Hope Page 43

  Hope smiled. Mrs Duberly was the wife of a paymaster with the cavalry, a dainty blonde woman who could ride as well as a man. She was much admired by everyone, except Bennett who pronounced her empty-headed and suspected she was in fact Lord Cardigan’s mistress as they always seemed to be together. So it was good to know Queenie liked her better.

  Queenie asked her again how she’d met Bennett, and Hope told her an abbreviated version of the truth; that she’d met him while working as a nurse. ‘Don’t know ’ow you can stick sick people.’ Queenie shuddered. ‘You wouldn’t catch me cleaning ’em up and that.’

  They fell asleep after eating their picnic, and Hope was woken suddenly by the sound of a male voice.

  She was disoriented for a moment, thinking the voice was Bennett’s, and she didn’t bother to move. But on hearing a second voice and a twig snapping close by, she opened her eyes and saw two men looking down at them.

  They were clearly Turks, judging by their olive skins, drooping moustaches and baggy red breeches, though they weren’t wearing the standard fez. She couldn’t understand what they were saying, but the excited tone of voice and the lust in their dark eyes were enough.

  ‘Wake up, Queenie,’ she said, prodding her companion and sitting up. ‘English,’ she said. ‘My husband officer in army.’ She pointed in the direction of the camp.

  Queenie woke, caught on immediately to what was happening, and jumped to her feet.

  ‘Sod off,’ she yelled. ‘Go on, get out.’

  One of the men said something, and leered at Hope. She got on to her knees as if to pack up their picnic basket, and deftly slid the sharp fruit knife up her sleeve before rising to her feet.

  Queenie, meanwhile, was shouting abuse at the men. They backed off slightly, but maybe they understood some of the riper insults, for suddenly their faces darkened and they leapt forward, one catching hold of Queenie, pinning her arms to her sides, while the other, slower man caught Hope’s left arm in a vicelike grip, pushing her back against a tree.

  All at once Queenie was down on the ground, her captor on top of her. There was no doubt what he was intending to do to her, and it seemed to Hope that the man holding on to her intended to watch that first, then do the same to her.

  Queenie screamed at the top of her lungs, fighting like a hellcat to get from under the man. But although not very tall, he was powerfully built, and she was making no impression on him at all except to make him more excited.

  Hope screamed too, but she didn’t lash out with her free hand because she was trying to get the knife down from her sleeve. But as the man lunged at her skirt to pull it up, at the same time pushing her back against the tree, she had the knife safely in her hand. She waited only long enough for him to straighten up, then thrust it into his side.

  His shocked expression was almost laughable. He staggered back, eyes rolling, trying to pull out the knife with his hand.

  For a second or two it was as if everything happened in slow motion. The man with Queenie was trying to force her knees apart, her attacker was trying to get the knife out, and any moment he might succeed and use it on her, while Queenie would be raped.

  Until that second Hope had been very afraid, but now her fear turned to fury. She hadn’t come all this way from England to be killed or raped by one of the Turks they were supposed to be defending. Letting out a bellow of rage, she rushed at the man, yanked the knife out of his side and kicked him to the ground.

  ‘That’s it, mam!’ Queenie yelled, her voice somewhat muffled by the man on top of her. ‘Nowstick this bastard!’

  Hope rushed over, grabbed the man by the hair, and put the knife to his throat.

  Suddenly she heard the sounds of feet blundering through the wood. Still holding the man, she glanced up to see three cavalrymen in their cherry-red breeches rushing towards her.

  They took over then, one punching Queenie’s would-be rapist to the ground while another checked on the other man still lying there clutching at his side and moaning. The third cavalryman, tall and dark-haired, helped Queenie to her feet.

  ‘We’ll take you back to our camp,’ he said to Hope. ‘But would you mind putting that knife down first? It’s making me a bit nervous.’

  The tall man, who introduced himself as Trooper Haynes, asked them a few questions as they walked back to the cavalry camp. The other two men were frogmarching the Turks back too, just behind them.

  Queenie did all the explaining. Hope was too shocked to speak. She couldn’t really believe she’d actually stuck a knife into a man and might have cut the other one’s throat if she hadn’t been interrupted.

  ‘I’d best take you to the Captain,’ Haynes said as they approached the first line of tents. ‘They’ll see to the Turks,’ he said, nodding back at the two other men.

  Hope was fighting to hold back her tears, wanting to talk to Queenie alone, and the last thing she wanted was to have to explain how it all came about to a complete stranger. But she knew enough about army life now to understand an incident like this had to be reported properly.

  Haynes led her through a rowof tents towards an officer writing at a low table. The man had his back to them, but as Haynes spoke, he turned, and as Hope sawhis face, her legs gave way beneath her.

  She must have lost consciousness for only a second or two as she was still on the ground when she came round. She could hear Haynes just starting to explain what had happened in the woods, and he was kneeling beside her putting something soft beneath her head.

  ‘Lie still,’ he said, his dark eyes looking right into hers. ‘You’ve had a very bad shock and you fainted. I understand your husband is a surgeon; I’ll send someone to go and get him.’

  ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, sir, what she could do with is a drop of brandy or rum.’ Queenie spoke up out of Hope’s line of vision. ‘I know I could do with some an’ all.’

  That was exactly what Hope felt she could do with. The last thing she’d ever expected to come across out here in Varna, so far from home, was a reminder of Briargate. Coming face to face with Captain Angus Pettigrew was an even bigger shock than finding she was capable of sticking a knife into a man’s ribs.

  She thought of Nell and her home village often, but her memories of Briargate had long since become indistinct. Yet now as she sawthe Captain’s face everything came back to her in a rush.

  He was still every bit as handsome and dashing, even if his dark hair was growing grey. As a woman she could now understand why Lady Anne had risked so much for him.

  Why hadn’t she even considered that he might be here? She’d been told he was a cavalry officer after all.

  ‘I’m fine now,’ she said, and sat up. She wanted to get away, afraid he might recognize her. But even as she thought that, she almost laughed at herself. Men like him didn’t take any notice of servants, certainly not twelve-year-old kitchenmaids.

  He reached down and took her hand to help her up, then insisted she sit down in his chair. His servant came forward with a glass of something for both her and Queenie which burned Hope’s throat when she took the first sip. She thought it must be brandy, for when she looked round at Queenie, she was smacking her lips with delight.

  Queenie explained everything to the Captain, for Hope was too stunned to say anything. ‘Weren’t she smart gettin’ the knife out the basket?’ Queenie gushed excitedly. ‘I saw her stick it up her sleeve out the corner of me eye, but I never expected her to use it on ’im.’

  ‘It was quick thinking indeed,’ the Captain said, smiling at Hope. ‘But then I’d heard the surgeon with the Rifle Brigade had a very capable wife. I believe you nursed one of my men, Trooper Jacks, back to health. He’s very fond of telling everyone about his brush with cholera.’

  ‘He was one of the lucky ones,’ Hope said quietly, keeping her eyes down. ‘Not many pull through.’

  ‘She works too hard,’ Queenie interrupted. ‘Every day she’s there, early morning till late at night. That’s why Dr Meadows said she had t
o have a rest today. But if you asks me, the sooner we get going out of this place the better it will be for everyone. It ain’t an ’ealthy place.’

  Glancing at Queenie’s animated face, Hope could see that she’d already got over the shock of her close shave in the woods. But just as Betsy always managed to use any incident to her advantage, Queenie did too. Even if it only meant getting a second glass of brandy, to her this was an opportunity.

  The Captain chuckled at Queenie’s outburst, and Hope remembered then why she had liked him all those years ago. He hadn’t been stuffy then, he’d spoken to all the servants at Briargate as if they were his equals. She thought most officers, especially those in the cavalry, would be quick to silence someone like Queenie.

  ‘I think we should go now.’ Hope got to her feet. ‘Would you thank the men who helped us for me? I shudder to think what might have happened if they hadn’t come along when they did.’

  ‘No, you must wait for your husband,’ he said, getting up and nudging her back to her chair. ‘Haynes will be on his way back with him now. I know he won’t want his wife walking all that way after such an ordeal.’

  Hope expected it would be an age before Bennett arrived. She asked for some water to wash the Turk’s blood from her hands, and tidied her hair, but she had only just sat down again with a cup of coffee when Bennett came bowling along with Trooper Haynes in a light trap.

  The Captain had gone away, leaving the two women with his servant Mead, but as Bennett leapt down from the trap, his face a study of deep concern, Captain Pettigrew returned.

  ‘Mrs Meadows was very courageous,’ he said, introducing himself and shaking hands with Bennett. ‘I think the Turks underestimated Englishwomen. But I shall make certain they are punished. I don’t think they are soldiers, it’s more likely they are men from the town out on a thieving mission.’

  ‘I’m fine now,’ Hope said as Bennett felt her pulse and fussed round her. ‘It was Queenie who got the worst of it. But I’d like to go back now.’

  Queenie insisted she’d never felt better, and her face brightened still further when the Captain asked Bennett if he’d like a glass of something.

  ‘I would normally,’ Bennett replied, glancing at Hope. ‘But I’ve had an exhausting day at the hospital, and I must get Hope back to our camp before it gets dark.’

  ‘Hope!’ the Captain said reflectively, looking at her quizzically. ‘Now, there’s a good name for a nurse! You didn’t tell me where you were from, Mrs Meadows. Do I detect a Somerset accent?’

  ‘You do indeed, sir,’ Bennett answered for her. ‘Thank you for taking care of the ladies, we must go now.’

  The following morning Bennett was at the dilapidated town hospital checking to see what improvements had been made, when Captain Pettigrew rode up on his chestnut horse.

  ‘How are Mrs Meadows and her maid?’ he asked as he dismounted.

  ‘They both seem fine,’ Bennett said, flattered that a lordly Hussar had the good manners to come and check on her. ‘My wife was a little withdrawn last night, but that’s to be expected after such a shock. Has the man she stabbed received any medical care?’

  ‘As much as he deserves! Sadly it wasn’t a mortal wound,’ the Captain said with a broad grin. ‘I’m on my way to find someone in authority in the town. The general view is that he should be flogged within an inch of his life, but as he’s a civilian we’ll almost certainly have to hand him over.’

  ‘It’s a poor thing when a couple of women can’t leave the camp without being molested,’ Bennett said indignantly. ‘Thankfully they were unhurt. But I very much appreciated your concern for them.’

  ‘This may seem an odd and impertinent question,’ the Captain said. ‘But tell me, was Mrs Meadows ever in service at Briargate Hall in Somerset?’

  Bennett looked hard at the man, the cogs in his brain whizzing round at the unexpected question. ‘Why do you ask?’ he said carefully.

  ‘Because I have a housekeeper called Nell Renton who has a sister she lost track of. Her name is Hope.’

  Bennett was staggered and felt he needed to sit down and think this through before replying.

  ‘I have disturbed you,’ Captain Pettigrew remarked, looking at him curiously when he didn’t answer. ‘I have no wish to pry or to make mischief. But I have grown fond of my housekeeper; she has been with me for seven years since leaving Briargate Hall. Her greatest sadness is losing her sister, which undoubtedly was the work of the man Nell was then married to.’

  ‘Nell is no longer with him?’ Bennett’s heart leapt, but realized too late that he had admitted who Hope was.

  ‘So your wife is Nell’s sister!’ The Captain’s grin was one of delight. ‘Nell left Albert Scott the moment she discovered Hope had disappeared from Briargate. She was convinced he had killed her sister. Personally I was never of the same opinion; I thought it far more likely he forced young Hope to leave. But when he burned down Briargate and killed Sir William—’

  ‘He burned down Briargate?’ Bennett interrupted.

  ‘You didn’t read about it in the newspapers?’ Captain Pettigrew looked astonished. ‘It was early this year. There has been a manhunt for him since.’

  Bennett asked a few more questions and discovered that the fire had taken place while he and Hope had been on their honeymoon, during which time he hadn’t looked at the newspaper. Then coming out here so quickly afterwards he had taken little notice of anything other than war news. ‘I am in a quandary now,’ he said finally, his head spinning with so much dramatic news which he knew was going to shock Hope. ‘I do know everything that occurred between my wife and her brother-in-law, and there were compelling reasons why Hope was afraid to make contact with her sister. But I cannot divulge any of this to you, not without her agreeing to it.’

  Captain Pettigrew nodded in understanding. ‘This is hardly the right place or time for any of us,’ he said as he prepared to remount his horse. ‘You have so many sick men to deal with; I’m awaiting orders to move my company on. Talk to your wife, and if she is agreeable, send a message to me and we can arrange a meeting.’

  Bennett stood for some time watching the Captain riding off. He had a natural distrust of all cavalry officers, for it was well known that they were to a man arrogant, interbred aristocrats, and the ones he’d met had only confirmed that this was true.

  Yet Pettigrew didn’t appear that way, and he wouldn’t knowor care about his housekeeper’s family problems unless he was a kindly man.

  But there was something more in Bennett’s heart, a fear that once Hope knew her sister was no longer with Albert, she would want to go home. He felt ashamed of such selfishness, but in truth it was Hope’s spirit that was keeping him going.

  He had had bad feelings about this campaign from the start, but he had expected to be posted to one base hospital where he would stay. Instead, they’d just get settled in one place when they’d have to move again, and even now he had no idea where they would end up. He had anticipated grimness, that went with the job, but he hadn’t imagined there would be so little equipment or medicine. How could any doctor help the sick and injured without basic necessities?

  Even the camp beds he’d brought out from England for himself and Hope hadn’t turned up until a month ago. It seemed that like other equipment and stores, they had gone back to England, only to be sent out yet again. Hundreds of horses had perished on the ships coming over here, but now it seemed there wasn’t enough forage for the remainder.

  None of the troops were in good health; along with cholera there was dysentery and malaria. Unless they were moved quickly to a healthier place, they soon wouldn’t have enough fit men to fight a war. It was a complete mess!

  Hope didn’t seem to mind the lack of comforts, the dust, dirt, hot sun or poor food. She said cheerfully that she’d known worse. While she was here with him he felt he could bear it too, but once she was gone it would be a very different picture.

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘Please
say something!’ Bennett pleaded. ‘I could only tell you it the way Captain Pettigrew told me, but maybe I’ve been too blunt.’

  All day the news of Nell had been burning inside him. He’d expected Hope to whoop with delight and ask a hundred questions he wouldn’t be able to answer. But he’d forced himself to hold it in until they’d got back to their tent this evening because he hadn’t wanted anyone to interrupt them. It hadn’t gone the way he expected at all; she had just sat there on the camp bed, her dark eyes fixed on his face, not saying a word.

  Was it the shock of hearing her brother-in-law was a murderer?

  She reached out for his hand and at last there was a glimmer of a smile. ‘It is I who should apologize, not you,’ she said. ‘I could not speak for shock; it’s almost too much to take in. I never thought Nell would leave Albert, not even in my wildest flights of fancy.’

  ‘You find Nell leaving him more extraordinary than him burning down Briargate and killing Sir William?’ Bennett was incredulous.

  Hope giggled then, her face at last becoming animated. ‘Well, that is truly shocking, but then I always knew Albert was an evil man. But Nell! She was always so proper; she believed that marriage vows were unbreakable. I just can’t imagine her doing something so extreme.’

  ‘Pettigrew did say she believed he’d killed you!’

  Hope’s face clouded over. ‘Poor Nell, I never imagined she’d think that, or that she’d leave Briargate. You can’t imagine what that place meant to her! She worshipped Lady Harvey, and if she walked away from her, and Albert, it must have caused so much gossip in the village.’

  Bennett frowned, still puzzled as to why broken marriage vows and gossip appeared to have had so much more impact than murder and a mansion being burnt down.

  Hope took his hand and kissed the tips of his fingers, looking at him with a wicked glint in her eyes. ‘I shouldn’t think anyone in the village can sleep with all this scandal going on. Just imagine what they’d be like if they knew what Albert and Sir William were to each other too? But tell me more of what Captain Pettigrew said about Nell. How on earth did she come to be his housekeeper? Is she well? Was there any other news of the rest of my family?’