Wary of getting a nip from Samson’s sharp teeth, Oliver took him out of the cage, holding him firmly and tickling him under his small rounded ears. ‘Samson’s as long and thin as Russet is fat and round,’ he remarked.
‘Yes,’ Kane smiled. ‘But keep him away from us or she’ll end up as rabbit dinner.’
Stroking Samson’s brown back down to the black-tipped furry tail, Oliver fed the stoat with fruit and berries. He took his time. He was reluctant to speak about Captain Hezekiah Solomon.
Hezekiah’s body had been buried within hours of his death, deep in a spot where two cart tracks met and crossed on the outskirts of Penzance. Nothing marked the place, though Oliver doubted if even the body-snatchers who sold specimens to those wishing to further the cause of medical science would want to dig up the murderous dandy’s remains. The evil that had marked his life seemed to hover above his final resting place. Only four people had attended the burial: two gravediggers, an official and Oliver, who’d steeled himself for the event. No one had said a single word of reverence or prayer. It would have been a waste of time. Hezekiah Solomon had met his destiny in the hereafter at the point of his suicide and nothing said or done could alter that. And Oliver had no desire to ask the Almighty for mercy on the soul of the man who had so nearly violated and murdered his daughter.
A rotting body on a gibbet close by creaked in the wind and spread its smell of corruption. The hanged tinner, who’d been out of work because of lung disease, had been executed for stealing a sheep to feed his starving family. His sentence had been harsh and merciless, while Hezekiah Solomon had died by his own flamboyant action and had escaped the justice of this world.
‘Rot in Hell, Hezekiah,’ Oliver had said with feeling before mounting Gereint. He quickly left the spot that would soon be rumoured to be haunted by a terrifying spectre with murderous snake’s eyes and long, shiny white hair. It would be a place where it was said no animal would linger, no bird would sing and no flower would grow.
Oliver brought his troubled mind back to the present. ‘I want to speak to you about something Hezekiah Solomon said yesterday, Kane,’ he said, delivering his words in a slow, low voice.
‘About me being prostitute’s spawn?’ Kane replied, looking for a piece of carrot for the rabbit.
‘It’s been on your mind too, then.’
‘Nothing Hezekiah Solomon or anyone else says to me about my parentage can hurt me, Father. You see, since I’ve been home I’ve made some enquiries into what my blood-mother and father were like. I was quite successful and have been waiting for the right time to tell you and Mama.’
Oliver looked a little shaken. He put the stoat back in its cage so he could give his son his full attention. ‘Go on.’
Kane gave him a full account of his visits to Frances Nansmere and Meg at the swamp.
Oliver stayed silent for a long time, taking it all in. ‘I knew you’d called at the brothel… and I assumed it was for the usual reason. I suppose I should have known that one day you’d ask for yourself, wanting to know more than the little I had found out and told you. It must make you feel better to know that it was Peggy Wearne and this rover who were your natural parents and not that whore and the dreadful sailor your mother had to contend with.’
‘It does,’ Kane said. ‘But I shall always wonder who the rover is – was.’ Colour spread up his neck and face as he admitted, ‘I thought it could have been Ricketty Jim. He’s got brown eyes and… and I asked him.’
A light smile brushed Oliver’s face. ‘I could have told you it wasn’t Ricketty Jim. He’s not capable of fathering a child.’
‘So he gave me to understand. Well, I suppose there are some things in life we are never meant to know and I must be content with that. Now I’m resolved to get on with my life. I have made up my mind to accept the property at Gulval. I know Mama will be glad I won’t be going far away.’
‘Yes, she will, and so am I. It’s good to see our son grown up and making the right decisions.’
Kane smiled enigmatically. ‘Well, there are one or two things that have helped me decide to stay within the Mount’s Bay area.’
* * *
Kane found all the Trenchards, Kerris and Ricketty Jim sitting round the hearth in Trecath-en farmhouse’s kitchen. They were looking glum, except for Kenver and Kerris, who shared bright snatches of conversation as they planned their new life together.
Jessica brightened up at seeing him and moved up on the bench she was sitting on so he could sit down beside her. ‘How’s Olivia?’ she asked.
‘Very distraught. She wouldn’t let anyone but my mother see her for a long time but the Reverend Lanyon was with her when I left the Manor.’
‘How’s your mother?’ Clem asked.
‘She doesn’t appear to be taking it too badly.’
‘That’s good,’ Clem said, then shut up as though he was in a huff about something.
‘We’re not in a working mood today,’ David said, to explain why they were all sitting around.
‘I understand that,’ Kane replied, looking at Clem and wondering why he seemed to be ignoring him. ‘I’m in no mood to work either.’ He glanced at the courting couple. ‘The Reverend Timothy is going to be kept busy at the altar, I see.’
Clem grunted and Kane wondered if the tall blond farmer was losing heart for his own matrimonial plans.
‘We’re hoping to have the wedding here and that you’ll come, Kane,’ Kenver said, holding Kerris’s hand and gazing at her fondly.
‘I’ll be honoured to,’ Kane replied. He looked at Jessica. ‘Would you like to go for a walk, Jessie?’
‘Yes, I—’
‘She’s got the meal to get,’ Clem said moodily.
‘We can manage, Kenver and I,’ Kerris piped up.
Clem bit back an angry retort. He went to the door, his face like thunder, his dogs jumping around his feet. ‘I’m going out to start some work.’
The twins got up as one. ‘We’d better join you,’ Philip said.
Kane glanced at Ricketty Jim and received a sympathetic look. Was it only yesterday he had been here asking this man if he was his father? It seemed years ago after all that had happened.
‘We’ll go for a short walk,’ Jessica said to Kane, then added to Kerris, ‘I’ll be back to help you in a little while.’
‘We can manage,’ Kerris said, smiling at her man.
‘What’s the matter with your father?’ Kane asked as he and Jessica strolled towards the valley.
‘I think it’s got something to do with the way Sir Oliver spoke to him yesterday. But he shouldn’t have touched your mother like that, he deserved it. It upset Miss Catherine too. She was some quiet on the way home, shouldn’t wonder if she won’t have him now.’
‘I hope our parents’ difficulties won’t come between us, Jessie,’ he said, stopping to hold her.
‘I won’t let them,’ Jessica said, offering him her lips.
After what had nearly happened to Olivia, Kane was restrained. He kissed Jessica gently then they walked on with their arms round each other.
‘Have you found us somewhere to go?’ she asked.
‘I have a place in mind. I’m going to buy a property round the bay at Gulval, Vellanoweth Farm, but I’m beginning to think it would be better to be open about our wanting to be close. After that dreadful episode yesterday, it doesn’t seem right meeting in secret. Do you think Clem has any idea we’re more than just friends now?’
‘No, and I don’t think he would like it with these other weddings going on. It would be best to keep it to ourselves for now. I’d like to see your farm.’
‘I’ll arrange it when all is settled. I’ll invite you over properly, perhaps with Kerris, then everything will be above board. When Olivia is over her ordeal and you come to the Manor again, I’ll walk you home. It will give us a short time of privacy together and I can’t see why anyone should object to that.’
‘That will have to do for now, then,’ Jessica said
, very disappointed. She couldn’t see how she and Kane could get closer if they hardly met.
‘Something that won’t do is the way you’re not kissing me right now,’ he laughed.
* * *
Luke and Cordelia rode to the charity school during the morning, glad not to have been involved in Hezekiah Solomon’s death. Luke pored over the registers, checking on how many children were attending, while Cordelia taught the alphabet to the five- and six-year-olds. The school met from ten o’clock to two o’clock, giving the children time to work before and afterwards to earn money for their families. Matthias Renfree appeared soon after midday and Luke and Cordelia left.
‘What shall we do now?’ Cordelia said as they trotted away. ‘I feel we would only get in the way at home and I don’t really fancy going home anyway.’
‘Let’s ride on to Marazion and spend some time there,’ Luke replied. Then, after mulling over the events at Penzance the previous day, he said, ‘I’m glad you’re not likely to get involved in any rash adventures, Cordelia.’
‘No, of course not,’ but she turned her head so he couldn’t see her guilty blushes.
Chapter 23
Jessica and Cordelia were amazed that Olivia insisted on going ahead with their smuggling plans in spite of her recent ordeal and the fact that early in the New Year she was to become the wife of the respectable young parson. They were both happy and excited over her good news and felt she should do nothing to risk it going wrong. Jessica had urged that at least she be allowed to postpone the run and arrange with Zack Maynard that it take place at some later date. But Olivia declared she needed the excitement and challenge of the run to purge herself of the foul aftertaste of nearly being ravished and murdered by Hezekiah Solomon.
So the three young women met, as arranged, in Trelynne Cove two nights after the fateful trip to Penzance. But there was one thing hampering their plans and Jessica and Cordelia used it to try to persuade Olivia to change her mind. Despite her pleas, Jack still steadfastly refused to come with them.
They huddled under the shelter of the cliff out of the keen wind and Jessica and Cordelia were all for going home. If Zack Maynard and his men out in their rowing boat did not see a return signal to indicate that it was safe to land the goods, they would abandon the run. Zack Maynard had sternly told Jessica the last time they’d met that this would be their one and only chance and he would not arrange another run if anything went wrong. In the circumstances, she thought it was probably the best thing that could happen. Then Olivia could be safely married and if she and Cordelia still craved adventure, they could seek it by some other means.
‘I’ve no intention of not going ahead!’ Olivia said crossly, wrapping the black cloak she wore more tightly against the cold. ‘We all agreed to this run and I’m going to see it through.’
‘But getting married is in itself an adventure,’ Jessica tried to reason with her. ‘The Reverend Lanyon wouldn’t approve of you being here.’
‘It’s none of Timothy’s business and he won’t know anything about it, will he? Anyway, I’m sure he takes in contraband. He couldn’t afford those new lace curtains in every room of the Parsonage on his stipend.’
‘That may be so, but how can we possibly manage without Jack to carry the heavier things?’ Cordelia pleaded. ‘It will be hard enough work clambering over the rocks to the hidey-hole with the things we can manage to carry.’ She was no more or less frightened than the other two but now they were here, out in the cold and dark of an early October night, she saw it as an unromantic escapade and probably a foolhardy one. The sky was inky-black, the full moon covered by dark clouds. If Uncle Oliver found out, he would be furious at the risk they were taking. As it was, Jessica said she did not trust Zack Maynard and that he gave her the chills, the way he looked at her.
‘Then Maynard and his men will have to carry them up the cliff and put the goods on our ponies or take them back to their boat, won’t they?’ Olivia said defiantly. ‘Anyway, we’re all healthy and strong. We shall go ahead, or are you two feeling cowardly? I’m surprised that you want to back down, Jessie. You’ve always been the most wilful and daring of the three of us.’
Jessica thought that perhaps she was a coward, and shouldn’t be. If Olivia could brave the night after her recent experience, then surely she could too. ‘Oh, all right then. You two stay out of sight,’ she said. ‘I’ll go back up on the cliff top and watch for the signal out at sea and get the lantern ready to signal back. ’Tis nearly midnight and they’ll be signalling soon. When I’ve done it, I’ll come down and join you two on the beach. Keep your eyes peeled for trouble, and no chattering. And if we run into any Revenue men, don’t panic. If we can’t sweet-talk them out of arresting us, we’ll bribe ’em. If that don’t work, you only have to say who you two are and they’ll let us go. They’d rather face the Devil, I’m sure, than Sir Oliver’s wrath.’
While the other two girls picked their way down to the shoreline to hide among a large outcrop of black granite rocks, Jessica walked carefully back up the cliff path. She tried not to send loose stones scurrying away from her feet and disturb the night. She muttered under her breath that the Reverend Timothy Lanyon was taking a mighty handful upon himself by marrying the stubborn Miss Olivia Pengarron. It was her stubborn streak that had made her go off to Penzance for a secret meeting without telling anyone where and why she was going, and even if she had, she wouldn’t have allowed herself to be talked out of it.
Jessica hoped this run would go well; it might provide her with the means to obtain the necessary silks to clothe herself for the many weddings she was going to attend. Her father’s, her uncle’s and now one of her closest friends’. Who next? Surely not Cordelia. She didn’t seem to like men. She was more content, when not writing her endless letters to her absentee brothers and sisters, to follow where Luke Pengarron led. He kept all unwanted suitors at bay for her; no one could get past his possessiveness and fits of bad temper. Not Cordelia then. Certainly not me, she told herself. It was wonderful dallying with the handsome Kane Pengarron; he kissed so nicely and it was good being close to him. But neither he nor his equally handsome brother would want to marry out of their class. Come to that, neither did she, she told herself. She couldn’t see anything permanent coming out of a romance with Kane Pengarron.
Jessica walked gingerly towards the cliff’s edge, being careful not to slip on the damp surface or trip over a tuffet of coarse grass or granite boulder. She lit her lantern and kept it out of the draught and out of sight by placing it behind a boulder and kneeling down in front of it. Her excited eyes had barely had time to scan the restless sea for the smugglers’ signal when something was thrown over her head, muffling her only scream.
* * *
Jack had been pacing up and down the cosy living room of his little cottage close to the stables for over an hour. It didn’t sit easy on his shoulders that he had had a bad quarrel with the elder daughter of the household. Miss Olivia’s wilfulness had shocked him. She had called him many unpleasant names and had unfairly declared him disloyal to the family, taking no notice of the fact that his decision not to go on the smuggling venture was precisely because of the loyalty he felt he owed to her parents. Jack had begged her at least to ask Master Luke or Master Kane to go along with them; they were both at home that night and were used to smuggling in Trelynne Cove. She had bluntly refused his suggestion, saying her brothers would doubtless try to stop her too and she was having none of that. In the end she had tossed her red head and said scornfully that the run wouldn’t go ahead because of his selfishness. But now, here he was, long past midnight, worrying that she might not have been telling the truth and that the three unwise young women had gone ahead with the run after all.
Jack grabbed his coat and sped to the stables. There was no one about, but neither were Miss Olivia’s and Miss Cordelia’s ponies. He stood there gazing at the empty stalls. If he went to the house and asked where they were, and it turned out they had ridden off
to spend the night at someone’s house on a social visit, he would be seen to be impertinent. Miss Olivia would be absolutely furious. He didn’t care. He was more than a servant to this family. They cared about him and trusted him. If the two young ladies had put themselves into any possible form of danger, Sir Oliver and her ladyship would expect him to tell them.
He ran into the house through the kitchens. There was no one about, but he wasn’t going to waste time asking if he could be seen anyway. The family were still up. Jack rushed through the house to the parlour where there were lights and he could hear talking.
Red-faced but determined, he knocked on the door and entered after Sir Oliver called out, ‘Come in.’
‘Jack? What it is?’ Kerensa said, standing up in alarm. ‘Has there been an accident?’
‘Forgive me, m’lord, m’lady, but I have to see you now.’
‘Come right into the room then,’ Oliver said, rising to his feet, as did Luke and Kane who were also there. ‘Get straight to the point, Jack, it’s obvious something serious is amiss.’
Jack was confronted by a sea of worried faces. ‘It may be wrong of me to ask,’ he said anxiously, ‘but I have to know where Miss Olivia and Miss Cordelia are. ’Tis very important that I know they’re safe. Their ponies are not in the stables.’
‘What? They should be in bed. They both retired early. What’s going on, Jack?’ Oliver demanded, as Kerensa clutched his arm.
‘If they aren’t in bed then I think they could be in Trelynne Cove, smuggling, sir,’ Jack blurted out.
‘Luke, run up the stairs and see if your sister and cousin are safely abed. If they’re not, and they probably aren’t if their ponies are gone, we’ll saddle up and go after them.’
‘I’m sorry, sir,’ Jack said helplessly, and quickly told the story of how Olivia had been badgering him. ‘I should have come to see you earlier but Miss Olivia said she wouldn’t go in the end because I refused to go with them. I was worried about what might happen to them and Jessica Trenchard. I believe it was all her idea, sir.’
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