Pengarron's Children

by Pengarron's Children (retail) (epub)

  ‘Yes, I did. It is still the favourite subject of talk at the Assembly Rooms. It is a pity Blake was not dispatched at the same time, don’t you think?’

  ‘I don’t think I can go as far as to say that about the man, Hezekiah. I’ll always despise him for trying to force himself upon Kerensa but it was a long time ago. I know I nearly beat the man to his death then but that was due to the emotion of the moment. I can’t forget he helped Luke and Kane when Luke’s arm was badly damaged as a child. No, I don’t wish him dead.’

  Hezekiah gazed heavily at Oliver for a moment, then nodded his head. ‘You are more accommodating than I, Oliver.’

  ‘You don’t have any reason to wish Peter Blake dead, do you?’

  ‘No, but no reason to wish him well either.’

  Oliver suddenly felt cold despite the heat of the day. ‘I find these appalling murders blood-chilling. They’ve been going on for years and the authorities still have no idea who is responsible. I agree with the theory that the culprit is most likely to be a sailor. The murders occur intermittently. Presumably whenever the killer’s ship berths in this part of the world, he goes on a murderous binge.’

  ‘And escapes easy detection?’

  ‘Well, that’s how most people see it and I agree. I wonder what happened to the maid.’

  ‘What maid?’

  ‘Dinah Tredinnick’s maid. Apparently she has disappeared. She was with her mistress earlier in the day because she was seen entering the house following a trip to a dressmaker. It’s half expected her body will turn up next, mutilated in a ditch.’

  ‘Some people have too much imagination,’ Hezekiah said acidly. ‘It was she who probably murdered her mistress and ran off with her jewellery.’

  ‘But Dinah Tredinnick owned little jewellery. She was allergic to precious metals and nothing of value is missing from the house or was disturbed, according to what Peter Blake is said to have told the authorities.’

  Hezekiah shrugged his scrawny shoulders. ‘Who cares?’

  ‘Did you ever see either of the women, Hezekiah? You live close by.’

  ‘Only one of them,’ he answered truthfully.

  Kelynen quietly came up behind the two men and tugged on Oliver’s coat. ‘Papa, is it time to go up and see Great-Uncle Martin now? Rex is getting restless for a good run and it’s difficult keeping him quiet for Aunt Rachael’s sake.’

  Oliver fondly slipped his arm round her shoulders and looked at Hezekiah. ‘You’ve never seen much of Rex, have you, Hezekiah? He’s a bundle of energy and I call him Wrecker because of the way he bounds through the house knocking everything over. Strange thing is, he lives up to that name by being an excellent plunderer of a wrecked ship. He dashes in and out of the sea and brings back the most unlikely things in his mouth.’ Oliver could see his proud speech had fallen on deaf ears and he was angered at being made to look a fool.

  Hezekiah coldly surveyed the tall fair-haired girl attached to Oliver and merely said, ‘Really?’ and turned away.

  ‘We’ll go and find your mother, sweeting,’ Oliver said, leading Kelynen away, ‘and pay a brief visit to your Great-Uncle Martin.’

  Hezekiah glanced up and bowed slightly in farewell and watched the father and daughter walk away.

  ‘Captain Solomon is a strange man. I don’t think he likes me,’ Kelynen said as she and Oliver strode arm in arm towards the mansion, with Rex walking obediently at her heel.

  Oliver hugged her close. ‘He’s never had time for children but he doesn’t seem to have much liking for anyone nowadays, Shelley. He may be ailing and it wouldn’t be kind to annoy him. I think it would be best if you keep Rex and yourself well out of his way in the future.’

  Oliver did think it was possible that Hezekiah Solomon could be ill. He decided to talk to Kerensa about the possibility and his other concerns over the retired sea captain, unaware that she intended to talk to him about the very same thing and her new concern over what Olivia might mean to Hezekiah.

  Chapter 6

  On the day of their daughter’s birthday party, Oliver crept into the master bedroom of Pengarron Manor and peeking inside the drawn curtains round the massive four-poster bed, grinned a little wickedly at the sight of Kerensa lying there quite still with her arms spread out. She opened one eye, saw him, and smiled widely, then put a finger to her lips.

  ‘What are you doing up here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you,’ he whispered.

  ‘I’m hiding away from everybody, the servants and the children. All over the house people are in a panic. Kelynen let Rex and one of Nathan’s gun dogs scurry into the house and they pranced about almost knocking people off their feet. She hates her costume, she says it makes her look like a piskey and she doesn’t see why she has to wear it. Luke is being his usual obstructive and sulky self because he isn’t the centre of attention today. Olivia is terrified at having decided on a costume party and now wishes she was having a more traditional one instead for her coming-of-age.

  ‘Ruth and Esther King are complaining that the extra help we’ve employed in the kitchens to help them for tonight are lazy and useless and are only getting in their way. Jack came in groaning about Beatrice upsetting the horses by shouting and screaming in the stables and how fed up he is at having to hide her gin bottles away from her; we’ll have to do something about Beatrice, Oliver. Sebastian has arrived early, gorged himself on yesterday’s left-overs and has been sick and he’s upset Cherry by suggesting – well, you know what his suggestions usually consist of. Only Kane has been quiet, self-controlled and dependable.’

  ‘My poor, dear little love,’ Oliver said, kicking off his shoes and getting on the bed. They giggled as they lay in each other’s arms hidden behind the curtains. ‘Why don’t I lock the door and we can stay in here for the rest of the day and all through the night and let the others just get on with it?’

  ‘Oh, I wish we could,’ Kerensa murmured, burrowing into his strong arms and nestling against his broad chest. ‘Oliver, what are we going to do about Hezekiah?’ she asked a moment later, her voice tinged with concern. ‘I’m worried about what kind of gift he’ll give her tonight. His lavish gifts are the only real indication we have that he has intentions towards her. I know Hezekiah is our friend but,’ and Kerensa couldn’t help shivering, ‘the thought of our daughter married to such a creature is not a pleasant prospect.’

  ‘I think you’re worrying over nothing, my love. But why do you call him a creature? Why not a strange little man or a fop?’

  ‘Because he doesn’t seem real, just an image he’s put up over the years to hide his real self. We hardly know a thing about him. Hezekiah seems to have a strange hint of cruelty about him. I am concerned over Rachael’s fixation that he is leading a campaign for Olivia’s hand. But on the other hand he’s always been a man of elaborate gestures. He probably gives other women expensive jewellery. He gave me that huge sapphire ring, remember, the ugly one I can’t bear to wear. He might have given me other jewellery but is afraid of making you jealous.’

  ‘We’ll just watch and see what happens,’ Oliver said soothingly, lifting her chin and kissing her forehead, then her cheeks, her neck, her lips. ‘Now we’ve managed to snatch a few minutes of peace and quiet alone together, let’s talk of something more pleasant. In fact, let’s not talk at all…’

  * * *

  Olivia collapsed on a chair in the kitchen and gave a satisfied smile to Ruth and Esther King, the tall, plain-faced sisters of Matthew King, the wrestling fisherman, who had been in service at the Manor since her parents’ wedding day.

  ‘You’ve done a wonderful job with Polly and Cherry of decorating the great hall and laying up the tables for tonight, Ruth and Esther,’ she said, beaming at the ungainly pair who smiled proudly back. ‘Polly and Cherry are on their way down now. Why don’t we all share a dish of tea? And I’ll call Jack in here. We mustn’t forget he did all the climbing about for us.’

  Ruth and Esther were quietly pleased and honoured th
at the ‘young miss’, as they called her between themselves, wanted to take a rest with them in their domain.

  ‘We’re pleased you like our work, Miss Olivia.’ Ruth spoke for them both.

  ‘Aye, and it’ll be most enjoyable now they others have been sent packing,’ Esther remarked rather crossly, referring to the hired help who had got in their way. ‘We’ll manage much better without them.’

  Polly O’Flynn, the Manor’s pleasantly mannered and efficient housekeeper, and wife to the estate’s gamekeeper and head forester, came into the kitchen blowing out her flushed cheeks and pushing back her greying hair. ‘Phew, I think we’ve finished at last – until the party’s ready to get under way, that is.’

  Cherry, the Manor’s devoted nursemaid, who worked as a lady’s maid now there were no young children in the house, followed on her heels.

  ‘We’re all having a rest and a dish of tea,’ Olivia told them. ‘Take a seat and put your feet up.’

  ‘Thank you, Miss Olivia,’ Polly said gratefully, glancing all round the kitchen and peering into the ancillary rooms. ‘Got rid of they time-wasters, have we? Thank the good Lord for that. My Shaun would be more help than they were and he’s only four years old!’

  ‘Shaun’s got more sense than all of them put together,’ Cherry agreed, stretching out her arms and pushing back on the palms of her pliable hands before sitting on a stool next to the hearth.

  ‘How is the little fellow?’ Olivia asked fondly of Polly. ‘I haven’t seen him all day.’

  ‘With all the preparations going on I thought he would be better kept safely out of the way for the day, so Nathan’s taken him over to Ker-an-Mor Farm to play with Rosie Renfree’s little ones,’ Polly replied.

  ‘He’ll enjoy that, it will be good for him to have lots of children to play with,’ Olivia said, smiling at the memory of the cheeky little bushy-haired boy who had made his sudden appearance when Polly had already reached the age of forty-five. His parents had sadly believed they’d been doomed to childlessness. Shaun O’Flynn was almost as precious to those who dwelt on the estate as he was to his doting parents.

  ‘You mean where he won’t be cosseted and smothered, don’t you, Miss Olivia?’ Polly said, pouring out cups of tea from the huge china pot Esther had put on the table.

  Olivia went pink and glanced guiltily at Ruth, Esther and Cherry.

  ‘Oh, I know what you’ve all been saying, and you’re right,’ Polly said, sitting down and sipping from her cup. ‘Nathan’s been on at me too for being over-protective of Shaun, but when you’ve been given a little miracle you thought you’d never have after eighteen years of marriage, a mother can’t help herself. But I know you’re right, you have to learn to let go a little.’ It was a bold speech, but Polly still looked anxious.

  ‘Don’t worry, Polly. Shaun will be perfectly safe with Rosie,’ Cherry said firmly.

  ‘Ais, she’d knaw a thing or two about young’uns. ’Ad three of ’er own,’ rasped a hideous old woman who came into the room from outside, leaning heavily on a young man’s arm.

  ‘Rosie’s had four children, Beatrice,’ Polly said patiently. ‘Come in and join us, Jack,’ she said to the other newcomer.

  ‘Four?’ Beatrice screeched. ‘When did she ’ave that last one then? Why weren’t I told? That maid means a lot to me, ’elps me with me ’erbs ’n’ potions. We’m good friends, we are, why weren’t I told?’

  ‘You were, but you’re getting forgetful,’ Ruth called loudly from the larder where she was fetching a biscuit tin, ‘and deaf. Rosie had another little maid five months ago. Called her Sarah. She brought her over to show you as soon as she was on her feet again.’

  ‘Did she? Aah…’ Beatrice’s short-sighted piggy eyes filled with tears and her fat nose trickled something thick and green down over her many chins. ‘Fancy that, the little maid being a mother of four. I d’love that maid like she were me own an’ I love t’ear of a babe’s birth.’

  ‘She’s getting sentimental in her old age,’ Olivia said to Jack, who found himself pushed up on a bench and was sitting opposite her.

  ‘Aye, Miss Olivia,’ he replied shyly, ‘her very old age. She must be older than Sir Martin.’

  Beatrice sat down on the clumsy old chair kept for her use in the kitchen since before Sir Oliver’s birth. She went quiet and hummed like a bee to herself.

  ‘You deserve a break after all your hard work in the house today,’ Olivia said to Jack, adding with a smile, ‘although I daresay you would prefer to be outside attending to the stables rather than sitting idle in all this female company.’

  The Manor’s head groom blushed but he felt thoroughly at home. He was used to being fussed over by the Manor’s womenfolk, including Kerensa. He had been a twelve-year-old boy when she’d come to the Manor as a bride and she looked on him as ‘one of her own’. He was a quiet and reserved young man and lived alone in his little cottage on the Manor’s grounds.

  Polly poured more tea for the company then looked at the giant kettle singing on the top of the range. ‘I should have thought to take her ladyship a tray of tea. I wonder where she is, she’s worked as hard as the rest of us today.’

  ‘Ais, don’t ’ee be forgettin’ the little missus now,’ Beatrice rasped, sending a shower of spit towards the table and making those sitting round it duck their heads. ‘She must be bleddy parched, dear little soul.’ Beatrice doted on her mistress and talked about her as though she was younger than her offspring.

  ‘Um, I suspect Mama is hiding away somewhere with Father, having one of their little quiet times alone,’ Olivia said, returning Polly’s knowing look. ‘Best not to disturb them, I think.’

  ‘I’ll wait until she reappears then,’ Polly said delicately.

  ‘Where’s Miss Cordelia got to?’ Esther asked. ‘She hasn’t had anything to eat since breakfast.’

  ‘She was out in the orchards according to one of the gardeners a little while ago,’ Jack supplied. ‘Writing a letter he thought she was.’

  ‘And probably still there now, daydreaming,’ Olivia said affectionately.

  ‘She made some lovely job of winding all they flowers in and out of the banisters leading up the stairs,’ Ruth said.

  ‘She’s such a little thing but there’s a lot of artistic talent swimming about inside her dear little head,’ Polly said.

  Olivia nodded in agreement. ‘It’s a pity she doesn’t try her hand at painting, but I’ve never been able to get her interested.’

  ‘The little maid’s ’appy ’nough in ’er own little world, ’tes best to leave things be,’ Beatrice snorted, then started up a bout of hacking in Cherry’s direction.

  Cordelia Drannock had lived at the Manor since her mother died when she was nine years old. The youngest of a family of six children, whom Oliver had set up in various ways when he had discovered he was their uncle by an illegitimate brother, she was the only one still living under his roof. Her two sisters, Naomi and Hannah, had made good marriages and had moved with their husbands out of the county. Her brothers, Jack and Charles, were living in London, and Bartholomew, the eldest of the family, travelled continually overseas and it was never sure where he was at one time. The Pengarron children had taken readily to their poor fisherfolk cousins, even Luke as long as they did his bidding, and Cordelia, small and dainty, was thought of in much the same way as Kelynen.

  ‘Well,’ Olivia said, when Beatrice had stopped polluting the air, ‘I think I’ll take another look at my costume, just to be sure it’s all in order – and find out if Mama has surfaced yet.’

  ‘Your mama’s where a good woman oughta be, in the arms of ’er lovin’ ’usband,’ Beatrice rasped loudly, coming out with the sort of comment she could get away with over the rest of the servants. And not content with that, she stabbed a gnarled finger at Olivia and went on, ‘’Tes’ time that you young miss got one of yer own, ’tes time thee got yerself married.’

  The others in the kitchen looked eagerly at Olivia for her rep
ly.

  ‘My coming-of-age party is the only social event I intend to have for a very long time!’ Olivia snapped and stalked off to her bedroom.

  * * *

  A pale blue sky tinged with mauve gave a background to a scattered group of wavy-patterned clouds of glowing orange that evening. Jessica Trenchard had a dress made of the same colours to wear at the birthday party; it was hanging in Olivia’s bedroom waiting for her to change into. Olivia had assigned her guests the mythological character that she thought suited them best. Jessica was Artemis, goddess of the wild, mistress of beasts, the virgin hunter, who loved all things and gave succour to those in childbirth. Jessica liked the choice, although she had only helped in the birth of farm animals so far.

  She rode over to Pengarron Manor under that cool, restful sky on the back of Tally, her father’s mare, sitting in front of her brother David, who was going on to Ker-an-Mor Farm.

  ‘Why don’t you stay for the party, David?’ she pleaded with him again. ‘Philip’s coming, you needn’t be worried about the stuck-up gentry folk. They don’t worry me.’

  ‘I know that, Jessie. You can hold your own in gale-force winds.’

  ‘The young ladies will go out of their way to get a dance with you, what with your blond hair and broad shoulders, not like the sickly-looking gentlemen who’ll be there.’

  ‘Well, Philip will be there and as we look very much alike, they won’t be missing out on their treat, will they? And there’s nothing sickly-looking about either Luke Pengarron or Kane.’

  ‘Don’t mention those two to me. I’d enjoy this party far more if they weren’t going to be there,’ Jessica said haughtily, shaking her mane of curls.

  ‘Well, they’re bound to be there, they’re Olivia’s brothers, you silly little maid,’ David said, getting quickly to the point of exasperation his sister often brought her menfolk to. ‘I understand why you don’t like Luke but Kane’s always been a good friend to we Trenchards. You should remember how much he helped you when you came across Kerris that day.’