MARRIAGE AT THE MANOR
Amanda Grange
Chapter One
‘Are you sure?’ asked Mr Weedon. ‘It’s still not too late to change your mind.’
Miss Cicely Haringay braced herself. ‘Quite sure.’ Picking up the pen she signed the document. As she did so she felt a sinking sensation. With the signing of the document she had sold her beautiful manor house, and for the first time in its four-hundred year history it had passed out of Haringay hands.
‘If I could just ask you to date it?’ Mr Weedon prompted her.
Cicely roused herself. ‘Of course.’ She added the date - 25th June, 1904 - before handing back the document to Mr Weedon.
‘May I say what a pleasure it has been doing business with you?’ said the solicitor politely as he took the proffered document and put it away.
Cicely forced herself to smile. ‘Thank you. And thank you for all your help in arranging the sale.’
‘Not at all.’
Cicely turned to the door, her business concluded. Then, on a sudden impulse, she looked back at Mr Weedon. ‘Mr Evington plans to take up residence at the start of next month, I think you said?’
‘He does.’
Cicely nodded, thankful that at least she would have some time to get used to the idea of someone else living at the Manor before actually seeing him there.
She was glad that her beloved father had not lived to see it. He would have been horrified at the very idea of selling the Manor, and he would have been even more horrified at knowing that it had been bought by a businessman, or a cit, as he had called them.
If there had been time, she would have waited for a country family to buy it, people who would have fallen in love with the beautiful old house and treated it with the affection it deserved. But her father’s death had left her with such pressing debts that she had had to accept the first offer she had received. A generous offer, it was true, but one made by a man who had bought her beloved Manor house without even seeing it, as though any house would do.
However, there was no use dwelling on things. She was fortunate to have found a buyer, and she comforted herself with the thought that at least she had not had to sell the Lodge.
Thanking Mr Weedon again she pulled on her gloves and left the office, descending the stairs and reclaiming her bicycle, which she had left propped against the wall outside. Her flat straw hat, calf-length divided skirt, bolero jacket and short boots were ideally suited to bicycling, and she threw one leg expertly over the saddle before setting off back to the Lodge.
She soon left the town of Oakleigh behind her. As she cycled along the peaceful country lane she felt her spirits begin to rise. Selling the Manor had been difficult but it was over now, and she had much to be thankful for. She had paid all her father’s debts, and she still had enough money left over to enable her to live in modest comfort.
She turned left at the crossroads and headed towards Little Oakleigh. The summer afternoon was a beautiful one. The rain of the morning had given way to bright sunshine, and she found herself enjoying the ride. High hedges grew at either side of the lane. Grass verges, covered in wild flowers, ran in an untidy profusion alongside, and a rabbit hopped out from a neighbouring field and twitched its nose, before hopping along the verge and disappearing under the hedge again.
She began to draw near the village of Little Oakleigh. Only a mile more to go and she would be at the Lodge. Which was a good thing, she thought, as she heard the chimes of the church clock ringing out over the countryside, because she had invited Alice to tea.
She began to pedal more vigorously. Then, turning a corner, she started the descent to the forge. She had almost reached the bottom when, coming round the corner, she saw a motor car. The sight was so unusual that for a moment she was transfixed. Then, recovering herself, she swerved, only to find that she was now hurtling towards the duck pond instead. She tried to turn again, but it was too late, and she found herself careering into the water, tumbling from her bicycle and landing with a soft, wet thud on the thick mud at the bottom.
She hit the water in frustration and then picked herself up, looking at her filthy wet skirt and even filthier blouse in vexation. She put up a hand to push the hair out of her eyes and discovered that her hat had been knocked off in her fall. It was nowhere to be seen, until she turned round and caught sight of it twirling around just out of reach. She was just about to grab it when she saw something else. There, parked at the side of the road, was the Daimler, and standing next to it was the man who had caused her accident. He was about thirty years old with brown hair and dark eyes, a full mouth and, revealed by his infuriating smile, a flash of white teeth. His driving coat was hanging elegantly over his trousers and jacket and he was casually removing a pair of driving gloves.
‘I suppose you find this amusing?’ she asked icily.
His smile broadened into a laugh, goading her to continue: ‘If you were a gentleman you would now be apologizing for causing an accident and doing everything in your power to make amends, but as you are obviously nothing of the kind I will have to help myself.’
His expression darkened and she was pleased to have annoyed him.
Paying him no more attention, she retrieved her hat, putting it securely on her head, only to find muddy water cascading down her face!
And just when I believed my dignity could sink no lower! she thought, as she heard an explosion of laughter behind her. The sooner I’m back at the Lodge the better.
She waded crossly over to her bicycle and pulled on the handlebars, but it was stuck in the mud. She waded round to the other side of it, her sodden skirt making her movements slow and clumsy, and tried again. But again to no avail.
And then a pair of hands – strong, masculine hands – covered hers.
Cicely froze.
The driver, coming up behind her, had wrapped his arms around her and was proceeding to help her.
For a moment she had the most peculiar feeling as a rush of tingles spread outwards from her hands and radiated through her body. She wondered if it was a delayed reaction to her the accident, but she did not think so. The sensation, whilst being unsettling, was not painful. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was strangely pleasurable. But what was it? It was certainly like nothing she had ever felt before. For some reason it had started when he had put his arms around her . . .
Reminded of the liberty he had taken she said, ‘I don’t need your help,’ completely ignoring the fact she had berated him for the lack of it a few minutes earlier.
‘You’ll never get your bike out of the mud without it,’ he said.
‘Oh no?’ she enquired, shrugging him off and giving another tug on the handlebars.
But again the bicycle refused to move.
His arms came round her again, and she pushed him away. ‘When I need your help, I’ll ask for it,’ she said.
He gave a mocking smile, but nevertheless he stood back.
She was aware of his laughing eyes lingering on her as she struggled with the bicycle and felt herself growing hot and flustered. It was obvious she couldn’t manage, and yet she would rather leave her bicycle in the pond and squelch her way home dripping water all the way than ask him for anything.
He watched her for another minute, then said, laughing, ‘It’s no good. I can’t stand by and watch you wrestle with it any longer. Like it or not -’
‘No,’ she snapped. Then, realizing she had sounded churlish, she added ungraciously, ‘There is no point in you getting dirty as well.’
There was a sudden silence. From nowhere a cold wind sprang up and blew over the pond.
Then, ‘I’ve been dirtier,’ he said.
She did not know how it was, but it was as if her wo
rds had unleashed a sudden bitterness in him; as though they had somehow opened an old wound she could not possible understand. But it was gone as quickly as it had arrived.
‘Wait at the side of the pond,’ he commanded, wading into the water again. ‘That way I don’t have to worry about splashing you.’
‘It’s a pity you weren’t so concerned about splashing me when you raced through the village,’ she returned, looking down at her ruined cycling clothes. ‘You drivers have no idea how to behave in the countryside. You career along with no concern for anyone else. But I suppose I should be thankful. At least I wasn’t killed.’
‘Four miles an hour isn’t exactly racing,’ he pointed out. ‘In fact, you were going far more quickly than I was. With the reckless way you were rolling down the hill it’s a miracle you didn’t kill us both!’
‘Are you always so infuriating?’ she asked in exasperation, turning to face him.
He smiled, his eyes dancing. ‘So I’ve been told. But I can’t help having a lively sense of the ridiculous.’
‘Ridiculous?’ Cicely’s face took on a deceptively innocent expression. ‘You are saying I look ridiculous?’
Her tone was mild, but he was not deceived and his eyes gleamed with barely-suppressed amusement.
‘Ah! Now you’ve caught me. If I say yes, I confirm you in your belief that I have no manners. And if I say no . . . ’
She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to finish his sentence.
But it was no good. Try as he might he could not help laughing. ‘I’ve already answered one of your questions. Now you answer one of mine. If you weren’t so angry, wouldn’t you be laughing too?’
An unwilling smile tugged at the corner of Cicely’s mouth as she
caught sight of herself in the Daimler’s windows, wet and bedraggled, with pond weed sticking out of her hair. So absurd was the picture that she almost succumbed to laughter but she fought it down, knowing that laughing would only encourage him.
‘Certainly not,’ she said repressively. ‘The sight of someone in distress has never amused me. Now, if you will kindly retrieve my bicycle, I will be on my way.’
He shrugged. ‘As you wish.’
Cicely splashed her way to the edge of the pond . She would have preferred to retrieve her bicycle herself, but she had realized it was impossible.
As she climbed out of the pond, dirty water trickled from her sodden garments, making a puddle on the grass. She shook her head in dismay and then set about wringing out her skirt. Luckily, being specially designed for bicycling, it was only mid-calf length, and not as long as the skirts she habitually wore when doing anything else. Having wrung it out, she straightened her jacket before re-settling her hat on top of her ash blonde head. Then she looked round to see how the driver was doing. He had managed to rescue her bicycle and was in the process of carrying it to the side of the pond. But it was in a sorry state.
‘Oh, no!’ Cicely wailed. The once-gleaming machine was covered in pond slime. Mud was caught between the spokes, and the handlebars were bent.
‘It’s not as bad as it looks,’ he said. There was still a glint of humour in his eye, but there was a hint of something softer as well, and his mouth was surprisingly gentle.
‘Not to you, perhaps,’ she remarked with a sigh. ‘The next time you go for a jaunt,’ she went on, taking it from him, ‘I suggest you choose a different village. Little Oakleigh is a peaceful place, and we prefer it to remain that way.’
Then, filled with a sudden longing to be safely back at the Lodge, she mounted her bicycle and, without a backward glance, she rode away.
He stood and watched her for a minute. There was something very appealing about her, even though she was covered in mud. Her carriage was erect, revealing the beautiful line of her straight back. Her neck was elegant, and there was a graceful set to her head. Her hair, bedraggled though it was, had a softness about it that made him long to touch it, and the tendrils that had escaped from their pins were being blown across her shoulders in the most tantalising way. Her slender curves, not quite hidden beneath her bolero jacket, together with the glimpse of shapely calf afforded by her bicycling skirt made his body stir. It was a long time since anyone had attracted him so much. But becoming attracted to one of the local girls was not on his agenda.
Against his will he watched her until she was out of sight, then climbed back into his Daimler and started up the engine.
He pulled away and began to drive carefully on towards Oakleigh Manor. He was mindful of the fact that at any moment another young lady on a bicycle might come hurtling round a corner before launching herself into a ditch!
It was not an auspicious start to his new life as lord of the manor, he reflected with a wry smile, but things could have been worse. He could have been confronted by an angry matron - or by Miss Cicely Haringay. Miss Haringay, from what he could make out, was a determined spinster who spent her life running Sunday schools and engaging in charitable works. He knew the type: a monstrous battle-axe with a ramrod back and enormous bosom who liked nothing better than telling everyone else what to do. But instead, he had been confronted by a slight, appealing girl, whose cycling skirt had given him a satisfying view of her shapely calf and neatly-turned ankle, and he found he was looking forward to meeting her again. For all her high-and-mighty manner, there had been something very engaging about her.
Reluctantly, he brought his thoughts back to the present. He needed his wits about him if he were to remember the directions he had been given and arrive safely at the Manor. He drove on for a while, but by and by his face began to settle into a frown. He had the feeling he had gone too far and overshot the mark. A few minutes later he was sure of it. He was in the village no longer, but heading out towards open countryside. There was nothing for it. He would have to turn round and try again.
He drove more slowly this time, his eyes searching for any sign of the Manor. It was barely visible from the road, his agent had said, but a lodge and a pair of fine gates gave evidence of its position. At last he saw the Lodge, a low, square building, and began to edge the Daimler forward more confidently. Yes, that was it. He reached the gates and turned into a long drive which wound between acres of verdant lawns. Despite himself, he was impressed. Although he may not have bought the Manor with the intention of making it his home, he still could not help admiring the sweeping lawns, the venerable trees and the herd of deer that grazed peacefully in the dappled sunlight beneath them.
Another bend of the drive and he caught sight of the house itself. It was far more sprawling than he had imagined, and presented a hotch-potch appearance, as though successive generations of Haringays had added to it, each in the style of their own era. A Tudor wing adjoined the main section, which appeared to be in the Georgian style, whilst a turret at the corner rose fantastically into the sky and spoke of the recently-departed Victorian age. But despite its hotch-potch appearance - or perhaps because of it - it had a warm and welcoming feel.
In another few minutes he pulled up in front of Oakleigh Manor. His eye wandered up an impressive flight of steps that led to the front door.
At the top of the steps was his younger brother, Roddy.
Roddy ran down the stone steps and cast his eye over the Daimler. He was twenty-four years of age and was fashionably dressed in a jacket and a pair of trousers with knife-sharp creases. His hair was sandy and his face good-humoured.
‘What kept you, Alex? Car trouble?’ Roddy asked. ‘You were supposed to be here half an hour ago.’
‘The motor’s fine.’ Alex got out of the car, closing the door with a satisfying thunk! ‘I had a slight accident, that’s all.’
‘You haven’t scratched the paintwork?’ asked Roddy anxiously, running his eyes over the bodywork.
Alex raised one dark eyebrow. ‘What do you take me for? Strictly speaking, I wasn’t the one who had the accident - although I didn’t escape unscathed,’ he said as they walked up the steps. He glanced down at his trousers,
which were wet and muddy round the bottom of each leg.
‘If not you, who then?’ asked Roddy, taking in Alex’s wet trousers with amusement.
‘It was a young woman. A bicyclist. She came careering down the hill by the forge and almost crashed into me as she rounded the corner. It was only by some efficient manoeuvring that she managed to avoid the car . . . ’
Roddy breathed a sigh of relief. ‘No harm done, then.’
‘I wouldn’t quite say that,’ laughed Alex, taking off his driving gloves as they went into the Manor. ‘She ended up in the duck pond!’
‘Not hurt, I hope?’ asked Roddy.
‘Would I be laughing if she was? No, of course not. The only thing she hurt was her pride. Of which she seemed to have more than her fair share.’
‘I hope she wasn’t anyone important. The success of our scheme lies in your being accepted here. You need the goodwill of your neighbours, don’t forget. They have to want to attend your gatherings, and more than that they have to want to attend them decked out in all their finery. Otherwise there will be nothing to tempt the thief to strike again.’
‘Which is our only hope of catching him. I know.’ He thought. ‘She didn’t look important,’ he said. He divested himself of his car coat, which had protected his narrow trousers and jacket from the dust of the road. ‘Fine grey eyes, a determined chin, and a tantalising figure. Probably just a girl from the village.’
‘Let’s hope so,’ said Roddy. ‘Well, what do you think?’ he asked, changing the subject, as he looked round the empty but beautiful hall.
‘It’s a fine old place,’ said Alex. He, too, looked round the hall. It was light and bright, and with its cream walls it had a pleasantly cool and spacious feel. Although it was at present bare - no paintings or portraits lined the staircase, and no console tables or other items of furniture took away from the emptiness - the proportions were elegant, and the tall windows let in plenty of daylight. He turned round slowly, taking it in. An imposing staircase led upwards. He let his eyes return to the ground floor. A number of doors, half open, led into different rooms. He walked across the hall, his footsteps echoing on the wooden floor. He threw open the first door. A large, high-ceilinged room was revealed, with windows looking out over the front of the house. This room was not entirely empty. A few pieces of good furniture - an impressive mahogany dining-table and chairs, and a mahogany sideboard - remained. Alex looked enquiringly at Roddy.
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