Cherry Tree Lane

by Anna Jacobs

  ‘I’ve found out there’s a family called Newington with property out beyond Wootton Bassett. Landowners. Rich. I set a friend on to make enquiries at the registry office and he found out about the wedding. Your Mattie got married to a fellow called Kemble – a widower, he was. He lives out that way, too. I’m going to find ’em next weekend. You can come too if you want.’

  ‘I might as well. She’ll know where the others have gone. They’re thick as thieves, them three girls are.’ He frowned. ‘But I don’t see why you want to bother with her now. She’s wed to someone else, and you’re well shut of her if you want my opinion.’

  ‘I want to see her.’

  ‘She’s not worth the trouble.’

  Stan shrugged. ‘I know, but I still want to see her.’

  ‘You’ve gone daft.’

  He knew that, but he had to find out why she’d rejected him when he’d promised to treat her right, which was more than Bart did.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Once they’d routed her cousin, Miss Newington said she was tired. She lay so quiet and still that Mattie began to worry about her. Even after her seizure Miss Newington had tried to speak, struggled to move her sluggish limbs, made plans. Now, she was just staring into the distance. She didn’t want to eat or drink, didn’t try to speak, thanked her helpers only with a faint smile when they tried to make her more comfortable.

  ‘She’s going to die, I know she is,’ Lyddie said when she came to take away a tray of food that hadn’t been touched.

  ‘Shh!’ Mattie glanced over her shoulder, went out onto the landing and closed the bedroom door. ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘My gran were just the same. She give up tryin’.’

  ‘Well, I don’t want you saying anything like that where Miss Newington can hear you, and if I can make her want to live, I shall.’

  Lyddie looked at her with a sad smile. ‘She’s lucky she’s got you and Mr Kemble.’

  ‘She’s lucky she’s got you and Cook, too.’

  ‘We’re not the same. We’re just servants.’

  As she went back into the bedroom, Mattie wondered what she and Jacob were. If not servants, then what? Everyone else round here seemed quite sure of each others’ place in the scheme of things. She wasn’t sure of anything about her new life, except that it was better than the old one and … that she both liked and admired Jacob. She wished she could be with him now, be married properly, building a home and family together.

  But they were needed here in this big, near empty, echoing house. You couldn’t leave a sick old woman on her own, you just couldn’t. So Mattie and her new husband, and his children, would stay here for the time being and move back to their own home later.

  When Dr Crawford came back at six o’clock that evening, he asked Mattie to stay and spent some time with Miss Newington, trying to get her to talk while observing her carefully. After he’d finished, he said a cheerful goodbye.

  ‘I’ll just give your attendants instructions about how to use the calming medicine I’m going to leave here for you. I’ll be back in the morning.’

  He shook the sick woman’s hand and she held on to it for a minute, the first sign of her old self.

  ‘Thank you, Doctor.’

  He stared down at her. ‘I do my best.’

  ‘My will …’

  He waited, then prompted, ‘Yes. Your will?’

  ‘Is as I want it to be. Everything’s going to a good person. Remember that.’

  Her eyes closed and he waited a minute, but they didn’t open again. He gestured to Mattie to leave the room. ‘Do you know anything about her will? Is there some problem?’

  ‘You’ll have to ask Mr Longley about that, Doctor. I don’t know anything about it.’

  ‘Let’s find that husband of yours. I need to talk to you both.’

  ‘Is something wrong?’

  His voice was brusque. ‘I don’t want to keep repeating myself.’

  She knew then that something was indeed wrong. Well, she’d sensed it already, hadn’t she? It was as if the magistrate’s visit had drained Miss Newington of energy – and Lyddie was right. The old lady had lost the will to live, looked so frail you felt a strong wind would blow her away. Mattie wasn’t usually fanciful but like Lyddie she’d seen the same thing before. Her mother. One week struggling to live, the next waiting calmly to leave this life.

  They gathered in the small sitting room.

  Dr Crawford declined an offer of refreshments, took a deep breath and said, ‘I’m afraid we’re going to lose her.’

  Cook let out a cry, then muffled her tears with her apron. Lyddie patted her shoulder.

  Jacob broke the silence. ‘They’ve killed her, then!’ His voice was angry and his hand tightened on Mattie’s.

  ‘They’ve probably hastened her death, yes. But her heart has become very fluttery and weak and I don’t like her lethargy. I’m deeply sorry her last days have been marred by such unpleasantness.’

  Mattie watched the maid take out her handkerchief and wipe away her tears, but others followed and the girl didn’t seem able to stop weeping.

  ‘Stop that!’ the doctor said sharply. ‘Save your weeping till she’s gone. Do you want to surround her with gloom and tears? She’ll see it if you have red eyes, you know.’

  Lyddie gulped and blew her nose, struggling to get her emotions under control. It was Cook’s turn to comfort her.

  Mattie held on tightly to Jacob’s hand.

  ‘I think you should take it in turns to sit with her tonight,’ the doctor went on. ‘Just in case.’

  They nodded. No one wanted the poor lady to die alone.

  ‘And don’t hesitate to send for me if you need me – at any hour. One final thing: should she die, don’t touch her, don’t change anything. No laying out till after I’ve seen her.’

  Mattie looked at him in puzzlement.

  ‘We don’t want to give her cousin any excuse for saying things have been tampered with, that you hastened her death.’

  Lyddie and Cook looked scandalised and Jacob let out a little growl of anger.

  ‘Her lawyer is coming out to see her again tomorrow, and every day thereafter. He and I agree that it’s best we keep an eye on her until … things are resolved. And now I’d better get back to my family.’

  Jacob saw the doctor to the door, then rejoined the others, who were still sitting there in numb silence. ‘The doctor’s right. We must try to be calm and cheerful when we’re with her. She won’t want to be surrounded by miserable faces.’

  They nodded.

  ‘She knows, though,’ Lyddie said suddenly. ‘She knows she’s going to die.’

  No one contradicted her.

  * * *

  Mattie took over from Jacob at three o’clock in the morning, as agreed. ‘How is she?’

  ‘She’s hardly stirred.’ He pulled his wife to him for a moment, holding her close, then stepped back with a yawn. ‘I’d better get some sleep. Are you going to be all right? You’re not long recovered yourself.’

  ‘Of course I’ll be all right. I slept soundly till you woke me and I’m feeling better every day.’

  She sat down by the side of the bed, lost in thought, thinking through all that had happened to her in the past few weeks. Who would have thought she’d end up married?

  Just as it was starting to get light, Miss Newington stirred, then opened her eyes and stared towards the door, as if someone had entered the room.

  Mattie turned round, but there was no one there except herself. She looked back to see Miss Newington smiling and hold out one hand, as if greeting someone. Then the old lady’s head fell sideways and she didn’t move again.

  Mattie had seen death enough times to recognise it at once. She closed the staring eyes and said a quick prayer, adding, ‘Goodbye, Miss Newington. I’m sorry I didn’t know you better.’ Then she went to fetch Jacob.

  They stood by the bedside together, hand in hand, looking down. Mattie loved the feel of his
hand in hers, the feeling it gave her that she was no longer alone. He’d never offer her fancy words, she knew, but if he continued to offer her his hand, she’d do very well.

  ‘How did she go?’ he asked.

  ‘It was very peaceful. You couldn’t ask for a gentler death.’

  ‘I’m glad about that, at least.’

  ‘We’d better send for the doctor.’

  ‘I suppose so. I’ll drive into Bassett for him. Make me a cup of tea first, will you? And could you find me something to eat? It sounds heartless, but I’m always ravenous in the mornings.’

  As they sat together at the kitchen table while Jacob quickly ate a slice of bread and jam, Mattie asked the question that was uppermost in her mind: ‘What’s going to happen to us now? Miss Newington said her cousin wouldn’t inherit, but who will?’

  ‘I don’t know. Can’t even guess. Don’t fret. Even if I lose the rent agent’s job, I reckon I can always earn enough to put bread on the table.’

  ‘I’ll be an extra burden on you.’

  Jacob looked at her in surprise. ‘You’re my wife, not a burden.’ As if that settled the matter, he ate the last corner of bread, sucked a blob of jam off his thumb and stood up.

  Mattie tried to smile at him, but she couldn’t manage it.

  He pulled her to him and gave her a quick hug. ‘I meant that.’

  She looked at him in wonderment and raised her hand to his cheek for a brief caress, then allowed herself to lean against him for the sheer comfort of it.

  His breath was warm in her ear. ‘Far from you being a burden, Mattie Kemble, you’ve been a godsend. I don’t know what I’d have done without you these past few days, and that’s a fact. And you were lovely with Miss Newington. I’m sure you made things easier for her.’

  ‘I’m glad, too. And I’m very glad I married you, Jacob Kemble. I’m looking forward to our life together.’

  ‘So am I.’ He glanced at the clock and moved her gently aside. ‘I’d better get going. We want that doctor here before anyone else hears the news.’

  When he’d gone, the warmth of his words lingered inside her, but outside, the early morning stillness seemed heavy and threatening today, as if a storm was about to break upon this house. She shivered. Not like her to be so fanciful. She tried to banish such thoughts, but the feeling persisted.

  Then Lyddie came into the kitchen, yawning, and Mattie was at last able to forgot her strange fancies, because there was a great deal to do.

  * * *

  Mattie sent the children to school. She’d not told them of Miss Newington’s death and had asked the others not to mention it, either. But as Cook kept wiping her eyes and the normally cheerful Lyddie was sad and quiet, it was obvious something was wrong.

  Ben and one of the others had slept in the barn and came up to the house for breakfast. She asked Ben to stay behind afterwards and told him what had happened. For some reason she trusted him implicitly, young as he was.

  ‘What’s going to happen now?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I’ll stay near the house this morning, shall I?’

  ‘I’d feel better to have you around,’ she admitted. ‘I hope Jacob doesn’t take too long to find the doctor.’

  He grinned at all the women. ‘You’re a fearsome lot and I’m sure you’d hold your own without us men. I’d not like to meet you three when you’ve got pokers in your hands, that’s for sure.’

  He didn’t just sit there as the clock slowly ticked away the minutes, Mattie noticed. He brought in wood for the fire, carried things to and fro for Cook, and generally made himself useful. A good man, Ben Summerhaye.

  It was two hours before Jacob returned, by which time Mattie was starting to feel anxious.

  ‘Dr Crawford’s out at a birthing, but he’ll come straight here afterwards.’ Jacob looked at the three women and Ben. ‘You didn’t tell the children what had happened?’

  They shook their heads.

  ‘I don’t like to think of the poor mistress lying there untended,’ Cook said. ‘’Tisn’t right.’

  ‘We must do as the doctor ordered,’ Jacob said.

  Cook wiped away her tears with the back of her forearm, then turned to her cooking. ‘Best be ready for visitors. Won’t look good if we’ve nothing to offer them. We don’t want anyone thinking we took advantage of the mistress to slack off, do we?’ She went into the pantry and came out again. ‘You don’t have any spare eggs, do you, Mr Kemble? I’ve only got two left.’

  ‘I can get you some. I’ll have to go and feed the hens, anyway.’

  ‘Take care,’ Mattie said involuntarily.

  ‘I doubt anything can happen to me just going down the lane.’

  But as he walked out of the house, she turned to Ben. ‘Could you send one of the other lads to stand at the gate? We don’t want anyone taking Jacob by surprise.’

  ‘I’ll go and do that myself and send Percy to stay in the house with you.’ He turned to Cook. ‘He’d appreciate a snack if you have anything. Not got a lot to eat in his house, and he’s always hungry.’

  She nodded. ‘I can find him something. I don’t like to see lads as need their strength lacking food.’

  The lad in question was twenty, nearly six foot tall but bony and with a hungry look to him which Mattie had seen before among poorer people.

  She went to help Lyddie with the housework, rather than fret around the kitchen, ignoring the maid’s protests that this wasn’t right.

  As Jacob carried the bowl of eggs back to his house to wash his hands, a man slipped round the corner of the building. He tensed till he saw it was one of his nearest neighbours.

  ‘Did you know someone’s been watching the big house and wandering round your place?’ Walter asked.

  ‘What? Who is he?’

  ‘Says he’s a cousin of yours, but I ent heard you talk about no cousins.’

  ‘That’s because I’ve not got any living near here.’

  ‘Thought as much. I sent him off with a flea in his ear. He has a bicycle hidden down the lane, near the main road. Why would he hide it there if he was coming to see you? And why hasn’t he come out of hiding now you’re here?’

  ‘Because he isn’t my cousin. Thanks for keeping your eyes open.’

  ‘If neighbours can’t help one another, who can we rely on?’ He hesitated. ‘Everything all right at the big house?’

  Jacob hesitated, then decided to trust a man he’d known all his life. ‘Miss Newington died in the night. We’re waiting for the doctor now. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep the news to yourself for the moment.’

  ‘Never been one to flap my tongue at the world.’

  ‘I know.’

  There was the sound of a horse in the lane and he spun round, stiffening, ready to rush back to the house. But it was the doctor’s vehicle which came into view. ‘I know you’re busy, but can you find someone to keep an eye on things here? I’ll give them a florin just to stay around the place.’

  ‘I c’n find someone easy enough. You expectin’ trouble?’

  ‘Could be. Arthur Newington’s already tried to take over at the big house. Miss Newington didn’t want him there, though. Sent him off with a flea in his ear, ill as she was.’

  ‘He’s her only relative, ent he?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then he’ll be inheriting.’

  ‘I’ve heard she’s leaving it to someone else, but I don’t know who. Keep that to yourself as well.’

  Walter let out a low whistle of surprise. ‘Let’s hope it’s someone decent. Now, you’d better get back to the big house, Jacob. I’ll see an eye’s kept on your place.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  He was grim-faced as he walked up the lane with the bowl of eggs. If Arthur Newington got hold of the big house, his peace would be over. And probably his livelihood too. Easy enough to damage a field of fruit and vegetables.

  Mattie accompanied Dr Crawford up to Miss Newington’s room.

/>   ‘You’ve not touched the body?’ he asked.

  ‘I closed her eyes, that’s all.’

  ‘You can leave me to my work now. I’ll come down when I’ve finished.’

  ‘Shall I put a jug of water in the next room for you to wash your hands in afterwards?’

  ‘Thank you.’

  She found Jacob in the kitchen and Cook exclaiming in pleasure over the big bowl of eggs he’d brought.

  He turned to Mattie. ‘I see the doctor’s here.’

  ‘Yes. I’m just going to take him up a jug of water to wash in afterwards.’

  ‘I can do that, Mrs Kemble,’ Lyddie said.

  ‘Thank you. Leave it in the room next door with a towel.’

  It was half an hour before the doctor came down, by which time Jacob was pacing up and down the hall and Mattie was sitting watching her husband through the open door of the small sitting room. She liked this room best of any to sit in. How lucky people like Miss Newington were to have such space and comfort. Until she ran away from home, Mattie had never even had her own bedroom.

  When she heard footsteps, she went to the doorway.

  Dr Crawford came quickly down the stairs like a man half his age. ‘I’d appreciate a cup of tea, if it’s not too much trouble.’

  Mattie nodded and for the first time ever rang the bell for Lyddie, because she didn’t want to miss what the doctor said.

  He waited till she’d sat down before taking a chair himself. ‘It was as I’d expected. She died of natural causes, and I’d guess from the peaceful look on her face that she felt no pain.’

  ‘She didn’t,’ Mattie said quietly, and explained what she’d seen.

  ‘I’ve written out the death certificate and shall send it to her lawyer. He’s going to arrange the funeral.’

  ‘He’s coming here today,’ Jacob said. ‘Do you want me to give the certificate to him?’

  ‘No. Better for me to do that. If I meet him on the way back, I’ll stop him and hand it over.’

  ‘Can I lay her out now?’ Mattie asked.

  ‘You could leave that to the funeral company. No doubt her lawyer will let them know they’re needed.’

  ‘I don’t want to wait and leave her in a mess. I’ve laid people out before and I know what to do. We always helped one another in our street.’