‘I wondered if Theo would like to come for a walk with me. I’m going down to the village.’
‘Oh please, Mama,’ Theo said at once, but his mother shook her head. ‘Mornings are your lesson times.’ She looked at her son’s crestfallen face and relented enough to say, ‘Perhaps you may go with your aunt one afternoon.’
He looked towards Annabel eagerly and she smiled and nodded. ‘Of course. This afternoon about two-thirty, when you’ve had a little rest after luncheon. How would that be?’
‘Thank you, Aunt Annabel,’ the little boy said politely, but his eyes were shining with joy.
As she closed the door of the nursery quietly, she heard Dorothea’s strident voice say, ‘Now, back to your lessons.’
As Annabel left the house and walked along the driveway and down the slope to the village, she was unaware of Dorothea watching her with narrowed eyes from an upstairs window.
Soon she was standing outside the row of village shops. At the end of the row, the smithy was already open for business and she could hear the healthy sound of Jabez’s clanging hammer. The door to the butcher’s shop stood open and joints of meat lay on the cool slab in the window. She could see Percy Hammond serving two customers, his face beaming with happiness. Next door, Ozzy Greenwood’s grocer’s shop was also open. All the produce in the two shops had been supplied at Edward’s instigation by the farmers in the neighbourhood. And to add to her delight, Annabel could see that Ozzy appeared to be showing Nancy Banks around the shop. As she stepped in through the door, he turned to greet her.
‘Your ladyship. Nancy and her mam and little boy are settling in nicely upstairs and Nancy is going to help me out in the shop. I know her and her mam are going to start up their dressmaking business again, but I could do with a few hours’ help a week ’specially when I go into town for supplies. I need someone to hold the fort.’
‘That’s wonderful, Mr Greenwood. How is your mother now?’
‘Doing nicely, thank’ee, but her legs are bad. She can do a bit of housework at home and get meals ready, but she can’t stand behind this counter no more.’
Only Eli Merriman’s shop door remained closed, but as Annabel stepped closer to the window she could see Eli moving about inside. She tapped on the glass and saw him glance up. Reluctantly, he opened the door, which scraped on the floor. For a moment they stared at each other.
‘I’m not ready to open quite yet, but another day or so and I will be.’
Annabel beamed at him. ‘That’s wonderful news, Mr Merriman. Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘No,’ he snapped. And with that, he shut the door in her face.
So, Annabel thought as she turned away, she hadn’t won over everyone in the village. Not yet.
Forty-Three
Two weeks before Christmas, Sarah Constantine arrived at her parents’ farm and word was sent to Annabel that she wished to see her. Luke harnessed the new pony and trap and Annabel drove herself over.
Her mother came out into the yard to greet her. ‘Surely you have servants to drive you? You shouldn’t be driving yourself, nor using a thing like that!’ Sarah glanced disparagingly at the pony and trap. ‘Where is your carriage?’
‘Oh, I’m far too busy to bother with such things,’ Annabel laughed airily. ‘And I like to be independent. How are you, Mother? And how’s Father?’ Adroitly, she tried to steer her mother’s conversation away from herself.
‘Well, but he’s busy. He’s sorry he couldn’t come this time. Perhaps in the New Year . . .’
‘Of course,’ Annabel murmured. Secretly, she was pleased her father had not come. No doubt he would have been far more inquisitive than her mother, but at Sarah’s next words, her heart sank. ‘However, I hope you’re going to take me to Fairfield whilst I’m here. I want to meet the Lyndon family.’
‘James won’t be home until the New Year now, Mother, and Lady Fairfield has been ill—’
‘I trust you are referring to the Dowager Lady Fairfield? You are Lady Fairfield now.’
Annabel shrugged. ‘That’s not how I think of myself.’
‘Then you should. I hope you are behaving like a lady and not—’
For a moment, Annabel was in danger of losing her temper and said more than she meant to. ‘I am behaving as is necessary. The people on the estate needed help and I hope I am giving it.’ She bit her lip, immediately regretting her hasty words.
‘The estate had become rather run down,’ Edward put in mildly, trying to make light of the true condition of the Fairfield Estate and, at the same time, smoothing what he thought could become very troubled waters.
‘I know that,’ Sarah snapped. ‘How else do you think Lord Fairfield would have been willing to marry someone of Annabel’s birth? He was desperate to get his hands on Ambrose’s money.’
Edward’s face was thunderous, but it was Annabel who said quietly, ‘So, it was all a business deal, was it? My father’s money to save his estate and James to give me a title? And were we supposed to fall in love with each other?’
Sarah viewed her daughter through narrowed eyes. ‘Such romantic nonsense has nothing to do with it. Achievement and success are all that matters. Besides, you’ll have a far better life than you would have done married to an office under-manager.’ Annabel gasped as Sarah continued, cruelly now, ‘Oh yes, we knew all about your assignations with Gilbert Radcliffe, so your father got rid of him.’
The colour drained from Annabel’s face and she put her hand to her forehead, feeling suddenly dizzy. So it was true. Her voice trembled as she asked, ‘How – how did Father threaten him?’
Her mother laughed, but the sound was humourless. ‘Radcliffe didn’t need threatening. He was only too happy to take the five hundred pounds your father offered him to make a new start in another country. I believe he chose America.’
Edward moved to his granddaughter’s side and put a supporting arm about her waist as he said, ‘I never thought I’d hear myself say such a thing, but you disgust me, Sarah. I knew both you and Ambrose were ambitious, but to use your daughter like a – like a pawn in your power struggles – well – it beggars belief. Now, we’d better go in. Your mother has dinner ready and I don’t want any of this talked about in front of her. You hear me?’
For a moment Sarah glared at him, but then she backed down. Even she had enough respect for her own father to obey him. All she said now was, ‘Well, I still want to visit Fairfield Hall.’
The visit was awkward. Dorothea was civil to Sarah, but only just, and Elizabeth Lyndon seemed too frightened to say much. Every time she spoke, she glanced at her daughter as if seeking permission. Theodore did not appear at all. But the luncheon that Mrs Parrish had prepared was a banquet in comparison to the meals which Annabel had been served on her arrival. And when John Searby hovered attentively at Sarah’s elbow and Annie bobbed a curtsy every time she encountered her, Sarah seemed to thaw in her attitude. Annie was dressed in a smart new maid’s uniform, which had been Annabel’s first order to Nancy and her mother. Indeed, she had placed orders for new uniforms for all the staff at Fairfield Hall. ‘And there’ll be more to come. I believe Lady Dorothea is planning to appoint additional staff,’ she told them.
Luke was to drive Sarah back to Meadow View Farm, and as she left, she said to her daughter, ‘There is no reason why you should not be happy here. It’s a lovely house,’ she cast her eyes around the hallway, ‘though sadly in need of redecoration. Perhaps your father may be persuaded to part with a little more to help you refurnish it to your taste. And, of course, should you need any advice in that direction, I’d be only too happy to help.’
‘Thank you, Mother,’ Annabel said with steely politeness. ‘I’ll bear that in mind.’
As the front door closed behind her and Annabel heaved a sigh of relief, Dorothea stepped into the hall from the foot of the stairs. It seemed to be one of her favourite places to stand, listening and watching. ‘Well, if your mother thinks she can have a say in the res
toration of this house, she can think again.’
‘Don’t worry, Dorothea. That’s one thing we are agreed upon – neither my mother nor my father will have any say in the refurbishment of the house. Besides,’ she added craftily, ‘I shall consult both you and Lady Fairfield in such matters. And now’ – she smiled, her good humour restored at the thought – ‘may I take Theodore out for a walk? I want to inspect this walled garden I’ve been hearing about and it sounds just the sort of adventure a small boy would love.’
Though she would no doubt have liked to have refused, Dorothea could find no excuse. In fact, when Theo and Annabel arrived back downstairs deliberately dressed in old clothes, Dorothea was waiting for them, dressed in her outdoor garments.
‘May I come?’ she asked, with a strange hesitancy. ‘It was a place we three loved as children. And I know my mother would be thrilled if it could be restored.’
Annabel smiled, delighted that, for once, Dorothea seemed reasonably friendly. ‘Of course you may,’ she agreed readily, though when she glanced at Theo it was to see that his sunny smile at the thought of rampaging through an overgrown garden had disappeared.
When Annabel pushed open the gate into the garden that had been untouched for years, Dorothea stood looking about her. To her surprise, Annabel saw tears in the woman’s eyes and she was moved to put her arm through Dorothea’s. For once, her sister-in-law didn’t object.
‘It used to be so beautiful,’ Dorothea whispered with a catch in her voice. ‘Herbaceous borders full of flowers of every colour and fruit trees that kept the house supplied with fruit through the late summer and autumn and now look at it. Whenever I see it I feel sad. It would be wonderful for Mama if it could be restored to its former glory.’
‘We’ll get it put right. You can advise on how it used to be and then next summer, we’ll be able to bring your mother here.’
‘She’d love that though I don’t know if she could walk this far now.’
‘Then we’ll get a bath chair for her.’ Annabel was not to be defeated, especially now that she seemed to have found something on which she and her sister-in-law could work together. Dorothea was a strange mixture, Annabel mused. She could be vitriolic and almost cruel, even to her own son, and yet today Annabel was seeing a softer side. Maybe the restoration of the house and gardens was the way to reach her sister-in-law, even if she was aware all the time that Dorothea’s motive was purely selfish; she wanted Fairfield Hall to be renovated for her son’s inheritance. Aloud Annabel said, ‘Did you employ anyone from the village as gardeners?’
Dorothea nodded. ‘Yes, Thomas Salt. He lived somewhere near The Lyndon Arms – I expect he still does.’
‘Perhaps you’d see if he’d like to come back here.’
Slowly, Dorothea turned to look at her, their faces close together. ‘If you’d like me to, yes, I will.’
‘And would you also give some thought to what additional indoor staff you’d like to employ? It’s high time we got some more help for Mr Searby, Mrs Parrish and the others. Don’t you agree?’
‘You – you’d leave that to me? Even when their wages will come out of your money?’
‘I’d be happy to, Dorothea.’
‘Actually, Searby has mentioned the matter, but I didn’t know . . .’
‘Anything you arrange with Mr Searby will be fine with me,’ Annabel reassured her.
They turned back to watch Theo happily thrashing his way with a stick through the overgrown lawn.
‘And think about a tutor for Theodore or whether you might feel able to let him attend the village school until he’s old enough to go to boarding school. I’m sure it would be good for him to mix with other children in readiness for that.’
But to this, Dorothea did not reply.
Forty-Four
During the week before Christmas, three things happened. The portrait of Annabel, painted by a London artist at her father’s request, was delivered to Fairfield Hall with instructions that it should be placed in the dining room on the opposite side of the fireplace to the one of the earl.
Dorothea was incensed, but there was nothing she could do about it.
‘I’m sorry,’ Annabel said to her, ‘it was not my idea.’
Tight-lipped, Dorothea nodded. ‘James told me about it. Your father wouldn’t hand over the cheque until he’d agreed to it.’ Grudgingly, she added, ‘But it’s a small price to pay, I suppose, for rescuing my son’s inheritance.’
The second event was that The Lyndon Arms reopened. The public house in the village now had a new tenant, the son of a publican from Thorpe St Michael who, with his father’s guidance, had been keen to take on the derelict building. He opened the snug for business whilst the rest of the property underwent restoration. Soon, the pub would be a thriving business once more.
The third – and in Annabel’s estimation by far the most important of the three – was that Eli Merriman reopened his small general store. He was, Annabel discovered, an astute businessman. Although he knew that the villagers would not have much money to spend on Christmas goods, he reckoned – quite rightly, as it turned out – on them wanting to make merry as much as funds would allow. They had all been through such a hard time and they wanted to give thanks in the only way they knew how: by enjoying themselves.
Annabel asked Ben to organize a Christmas tree to be erected in the schoolyard. ‘I’m hoping it will ease the children into going back to school in the New Year. And can you get me a tree suitable for the drawing room at Fairfield Hall?’
‘Of course. I’ll see to it. Have they appointed a new teacher, then?’
‘He’s coming for an interview tomorrow.’
Mr Porter arrived ten minutes before the appointed time and rang the bell at the vicarage.
‘We’d have held this meeting in the school, but we haven’t had time to get it ready,’ Richard Webster told him as he ushered the candidate into the dining room where the members of the school board were ranged round three sides of the table. ‘Please sit down here where we can all see you. I hope we don’t look too daunting, Mr Porter,’ Richard smiled as he took his seat on the opposite side and in the centre as chairman.
Douglas Porter sat down. He was tall and thin and fair-haired. There was sadness in his pale blue eyes, but that was probably because of his recent loss. He looked a little nervous, Annabel thought, and no wonder, with Dan Broughton staring solemn-faced at him and Jabez Fletcher frowning. And no doubt it was important to him to secure this job for the sake of his motherless children. Annabel smiled at him with what she hoped was encouragement. Douglas blinked and stared at her, mesmerized for a moment by her beautiful eyes and her dazzling smile.
Richard cleared his throat, rustled some papers and the interview began.
‘So, what do you think?’ Richard said, as the interview ended and he’d shown Mr Porter out to wait in the hall whilst they discussed his merits.
‘He’ll do,’ Jabez said. ‘If we’re only offering him a temporary place, we can see how he shapes up.’
‘I agree.’ Richard nodded and a chorus of ‘ayes’ sounded round the table. ‘Shall I call him back in, then?’
Ben rose. ‘I’ll do it, Vicar.’
Moments later, Douglas Porter was being offered the post of teacher at the school in a temporary capacity at first. ‘You understand,’ Richard explained to him, ‘that if you prove satisfactory, there’s no reason why your appointment should not be made permanent.’
‘Better the devil you know,’ Jabez muttered.
‘Thank you,’ Douglas said, and Annabel could hear the heartfelt sentiment in his tone. ‘I’ll not let you down. I love teaching and I will do my very best for your children.’
‘As we explained, they’ve had no schooling for the last few months and may take some settling back into a classroom routine,’ Richard explained.
‘There’s a meadow behind the school where the children used to play sport,’ Ben said and glanced at Annabel. ‘Will it be all right
to use it again?’
‘Of course,’ she agreed as Richard stood up.
‘If you’d like to come with me, Mr Porter, I’ll show you the school, though please be assured that by the time you come in January to start the new term, it’ll be in a lot better shape than it looks at present. We’ll get it cleaned up and any repairs done.’
‘I’d like to come over before then and help,’ Douglas Porter offered. ‘If – if that would be acceptable. There aren’t many days left before term starts.’
‘We’d be glad of your help and we’ll all make sure it’s ready in time,’ Richard said.
‘Well, you’re not afraid to get your hands mucky then, young feller,’ Dan said, shaking Douglas’s hand firmly. ‘I like that.’
‘Anything that will get the children back to school as soon as possible,’ the new headmaster said.
There were murmurs of agreement and nods of approval as they all left the dining room and moved out of the vicarage to take a look at the school.
The rooms were cold and damp, dusty and neglected. ‘Now everyone is feeling better,’ Richard said, ‘I’m sure all the villagers will lend a hand.’
‘I’ll repair the gate and the fencing,’ Jabez said.
‘William and me’ll paint the walls in the classrooms,’ Dan said, and the offers of help went on.
As they parted they all shook Douglas’s hand, wishing him well in his new post. Annabel was the last to say ‘goodbye’. ‘What about your own children, Mr Porter? Are they of school age?’
‘The eldest one is, yes, but he will go to the school in the town. We are living with my late wife’s mother and father and they are quite happy to look after them. Their care won’t encroach on my duties here.’
‘Oh, that’s not what I meant, Mr Porter. Please don’t think it was. I just wondered if you’d be bringing them here to school.’
Douglas shook his head. ‘I’m not comfortable with a teacher’s children being in the same school. I know it can’t be helped sometimes, but when there is an alternative, I believe it’s the best for all concerned.’
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