by Dilly Court
Despite the initial upset everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Molesworth had made certain that there was enough wine, cider and ale to keep the party going, and Cook had excelled herself when it came to the wedding breakfast. Molly was the first person Judy saw and she met her enquiring look with a shrug.
‘Jack wants me to go to Australia with him and Jay,’ Judy said bluntly.
‘What did you say to that?’
‘I said no. I don’t trust Jay, and I think Jack would be making a terrible mistake. It might be different if he could walk, but in his present state I don’t think it’s a good idea.’
‘Did you tell him so?’
‘Of course I did, but you know Jack: he’s stubborn.’
‘And so are you,’ Molly said with a wry smile. ‘Surely you won’t let him go all that way without putting up a fight.’
‘You know Jack as well as I do. If he’s made up his mind, nothing and no one will stop him doing exactly as he wants.’ Judy shook her head. ‘I really don’t know what to do.’
‘I’d go with him, if it were me,’ Molly said stoutly. ‘It would be so exciting. Far better than being stuck in a nursery with naughty babies and their mischievous brothers.’
‘I thought you were happy at Colneyhurst Hall.’
Molly tossed her head. ‘I am, I suppose. It’s just that sometimes I long to do something different. I want to have some excitement in my life, Judy. Can’t you understand that?’
‘I suppose so. You and I are so different, Molly. I often wish I could be more like you.’
‘Don’t! You’re all right as you are, Judy Begg. We all love you, so don’t change.’ Molly gave her a quick hug. ‘Leave Jack to think about what he’s about to do. Maybe he’ll change his mind. It’s yourself you ought to worry about.’
‘Me? What do you mean?’
‘If Jay is determined to sell the property you’ll lose your job here, as will everyone else, including Ma and Wilfred.’
‘Yes, of course. I’m so busy worrying about Jack that I forgot everyone else.’
‘He should be the least of your concerns, if you ask me. Think of yourself for once, Judy. You’ve only been away from Creek Manor once since we moved here, and that didn’t last long. It was Jack’s accident that cut short your time in London, but you mustn’t allow him to rule your life. Let him go to Australia with Jay, and see how he likes it, but you don’t have to go with him. Why don’t you go back to London and take up your job in the hospital? Maybe you could do what Daisy did and become a probationer nurse.’
Judy was about to answer when she spotted Wilfred heading their way. She greeted him with a smile. ‘It was a lovely wedding ceremony.’
‘Thank heaven it was Constable Fowler playing the organ and not Miss Creedy. She might be a good dressmaker, but she had no musical talent whatsoever. Anyway, what are you two girls doing lurking here? Come and join the party. That’s an order from your new father.’ Wilfred was smiling, but Judy could see that he was serious, and she felt Molly stiffen. Judy recognised the stubborn look on her sister’s face. Although Molly had only been six years old when their father was killed in the same accident that crippled their mother, Judy knew that her sister had loved Pa, as she had. Despite his many failings, his passing had left a huge gap in their lives, and Wilfred Faulkner could not simply step into their father’s shoes.
‘You might be our stepfather,’ Molly said curtly, ‘but we don’t need you to tell us what to do.’
Judy stepped in between them. ‘Aren’t you a bit concerned about what Mr Tattersall just said? If he sells the manor house and the estate we’ll lose our jobs.’
Wilfred’s smile faded into a frown. ‘I don’t think he was serious. I’ve known Jay since he was a boy. He wouldn’t do a thing like that. It’s all talk, so stop worrying and join the party or people will think you don’t approve of me marrying your ma.’
‘Heaven forbid,’ Molly said sharply. ‘We can’t have that.’ She shot a meaningful look at her sister. ‘Let’s eat before those greedy pigs scoff the lot.’
Despite the tempting dishes laid out on pristine white tablecloths, Judy found that her appetite had deserted her. She managed to greet her mother with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and she was pleased to see her looking blissfully happy, but there was a nagging doubt at the back of Judy’s mind. She could not agree with her stepfather when it came to Jay’s sudden announcement: he had not been making a wild claim. Jay had been deadly serious and the outlook for everyone at Creek Manor was bleak. When Dr Neville approached her later, she could tell from his expression that he agreed with her.
‘What will you do, Judy?’ he asked in a low voice. ‘Jay is quite capable of going through with his plan to sell the place.’
‘Jack wants me to accompany them to Australia.’
‘It could be a good opportunity for you, I suppose,’ Nick said doubtfully. ‘But Jay is a wild card. You never know what he’ll do next. You and Jack could find yourselves in a worse situation than if you remained here.’
‘That’s what I’m afraid of, and it’s the other side of the world. We might end up penniless and friendless.’
‘It’s your decision, but I could always find work for you at Creek Hall. I couldn’t pay you very much, but you could live in, and I know that Mrs Bee would feed you like a turkey cock.’
‘But I’m not a nurse.’
‘It would be more like the work you were asked to do at the London Hospital. Even though you had such a brief time on the ward, Dr Godfrey was very impressed with the way you set about the most menial task without a word of complaint. What do you say, Judy?’
‘Would you mind if I didn’t give you an answer right now?’ Judy eyed him warily. She did not want to turn down the offer outright, but her whole world had just turned upside down and she was not in a position to make such a decision.
Nick smiled and nodded. ‘Of course. Perhaps we’d all better wait and see. As I said, Jay is unpredictable. He might be saying things simply to create a stir.’ He glanced over Judy’s shoulder. ‘My wife is beckoning to me. I’d better go and see what she wants.’ He strolled off to join Dove, who was standing in a small group with Sidney and Eleanora Marshall, Daisy and Marius.
Judy turned her head to see Jay walking purposefully to the middle of the great hall. He clapped his hands and called for silence.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to enjoy yourselves because this is the last time you will get anything from Creek Manor. The truth is that I’m selling the estate, and your employment here is terminated. I’ll give you a month in which to find alternative accommodation.’
There was a stunned silence, and then everyone began to talk at once. Judy found her mother and Wilfred standing at the table where the wedding cake was waiting to be cut. Hilda was deathly pale and bright spots of colour were raised on Wilfred’s weathered cheeks.
‘How can Jay do this to us?’ Hilda said in a low voice. ‘We’ll lose our home. Oh, Judy! What will we do?’
Chapter Eight
No one knew how the fire started. Just days after the manor house was sold and the last person left, the house was razed to the ground, and everything in it was consumed by the flames. It was rumoured in the village that one of the dispossessed servants had set it ablaze out of sheer malice, but this was simply hearsay. However, fingers were pointed at several people who had the most to lose, and one of them was Wilfred Faulkner. It was well known in the village that he had a long-standing grudge against Jay, considering him an upstart and an unworthy heir to the estate. Faulkner had been with Squire Tattersall since he was a boy, and had been devoted to him. But all these whisperings were largely ignored, and some blamed the curse of Creek Manor, saying it had finally done its worst.
As far as the family were concerned, Jay had left for Australia before the conflagration, taking his mother and Jack with him, and it was the new owner who was the loser. No one knew his identity, nor had they seen his mysterious person, and
it now seemed unlikely that they ever would. The only buildings left standing were the stable block and coach house, but the horses had been sold off and the only occupants were rats, mice and bats. Pip and Nate had lost their jobs and their home above the tack room, and it was Marius Walters who came to their aid by offering them work in the stables at Colneyhurst Hall. Daisy had taken pity on young Lizzie and had employed her as a tweeny, although Judy suspected that Daisy might regret her generosity when she discovered Lizzie’s innate clumsiness.
Everything had happened so quickly, and there had been so much to do after Jay’s shock announcement that the manor house was for sale, that Judy had only a short time in which to brood over Jack’s decision to leave the country. He had tried to persuade her to go with him, but as far as she could make out he seemed to have fallen out of love with her and was now totally obsessed with the idea of gold mines and the large hotel that Jay was having built. Jack was convinced that a long sea voyage would effect a cure, but it seemed to Judy that he wanted her more as a nurse or unpaid servant than the woman he had once professed to love. She had spent many sleepless nights trying to come to a decision, and it hurt her more than she could have imagined when she had to tell Jack that she would not go with him. He had been angry at first, and then he had pleaded with her, but she was convinced that he was making a terrible mistake. She neither liked nor trusted Jay, and with good reason. He had turned his back on the people who had worked at Creek Manor for most of their lives, and some of the older members of the household were facing a poverty-stricken future.
Amongst those worst hit was Clem Guppy, who had been cast aside despite the fact that he had a large family to support. Another land agent had been employed by the new owner, although it was clear from the start that this was not going to be a happy relationship. Judy knew all the tenant farmers and they were all up in arms due to the fact that their rents had been doubled and Cosgrove, the agent, was not a patient man. If they failed to pay the full amount each quarter they stood in danger of being evicted, which had already happened to some of the smallholders.
Hilda and Wilfred had been forced to vacate their home and they were now renting the cottage where Jay and his siblings had been born and raised. With no alternative, Judy had to sleep on a truckle bed in the one room downstairs, which served as kitchen and parlour, while her mother and stepfather slept in the bedroom on the first floor. It was not a comfortable arrangement and Wilfred seemed to be in a permanent bad mood. Hilda tried to excuse his outbursts of temper, putting them down to the fact that he was unemployed and they were living on the pittance she and Judy earned at Creek Hall. Judy, however, was unimpressed. After a week of living under the same roof she knew that she disliked Wilfred Faulkner and that the feeling seemed to be mutual. He made it obvious that he resented her close relationship with her mother, and although he never put his feelings into words, he managed to make it clear that Judy was an unwanted lodger in the marital home.
Both Judy and her mother had been taken on as domestics at Creek Hall, but Judy had missed the opportunity to live in, due to the fact that several of the servants from the manor house had already applied for positions at the small hospital. Judy tried to make light of it when Nick apologised, and he promised that if anyone left she was more than welcome to take their place. Mrs Bee and Dove were sympathetic, but Judy assured them that all was well at home, and she was careful not to criticise her stepfather. She had lived in Little Creek long enough to know that titbits of gossip like that would fly round the village in no time, and if they reached Wilfred’s ears he would take pleasure in throwing her out of the house.
The situation came to a head one evening in late September when Judy arrived home before her mother. Hilda had stayed on at the hospital to have a cup of tea and a chat with Mrs Bee, and Judy had enjoyed a solitary walk. It was a golden evening and the leaves were turning from green to russet, tipped with scarlet, and the air was fresh and clean. It had been a good day at work, with many of the patients showing signs of improvement, which was always satisfying. However, it had been a long and hectic day and Judy was tired. She filled a bucket with water from the village pump and, having got the fire going, she put the kettle on the trivet to make a pot of tea. She was wondering what they would have for supper when Wilfred’s large frame momentarily blocked the last of the daylight as he stood in the doorway. Judy glanced over her shoulder, saying nothing. She always waited to find out what sort of mood he was in before she started a conversation. She went to the cupboard and was wondering what to do with the meagre contents when she realised that he was standing close behind her. She waited for a few seconds, thinking he was simply trying to get past, but then she felt his arms around her waist and his breath was hot on her neck as he cupped her breasts in his hands. She froze, hardly able to believe that this was the man who had married her mother.
‘You’re beautiful,’ Wilfred whispered close to her ear. ‘I could make your life so much better, if you would be nice to me.’
That was enough to galvanise Judy into action and she spun round, giving him a mighty shove that caught him off balance and sent him sprawling onto the flagstone floor.
‘Get off me,’ she cried angrily. ‘Do that again and I’ll tell Ma and the whole village what sort of man you are.’
He scrambled to his feet. ‘It was your fault, you little slut. You tempted me.’
‘I did no such thing. You disgust me.’
With a savage swipe of his hand he caught her round the side of her head, knocking her against the cupboard door, and she fell to the ground, jarring every bone in her body.
‘Breathe a word to your ma and I swear I’ll kill you.’
‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Judy scrambled to her feet. ‘If you harm me you’ll go to prison.’
‘Get out.’ He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the doorway. ‘I’ll never get any peace with you in the house, always giving me sly looks and driving me mad.’
She clung to the doorpost. ‘Let go of me. You can’t do this. Ma won’t allow it.’
‘You’ll go far away from here, or I’ll tell your mother that you tried to lure me into your bed like the harlot you are. Come here again and I swear I’ll strangle you.’
Judy backed away from him. ‘You haven’t heard the last of this. My mother will find out what you’ve done and you’ll be the one to leave the village.’
Wilfred picked up a bundle of clothes that lay on Judy’s bed for want of anywhere else to put them, and he tossed it after her. ‘Good riddance.’
Bruised, shocked and dazed by the suddenness of the attack, Judy picked up her belongings and limped away, not knowing what to do or where she would go. Her first thought was to run to Creek Hall, but then she would have to tell her mother that the man she married was a monster, and very soon the whole village would know. It was tempting, but Judy needed time to think. One thing was as clear as the babbling waters of the creek: she could not stay here a minute longer. The blow on the head and the fall had left her dazed and feeling sick, but it was getting dark and she needed to find somewhere to spend the night. There was only one place where she could go, and that was Colneyhurst. Daisy would take her in, but then Judy would have to tell her brothers and Molly what had happened, and she would have to explain why she had left home so suddenly. Her head was throbbing and by morning she would have a bruised cheek and maybe a black eye, making it impossible to hide the injuries caused by Wilfred’s savage blow.
Without having a plan in mind, Judy started walking. There were plenty of friends in the village who would give her shelter for the night, but that would mean explanations and she would be forced to reveal the part that her stepfather had played in her sudden flight. Her only thought at this moment was to protect her mother, who had been through enough hard times and heartache. Wilfred was a brute, but her mother seemed happy with him. There was no accounting for what a woman in love would put up with, and Judy was certain that Ma must be head over heels in love wi
th the man she had married. Judy trudged along the road that led out of the village. Perhaps she would find a barn where she could shelter until morning. It had started to rain and she needed to find somewhere quickly.
She was about half a mile out of Little Creek when she heard the sound of horses’ hoofs and the rumble of wheels. There was nowhere to hide and with tall hedgerows on either side of the road there was no escape. She flattened herself against the prickly hawthorn, hoping that the driver would go past, but the passenger was peering out of the window and he thumped on the roof, shouting to the coachman to come to a halt. The door opened and Dr Godfrey leaped out.
In the light of the coach lamp there was no hiding place and Judy met his shocked gaze with a steady look. ‘I walked into a doorpost,’ she said gruffly.
‘The hell you did.’ Ben Godfrey lifted her chin with the tip of his gloved finger. ‘I’ve seen that sort of injury all too often. Who did this to you?’
‘I’m all right,’ Judy said stubbornly. ‘I mustn’t detain you, Doctor.’ She started to walk away, but he caught her by the wrist.
‘Where are you going? It’s dark and wet and you’re soaked to the skin.’
Her head ached and each step caused her more and more pain. She was wet, cold and hungry, and she felt her resolve weakening. ‘I’m going to visit a friend.’ It was a poor lie and she could see that he remained unconvinced.
‘Then I’ll take you there. Please get in the carriage.’
There seemed to be little alternative and Judy allowed him to help her into the vehicle. He waited until she was settled before climbing in to sit opposite her. ‘Where were you headed, Judy? I’ll tell the coachman to drive you to the door.’