Honorable Doctor, Improper Arrangement

by Mary Nichols

  She skimmed it quickly and then, unable to believe what she was reading, went through it again. ‘Fracas in Maiden Lane’, the headline read. It went on to describe in lurid detail how MrAlfred Barber, a dock worker, had come home to find his wife and Dr Redfern on the bed together. ‘Mr Barber was naturally incensed that the doctor should abuse his position as physician to the family and a struggle ensued during which Dr Redfern was injured. Dr Redfern is heir to Lord Redfern of Grove Hall and is well known for his charitable work among the poorer children of the metropolis. It seems in this instance he has overstepped the bounds of decency.’

  It went on to pontificate about a doctor using his position to fulfil his carnal desires and they could hardly blame the injured husband for taking the law into his own hands and giving the man the hiding he deserved. ‘Mrs Barber has confirmed that the doctor forced himself upon her,’ the report went on. ‘He has naturally been suspended from all connection with The Society for the Welfare of Destitute Children and it is questionable whether he will ever be allowed to work as a physician again.’

  Kate was appalled. She dropped the paper on to her lap and stared into space, trying to imagine what had really happened; she would not believe, for an instant, that the newspaper account was true. Simon would never do such a thing. How badly had he been injured? How could she find out? What could she do to help?

  Lady Morland had picked up the paper and read it for herself. ‘Good Lord!’ she exclaimed. ‘Whoever would have believed it?’

  ‘Well, I certainly don’t,’ Kate said. ‘And I shall tell him so.’

  ‘No, my dear,’ her father put in. ‘You will stay out of it. Well out of it. You cannot be seen to have anything to do with that young man now.’

  ‘But he is innocent!’

  ‘So he may be, but mud sticks, just remember that, will you?’

  She subsided and said no more, but she could not get Simon out of her head. How he must be suffering! The newspapers should not be allowed to publish such lies. Simon was good and true and… She stopped her errant thoughts before they became too tangled to unravel.

  She was left wondering what was to happen to Joe, who was being amused by Joan in the garden. His welfare must come first, but Simon had said they were legally not allowed to keep him from his parents. Poor, poor child. Poor, poor Simon. Papa had said not to involve herself, but to do nothing would seem as though she was deserting him in his time of trouble.

  She went out to the garden, whose borders were colourful with lupins and delphiniums, marigolds and phlox, interspersed with sweet-smelling roses. Joan and Joe were sitting on the lawn making a daisy chain. She sat down beside them. ‘Has he been good, Joan?’

  ‘Yes, though he still don’t like that bandage.’

  ‘I expect Dr Redfern—’ She stopped. Who would look after little Joe’s injuries now? ‘I expect it will soon be taken off.’

  Joe held up his necklace of interwoven daisies. ‘I made this. For you.’

  ‘Did you, sweetheart? Shall I put it on?’ She bent towards him and helped him slip it over her head. ‘There, that is lovely.’ She kissed his pink cheek. ‘Thank you, Joe.’

  Susan came down the garden path to them. ‘Mrs Meredith, you have a visitor.’

  Kate scrambled to her feet, thinking it might be Simon. Surely her father would not refuse him admission? She brushed stray bits of grass from her muslin skirt and hurried into the house, washed her hands, tucked a stray curl out of the way and went into the drawing room, where she stopped. It was not Simon, but Lady Eleanor who sat with her father and grandmother.

  ‘Lady Eleanor, how do you do?’ She was suddenly aware of the rope of daisies round her neck and touched it, laughing. ‘Little Joey made me a daisy chain.’

  Eleanor managed a smile. ‘I am come to discuss what is to be done about the boy. In view of Dr Redfern’s suspension, I am taking over his work until he is replaced.’

  ‘Oh, surely he will come back to you when all this nonsense blows over.’

  ‘No, Katherine, we cannot be seen to condone what he has done.’

  ‘But you surely do not believe it?’

  ‘Perhaps I should have said alleged to have done, but, guilty or innocent, it makes no difference in the long run. We cannot allow the Society’s name to be dragged through the mud. Our generous donors would never give us another groat, if they doubted my competence to keep out undesirables.’

  Undesirables! ‘Doctor Redfern is not undesirable. He is a caring and tireless worker for the good of the children. You surely know that. It is a scurrilous attack on an innocent man.’ She was becoming heated and her grandmother was looking at her as if she had said something startling. Perhaps she had let her feelings get the better of her.

  ‘Perhaps. The inquiry will decide.’

  ‘What about Joe? We cannot keep him if his parents want him back, can we?’

  ‘I had a long interview with them both,’ Eleanor said. ‘They have agreed to leave him with us until after the inquiry.’

  ‘What has that to do with it?’

  ‘They are to give evidence and it is best to get that over with before any decisions are made. And they ought to find somewhere else to live.’

  ‘Why? It is infinitely better than that awful place in Seven Dials.’

  ‘Good Heavens! Do not tell me you went there.’

  ‘Yes, when Joe was lost and we were looking for his mother.’

  ‘Is there no end to the doctor’s indiscretions? You could have been attacked, robbed, caught something vile…’

  ‘Dr Redfern is well known and well liked thereabouts. I was in no danger. I think it will be a dreadful shame if he cannot practise there again.’

  ‘That is for the inquiry to decide. I think it is highly unlikely his name will be cleared, given the evidence.’

  ‘They are lying.’ Eleanor looked sharply at her and Kate found herself blushing. ‘I mean, why on earth would Dr Redfern seduce Mrs Barber? It does not make sense. There is something or someone else behind their accusations, someone with a grudge perhaps, or they think they can get money out of him.’

  ‘I have advised him that would be the best course, but he is determined on clearing his name.’

  ‘Why should he not? If he paid them off, they would come back for more and it would not silence his critics.’

  ‘No, especially if it ever got out that he has been paying the rent of the Barbers’ room in Maiden Lane.’

  Kate did not know that, but she pretended she did. ‘It was done so that Mrs Barber could tidy herself up, get a job and have Joe home with her again.’

  ‘That may be so, but we must not spend time speculating. The trustees will settle matters once and for all. In the meantime, we must do what we can for the boy. Until we have appointed a replacement for Dr Redfern, I have taken over his visits and require to see Joseph Barber. Would you fetch him, please.’

  Joe was duly fetched from the garden where Joan had been amusing him. He clung to Kate and would not go and stand before Lady Eleanor as she asked him to. ‘You are spoiling him,’ she told Kate.

  ‘After what he has been through, surely a little spoiling can do no harm,’ Kate protested, hugging the little boy to her.

  ‘We must think of the long term, Katherine. If you spoil him, he will expect the same when he goes home and you can be sure he will not be indulged there.’

  ‘No, he will be beaten black and blue again. Can nothing be done?’

  ‘We cannot remove him permanently from his home without his parents’ full agreement and consent. As yet they have only agreed to a temporary arrangement for us to hold on to Joe. He’s as settled here as he’s likely to be anywhere. Are you able to keep him for a few days longer?’

  ‘Of course.’ Kate handed Joe back to Joan; though he went reluctantly he did not cry, for which she was grateful. She did not want Lady Eleanor to have further evidence of him being over-indulged.

  Her ladyship took her leave and Kate went back to the
schoolroom, where Joan was trying to amuse a little boy who did not want to be amused.

  Robert, when he returned from Austria and called on her, was decidedly annoyed to find her chasing Joe down the hall. Both were laughing gleefully. ‘I thought you had ended your association with that charity,’ he said.

  ‘No. Why should I? The welfare of poor children will always concern me.’

  ‘I did not mean that. Of course one must support such charities, but I meant having the boy here. I understood he had left you.’

  ‘He did, but he was in an accident and had to come back. He is only here for a little while until Lady Eleanor can make other arrangements for him.’

  She took the opportunity while he was greeting her father and grandmother to scoop the newspaper up and hide it under a cushion. Her precaution was in vain because he came straight to the point.

  ‘I have been reading about Dr Redfern in the newspaper, Katherine. It really is a scandalous situation. I hope you have severed all connection with him.’

  ‘My lord, you should not believe everything you read in the papers. I am sure there has been some dreadful mistake.’

  ‘I fail to see what. The newspaper seems to have taken a great delight in publishing all the disgraceful details.’

  ‘Someone is lying,’ she said, hotly.

  ‘My dear, it does you credit that you feel you must defend him,’ he said, through gritted teeth. ‘But you will oblige me by refraining from voicing your opinion in public and, naturally, you will not speak to the man again.’

  She was about to protest that he had no right to dictate to her, when she saw her grandmother slowly shaking her head at her. She changed the subject abruptly and they went on to talk about the wedding arrangements, then he rose to take his leave. ‘We are to visit the opera tonight. You have not forgotten, have you?’

  ‘No, I have not forgotten.’

  ‘Then I will call for you at eight o’clock. I have booked a table for supper at Grillon’s afterwards.’

  The opera, though good, was not enough to take Kate’s mind off Simon Redfern. She imagined him in his rooms alone, shunned by society, unable to do the work he loved, worrying about the children who had been in his care, worrying especially about Joe Barber. Would he dare to go out? Would he try to defend himself against such outrageous accusations? Would his friends rally round him? What had really happened in the Barbers’ apartment? Simon would never have touched the woman. Mrs Barber must have lied. But why? What did she hope to gain?

  ‘You are quiet, Katherine,’ Robert said in the interval. ‘Were you paying attention?’

  ‘Of course. I was enjoying the singing. It is very fine, do you not agree?’

  ‘I have heard worse, but on the other hand I have heard a great deal better. Austria is famed for its opera houses and its singers. We shall enjoy going to concerts when we are there. We shall be entertaining, too, but I am sure you will manage that. I have rented a fine house, but have yet to engage all the staff. No doubt you will help me with that.’

  She murmured that she would do her best as the curtain went up again and she turned her attention to the stage. She was afraid she was going to have to defy everyone and speak to Simon. She could not bear not to know what had happened; once she did, she would know how to defend him. Mrs Barber was lying and she must be made to admit it.

  Chapter Nine

  Next day at noon, Kate was standing on the other side of the road, looking up at Simon’s rooms, but there was no sign of life from any of the windows. It was certainly not considered proper for a lady to visit a bachelor in his rooms, but how else was she to find out what was going on except by standing outside, hoping he would see her and come down to her?

  If she stood there much longer, she would begin to attract attention and would do better to walk boldly up to the door and ask for him. Looking around to ascertain there was no one about who might recognise her, she dodged the traffic and crossed the road. The apartments had been converted from a row of terraced houses. Each had a name etched in a brass plate on the front wall. She found Dr Redfern’s name and climbed the stairs to the first floor, where she stood a moment to get her breath and calm herself before knocking.

  The door was opened by a thin elderly man in breeches, silk stockings and a blue silk coat. ‘Is Dr Redfern at home?’ she asked him.

  ‘I will endeavour to ascertain. May I take your name?’

  ‘Mrs Meredith.’

  ‘Please come in and be seated,’ he said, holding the door open for her. He gave no indication that he was surprised or shocked or even amused; his features remained immobile.

  Kate could not bring herself to sit down on the only chair in the small hall, but paced the floor, three steps in one direction, three back again. A moment later, Simon emerged from one of the rooms. His face was covered in bruises. There was a cut above his eye, which he had endeavoured to hide by combing his hair forward over his forehead, and a swelling on his jaw, which was half-hidden behind the tallest collar he could find and a flamboyantly tied cravat.

  ‘Oh, you poor thing!’ she exclaimed, taking a step towards him and then stopping. He was not one of her children to be comforted when they were hurt and she was overstepping the boundary of acceptable behaviour, not that she had not already done so by coming to his lodgings in the first place.

  ‘Kate, what are you doing here?’

  ‘I came to see how you are and to find out—’ She stopped as she saw the suffering in his grey eyes. ‘I’m sorry. If you would rather I left…’

  ‘No, of course I would not. You are like a breath of fresh air. Come in. Will you take refreshment? Tea, coffee…ratafia, perhaps.’

  ‘Tea, please.’

  He turned to the old retainer. ‘Tea for the lady, Harvey.’

  The man shuffled away and Simon conducted her into a small drawing room. It was neat and clean and adequately furnished, but there were no refinements at all, no pictures or ornaments, no flowers. ‘Sit down, Kate, and tell me why you have been so foolhardy as to come here.’

  She noted he was using her given name again. ‘How else am I to see you?’

  ‘I cannot think, for the life of me, why you would want to. I am quite beyond the pale and not fit for a lady’s eyes. And if anyone saw you arrive…’He paused, his feelings of concern, of sorrow, of gladness, of love, were all mixed up together. ‘Did anyone see you?’

  ‘I do not think so.’

  ‘Thank God for that.’ He watched her seat herself on a sofa and then sat down beside her. The sofa, like everything else in the room, was not large and they were sitting so close together his knees were touching the folds of her dress, a blue silk, decorated with embroidered poppies. ‘Kate,’ he said seriously, resisting the temptation to take one of her hands, folded on her lap. ‘Pleased as I am to see you, it was sheer folly of you to come. You are endangering your reputation.’ He gave a harsh laugh. ‘Mine, of course, has already gone beyond redemption.’

  ‘I am very sorry for it.’

  ‘You do not believe all the lies they printed about me, do you?’

  ‘No, of course not. I would not be here if I did. I came to offer my sympathy and to ask you if there is anything I can do to help.’

  ‘You do not ask what happened. Do you not wish to know?’

  ‘Only if you want to tell me.’ She managed a smile, which twisted his gut into knots. ‘But I am a little curious as to how you came by all those bruises. I surmise it was Mr Barber.’

  ‘Yes. Mrs Barber seized my arm in an effort to persuade me to…’ No, he could not tell her that, it was too humiliating. ‘I was trying to free myself and make my exit when Mr Barber arrived. He has a temper on him, that man. I thought he meant to kill me. He might have succeeded but for a neighbour sending for the Watch. On the other hand, if she had not done so, I might have been able to leave and no one would be the wiser. As it was the man bundled me into a cab and took me to hospital. No doubt he hurried to the newspaper office the minute
he left me. Now I am being accused of seduction and the abduction of the child.’

  ‘But if what the papers printed is all lies,’ Kate said, ‘surely that is libel and you can bring an action against them?’

  ‘I could try, but with Barber enjoying his role as the injured husband and his wife so afraid of him, she could only back him in what he said, I have small hope of succeeding.’

  Harvey arrived with the tea tray and they stopped speaking as he set out everything on the table, poured them each a cup of tea and then retreated, shutting the door behind him.

  ‘You could tell the papers your side of the story,’ she suggested.

  ‘No, I have decided a dignified silence would serve the Society best. Starting up a ding-dong battle in public would be too demeaning.’

  ‘But, Simon,’ she said in anguish, ‘if you do nothing, you will be for ever damned and all your good work will count for nought. If you cannot do anything, then I must. Do you think I could persuade Mrs Barber to retract, to tell what really happened?’

  ‘She will not do that, Kate. Barber will not let her. You must stay out of it. I thank you with all my heart, but there is nothing you can do.’ He turned and seized both her hands in his own and was searching her face as if it was the last sight he would ever have of her and needed to remember it. ‘I cannot let you become mixed up in a scandal.’

  ‘Simon, I cannot abandon you. Everyone else is being so unkind…’

  ‘You must. There is to be an enquiry by the Board of Trustees of the Society. I am lucky Barber has agreed to abide by its findings and I am not to be subjected, to full court proceedings for seduction which is what he had in mind. I do not know who put that idea into his head; I doubt he would have thought of it himself, but even so…’

  She was reminded of Robert’s threat to sue Simon for enticement and blacken his name. She thought she had prevented that, but it seemed he was still to be made to suffer. Surely Robert was not behind it? ‘Then I shall give evidence on your behalf.’