Jackson Is Missing

by Wendy Gill

  “Oh yes! It makes a change for me to get one over on Fisher, he is my biggest critic,” replied Lord Singleton with a satisfied air.

  “That was one of the things I always admired you for Isaac, the way you treat your servants. There are not many houses where the servants would dare to criticise their master,” Charlotte told him.

  “Fisher is like a father to me, he was the only stable thing in my life when I was growing up, and I loved him more than I did my father. Martha too, they were the only people that gave me any love during my childhood. The only people I could get any comfort from. My house would be a lot worse off without Fisher and Martha, I class them as part of my family, they always will be I hope. But you know all this so why I am rambling on about it, I have no idea.”

  “Both Fisher and Martha looked well and truly at home if you do not mind me saying so,” laughed Charlotte. “He certainly will not waste away with a breakfast like that.”

  Lord Singleton smiled. “Yes, at least I know my servants are well fed.”

  An uncomfortable silence passed between them as they made their way back along the passage towards the hall.

  “Whilst we are talking about Fisher, he put me in my place as usual about my dress, for which I must apologise. He was right of course; I am most unsuitably dressed to be receiving young ladies. Would you mind waiting in the drawing room while I run upstairs and get my boots on?”

  “I have no objection to the way you are dressed Isaac, in fact…” Charlotte stopped herself just in time from saying she liked the way he was dressed.

  “In fact, what?” he wanted to know.

  “It is of little import,” he was told.

  “I would like to be the judge of that. You were about to say?”

  “I was going to say, I like the way you are dressed, it makes you look vulnerable.”

  “I have always been vulnerable where you are concerned, Charlotte.”

  It was Charlotte’s turn to blush and to change the subject she said, “You must be wondering why I am here?”

  “No, I was wondering nothing of the sort. I do not care why you are here. I am just glad you have come. If I am pondering about anything at all, I am trying to think of something that will keep you here. Will you stay and have lunch with me?”

  Charlotte was about to say no, she had a lot to do but the temptation was too great. Now she had seen him again, she did not want to leave, so, after a short silence her reply was, “Thank you Isaac, that would be nice.”

  They had reached the hall and Watson was standing to attention at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Watson, I apologise for my outburst earlier on, I was out of order. Would you tell Mrs Fisher that, Miss Palmer, will be staying for lunch?”

  “Mrs Fisher, my lord?” queried Watson.

  “Yes, Martha,” came the reply and Isaac steered Charlotte towards the withdrawing room.

  “That should set the cat amongst the pigeon’s,” Charlotte remarked.

  Isaac looked down at the impish face smiling up at him and he had the urge to take hold of her in his arms and smother that impish face with kisses.

  “Oh yes, it will set the tongues wagging but it will be a seven-day wonder. That is if the rest of the servants do not know they are married already, which I very much doubt. All the servants seem to know more about what goes on in this house than I do.”

  “How is your grandmamma?”

  “Mentally she is as sharp as ever, physically not so good. She has trouble walking these days and she does not get out much. I bought her a wheelchair and during the warm summer days Lily will take her out for walks around the garden that she loves so much. You remember Lily, grandmamma’s companion, Miss Tubby?”

  “Yes, I remember Miss Tubby, guards her like a dragon.”

  “That’s the one, but I would not be without her, neither would grandmamma.”

  “I am sorry to hear grandmamma is not in such good health. She must find it very frustrating, being normally such an energetic lady.”

  “Yes, she has her bad days but mostly she does not complain.”

  “Do you remember Marcy Jenson?”

  “Is this a trick question?”

  “No, why should it be?”

  “You ask if I remember the name of your best friend. How could I forget it? I remember everything about you Charlotte, which should go without saying.”

  “Do you remember, Marcy Jenson?” Charlotte asked again preferring to ignore his last remark.

  “Yes,” was the clipped reply, “I remember she had vanished under a cloud, she left Lord Mooreway standing at the altar, didn’t she?”

  “You see, your tone speaks volumes. You should not judge other people’s actions unless you know the full story.” Charlotte’s tone was as clipped as his lordships’.

  “To leave a man standing at the altar with everybody who had been invited to the wedding, agog with curiosity, is not the correct thing to do. If she’d had a change of heart and she did not want to marry Lord Mooreway, she should have cried off before everyone had arrived at the church. It placed Lord Mooreway in a very embarrassing position.”

  “You feel sorry for Lord Mooreway, do you?”

  “I do. At least you had the good manners to do the right thing and put the notice in the newspaper. I was not left standing at the altar, not like poor Henry.”

  “You think it is poor Henry, do you?”

  “Don’t you? You think Marcy was in the right to leave the poor man standing at the altar. Do you know how ridiculed he must have felt?”

  “No Isaac, I do not. I think he must have felt a much-relieved man.”

  “Relieved, how can a man who has been let down in such a way, with his guests in place in the church, feel relieved that his bride failed to appear? He must have felt an idiot. Relieved does not come into it.”

  “You are of that opinion Isaac, because you do not know the whole story. You can only imagine what Henry was going through because Marcy did not turn up. You are putting yourself in his place. It is how you would have felt Isaac, not how Henry must have felt.”

  “And you know this because you have been made aware of the full story?”

  “Yes, that is correct, I know the full story.”

  “Very well, I am listening, and when I have heard your story, I will see if I change my opinion. But I must warn you, it had better be a good story.”

  “In that case, if you wish to hear the full story, I shall tell you, but you had better make yourself comfortable for it will take a while for me to explain.”

  “I am at my ease, please continue.”

  Charlotte smoothed down her skirt and began.

  "On the eve of her wedding day, Marcy came to my house, she was distraught, and it took me quite a while to calm her down. In fact, I plied her full of wine before I could get anything out of her.

  "Marcy shed her cape and to my amazement her gown was torn, she had one sleeve hanging off her shoulder and there was a great tear running from the other shoulder practically to her waist.

  "Marcy pointed to her lip and I noticed a slight cut to her lower lip and a larger cut to her upper lip. Also, one of her eyes was beginning to swell and turn red. I had not noticed this when she first came into my house because of the distressed state she was in.

  "It turned out that your poor Henry Mooreway, on the eve of their wedding day had sent Marcy an urgent letter asking her to meet him in the park, and so off Marcy went.

  "Henry attempted to molest her. When Marcy tried to fight him off, he hit her in the face, she eventually made good her escape but not before he had left her with a few cuts and bruises and torn clothing. Marcy came to see me, she was in a state of distress and she dare not go home. She said I was the only one she could trust.

  “Marcy said she was never going to marry Henry and could she stay at my house until the evidence of the attack had cleared up. Black eye, burst lips and bruises. That sort of thing. Then she was going to go to Scotland. She has an aunt
who lives there. She told me she could not go on living here with the threat of meeting Henry again hanging over her.” Charlotte paused and looked at Isaac.

  “I have heard rumours that Henry can be violent towards women, but I always rejected them as just that, rumours. He is one of the nicest and friendliest, members of the Foxes Club you could wish to meet. I cannot imagine him hitting women,” Isaac told her.

  "I know Henry’s mother has a vicious tongue and I can remember her saying she would break Marcy socially for what she had done to her son. Making him a laughing stock amongst all their friends.

  “At the time of her saying that, I must admit I thought it was a just punishment for Marcy. In hind sight, if that is what Henry did to Marcy, then he got his just punishment and I am sorry for Marcy.”

  "’If’ that is what he did, of course that is what he did. Marcy did not beat herself up and rip her own clothes. She was madly in love with Henry. Why should she make a false accusation like that? She was devastated about the whole incident.

  “You are also questioning my judgement about what took place on the eve of the wedding day. I have never lied to you, Isaac. Surely you know that?”

  “No, of course I know you would not lie to me about a thing like that. Maybe I worded it wrongly, I apologise. I know Marcy is your friend but why did she come to you instead of going to her uncle’s?”

  "I thought you would realise that Marcy could not have gone back to her uncle’s. You are aware that his wife would have had no sympathy for her. You know very well she has made Marcy’s life a misery for having to providing a roof over her head when she was left alone after the death of her mother.

  "Her aunt treated her like an unpaid servant. She did the right thing to come to me. She is my friend and I know you would have done the same for any friend of yours that came to you in times of trouble.

  "To be truthful Isaac, I was glad it happened before they were married and not afterwards. Henry must have been desperate to get out of the marriage to do what he did on the eve of their wedding day. Did he really think that Marcy would go through with the wedding when he had treated her like that?

  "There is only one reasonable explanation for it and that is, he did not want to marry Marcy and he dare not refuse to do so because he was frightened of his mother.

  “How did he expect to get away with it? His bride walking down the aisle with a black eye and burst lips? People would have wanted to know how she got them. At least she has been spared that humiliation, and she also had a lucky escape, because she did not get married to the brute.”

  “It is interesting that he has not married yet, in fact I have not heard of him being attached to anyone else. You think he did it intentionally do you, so Marcy would cry off? You could be right. Having a mother like he has, he doesn’t want to get married at all and end up living the rest of his life with someone like her. You must live with someone to know them, you know. Do you think all this violence towards women could be aimed at his mother?” Isaac wanted to know.

  “I don’t know, but Marcy is lucky to be well out of it. She did not think so at the time, but when you see her, you will be surprised to see how much she has changed.”

  “This sounds promising,” his lordship said.

  “What sounds promising?” she asked.

  “You inferred I would be seeing Marcy again. That would imply I will also be seeing you.”

  Charlotte had the grace to blush but was saved from making any further remark by the appearance of Watson informing them that lunch was served.

  During lunch Charlotte said, “Now you know the whole story, are you still of the same opinion that it is poor, Henry?”

  “I must admit if this story is true, I have done Marcy, a grave injustice.”

  "Why do you keep saying ‘If’ the story is true? I know for a fact the story is true. I am not a tittle tattler and well you know it. I would not have told you the story, if I were in the least doubt about any aspect of the turn of events that happened that evening.

  “Nor would I have repeated Marcy’s story to you if I thought it would go any further than these four walls, Isaac.”

  “My apologies again Charlotte, it is just so hard to believe.”

  “And yet your logic regarding why he did it is very plausible, but you still doubt it.”

  “No, you are right Charlotte. I grant you your story holds water.”

  “Thank you. But it is not my story, it is Marcy’s.”

  “Now we have come to an agreement, can we drop the subject of Marcy and move on to something else?”

  “I am afraid not, Marcy is the reason why I am here.”

  “This sounds ominous.”

  “I told you when I first arrived here my visit might not please you.”

  “I had hoped you had come to see me, that you had missed me as much as I have missed you.”

  “I thought you would have noticed I am not wearing a ring on my finger.”

  “I have noticed. That at least, gave me hope.”

  “I have come to ask a favour of you.”

  “The answer is, yes, whatever it is you want, the answer is, yes.”

  “You might regret making that offer.”

  “Charlotte, you know very well if it is within my power to help you I will, I love you, I always have, and I always will.”

  “We have been two very foolish people. I have tried my best to make myself appreciate other men, but they have never come up to your standards. It is very annoying.”

  The grin that crossed Isaac’s face spoke volumes, “Is this a new beginning for us Charlotte?”

  “More like a continuance.”

  “I did not mean to hurt you, I was very young, and I had a lot of females throwing themselves at me but none of it ever meant anything to me.”

  “Let us put all that behind us, we have wasted enough time on it already and go back to being the very best of friends.”

  “No Charlotte, not the very best of friends, I insist on lovers. I will settle for nothing less than lovers.”

  “Very well, let us go back to being lovers.”

  “In that case, tell me what you require of me and let us get it out of the way. Then we can concentrate on you and me, my lovely, lovely Charlotte.”

  "I told you it was a very long story, so I will continue where I left off. Marcy recovered of course and did what she said she would do; she went up to Scotland to live with her aunt.

  "Marcy told her aunt what had happened to her and why she had gone to visit her. It turned out that her aunt lived in a very large six bedroomed house called, The Retreat, located in the middle of nowhere, and she took in women who had also been physically abused. There are more victims of abuse than you can ever imagine.

  "Marcy asked her aunt if she could stay and help her with The Retreat, and her aunt was more than willing to accept Marcy’s offer. The women that Marcy’s aunt takes in are abused, either at home, or more often the case, women who work as prostitutes and have been beaten up because of the line of work they are in. They come in off the streets, have a little respite until their wounds heal and then because of their circumstances, they go back on the streets and the whole thing starts up again.

  "More and more women are hearing about The Retreat and Marcy’s aunt was more than pleased to accept any help she could get, and so Marcy stayed. That is where she is living now, and that is the reason you have never seen her in Bossett since she failed to turn up on her wedding day. She is living in Scotland with her aunt and she has never been happier.

  "Running The Retreat of course takes a lot of money. The women who go there usually have no money of their own to pay for their stay. So, to keep The Retreat going, Marcy decided to come back here where the money is and organise a ball and invite all the rich people to the ball and ask for donations. All the money she makes will go to help with the running costs of the home.

  "To give Marcy credit, it took a lot of courage to come back here to Bossett. She understands al
l the cream of society who have been invited to the ball know of her nonappearance at the church. But none of them know why she did it. She is also aware that, like you, everyone blames her for letting Henry down, for showing him up. All the invitations she sent out have been accepted, and Marcy says it is curiosity that has tempted them all to accept.

  "Marcy is very brave, don’t you think? She is prepared to weather the storm to get some money to take back to Scotland. She is fully aware that there are going to be a lot of uncomfortable questions asked of her, but Marcy thinks The Retreat is more important than some curious tattler’s questions she is going to have to find an answer to.

  "The ball is tonight, and she has spent her own money on providing food and drinks for all her guests and she is hoping that people will give generously, and she can recoup her own expenses and have enough to pay off most, if not all the mortgage on the house.

  "Lady Mooreway being of a vicious nature, we are all aware of that, found out that Marcy was back in Bossett and is holding a ball tonight. Henry’s mother has organised a ball of her own and has invited all Marcy’s guests.

  "The outcome of that is Marcy’s guests have given backword and Marcy thinks, well she knows, for someone has told her, that all her guests are now going to Lady Mooreway’s ball. Marcy is left with a lot of food nobody is going to eat and she has had to pay for the rent of the house she has hired for a couple of days. Because of Lady Mooreway’s action, there is no prospect of Marcy getting her money back nor any money for The Retreat.

  “This is why I have come to see you Isaac; do you think you could pull some strings at such short notice and get some of the party guests to go to Marcy’s ball instead of Lady Mooreway’s? If there is anyone in Bossett that could pull it off, it is you.”

  “I did not receive an invitation to Marcy’s ball.”

  “No, I asked Marcy not to invite you.”

  “And why was that? I would have thought she was aware of my substantial fortune and if she is after money for her project, my money is as good as anyone else’s.”

  “Yes, Marcy is aware of your fortune, but she is also my friend and I asked her not to invite you because, once I laid eyes on you again, I knew all the defence walls I had built up against you would come tumbling down. And so, they have.”