Mellington Hall

by Meredith Resce

  The weather seemed to be as difficult to get on with as the neighbours, and an unusually large amount of snow fell over the next few days. Sarah had taken the opportunity to bring in as much wood as she could when it was possible, and had filled several buckets with fresh snow, that she melted when she needed water. She had enough food supplies in the house to last her the three weeks. Phillip and Claire had made sure of that before they left, as they hadn’t wanted their daughter to have to walk the six miles into the village to get supplies while they were away.

  Day by day, Alan’s health gradually improved, but he was still a long way from full strength. He was very frustrated by the fact that he couldn’t stand up for very long, and that just walking about the small house seemed to wear him out.

  At first, he remained as distant from Miss Montgomery as his status demanded, but after a while it seemed ridiculous, as they were, for the most part, always in the same room, and she would be busy about her daily chores, while he sat with very little to do.

  “Would you care for some tea, sir?” Sarah would ask.

  “Thank you!” Alan answered, and then waited while she went about pouring the boiling water in the tea pot, assembled a tray, and brought it across to where he sat in the rocking chair by the fire.

  His appetite had returned, and thankfully, she was able to present him with a more varied selection now that she had a proper fire to cook with.

  As he savoured the rich cinnamon cake that she served him, he very much wanted to compliment her on its taste, and finally decided that there was no reason why he shouldn’t, since she was right there before him.

  “This cake is really delicious,” he said, as he polished off the final mouthful.

  “Thank you, sir. Would you like some more?” she asked graciously. “There is plenty.”

  “No, thank you.” He smiled politely.

  She came across to pick up the tea tray, ready to do the dishes.

  “Miss Montgomery,” Alan spoke to her as she moved away. She stopped, and turned back to face him. “I find myself very bored!”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” she said. “I can fetch my father’s chess set, if you know how to play.”

  “Chess!” he exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you know how to play that gentleman’s game.”

  “I do, sir!” she said without explanation. “I can get it immediately, or if you wouldn’t mind, I shall just wash up these dishes first.”

  Alan nodded to the second suggestion. As he watched, he suddenly had a notion to do more than just sit.

  “Might I be of assistance to you?” he asked.

  Sarah stopped, withdrawing her hands from the soapy basin, and looked at him, confused. “In what way?” she asked.

  “I could wipe the dishes for you.”

  She laughed at him.

  “I’m not completely useless,” he said, affronted by her mirth.

  “I don’t suppose you are,” she returned, “but really, a high-born gentleman such as yourself, wiping dishes?”

  “I can’t see any reason why I shouldn’t, given the circumstances.”

  “And what are those circumstances?” Sarah asked pointedly.

  “I’ve been sitting idly by for several days now, watching you work almost every moment while I do nothing. It hardly seems fair.”

  Sarah laughed again.

  “Why must you persist in mocking everything I say?” he asked annoyed.

  “That is the normal way of it, isn’t it? But as a rule you don’t actually watch your servants as they work!”

  “I beg to differ. I am usually at work too, you must realise. I am not completely bone idle!”

  “I’m sorry,” she smiled. “If you would like to help wipe the dishes, I would be most grateful.”

  “I assume this is not something you have had a lot of experience in,” Sarah said, as she handed him a plate, dripping wet from the wash-up basin.

  “I’ve been sent to the kitchen to be looked after by cook when I was a child,” he said evenly.

  “And your cook made you wipe dishes?” Sarah sounded sceptical.

  Alan smiled.

  “I wouldn’t have thought so,” she said, pulling out the next plate and handing it to him.

  “Yes, but I got to observe enough to know what is supposed to be done.”

  “Your lady mother would have a fit if she knew what you were doing now.”

  Alan smiled again. “My dear mother, God rest her soul, never really knew much of what I got up to. She left most of my upbringing to my nanny.”

  “That’s the usual practice, isn’t it?” Sarah asked. She actually knew this; her mother had spoken of her own childhood in the privileged Pennerly nursery.

  “I have to say, Miss Montgomery, that this whole week has been highly unusual, but it has been most interesting, and I have really appreciated your kind, open and unaffected attitude to the events that have transpired.”

  “I was thinking that perhaps tomorrow, I could try getting through to the Allyson’s place again, and see whether Lucas could take you home.”

  “Tired of my company?” he teased, then as he saw her redden at his flippant remark, he retracted. “I apologise. I don’t usually behave in quite this uninhibited manner.”

  Sarah seemed to accept the apology. “What is more to the point, Lord Mellington, is that I do not wish my father to arrive home to find you here.”

  “You’re quite right, of course. Will you tell your parents about what happened?”

  “I’m not sure. Of course I should, but it is all so irregular, and doesn’t appear... ” she paused, wanting to say ‘proper’ but didn’t want to insinuate that she thought it was improper either.

  “It’s better left unsaid, I feel,” Alan said as he placed the last cup on the cupboard shelf. “And back to your first question, I’m guessing that Mellington Hall would be closer than the Allyson’s, and I think I’m feeling fit enough to attempt the walk straight home.”

  “On your own? Are you sure?” Sarah asked, surprised, and suddenly overcome with a desire to protect him from any further damage.

  Alan laughed at her. “You fuss like a mother hen,” he said.

  Sarah looked embarrassed, and turned away from him.

  “But I would need you to come with me, just to make sure I get there,” he added.

  Sarah was flustered again. “I’m not trying to mother you,” she said quickly. “It’s just that I don’t want you to overdo it!”

  She turned back towards him and saw his look of amusement.

  “You’ve been very ill, and very weak!” she said as an excuse, and when he didn’t comment further she realised that she did sound as if she were trying to mother him. “I’m not at all sure that you will reach your home,” she added weakly.

  “I shall try a little walk this afternoon, and if I don’t relapse completely, then tomorrow we shall give it a try. Will that be all right?”

  Sarah looked set to make another objection.

  “Miss Montgomery, if I were six years old, I dare say all this attention would be appreciated, but as it is, my ego is taking a dreadful battering.”

  “Might I remind you, it was more than your ego that took a battering a week ago. If it weren’t for my fussing, you could well be dead.”

  He nodded his head graciously in acknowledgement of the statement.

  “Let us play chess then, if you’re quite sure I am well enough.”

  Sarah was annoyed by the comment, but then noticed that he was smiling at her. She found his teasing unnerving, and was unsure as to how she was supposed to respond. He was a gentleman, after all.

  Alan noticed how easy it was to get this young woman to rise to his teasing. He really enjoyed it. She was so unpretentious and free of all the stiff formality that the young women of his acquaintance usually had. He realised, of course, that this was because she was not a lady, but one of the lower classes. Yet she still had an educated mind, was well spoken, and he saw that she read and wrote very
well. And she played chess! He wondered if he could pass her off as a lady, but then dismissed the thought, as there was far too much scandal attached to gentlemen who married beneath their station. He decided he’d better get himself home, and get on with the business of forgetting this enchanting encounter. And it had been enchanting, locked away from the world with a beautiful young woman, who showed such a great capacity for caring for him.

  But while this had been a pleasant interlude, tomorrow he must return to Mellington Hall, and he must face the fact that someone had tried to kill him. He realised he was going to have to tread very carefully in investigating who had made the attempt on his life.

  All during that afternoon, Sarah tried very hard not to be a ‘fussing mother-hen’, though it was very difficult to restrain herself. She supplied Alan with one of her father’s coats, though it was not his best one by any means, as he had taken that one along with him on the trip away.

  As they set out from the small farmhouse, Alan held his arm out in a gentlemanly manner, and Sarah accepted it, excusing it to herself as the need to help him along after days of illness.

  But there were many strange feelings that welled up within her. She tried to keep her mind from them, but they would keep intruding. She couldn’t help enjoying the closeness. Lord Alan Mellington was a handsome man, tall and, as Sarah knew from doctoring him, he was normally very strong. She shook her head to chase the images away, as she knew that in the way she was thinking, they were very wrong.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked as a way to dispel the unwanted thoughts.

  “I wondered how long it would be before you asked,” Alan smiled.

  “It isn’t wrong to ask, sir,” Sarah complained. “It is only natural.”

  Alan didn’t reply to that. Was it natural? He had never had this much attention and care, not even from his mother. He also found suddenly that there were feelings welling up inside himself that he should very quickly suppress. But the thing was, he didn’t want to suppress them. For a little while, he wished he were like his brother, and could engage in a flirtatious relationship without any thought of responsibility. In fact, he knew he already had flirted with her in a sense. They had spent so much time talking and being together, that they were almost on a first name basis.

  He was thankful when his weakness caught up with him, and he was forced to admit that he wouldn’t be able to walk any further, so they returned to the house, and Sarah, without thought, returned to the role of caring nurse.

  “Miss Montgomery,” Alan spoke to her later in the evening, as they sat before the fire. “May I call you Sarah?”

  She stared at him wide-eyed, her heart hammering in her chest.

  “I don’t... it wouldn’t be... ”

  “Proper?” he second-guessed her.

  “Well, it wouldn’t!” she said in a small voice.

  “Nothing in this week has been proper. I just thought, for tonight, that perhaps we could pretend we were friends.”

  Sarah didn’t say anything. She wanted to say ‘yes’ with all her heart, but knew that it was impossible. It was wrong.

  “But we can’t be friends forever,” she eventually said, sadly.

  “Just for tonight,” Alan said, wondering why on earth he was persisting, when he knew very well he should stop it at once, and behave rationally.

  “Lord Mellington... ”

  “Alan,” he said in a low voice.

  “Alan,” she repeated after him. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t say anything,” he said. “Let’s just sit in front of the fire, and enjoy being friends.” He patted the chair next to him, and she tentatively sat down. Eventually, he reached across and took her hand in his, and then leaned back into the chair. It took some time, but finally, Sarah relaxed in her chair as well.

  “If we are friends, even if only for tonight, may I ask you a question?” Sarah’s question broke the comfortable atmosphere.

  Alan looked at her and nodded, not really smiling, but showing that he was very interested in what she might say.

  “Do you have any idea who might have tried to kill you? And why?”

  Alan smiled. “You can’t help it can you?” he said.

  “If I am your friend, then caring is perfectly legitimate. You can’t think that I would be happy to send you back to Mellington Hall and have someone take another shot at you!”

  “You’re right!” He squeezed her hand. “I really appreciate that someone at least cares.”

  Sarah waited a moment to see if he would discuss it.

  “I really don’t know,” Alan eventually said. “I read that note, that someone was after my fortune, but the only person who would benefit from my death would be my brother.”

  “Do you think it was him?” Sarah asked seriously.

  “I don’t want to think it was, but I can’t help but wonder.”

  “Do you get along well with him?”

  “No! We are at odds all the time!”

  Sarah sat patiently while Alan told her about the disagreements he’d had with Simon, mostly over issues of morality and money.

  “But would he try to kill you for it?” she persisted.

  “I can’t say. Any more than I could say anybody else in the house might want to do me harm. I mean, there isn’t anyone there who shows the sort of care that... ” he stopped, realising what he was about to say.

  Sarah understood what it was he was omitting, and it hit her. She had been showing genuine care, and wondered what that really amounted to. But it wasn’t a subject that they could profitably discuss, so she didn’t pursue it.

  “What will you do about it, when you get back to the hall?” Sarah asked, diverting the conversation.

  “Honestly, I will have to send word to the constable in the next town, and see what he suggests I do.”

  “You will be careful, won’t you?”

  “Yes, Nanny Sarah, I’ll be careful.”

  The next day, seven days after Sarah had found the stranger lying in the bushes, she set out with him to walk to Mellington Hall. She knew which way to go, and chose to go cross-country to save herself a good two miles of walking. The snow had begun to melt, and the walking was sludgy, but she had put on a strong pair of work boots, and Alan’s boots were good leather.

  They walked arm in arm as they had yesterday. She told herself it was because he was still not in full strength and needed her support, but he held her arm like a true gentleman, carefully escorting her through the woods. It wasn’t until they were forced to stop several times, to sit on a fallen branch while he regained his breath, that she was shaken from her pleasant musings.

  “Those pistol wounds really took it out of you, didn’t they?” She commented as they sat down for the third time.

  “Perhaps I wasn’t very fit to begin with,” he said.

  “Were you not?”

  He smiled at her yet again, enjoying the repartee.

  “Thank you, Miss Montgomery. You have such a way of building up my self-esteem.”

  “Are you saying you weren’t fit before the... before the accident.”

  “I was fit enough. I could have carried you the whole distance, if I wanted.”

  “But would you have wanted?” Sarah let the words slip out of her mouth without thought, but instantly realised what it was she was saying, and cast her eyes down, blushing.

  Alan paused. He knew they were venturing into dangerous territory. He would have wanted to, and more, but it was somewhere that neither of them could go.

  “Sarah, when I get back home, we won’t be able to see each other anymore; you realize that, don’t you?”

  Sarah nodded. She realised the expectations upon someone of his station only too well. She knew her mother’s story, and just how much was at stake. Love might be a variable, but to even give it consideration complicated matters terribly.

  How can I even talk about love, she scolded herself. I have just met the man in some very trying circumstances
, and we have of necessity, been forced to come very close together. But that is not love.

  “I’m afraid of whoever it was who tried to kill you?” Sarah eventually said to get back to her previous line of thought.

  “I have to admit it is very disturbing to realise that someone has lured me out of my house, and shot me point-blank, and that my entire staff have not been combing the countryside trying to find me.”

  “Are you sure you don’t know who it was?” Sarah asked again.

  “I don’t. I really don’t know.”

  “But aren’t you afraid that if you go back, they will try again?”

  Alan paused a moment. “I have no choice, do I? I have to go and face the situation, and hopefully work out who in my staff I can trust enough to help me find out who tried to kill me.”

  “You do have a choice, though, don’t you?”

  “What? Hide away in a farmhouse in the woods with an unmarried woman?” His tone was careless. “That isn’t really an option that is going to help either me or you, is it?”

  Sarah knew that was true, but somewhere along the line, she had developed this friendship with him. She felt responsible and she liked it. She liked him. She didn’t want to let him go, especially if it meant he might have to face the would-be murderer again.

  Suddenly, Alan took her hand in his. “I really appreciate what you have done for me, Sarah. You are a lovely young woman, but there is no future for us. We come from two different worlds, and despite the fact that I would like to see you again, my family expects more.”

  “I thought you were the head of your family.”

  Alan nodded. “There are generations of Mellingtons who have paid the price to preserve the family name, and even though they are long since gone, I cannot just go against their expectations and ruin that which generations have taken to build.”

  “You see someone of my class as so low it would bring ruin to a whole family?”

  “You are an educated woman, Sarah, not like other village and farm girls. I know that you understand what I’m saying, and while I might feel something different, I have a responsibility to my family name to ignore what I feel and uphold the family tradition.”