by Anna Jacobs
Into the silence, he said, ‘The will is very simple indeed. Miss Newington left everything she owned to her young friend Matilda Willitt, who is now Mrs Kemble, with minor legacies to her three servants.’
There was dead silence, then Arthur roared at the top of his voice, ‘Then my cousin had definitely lost her wits and I shall be contesting the will.’
Mattie heard Mr Longley’s words but it was a minute or two before their meaning sank in fully, then she gasped and put both hands up to her mouth in shock. It couldn’t be true! It just couldn’t.
Jacob took hold of her hands and pulled her round to face him. ‘Are you all right?’
She looked at him in bewilderment. ‘There must be some mistake. She can’t have left all this to me.’ She gestured round them.
He kept hold of her hands. ‘I suppose it must be true, if her lawyer says it.’
‘But she hardly knew me. Why would she leave everything to me?’
‘I don’t rightly know what to think. We’ll ask Mr Longley later. He must know. It’s … puzzling, I must admit.’
As they turned back towards the lawyer, the magistrate stood up and walked forward as if he was God come down to earth on the day of retribution.
He looked so threatening, Mattie reached out for Jacob’s hand and clutched it tightly, not caring how that looked.
‘I’d like to see that will, Longley,’ Mr Ransome said.
Frank gave him a piece of paper from the table. ‘I took the liberty of having a copy made for Mr Newington. I’m sure he won’t mind you looking at it. The original is locked away safely in the bank, but I’m happy to let you see it if you have any doubts that this is a true copy. You can make an appointment to do that through my clerk.’
He passed the paper to the magistrate, who scanned it quickly, scowled even more deeply, then handed it to Arthur, who had joined him at the front.
He read it, then repeated, ‘I’m definitely going to contest this ridiculous will.’
‘On what grounds?’ Frank asked.
‘Emily not being in her rightful mind.’
‘You haven’t a chance with that one. Dr Crawford has given me a signed statement that Miss Newington was in full possession of her senses until the very end, as I could see for myself.’
‘It seemed otherwise to me when I saw her,’ Ransome snapped.
‘To me also,’ Arthur chimed in. ‘And she’s my cousin so—’
‘A cousin whom you rarely saw because you didn’t get on with one another, which is, she put in writing, the reason she didn’t leave anything to you. That antipathy should be fairly easy to prove as well. It’s commonly known.’
Sam stepped forward to join his friend. ‘So it’ll be your word against two lawyers, a doctor, her servants and the people caring for her, Newington.’
‘Then we’ll cite undue influence as the reason.’
‘Mrs Kemble didn’t even know she was the legatee, so how could she have been exerting any influence?’
‘Don’t let her fool you. She’s a good actress, that sort always is.’
Frank reined in his anger. ‘Should you continue to insult Mrs Kemble, I shall advise her to bring a charge of slander against you. We have, as you can see, a room full of witnesses.’ He wouldn’t do any such thing, but that made the arrogant sod snap his mouth shut.
Ransome took over. ‘I shall be happy to support Mr Newington in his claims.’
Frank looked sideways at his friend, who nodded and moved forward.
‘A word with you, if you please.’ Sam took Ransome aside to the bay window, lowering his voice so that no one else could hear them. ‘If you continue making these false claims and trying to help your friend bully his way into someone else’s inheritance, you can be sure that I shall complain to the Law Society about your unprofessional behaviour.’
‘What the hell do you mean by that?’
‘It’s strange the way you threatened my father to make him try to coerce me into falling in with your wishes about this matter.’
‘Did he say that?’
‘No. He didn’t need to. I overheard you speaking to him myself. You have a rather loud voice, which carries easily through open windows.’
‘It’ll be your word against mine, then. Your father will bear me out that I did no such thing.’
‘You may frighten him into doing as you wish, but there was another witness present with me, one who has an immaculate reputation and who won’t lie under oath.’
‘Who?’
‘I shan’t tell you, but I shall produce the person in court, if necessary, and it won’t look good for a man in your position to have such a case proved against you.’
The magistrate drew back, his mouth open in shock for a moment, then he bent his head forward and said in an equally low voice, ‘You might find yourself out of a job, if you don’t take care.’
‘I’ve resigned from the family practice and have already joined another. I’m no longer on good terms with my father and am not likely to want my old job back, so I’m afraid that threat carries no weight with me. It wouldn’t have done, even if I were still working with my father. I believe in the law, Mr Ransome – and in justice, which isn’t always the same thing.’
For all their lowered voices, the air around them was fairly crackling with anger.
Arthur called across the room, ‘Is everything all right?’
Sam looked at the magistrate and raised one eyebrow questioningly.
‘Damn you!’ Ransome pushed past him. ‘I think we should leave now, Arthur.’
His friend nodded, but turned to toss a final word at Frank. ‘You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.’
The whole family left the house.
The two young men stayed in the bay window for a few moments longer, talking earnestly.
Since no one was paying attention to them, Jacob took Mattie’s hand. ‘Are you all right?’
‘No.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I can’t take it in. I can’t believe it’s true.’
They were both silent for a moment or two, then Frank came across to join them and she repeated her worries to him.
‘It is true, Mrs Kemble. You’ve inherited this house and several cottages in the village, plus some shops in Swindon. There isn’t a lot of money to go with them, though.’
‘It’ll seem like a lot to us,’ Mattie said.
‘And I can make the land pay better,’ Jacob said, thinking aloud, lost in a dream of owning all that land. ‘There’s a lot I can do to earn money if everything’s ours.’ He frowned. ‘Mr Arthur said he’d contest the will. Can he take it off us?’
‘He has no grounds for doing that, I promise you. Everything was attended to properly and Miss Newington knew what she was doing.’
‘But why did she do it?’ Mattie asked. ‘I hardly knew her. Why on earth would she leave everything to me?’
‘In the first place, she simply wanted to be sure it couldn’t fall into her cousin’s hands, and sadly, she had no one else in the world, no other relatives, most of her friends dead. As to why she chose you, I can’t say. But she took a great liking to you and told the doctor the last time she saw him that her will was as she wanted it.’
‘Oh.’
Frank looked at his watch. ‘Now, if there’s nothing else you want to ask, I’ll leave you to take possession of your new home and I’ll come back tomorrow with a full list of the properties you own and a few more papers for you to sign.’
Chapter Seventeen
It wasn’t until the lawyers had left that Mattie realised no one had been offered the refreshments which Cook had taken so much trouble with. But there had been more important things to think about. ‘What do we do now, Jacob?’
‘That’s up to you, isn’t it? This all belongs to you.’
His voice had no warmth to it, his body was stiff and she realised with a sinking heart that after his first flush of excitement, he saw the bequest as putting a wall between them. ‘Please don’t
talk like that. We’re married, so it belongs to both of us.’
‘It was left to you, not me.’
‘Let’s go and tell Cook and the others,’ she said, desperate to do something to bring them closer. Then she realised something and gasped. ‘Oh! We’ve got servants now. We’ll have to pay them wages and tell them what to do. I shan’t know where to begin.’
‘Maybe we’d better tell the children what’s happened first – if you don’t mind, that is?’
‘Of course I don’t. I should have thought of that myself.’ She smiled, slowly beginning to realise some of the benefits. ‘We can make a really good life for them now, can’t we?’
A little warmth came into his eyes, but he didn’t answer her question, just nodded, then studied her face intently. ‘You’re looking pale. You’ve overdone things today. Sit down and I’ll bring them to you.’
As he walked out, she sank into the nearest chair, feeling as if the weight of the house was sitting on her shoulders. What was she going to do with a place as big as this? How could someone like her ever fit in here? Tears came into her eyes and she wished desperately that she had her sisters with her. Nell and Renie would have helped her cope.
She felt so strange today, unlike herself. And Jacob had looked at her distantly, as if he didn’t recognise her any longer.
He came back into the drawing room with the two children.
‘I didn’t mean to break the plate,’ Luke said at once.
‘Break a plate? Were you larking around?’ Jacob asked sternly.
‘No. It just slipped out of my hand.’
Sarah giggled. ‘He’s so clumsy lately, he trips up over his own feet.’
‘Shut up!’ Her brother lunged for her and Jacob pulled him back.
Mattie felt sorry for the boy. ‘You must be growing, Luke. The clumsiness will pass. And never mind the plate.’ As silence fell, she looked at Jacob for guidance, because she couldn’t seem to find the words to explain to them what had happened.
Jacob took a deep breath. ‘Sit down, you two. We’ve got something to tell you.’
‘Won’t they mind if we sit on these lovely chairs?’ Sarah stroked the brocade of an armchair, tracing out the pattern with a fingertip.
‘That’s what we have to tell you. It’s Mattie’s house now. Miss Newington’s left it to her.’
They looked at him uncertainly.
‘Everything here belongs to Mattie now, so it’s her who says what you can do, where you can sit.’
‘Does that mean we’re going to live here?’ Luke asked. When his father nodded, his scowl deepened. ‘It’s even further from the village than our house. I won’t have any friends living nearby.’
‘We’ll only live here if your father wants to,’ Mattie put in.
But Jacob shook his head. ‘It’s your house, it’s for you to say.’
She could feel tears come into her eyes. ‘Don’t say that. It’s ours now.’
The children looked anxiously from one to the other, sensing something was wrong.
She turned to Jacob, who was standing in front of the hearth as stiffly as a toy soldier. He was looking at her as if she was a stranger – and one who might not be friendly. The children were looking to him for guidance and the three of them seemed very much a family. It was she who was the outsider.
She couldn’t bear it, so stood up. ‘Let’s tell Cook and Lyddie, then we’ll go and look round the house.’
Sarah clapped her hands together. ‘Goody.’
Even Luke brightened up.
‘Wait here, you two,’ Jacob said. ‘You can look at things in the room, but don’t touch.’
They left Sarah standing in front of a cabinet full of pieces of fine china, ladies in swirling skirts, a dog with its head on one side. Luke had gone to stare up at a big painting of a ship at sea.
Mattie shivered. So many possessions. And all hers now. It was too much. It was terrifying.
* * *
Although it was a warm day, they found Cook sitting by the fire, looking tired out. She turned towards them. ‘We heard the cars leaving but no one rang for us. They didn’t eat the refreshments. What are we going to do with all this food?’
‘Mr Arthur was in a bad mood and walked out,’ Jacob said. ‘If the food won’t keep, there are people in the village who’re always hungry. We can send some down to them.’
‘As long as it’s not wasted,’ Cook said comfortably. ‘I can’t abide waste.’
‘Where’s Lyddie? I … we have something to tell you.’
‘She’s just taken a tray across to Horace. She won’t be a minute.’
‘We’ll wait till she comes back.’
‘No use saying it twice,’ Cook agreed. ‘Take the weight off your feet. Do you want something to eat?’
But Jacob, usually a man with a hearty appetite, shook his head, and Mattie knew she’d be sick if she tried to force a mouthful down.
Who’d have thought that her being left a fortune would come between her and Jacob? How was she to stop that, bridge the gap that yawned between them? She couldn’t bear the way he was looking at her. It was his pride that was hurting, she guessed, and what did pride matter?
She didn’t know what she’d do about the situation yet, but she’d have to do something. She wasn’t going to lose the chance of them making a good life together. How pleased her mother would have been to see her rise in the world.
The difficulties had brought home to her how very fond she had grown of Jacob. She didn’t just want a cool marriage, made for convenience. She wanted something warmer, the sort of marriage her mother and father had had, with laughter and cuddles and quiet happiness.
She’d thought he wanted the same but if the house could come between them, perhaps his feelings for her weren’t as strong as she’d thought.
She shivered at that thought.
Lyddie came back across the yard, humming as she often did. She broke off as she saw them.
‘You tell them, Jacob,’ Mattie begged.
‘All right. Come and sit down, Lyddie. We have something to tell you about the new owner.’
They both leant forward, eager to find out.
‘It’s Mattie.’
Both women gaped at him, then at her.
‘Never!’ said Cook. ‘Well, I’ll be blowed.’
‘Ooh, you lucky thing,’ Lyddie said, then clapped one hand to her mouth. ‘I didn’t mean to be cheeky, miss – I mean, ma’am.’
‘You weren’t,’ Mattie said at once. ‘You were just surprised. I was too. I don’t know why she did it when she hardly knew me. We wanted to tell you that your jobs are safe.’
They showered her with thanks but she couldn’t pretend to be happy, as they expected, not with Jacob taking it so hard, so she stood up. ‘We’re going to look round the house, all four of us. I’ve not even seen most of it.’
‘Do you want me to show you where everything is?’ Lyddie asked.
‘Another time, you and me will go round together,’ Mattie said. ‘Just for the moment, it doesn’t feel like mine. Why, I don’t even know how many rooms there are or … or anything. So I just want to walk round and try to take it all in.’
Ben peered into the kitchen door at that moment. ‘Do you still want us to stay here?’ he asked Jacob.
‘Yes. I think we’d better stay on our guard.’ He turned to Mattie and added in that cooler tone of voice, ‘If that’s all right with you?’
‘What do I know about that sort of thing? I’m relying on you to deal with it.’ The words came out more sharply than she’d intended, but it hurt every time he deferred to her.
He nodded quietly, gravely, as if dealing with a stranger, then turned back to Ben. ‘Same as before, then, lad. Oh, and the house has been left to Mattie. She’s the new owner.’
Ben gaped at her, as the others had, then gave her a beaming smile. ‘I’m happy for you, Mrs Kemble, for all of you.’
‘Yes, well. We’re still trying to take it in,’
Jacob said.
Mattie found she was expected to lead the way. She was beginning to feel angry with Jacob now. Why was he treating her as if she’d done something wrong?
She went back into the big drawing room, to have a really good look at it, which she hadn’t dared do at the reading of the will. It had an unused feel to it and she felt like an intruder, so moved quite quickly into the large dining room behind it. These were two wastefully huge rooms, to her who’d been used to smaller places, and they were full of heavy, dark furniture. Someone must have run a duster over the furniture, but there was still a dusty, stale smell to the dining room in particular.
The little sitting room, on the other hand, still had books with markers in them on the shelves, and an embroidery frame in one corner. This was where Miss Newington must have spent her time. Mattie fingered the embroidery, which was very pretty, full of brightly coloured flowers, wishing she knew how to make pictures like that.
They went on to the morning room, where the family had once eaten a meal with the old lady. Behind that they found another big room, this one with full bookshelves covering the walls. ‘Look at that!’ she gasped. ‘All those books. It’s like a library.’
Jacob went to finger the ones nearest with the touch of a lover, leaning closer to read their titles. ‘She’s let me borrow books but I’ve never been able to explore them properly.’
‘I hate books,’ Luke said, jamming his hands into his pockets.
Jacob swung round. ‘Don’t you ever let me hear you say such a thing again! Books are treasures, not just telling you stories but telling you about the world. I’m ashamed to hear a son of mine speak like that. Do you want to grow up ignorant?’
Luke hunched his shoulders, bottom lip jutting out in mute defiance.
Sarah was also trying to read the titles. ‘There aren’t any children’s books, are there?’ she asked in a disappointed voice.
‘We could buy you some,’ Mattie said.
‘Not like the ones from school,’ she pleaded. ‘They’re terrible. Children keep dying in them because they’ve been naughty. But my friend gets books from the library and she’s let me read them. They’re exciting and the children have adventures and end up so happy. I wish real life was like that.’