Hope Page 16
‘Then why doesn’t she just write to him now and tell him she’s going away?’ Hope asked.
‘He’s a soldier,’ Nell said impatiently. ‘Letters take a long time to arrive.’
Hope knew there was no point in asking further questions because she could see by Nell’s tight expression that this was as much as she was prepared to reveal and she was worried sick at involving her younger sister in something she didn’t approve of herself.
‘Don’t worry, I can be as tight-lipped as you,’ Hope smiled. ‘I just wish it was you who was getting secret letters; that would make me very happy.’
Nell half-smiled, her dark brown eyes softer with relief. ‘You’re a good girl,’ she said, reaching out to stroke Hope’s cheek with the same affectionate gesture their mother had always used. ‘Don’t forget about tidying the gatehouse,’ she said, clearly reminded of her duty to her husband. ‘Will you do his washing too?’
‘Yes, that’s if I can beat Martha to it.’ Hope felt she had to try to make her sister laugh. ‘With you out of the way she’ll be fussing over him even more.’
Nell giggled, and for a second or two she looked like a girl again instead of a rather worn, tubby woman of thirty-one. ‘She’s welcome to fuss over him as much as she likes. But just remind her you can’t squeeze blood out of a stone.’
Hope gave Lady Harvey’s mysterious friend a great deal of thought over the next couple of days. As far as she knew, Captain Pettigrew was the only soldier who had ever been to Briargate, and he was certainly the only male visitor who always seemed to arrive when Sir William wasn’t there. Then there was that remark Rose had made years ago about Nell being flustered by him. It hadn’t made any sense before, but it did now. When Nell disapproved of anything she always wore that tight expression.
So it had to be him.
It was of course shocking that her mistress had a secret beau, but Hope had retained all the good thoughts she’d formed about the Captain on the day she found Cook unconscious. He was charming, handsome and dashing and she could well imagine that any woman, married or not, would like his attention. For him, Hope was quite prepared to intercept the letters and keep them safe.
The weather grew more wet and windy after Lady Harvey and Nell had left for Sussex. One night the wind was so strong an old oak tree in the garden came crashing down, narrowly missing the stables. The following morning Hope and Rose went out with Baines to look at it and it was fearsome to see the vast roots exposed and a huge hole left in the ground where the tree had stood for probably a hundred years.
‘My father used to say when an oak came crashing down that it was an omen of something worse to come,’ Rose said fearfully.
‘I’m sure your father believed in witches too,’ Baines retorted sarcastically. ‘I would say this is fortuitous as it means we’ll have plenty of logs this winter. So get about your work now, and don’t be so foolish.’
Hope missed her sister dreadfully. She hadn’t realized until Nell went that it was she who had become the glue that held everyone together. Although she was a quiet person, she really cared about her fellow servants and could stimulate chatter and laughter between them. Without her it was very gloomy. Martha talked of nothing but food. Rose would grumble about how much work she still had to do, and Baines hardly said a word.
Sir William’s unpredictability didn’t help the mood. They’d lay the dining-room table for him and he’d want his meal in his study; he’d tell Baines he wouldn’t be back for dinner, then come in roaring drunk late in the evening and demand a meal. Several times he’d told Martha he wanted a special dinner that evening because he was bringing a friend home, and then didn’t turn up at all. Rose said he was a selfish swine, but as Baines pointed out, it was Sir William’s house and he paid them to dance attendance on him. He also reminded them all that if they thought they could get an easier job, they were free to leave Briargate.
A letter with the same bold script Nell had shown her came after Lady Harvey had been gone over two weeks, coinciding with one for Hope from Nell. She put them both into the pocket of her apron, placed the rest on the silver tray in the hall for Sir William to look at later, finished laying the drawing-room fire, and then returned to the kitchen before reading her own letter.
Nell couldn’t write very well so it was brief and to the point: Squire Dorville had died. She expected it would be about two weeks before they set off for home, and she hoped everything was running smoothly at Briargate.
Hope knew that if Nell was writing to her, Lady Harvey would have written to her husband, and presumably he would leave immediately for Sussex. She wondered in passing whether he’d collect Rufus from school and take him too, or just write to him to pass on the news of his grandfather’s death.
It wasn’t until after breakfast, when Hope went upstairs with Rose to see to Sir William’s bedroom, that she thought about the letter from the Captain again. She had taken it from her apron pocket and slipped it into the bodice of her dress while out in the privy, but it crackled a little when she moved and she knew she must put it in a better place for safe keeping.
She knew she had to be careful. Rose was extremely nosy and Ruth had always warned Hope never to have anything in her room that she didn’t want seen because Rose poked into everyone’s belongings. Rose couldn’t read, so she wouldn’t know who the letter was for or from, but she was crafty enough to take it down to Baines, making out she’d found it on the stairs. That also meant it wouldn’t be a good idea to hide it somewhere in Lady Harvey’s bedroom for no doubt Rose went through that with a fine toothcomb while cleaning it.
The gatehouse seemed the safest place. She could slide it under the mattress of her old bed, for Albert would have no reason even to go into that room, let alone disturb the bed. She had intended to go down there that afternoon to clean up anyway.
Hope was back in the kitchen later on in the morning, when Sir William came in. She knew immediately why he’d come, but Martha and Baines looked astounded to see him as he seldom visited the kitchen.
As always when she saw her master, Hope was struck by his similarity to Rufus. He was in his mid-forties now, but he looked much younger; even the heavy drinking hadn’t spoiled his clear skin or dulled his beautiful blue eyes. The slackness of his full lips and the absence of a strong chin hinted at his weak character, but as he was wearing a bright blue waistcoat embroidered with small roses, made by Lady Harvey, and his blond curly hair was tousled, the overall picture was of a rakishly handsome young man.
‘I received a letter from Lady Harvey this morning,’ he said. ‘Sadly her father died in his sleep three days ago. I shall leave early tomorrow morning to be with her for the funeral. I am sure I can leave Briargate in your capable hands.’
Baines offered his condolences, then asked how Sir William would be travelling and what he would like packed.
‘Albert will take me into Bath in the trap, and I’ll catch the train from there,’ Sir William replied. ‘I won’t need to take much with me as I’ll only be gone a few days.’
Albert came into the kitchen for dinner at around twelve, and as always Martha fussed around him, this time because his coat was wet through. Hope was in the scullery cleaning some silver, and she smiled at the cook’s efforts to make him talk to her. The woman ought to have realized by now that Albert was a lost cause.
He informed Martha that he’d spent the morning sawing up the fallen oak, remarked that the river Chew was rising dangerously high again, and that it was his prediction the heavy rain would last another couple of days.
‘You mustn’t stay out in it again this afternoon,’ Martha exclaimed. ‘You might be a big strong man but that won’t stop you catching a chill!’
Albert said he’d hauled some of the big logs into the woodshed and he’d be working in there cutting them into smaller pieces so he’d be in the dry.
Hope thought he sounded less brusque than usual, almost as if he was warming to Martha. She annoyed both Hope and Baines w
ith her constant prattle about nothing, but she did have a kind heart and she loved to feed people.
She had told Hope that when she was a young kitchen-maid, she had been walking out with a footman and they wanted to get married. Their mistress reacted in the same way as most gentry did about servants marrying, and refused permission.
Martha was over forty now, with nothing but swollen ankles, call used hands and the title of Cook to show for a lifetime of hard work. Hope was absolutely determined her life wasn’t going to be the same.
At half past three that afternoon, Martha was dozing in a chair in the servants’ hall, and Rose had just put some flat irons on the stove to press some shirts for Sir William, when Hope slipped out of the back door. It was tipping down with rain, but she thought she should go down to the gatehouse today to tidy it, for once Sir William left for Sussex she felt it was quite likely Albert would go home in the afternoons.
She hadn’t asked Baines for permission to go because she knew he would probably ask her to wait until tomorrow, and she didn’t want to admit she was afraid of running into Albert. He was pleasant enough up at the big house, but down in the gatehouse he reverted to behaving the way she remembered when she used to live there. He ordered her about as if she were his slave, and criticized everything she did.
Baines was up in Sir William’s dressing room packing for him, and as it was at the back of the house he wouldn’t see her going down the drive. With luck she’d be back before he even knew she’d gone.
The driving rain prevented her from seeing anything more than a few feet in front of her and by the time she reached the gatehouse her cloak was soaked right through and her boots were sodden. She went to the back door, found the key left under a stone, took off her cloak and boots and left them under the shelter of the porch to drip, then entered in her stockinged feet.
To her surprise the stove was alight and the cottage very warm. There was the usual mess, the table littered with plates, cups and glasses, a loaf of bread left out to grow stale, and a half-empty bottle of whisky. Albert was a terrible hypocrite: he ranted about untidiness and squalor, yet was quite happy to create it all around him.
The floor was very dirty too. Albert clearly wasn’t removing his boots any longer when he came in, for there were lumps of dry mud everywhere. The kettle was full and still quite warm, so Hope put it back on the stove and went up the stairs to hide the letter from the Captain, and to make Albert’s bed before she tackled washing the dishes and the floor.
As she got to the top of the stairs she heard a creaking sound. It sounded as if the window in Nell and Albert’s room was open and banging in the wind.
As she opened the door and walked in, the sight that met her eyes made her gasp with horror and clap her hands over her mouth. Albert was in bed and the blond, curly-haired person beneath him was not a woman, but unmistakably Sir William. Both men were naked, Albert’s muscular chest and arms virtually covering his much paler-skinned and slender master.
Such a sight was beyond Hope’s comprehension. She froze; even her heart seemed to stop beating with shock.
‘Get out!’ Albert roared at her.
Hope fled down the stairs, but the enormity of what she’d witnessed was so terrible she didn’t know what to do. She knew that male animals would attempt to mount one another when there was no available female, but she hadn’t known men could do the same thing.
The shock robbed her of any power to make a decision, and she just stood there crying. She could hear Albert’s deep voice, and the higher, more plaintive tones of Sir William mingling with it. One side of her brain told her Sir William would walk down the stairs any moment and give her an explanation that would make it all right, yet the other side told her that there was no possibility of an innocent explanation for what she’d seen.
It was probably no longer than a minute that she stood there, not knowing whether to flee or even where to flee to. But as soon as she heard Albert’s footsteps on the stairs she came to her senses and realized she must get out through the back door. Her bootlaces were tangled and her fingers had become as useless as toes in her panic; she tried to force her feet into her boots but she couldn’t get them in.
She heard the front door slam shut and breathed a faint sigh of relief that the men were gone. But as she reached up for her cloak from the peg, the back door opened and Albert reached out and gripped her shoulder.
‘Get in here,’ he growled at her.
She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he was too strong. He hauled her back into the kitchen, slammed and locked the door behind her, then struck her hard across the face.
He was wearing just his undershirt and breeches, his feet bare.
‘You’ve been a thorn in my flesh for too long,’ he roared at her. ‘How dare you come creeping in here spying on me?’
‘I didn’t. I came to clear up,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know you had anyone here.’
He hit her again, four or five times in succession, fast, hard slaps round the face, and with each one she was moved back closer and closer to the door.
‘Please stop it,’ she cried out, trying to cover her face with her hands. ‘I promise I won’t tell anyone.’
He punched her in the stomach then, hitting her so hard her spine cracked against the door. ‘You won’t get a chance to spread your lies,’ he spat at her. ‘I’m getting rid of you for good.’
She knew that meant he was going to kill her. It was the only way of ensuring this never got out. Sir William might even have ordered it; after all, he had far more to lose than Albert.
He caught her around the throat the way he’d done before, squeezing her neck until her eyes were almost popping out of her head. He banged her head back against the door again and again until she was seeing stars, then as she fell to the floor he kicked her.
Even though he had bare feet it was like being kicked by a horse. Hope rolled herself into a ball to avoid the worst of the blows, but he was frenzied, like a savage animal. She felt that all the hate locked inside him was rushing out to be inflicted on her.
Just when she felt she couldn’t take one more blow, he grabbed the shoulder of her dress to haul her to her feet, and the bodice just ripped away in his hand, leaving her chemise and part of her breasts exposed. As she instinctively bent over to hide herself, Lady Harvey’s letter from the Captain fell out.
‘What’s that?’ he snarled. ‘A letter from your sweetheart? You dirty little trollop!’
He snatched it up from the floor, but when he saw who it was addressed to, he grinned wolfishly.
‘Stealing her ladyship’s letters now, are we?’ he asked.
‘No,’ she declared. ‘Lady Harvey asked me to keep it for her.’
Slamming one foot into her belly to hold her against the door and balancing on his other leg, he quickly ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter to read it.
‘So she’s a treacherous bitch too,’ he said as his eyes scanned down the single page.
Hope could feel her face swelling, every part of her body throbbed with pain, and she wished he would kill her now and get it over with for she couldn’t take any more.
In those few moments as he read the letter, she suddenly realized that the act she’d witnessed must be the root cause of Nell’s and Lady Harvey’s unhappiness. While she was certain they didn’t know what Albert and Sir William did, it must have had an effect on their marriages. Had this been going on for weeks, months or years? Had Albert only married Nell to conceal his abnormality?
‘When did this come?’ he demanded.
‘Just this morning,’ Hope whimpered.
He lowered his foot to the floor, looking thoughtful. Hope wanted to try to run but she knew she wouldn’t make it to the front door before he caught her. So she just stood there waiting, her whole body throbbing with pain.
‘So the mistress has ensnared the loyalty of another bloody Renton,’ he said derisively. ‘How far would you go to keep her safe?’
‘I could kill you now,’ he said, showing his teeth. ‘Bury your body in the woods or even in the gardens of Briargate, and no one would ever know. But I might agree to let you go if you leave this place for good and never return.’
Hope thought he was just playing with her, wanting her to beg for her life so he had even more power over her. She wasn’t going to let that happen. ‘You’d be too frightened to let me go,’ she said. ‘I could tell someone about you.’
‘You could, but I wouldn’t recommend it,’ he said, dark eyes glinting with malice. ‘You see, both Sir William and I would say it was just spiteful lies. No judge would take a foolish kitchenmaid’s word against that of a member of the aristocracy, especially when that maid was trying to hide her mistress’s adultery and we could show this letter to prove it.’
Hope might never have liked Albert, but until today she had always thought of him as totally loyal to his master and mistress. She could hardly believe that he would be prepared to drag Lady Harvey’s name through the mud when she had always been so good to him.
‘And then there’s Nell, another reason you wouldn’t want to start a scandal,’ he smirked. ‘I know she was in on this! Just imagine her life with no m’lady, and only me!’
Hope’s blood ran cold. She could imagine only too well what kind of living hell he’d put Nell through.
‘You don’t need to threaten me or hurt me,’ she pleaded. ‘There is another way. I don’t want anyone to be shamed, not you or Nell. Not the master or the mistress. I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone.’
‘How dare a prissy little no-nothing bitch speak down to me!’ he snarled, striking her across the face again. ‘I love Billy and he loves me, we don’t give a fig what simple-minded people think about that.’
His calling Sir William ‘Billy’ suggested that this thing had been going on for some time. Hope could also see Albert was unbalanced and one wrong word from her might tip him over the edge.