying Johnny, who was now very cold. His teeth were chattering and his bravado had long since vanished.
‘Goodness, Myles, what have you got there?’ Lady Moorcroft had come out from the drawing room to find her son carrying a large bundle and the footman with another.
‘Lady Lucinda Vernley, Mama, and her brother, Viscount Vernley. They have been caught out in the snow and need warm beds and hot food, soup or something like that. Can you organise it?’
Her ladyship hurried forward and lifted the blanket aside to look at Lucy’s pale face. ‘I’m sorry to be such a bother,’ Lucy said, shivering uncontrollably.
‘Oh, you poor mite. Take her up to my room, Myles. There’s a fire in there. Put the boy on the sofa in my dressing room until I can have somewhere made ready for him.’ She turned back towards the room from which she had just emerged. ‘Harriet, you are needed.’
In no time at all, her ladyship had taken control and Lucy was put into a warm bed, given a hot drink laced with brandy, and, murmuring her thanks, was soon asleep. Her ladyship returned to the drawing room where Myles, having changed his clothes, was sipping a glass of cognac with his father.
‘Now,’ she said, seating herself by the fire. ‘Explain this strange visitation, if you please.’
He gave them a graphic account of what had happened. ‘I couldn’t leave her with the navvies and I couldn’t risk trying to take her back to Luffenham Hall,’ he said. ‘The road to the village must be one of the worst in the county and it’s considerably farther than coming here, not to say more hilly. I hoped you would not mind.’
‘Of course I do not mind. I have been looking forward to meeting the young lady, you know that, but not in such extraordinary circumstances! I wonder what Lord Luffenham will have to say.’
‘I hope he will be grateful and realise I acted for the best.’
Mary Nichols Page 24