The Highborn Housekeeper

by Sarah Mallory

  The doctor murmured, ‘Perhaps you would ask the Earl to send for the carriage now, ma’am.’

  ‘I would prefer to wait a little longer.’ Lady Craster’s voice was very soft and Nancy knew there would be a cold smile on her face. ‘Lucas will be returning from Lincoln at any time and I would like him to accompany you. Just in case you need any, er, assistance. He is completely to be trusted, whereas some of my lord’s other servants have been too long in the service of the family.’

  ‘I quite understand, madam.’

  ‘Good. Let us repair to the drawing room. The Earl will wish to know your diagnosis. My maid can keep watch here...’

  They were leaving her. Nancy thought, if she was alone with just the maid, she might be able to overpower her. She must keep still and listen for the sounds of their withdrawal. But even before they had reached the door she had slipped back into oblivion.

  * * *

  It was very quiet when Nancy woke again and the light was fading. It must be late afternoon and the short winter day was coming to an end. Carefully she looked about her. She was alone. Fighting against the sluggishness of her mind and body, she heaved herself off the bed and staggered across to the washstand.

  There was some clean water left in the jug and she drank as much of it as she could, then poured the rest into the bowl and washed her face. It helped, but her thinking was painfully slow and laboured. She went to the door and tried the handle, but it was locked. She knew her window was too far from the ground to allow her to escape that way. Perhaps she might pick the lock, as Gabriel had done. Gabriel, who would be in London by now. Too far away to save her.

  ‘That sort of thinking will not help you,’ she told herself crossly. ‘Think, Nancy!’

  She found a hat pin on the dressing table and bent it, but after several fruitless minutes twisting it this way and that she gave up and went to sit on the bed. What had happened to Hester—had they really convinced her to leave? She was a friend and companion rather than a servant and Nancy could not believe she could be persuaded to go willingly. Although perhaps, if Hester was suspicious, she might have gone to fetch help. The idea gave Nancy some hope, but it was only conjecture and she dare not rely upon it. She rubbed her arms. She was on her own. If she was to survive, she would have to save herself.

  Nancy put her hands to her throbbing temples. What did they plan to do to her? Susan was ordering the carriage. The doctor had said she would be in his care. His practice was in Lincoln. Was he taking her to his house, perhaps? What had he called her? Hysterical. And Susan had mentioned reimbursing him. It made no sense, but the fog in her brain would not allow her to think it out.

  She heard voices and quickly scrambled back on the bed. If she could convince them she was still asleep they would not force any more laudanum upon her. She closed her eyes and forced herself to keep still. The lock clicked and footsteps came into the room. She heard her father’s gruff voice.

  ‘She sleeps still. How much have you given her?’

  ‘Enough,’ murmured the doctor. ‘In cases such as these, my lord, sometimes it is unavoidable, when a patient turns violent.’

  ‘I would not have the servants think I am compelling her to go against her will.’

  ‘Which is why the carriage is waiting for us in the stables and we are taking her there ourselves,’ the doctor explained patiently. ‘Sometimes these old family retainers can be quite distressed by this sort of thing. It will be best if you tell them about it afterwards.’

  A female voice replied. Lady Craster’s hatchet-faced maid.

  ‘You’ll have to help the doctor, my lord. She’s a strapping piece and too much for me.’

  ‘Oh, very well, Stobbs. But she’ll have to walk,’ the Earl replied. ‘None of us is strong enough to carry her.’ He shook her roughly. ‘Ann, Ann. Come along, girl, get up.’

  She stirred and groaned, made a show of blinking owlishly at them and pretending she wished to go back to sleep.

  ‘Hester,’ she muttered. ‘Where is Hester? What have you done with her?’

  ‘She is safe enough,’ growled the Earl. ‘She will be released once we have you put away.’

  The doctor coughed. ‘If you will take one arm, my lord, we will walk her down the back stairs.’

  Nancy groaned softly and leaned heavily upon her escorts as they guided her out of the room while she tried to make her muddled brain think of what to do. All she could think of was Gabriel. Gabriel would help her, if he knew. Perhaps someone—some servant who had known her as a girl—would send word to him, if they realised what was happening to her. But they met no one on the stairs, and the passages were similarly deserted. There was no one she might call upon for help. She sagged even more heavily upon her father and the doctor. If nothing else, she would make them work hard to take her away!

  They half-carried her to a back door and out on to the secluded path that led to the stables. She kept her head down, but the fresh air was beginning to clear the fog from her mind and she breathed in deeply.

  ‘Nearly there, thank heaven,’ gasped the Earl. ‘Susan has given Lucas instructions to have the carriage ready. The sooner you have her safely locked up, Doctor, the better.’

  Locked up! They were putting her away, somewhere. A cold chill ran through Nancy. Susan had mentioned reimbursement...now, at last, she understood. They were paying the doctor to pronounce her insane. Once that happened, she would be beyond all help.

  They had reached the stable yard and she could see the waiting carriage with Lucas standing by the open door. Bedside him was Lady Craster, dressed in a pale blue redingote trimmed with white fur, her hands pushed deep into a swansdown muff. She looked around when Nancy was brought into the yard.

  ‘Ah, there you are, Lady Ann. I thought I would come and see you off.’ Her smile was as wintry and chill as the weather. ‘To say goodbye, my dear. We shall not meet again.’

  Any lingering doubts were swept away and Nancy was filled with blazing fury.

  ‘No!’ Anger gave her strength for one final, desperate struggle and she tried to wrench herself free of her captors. The Earl was caught unawares and he released her, staggering back. The maid rushed forward, but a blow from Nancy’s free hand sent her reeling away, clutching her bloody nose.

  ‘Help! Someone help me!’ She fought harder, trying to shake off the doctor’s iron grip. The Earl made no attempt to close with her again and she cried out to him, ‘Father, for pity’s sake tell him to let me go!’

  He shook his head at her. ‘You brought this on yourself, girl, with your licentiousness and wicked disobedience!’

  ‘Enough of this,’ declared Susan, impatiently. ‘Lucas, help the doctor get her into the carriage.’

  The groom grabbed Nancy’s flailing arm and the doctor shifted his own grip, panting, ‘Come along now, my lady, you had best come quietly.’

  ‘I’m damned if I will!’

  They were dragging her closer to the carriage door and she was tiring. She made one last, desperate cry.

  ‘Help me! Davy, Davy!’

  Lucas gave a savage laugh. ‘Call Davy all you want, my lady. I’ve laid him out cold. He won’t help you.’

  ‘No, but I will.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Gabriel’s voice rang out like a clarion call, bringing everyone to a stand. Nancy looked up to see him striding into the yard, followed by a dozen red-coated soldiers. Relief flooded through her, although she was struggling to think clearly.

  ‘You were on your way to London,’ she said. ‘What about—?’

  She fell silent as he gave her a warning glance and the slightest shake of his head.

  The Earl marched forward, blustering. ‘This is no business of yours, my lord.’

  ‘Is it not?’ replied Gabriel, unperturbed. ‘It appears to me Lady Ann is being coerced into something she does not wish to do.’<
br />
  ‘She is my daughter, sirrah. Allow me to know what is best for her.’

  ‘They plan to lock me away,’ cried Nancy, trying to shake off the hands that still held her prisoner. ‘They are bribing the doctor to say I am insane.’

  Scotton began to protest until Gabriel raised his hand and silenced him.

  ‘Let us hear the lady out, shall we? And I think you should release her, too.’

  Lucas and the doctor fell back and left Nancy struggling to stand unaided. She swayed alarmingly, but in two strides Gabriel was at her side.

  ‘It’s all right,’ he said, putting one arm about her. ‘I have you now.’

  She clung to him, suddenly weak with relief. She was afraid she might faint and it was imperative she told everything and quickly.

  ‘They drugged me,’ she explained. ‘At breakfast this morning. Laudanum in my coffee, I think.’ The faintness was passing and she glared at the Earl. ‘I could not work out why you should want to do such a thing to your own daughter. Then I realised it is because you want the thirty thousand pounds I have inherited from my grandmother. You would have me incarcerated in an asylum so that you can contest the will.’

  ‘What nonsense, girl,’ the Earl blustered. ‘This is no more than wild raving. She is out of her mind.’

  ‘On the contrary, my wits are clearing now, after your attempts to poison me!’ With Gabriel beside her, Nancy’s strength and her courage were returning. ‘My sister sent me a copy of the will. I read it only once, but I remember very clearly what it said. In the event of my being unable or unwilling to take the inheritance, it would pass to my nearest living relative.’

  Her father’s face had reddened angrily. He scowled at her. ‘And why shouldn’t I have the money? You have done nothing to deserve it!’

  ‘My dear Hugh, we are wasting time,’ put in Lady Craster. ‘All this talk about wills is sheer nonsense. My Lord Gabriel, there is nothing amiss here, I assure you. Dr Scotton merely believes Lady Ann would benefit from a spell away from Masserton, to rest. Do you consider you know more about these matters than a medical man, my lord?’ She gave a soft laugh. ‘I think you have overstepped yourself, my lord.’

  ‘We shall see.’ His arm tightened reassuringly around Nancy. ‘I shall have my own doctors examine the lady, if necessary, although I really do not think it will come to that. We shall see what the magistrate says about it. I am sure there will be witnesses who will vouch for Lady Ann.’

  ‘Oh, goodness, Hester!’ Nancy put a hand on his chest. ‘They said she was not here, but she would not have left me. Then later, my father said... They have imprisoned her, Gabriel! She must be locked away somewhere.’

  ‘Very well, we shall find her. Captain?’

  He glanced at the officer, who immediately despatched two of his men to search the house.

  ‘This is too much,’ snapped Susan. ‘Surely there is no need to involve the militia in our domestic affairs?’

  ‘Captain Graves and his men are here on quite another matter,’ Gabriel replied. ‘One that concerns you more nearly, madam. Not content with encouraging the Earl to steal his daughter’s inheritance, you have made him a dupe for your traitorous schemes.’

  The Earl looked up. ‘Eh? What’s that?’

  ‘She has been using you, Masserton. Her accomplices in London have been sending government documents here to be smuggled out of the country.’

  Lady Craster laughed. ‘Lord Gabriel is air-dreaming. He has no proof.’ She smiled at the captain. ‘You may search Masserton Court from top to bottom with my blessing. You will find nothing there to incriminate me.’

  ‘She is right,’ put in Nancy. ‘The sample book was returned to Lincoln this morning.’

  Gabriel nodded. ‘And doubtless by now is on its way to the coast.’

  ‘What of it?’ Lady Craster shrugged. ‘I am not responsible for what the supplier does in the line of business.’

  ‘But instead of the naval plans you secreted between the pages, it now holds several of your own bills. The original documents are now on their way back to London.’ Gabriel felt Nancy’s anxiously enquiring gaze and gave a slight smile. ‘John Thoresby has taken them, with a military escort.’

  Lucas gave a small growl. ‘We’ve been rumbled, my lady.’

  ‘Hold your tongue,’ snapped Lady Craster. ‘There is no proof I had anything to do with it.’

  ‘It pains me to contradict you, my lady, but I learned this morning from Captain Graves that they have arrested a clerk in Whitehall,’ said Gabriel. ‘A greedy little man who was prepared to coerce the minister into giving him the plans. His cousin is one Samuel Meldrew, a carrier who has the contract to deliver gowns for any number of London businesses, including Mrs Wells. Your dressmaker, my lady. She has confirmed she has despatched several gowns to you here at Masserton and the dates of your orders coincide very neatly with government papers going missing. It was a simple matter for Meldrew to secrete the stolen documents in the dress boxes. You then passed them to Hewitt.’

  ‘What is all this?’ demanded the Earl. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Hewitt’s brother-in-law is a Brussels merchant, trading in luxury goods and selling Hewitt’s wallpapers in the Netherlands,’ Gabriel told him. ‘He is also vehemently opposed to William I and the new regime. There are those who would pay well for papers that discredit our government and threaten the fragile peace in Europe. I also know that Lady Craster’s fortunes have improved considerably this year, with several large payments. Is that not so, madam?’

  ‘A traitor,’ exclaimed the Earl, bemused, ‘Susan?’

  ‘Yes, Lord Masserton.’ Gabriel nodded. ‘Your fiancée has been spending the last few months supposedly deciding between wallpapers, but every time she returned a book of samples to Hewitt there were government papers hidden between the leaves. And she has been paid very well for her troubles.’

  The lady gave a derisive laugh. ‘What nonsense! Surely, Hugh, you do not believe such lies?’

  ‘You allowed her to replace many of your old servants and to put her own men in charge of the stables,’ added Nancy. ‘It was they who killed old Peter. They attacked him and deliberately left him to die out in the cold.’

  The Earl shook his head at her. ‘Nonsense, girl, no one would do that.’

  ‘Hysteria,’ declared Susan. ‘For heaven’s sake, my lord, let the doctor take Lady Ann to the asylum, where she can be properly cared for. Only a deranged mind would think of such a monstrous act.’

  ‘I agree,’ replied Gabriel, ‘but in this instance the deranged mind was not Lady Ann’s. Your creatures tried to do the same with me, Lady Craster, when I was making enquiries in Darlton.’

  ‘You was the cove asking the questions!’ cried Lucas.

  He took a step back, staring in horror at Gabriel. Lady Craster shot him a warning glance, then turned to the Earl.

  ‘My dear lord, this is all nonsense,’ she cried. ‘Concocted by your daughter and her lover, to discredit me. She has fabricated this whole tale out of jealousy.’

  Nancy gave a little choke of anger. She said, ‘Peter had arranged to meet Lord Gabriel on the night they were both attacked. He was unhappy with what was going on here at Masserton.’ From the corner of her eye she noticed that a figure had staggered from the stable. ‘Ask Davy, if you do not believe me.’

  ‘You be quiet!’ Lucas barked at the old groom, who was leaning heavily against the doorpost, his pale face bloodied. ‘I knew we should have finished you, when we did for the others.’

  The Earl had been standing by in silence, but now he suddenly came to life.

  ‘Murdered? Old Peter? And you a traitor, Susan. Damme, madam, you have deceived me mightily!’ He started towards the lady, who whipped a small, silver-mounted pistol from her muff.

  The Earl stopped. ‘Are you out of your wits, Susan? You—you love
me. We are to be married.’

  ‘Married!’ She laughed, the sharp sound echoing off the frosty walls. ‘That was never in my plans.’

  ‘But...but we are betrothed! Everyone knows of it.’

  ‘Your neighbours know of it, certainly, since you insisted upon having a ball to celebrate!’

  ‘But what of our plans?’ he demanded, bewildered. ‘You wanted to be a countess. And children. You promised me an heir.’

  ‘Children!’ Susan’s face twisted in distaste. ‘There was never any question of my carrying your child.’

  ‘But there must be! By God, madam, you have been in my bed enough times and you told me you could give me a son. Do you think I would have allowed you to make free with my house if you could not?’

  ‘You gullible fool, there are ways to prevent a baby.’ Susan’s glance flickered towards the doctor, who was looking more and more uncomfortable. She turned back to the Earl, her lips curling contemptuously. ‘You were the means to an end, Hugh, dear. I just needed a house near Lincoln and you were...convenient.’

  The Earl had been growling and shifting from one foot to the other like an angry bear, but he suddenly let forth a bellow of rage. Nancy gave a little cry of fright as Susan raised her arm, the pistol pointing directly at his heart.

  ‘Another step and I will shoot you!’ she cried. ‘And I know how to use this.’

  Captain Graves took a couple of paces forward, but Gabriel waved him back. Gently putting Nancy to one side, he walked towards Susan.

  ‘Don’t be a fool, Lady Craster, there are a dozen armed men here. You will gain nothing by spilling more blood.’ Nancy pressed her hands to her heart as he moved closer to the deadly weapon.

  He put out his hand. ‘Give that to me.’

  Time had stopped. No one moved. Nancy held her breath and kept her eyes on Susan’s face as Gabriel stood before her, cool and resolute. He might look invincible, but he was only flesh and blood, and she was very much afraid Susan would shoot him out of pure spite.