St James' Fair

by St James Fair (retail) (epub)

  As they signed, the atmosphere inside the tent suddenly became almost festive. The lamps’ glow seemed warmer and more friendly, making the empty tent undergo a magic change and become a perfect setting for a wedding. In the golden light Alice lost her look of anxiety and bloomed like a rose as she watched her daughter being embraced by everyone. Grace looked really beautiful with her massed hair glowing and her face shining with happiness. She had been transformed from a shy and withdrawn waif into a golden girl and her mother’s heart was so full that it felt ready to burst. The tears that trembled in her eyes were tears of happiness. Even in her wildest dreams she had not imagined that something like this would happen on her return to Lauriston.

  Joe Cannonball, spying Patie’s brandy bottle propped up behind his chair, bent down and grabbed it, drew out the cork, took a drink and then offered it to the person who stood next to him, which happened to be Jockie. ‘Here’s to your health and happiness!’ cried the young blacksmith, lifting the bottle to his lips and quelling Patie’s protests with glance of his eye. The bride and groom leaned towards each other in the middle of the tent and though they were exhausted by the rigours of the day and the intense emotions that they had gone through, they rallied the last of their strength and responded joyously to the toast.

  Odilie’s eyes were glistening with tears of affection when it came to her turn to toast the pair. She had found their strange wedding almost unbearably affecting and kept leaning over to kiss Grace on the cheek or to squeeze Adam’s hand and whisper, ‘You’re so lucky.’

  ‘I know,’ Grace agreed. Her face was glowing with happiness as she looked at her husband and her newly-found mother. ‘I never could have believed that any of this would happen. Not in my wildest dreams. It’s like a miracle. Oh, Odilie, I can’t tell you how happy I feel…’ Her voice trailed off as she saw a bereft look come to her friend’s face and the spectre of the Duke hovered between them.

  ‘Let’s make plans,’ said Odilie briskly. ‘You’ll have to be on the road before dawn. I wouldn’t put it past your father to try to catch you so we must get you a good horse. Come home with me now…’

  ‘Before you go, I’ve something to give you,’ said Alice, proferring her bundle of papers. ‘Take these with you and read them at leisure. You’ll find plenty of interest in them. You’re a landowner, my dear. My father thought I was dead and he left you a lot of property that was to be yours on the day you married. I don’t want it. When this is over Lucy Allen will disappear again. She’s really dead as far as I’m concerned. But the property’s the reason why Elliot was so keen to keep you unwed. And there’s other things here that he’ll not want to get around. You’re in a good position to make him do exactly as you want, so don’t miss it.’

  She laid the papers on the chair beside her and smoothed them out flat with her hand before starting to sort through them. ‘Yes, it’s as I thought – title deeds, wills, letters… He’s kept everything. That’s what a legal training does for you – you never throw anything away, even if it’s incriminating. You just keep it under the floorboards where other people can’t see it!’ She laughed with a bitter note. ‘You’ll probably find he’s been peculating other people’s money as well as my father’s. He’ll have been stealing like a magpie from local folk for years and he won’t want the news of it to get around or it’ll be Botany Bay for Andrew Elliot. There’d be plenty after his blood if they saw these papers.’

  She rolled them up and handed them to Grace. ‘So here’s your wedding present from your mother, my dear. Guard it well. You’ll find in spite of his trickeries and forgeries, you’ve a good bit of property left. Make him give it to you.’ She turned to look fondly at her new son-in-law. ‘You’ll be a big farmer, my lad. You and your bairns’ll be rich. I like the look of you, though, and I think my girl’s chosen well. I give her into your care. Fight for her rights.’

  He nodded solemnly. ‘I’ll fight, but what about you? What’s going to happen to you?’

  She shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t be here at all. The law’s looking for me.’ But she turned and held her daughter tight once more as she said, ‘I must tell you my story before I go. I was younger than you are now when I married. I hadn’t any sense because I believed everything he said to me, the lying snake. I didn’t know your father was my maid’s lover and had been for a long time.’

  Grace nodded and sighed, ‘Hester…’

  ‘Yes, Hester. I didn’t realise it, though. I thought she was my friend. I used to tell her things – what a fool I was! But after you were born Elliot stopped living with me, rarely slept with me. Hester told me he had a lover in the town and I was afraid to tackle him about it because of his temper. I was afraid he was going to kill me but I didn’t tell my father though he guessed I was unhappy. Then I met a man, a young fellow. I fell in love and I needed love so badly. We met here at St James’ Fair, and we found ourselves under the trees over there by the river. It happened so naturally… when I discovered I was having another baby, I was terrified. I knew whose it was and it wasn’t Elliot’s. He’d know that, too…’

  Alice paused and stared into the past with bleak eyes. ‘I panicked. Hester said I should hide it. The dresses had fuller skirts than now and we were still wearing stomachers – they hid a lot. I didn’t share Elliot’s bed so he never noticed. When it was near my time, I went to Bettymill with Hester and was delivered there. I had a bad time. When I came round there was no baby and Hester said it had died. It’s on my conscience still that I was glad.’

  At this Alice gave a sob and clutched her daughter’s hands. ‘I was really glad, Grace. I thought I’d got away with it. I went home but next day, out of the blue and without saying anything to me, my husband took a party of men out to Bettymill and found my dead baby in a little grave behind the house. It was a wee boy and it had been strangled with my garter. They said I did it. Hester gave evidence at the trial about me being pregnant and concealing it, and about me killing the baby. They believed her. They took me to Edinburgh and the judge there was sorry for me, I think. Instead of hanging me, he banished me. In a way I thought I deserved to be punished for neglecting the baby, for not caring enough – for being glad it died!’

  Tears were running down Alice’s cheeks as she spoke and Grace put her arms around her mother whispering, ‘Don’t cry, oh don’t cry.’

  Then Alice drew back and looked bleakly at her daughter. ‘The worst thing was that the baby’s father believed I’d killed it, too. He joined the Army and went away. He was killed in Spain, Mrs Anstruther told me.’

  After they heard this story everyone was sobered. The time had come for the parting. With fervent promises to meet again, Alice and Grace embraced once more before the older woman slipped off into the darkness and headed back to the freak show. A chastened-looking Odilie ushered the others off to Havanah Court to select a suitable horse.

  There were lights on upstairs so the girl knew Canny had returned home. She sent Joe in and headed straight for the stables with the others. The mingled smell of sweet hay and the sweat of horses was, as always, heady for her. There were fifteen horses kept in the big loose-boxes of the main building, most of them lying down now but a few of them slept on their feet with their heads drooping. They blinked their eyes when Odilie took the lantern from its nail at the door, turning up its low wick. Then holding it high, she stepped along the neatly-swept brick passage between the iron-railed boxes and as she walked she told Grace and Adam, ‘Come with me, take your pick. Choose any horse you like except my jumping mare because she’s not up to the weight of both of you. You need a big horse that can carry Grace on the pillion as well as you, Adam.’

  They eventually decided on a well-boned bay with a fine head. His name was Oberon and he had a placid temper as well as enormous staying power. ‘Oberon’ll carry you to the Cheviots without any trouble at all. He’s so careful you can both sleep on his back,’ joked Odilie, approving of Adam’s choice.

  The men saddled the bay and whe
n she was safely installed on the pillion, Grace leaned down to put a tender hand on her friend’s cheek. ‘Dear Odilie, I’ll never be able to thank you enough. I do love you. Don’t forget me when you’re a Duchess,’ she whispered.

  Neither of them could say any more but only swallowed and stared at each other with deep emotion, tears sparkling in their eyes. It was Mary who broke the suspense. ‘Go away now and may God go with you,’ she cried, for she could bear the emotion of parting no longer.

  Oberon’s reins were lifted and shaken and the couple rode off out of the stableyard with the horse stepping purposefully and Adam’s back making a safe prop and bulwark for the girl who laid her head against it as she waved her goodbyes.

  Chapter 13

  Tuesday, 4 August

  By the time Jem found Viewhill House, Alice and her party had left. He did not know this, however, and hammered on the door until Hester came down to stand behind it and ask him what he wanted. When he threw his massive weight against the door, she started to scream hysterically and Elliot came running out to threaten the would-be intruder, ‘Go away! Go away or I’ll fetch the law again. We’ve had enough of you vagrants in one night to last us for a lifetime.’

  ‘Where’s my Alice?’ yelled Jem.

  ‘There’s no Alice here, go away.’

  ‘She came here with a young lad looking for your daughter.’

  There was a sneer in Elliot’s voice when he called back, ‘You mean Lucy Allen. Hasn’t she even told you her real name? She left but she won’t get far. They’ll soon catch her.’

  Alice, oh Alice, what’s happened to you? thought Jem in a panic as he went running down the middle of Roxburgh Street. When he reached the freak show again his face was working with emotion and he looked on the verge of collapse. Long Tom was sitting on the steps nursing his aching head and the others were crowded around a blazing bonfire discussing the night’s events. They were all very worried and when Jem came bursting in among them they clustered towards him like a crowd of buzzing bees, all speaking at once and reaching out to touch him.

  ‘Did you find her, Jem?’ asked Meg. He shook his head but could not speak.

  ‘She’s not been back here yet but she’ll surely come soon,’ Hans assured him, knowing the question was uppermost in his mind.

  Jem nodded, ‘I hope so. Has anybody seen Billy?’

  ‘Not a sight of him. He’s disappeared. We’ll have to wait till morning light to look for him,’ groaned Long Tom but Jem shook his head again.

  ‘We can’t do that. By morning he could be miles away. We’ve got to find him tonight. I’ll run over to the circus and fetch Simon and some of his men. Who else is able to come out and help me?’

  A small ill-assorted group gathered while Jem went into his caravan for his pistol and was disturbed to find it gone. When he came out again he told Long Tom and Meg, ‘You two wait here. If Alice comes back, keep her with you till I return. I’ve got to speak to her.’

  Simon was closing up his circus for the night when his frantic-looking brother appeared. ‘My God, what’s happened? You look dreadful,’ he said with concern and Jem groaned.

  ‘Billy’s run away. He attacked Long Tom and hopped it. And I’ve lost Alice. The law’s after her and I don’t know why.’

  Simon reeled. It was difficult to know which of the two calamities was the most serious. He asked, ‘Did he kill Long Tom? I’m sorry to say it but I’ve always thought you were taking a terrible risk keeping that lad. He’s a real maniac. It’s a miracle he hasn’t killed somebody by now.’

  ‘No, Tom’s all right. Billy tried to do him in but he didn’t manage it. Tom’s got a hard head. Everybody from the show’s out looking for the lad now, but if he gets hold of somebody out there who doesn’t know him there’s no telling what might happen. It could be a woman…’ The brothers looked at each other and shuddered.

  Simon shook his head. ‘Don’t take on. I’ll come and help you but I don’t want to bring my boys because I don’t want them hurt. And anyway it would be best not to start too big a hue and cry or every drunken hobbledehoy in the fairground’ll get in on the hunt. That would panic Billy, wouldn’t it? You’re the only one that can really handle him.’

  ‘That’s true. Have you a pistol?’ asked Jem shortly.

  ‘Haven’t you got one?’ replied Simon.

  ‘I went to look for it just now but it’s disappeared. It was in the van when we arrived at the Fair but it’s not there now. I don’t know who’s got it.’

  ‘Yes, I’ve a pistol,’ said his brother. ‘I’ll give it to you. Billy belongs to you and if anybody’s going to shoot him it ought to be you.’

  ‘I hope it won’t come to that but you’re right, I want to be the one to find him. A stranger might just kill him out of hand. He’s not capable of managing alone. He’s my responsibility – I can’t just abandon him.’ And then Jem added, ‘But, oh God, Simon I wish I knew what’s happened to Alice. She’s out in the darkness some place. I wish she was safe in the caravan tonight.’

  In fact Alice was not far away. After Grace and the others went off with Odilie to Havanah Court, she stood with wrinkled brow working out what to do. She knew that Elliot would not let her get away with his papers without trying to stop her and that he would act quickly. Now that the documents were safe with Grace, it was essential for her to get as far away from Lauriston as possible – but first she wanted to see Jem.

  What she did not know was that while she was approaching the freak show from one direction in search of him, he was running off in the other direction towards Simon’s circus. They passed only yards apart but unseen by each other because of the darkness and the press of people.

  Long Tom and Meg were delighted to see Alice when she stepped into the circle of light made by their bonfire. They both stood up and rushed towards her crying out, ‘Oh Alice, poor Jem’s almost mad with worry about you. He’s been out looking for you and now he’s had to go after Billy.’

  Alice looked bemused. ‘Looking for Billy? What’s happened to him?’

  Tom shifted his feet in a guilty way. ‘I was taking off his chains to put on his Strong Man costume and he felled me, Alice. Knocked me out cold. I’m lucky to be alive.

  Alice turned on him in a fury. ‘Couldn’t you have taken more care? You know what he’s like!’

  Angrily she stalked off towards the caravan she’d shared so happily with Jem. A little flame was glimmering low inside the glass bulb of a lamp on the middle of their table and its soft light made the brightly painted interior, which Jem had decorated with such care and artistry, glow like a jewel box. The whole place looked warm and hospitable. This really was her home and she gazed around with a devastated look on her face remembering the happy times she and Jem had shared in the safe little haven.

  Then with a shrug of her shoulders, she put one hand into her capacious pocket and drew out the long pistol, putting it on the table so that it pointed at the back wall. ‘I’d have used it,’ she said aloud. ‘I’d have killed Elliot with it if he’d tried anything. He knew that.’

  It was a relief, however, that she hadn’t been forced into murder for that would have been a certain way of ensuring that they’d hang her. She looked out of the open caravan door and saw that the moon was sinking lower and would soon disappear behind the rearing pile of the ruined castle on the opposite hill. The darkness under the trees in the farthest corners of the field was creeping closer and looked impenetrable. She shivered, thinking of Billy lurking out there somewhere and wished that she could close the caravan door and stay safe inside but that was not to be. She must get away, because in Scotland she knew she could be hunted down like a dog by Elliot and she feared his lying tongue. She would not be safe until she reached the safety of England. Hurriedly she opened a drawer in the side of the table and took out a sheet of paper, a pot of ink and a pen. She wrote standing up in a hurried scrawl:

  ‘Dear Jem, don’t despair. One day soon I’ll meet up with you again but i
n the meantime I have to go to England. I’ll take the quickest road. I was banished from Scotland because they said I’d killed my baby but I didn’t do it. Tonight I realise how much I love you. Alice.’

  The horses were grazing quietly behind the waggons, unaffected by the confusion that had convulsed the humans. Alice grabbed the halter of a sturdy chestnut with a white blaze on its face that she knew to be quiet and reliable. She led it towards the back of their caravan and pulled out Jem’s riding saddle and bridle which was stored in a box there. When the horse was tacked up she clambered on to its back and was about to ride out into the darkness when Meg appeared and asked, ‘Where are you going, Alice?’

  She turned in the saddle. ‘I’m running away. I’m going south. I’ve got to cross the border before dawn.’ Then she trotted off.

  * * *

  While Jem and the people from the freak show were dashing about looking for him, Billy stayed hidden among the trees. From his hiding place he could see the caravan where he’d felled Long Tom and his eyes were puzzled and confused as he crouched down wondering what to do.

  He looked over the encampment of the freak show and recognised the people he saw moving about in the glow of the firelight there. He saw Jem come and go; he watched Alice arrive and then ride away again on the big horse. He did not wonder where or why she was going because his brain was not capable of speculation. He watched and he registered, that was all.

  Just after midnight, he shifted uncomfortably in his hiding place, for cramp had seized his leg and he decided it was time to move. He sniffed the air. From somewhere came a wonderful smell of roasting meat. His mouth watered and hunger gripped him so he headed in the direction of the smell, tracking it like an animal. As he loped along, it grew stronger. Unknowingly he was heading down towards the Kirk Yetholm gypsy encampment where they were roasting chickens that had been filched from a farmer’s yard that morning.