I had not answered her last letter, so I had to say something. So I started by telling her that I had met my mother and my father… that Veronica had not only been my ward, but also my grandmother, that I had a grandfather and two sisters and that I had been invited to spend Christmas with them all at my grandfather’s house in Richmond. It was a start… but then my mind went blank. I sat for an hour with the pen in my hand looking down at the parchment but had not a clue how to tell her my name was not Bennett, but Brocklehurst, and that one day I would probably become the 12th Viscount of Kettleford. In the end, I decided to leave all that for another time.
I had my suspicions that her father read her post, but today I didn’t care. I told her how much I loved her, that I longed for her touch and that I couldn’t wait to see her again. I ended by asking her to pass on my best wishes to her mother, and regards to her father, hoping that if he did read her letter, he wouldn’t think I was being patronising.
I spent the following two weeks in Tilbury, but my mind was elsewhere. I couldn’t concentrate, and I was not happy with the reports I presented to James. I knew they were not up to my usual standard and I know he must have thought the same.
I couldn’t contact Thomas the days before Christmas. He wasn’t at St James’s Palace, and he wasn’t at our house in Barnes. I assumed he would make his own way to Richmond on Christmas Eve, but I do confess to being a little worried about him.
Veronica received the invitation, and was the most excited and animated I have seen her for many a year.
I was a little early at Fleet Alley but she was ready and waiting. She smiled and gave me a hug before climbing into the coach. There was no need for words all that had needed to be said had been covered and explained. But now that I knew she was my grandmother I was now seeing her in a different light, and on that morning on Eve of Christmas I thought she looked truly beautiful, dressed in her finest clothes with her silvery blonde hair hanging loose beneath a red velvet bonnet.
It was a bitterly cold day with just a few flecks of snow drifting down from the grey wintery sky. We sat inside the coach huddled together under a thick woollen blanket talking mostly about me and my future. A future that even I was not sure about.
I was surprised on arrival at Brocklehurst House to find Thomas with my grandfather waiting at the door to greet us, but even more so by the manner of my grandfather’s greeting.
He took hold of Veronica’s hands, kissed her on both cheeks and said, ‘Hello Vee, you look just as beautiful as you did forty years ago.’
‘Hello to you John you old rogue,’ she said smiling at him.
As I passed them, I whispered for their ears only, ‘Behave yourselves you two.’
There were nine of us in the large dining room on Christmas day. The food was served by uniformed maids off silver salvers, the beverages dispensed by my grandfather’s butler.
Later we retired to the music room which was the biggest in the house, and the most impressive. It was situated on the first floor with windows facing south and west. The late winter sun was low on the horizon but still created adequate lighting without the use of the two crystal chandeliers hanging from the baroque ceiling. The log fire in the large marble fireplace heated up the room, and countless sofas and soft chairs on Turkish carpets covered most of the floor. In the corner between the windows was a harpsichord.
Pop began handing out presents… one for every person including Thomas and Veronica, but mine was the first and probably the most valuable. It was a leather document case containing details of my share value in the family business and clarification that I was a beneficiary in my grandfather’s will.
I had brought only one present, but it was an important one for Pop, and the one he least expected to receive.
‘Here is my present to you Pop. It’s the ceremonial sword and scabbard I wore for the pageant on the eve of King Charles’s Coronation. I thought you might like to add it to your collection… that is if you can find room on the wall.’
He became emotional and began turning the sword over and over in his arthritic hands, there were tears in his eyes as he examined the ivory handle and the ruby inserts. He looked at me but didn’t speak, he then began to inspect the golden scabbard.
‘This is the most precious gift I have ever received in my life, and it will take pride of place in my collection.’
‘I’m glad you like it, but it’s just a sword Pop.’
‘It is much more than that to me,’ he said as he handed his new prize to my father. ‘Look Edward, look at the handle and the scabbard.’
What followed made the Christmas of 1663 the happiest of my life.
My mother played the harpsichord, my father flageolet, and my sisters, if they were not singing, played their violins.
Everybody took turns to sing and I was surprised what a good voice Thomas had, I had only ever heard him singing hymns before.
In the three days of Christmas I learned how my paternal grandmother had died in childbirth along with her child… a girl, a girl that would have been my auntie if she had lived.
It was so easy to bond with my sisters, and after only three days it seemed as if I had always known them. Eleanor’s husband William was a pleasant enough man, soft speaking and well educated, but lacking in drive and ambition… uninterested in commerce and happy to just spend his life as an accountant in his father’s carpentry business in Kingston.
Hannah had a zest for life and I seemed to connect much easier with her. I met her boyfriend Anthony but he didn’t stay at Brocklehurst House, he just came to bring her a present and to tell her that his mother wanted him home for Christmas. From the little I saw of him I could not envisage him lasting too long in her affections.
It took me a little longer to get inside the head of my father, perhaps because of his physical likeness to his brother Richard. But eventually I began to enjoy his company, probably because in many ways we were so much alike. We were both ambitious and hardworking, excited by business and always striving to achieve.
I loved my mother from the first moment I saw her. She was beautiful, compassionate and always more concerned for the welfare of others than her own wellbeing… in particular my grandfather. Their relationship was far deeper than was normal between a man and his daughter-in-law, perhaps because she never knew her own father. Her capacity for love was the same for her own mother, my grandmother Veronica.
Veronica was anxious to get back to George and her girls, as this was the first Christmas she had ever spent away from her own home in Black Friars. But she did agree to a stop off at Barnes with Thomas to see the house that I had a substantial financial stake in.
Before leaving Brocklehurst House, I was called to a meeting by my grandfather.
He was sat behind a large oak desk in his office, my father by his side.
‘Please sit down son?’ said my father pointing to the chair opposite.
My grandfather coughed and took a drink. ‘Before you return to London, I want to tell you a little about the family business in the hope that you will consider joining us. The core and most fundamental part of our business is in mining and quarrying, predominately in the West Country from Hampshire through to Cornwall, but also as far north as South Yorkshire.
‘We mine slate, granite, limestone and tin, but we also have investments in gold, and copper on the Gold Coast of Africa. We have an office on Bond Street in London with a permanent staff of…’
He looked to my father for help. ‘Twenty I believe,’ he answered.
‘Thank you Edward. Over the years we have expanded and diversified. I have more ideas that I haven’t even discussed with your father as yet. But we can go into all that at a later date. Give some thought into what we have been talking about and let me know what you decide.’
‘I enjoy a challenge,’ I said, ‘and would love to be part of the family business. I have alre
ady discussed with the Duke of York the possibility that I may want to leave his service, and he says that as far as he is concerned it is not a problem. However, I do feel duty bound to complete the work to which I have been allocated, and that could take up to six months.’
‘Take as much time as you need. Just as long as I am here to see it happen I will be happy.’
‘Thank you for being so understanding,’ I said. ‘There is one small thing you could do for me.’
‘Name it and it will be done.’
‘An urchin called Felix was imprisoned in the same warehouse with me at St Catherine’s Wharf. He played a big part in saving my life. I would like him to have the same opportunities I had. A job and an education.’
They looked at each other and then my father said, ‘I will put him to work in the stables until we see what he is capable of. We can sort out his education later.’
***
I was with Arthur Crossley at St James’s Palace when he was being interviewed by the Duke of York.
James wanted me there, but asked me to sit quietly at the back of the room in case I was needed.
With my glowing testimony, and Arthur’s wide-ranging knowledge of the Royal Fleet, he ticked all the right boxes and was offered my job on a six months’ trial. During this time he would be working with me and under my supervision, eventually taking over my work when I left to take up a position in the family business. I estimated that it would take about six months. He would then receive the same money as I had been paid which was almost twice the amount he was getting working for Sir William Batten.
‘Do you have any questions of me?’ asked the duke.
‘Only one my Lord. What will happen if Sir William refuses to release me?’
James smiled at Arthur, but I could quite understand his concern.
‘I won’t even ask him, I will tell him that you were recommended by a reliable source, and that I want you moved to my office immediately. You don’t even have to see him if you don’t want to.’
***
I had told James many times that my job was too big for just one person, and working with Arthur proved my point, we were getting through the work not only quicker, but also more thoroughly. I had originally estimated that my business in Tilbury would take three weeks but it was completed in two.
I was astonished to discover that Arthur had never ridden a horse in his life before, but if we were to get to Tilbury… complete a day’s work and return to London in a day, he had no option but to learn. Neither of us wanted to stay there overnight in Tilbury, especially Arthur, as he had a wife and children to go home to.
I can’t imagine how uncomfortable the journey was for him, he was clearly suffering, but he still managed to laugh about it and after two weeks of shuttling between London and Tilbury, he was beginning to walk like a duck.
***
My intention had always been to eventually move to Barnes and live with Thomas, but while I was still working for the Duke of York it was more convenient to remain at St James’s Palace. Also, living in the city made it easier at the weekends to collect Veronica, and to take her to Brocklehurst House. I think she would have loved to see more of her daughter and granddaughters, but she had responsibilities. There was George whom she knew would never move away from Black Friars, he had lived there all his life, and her girls, they were like her children, she loved and cared for them all.
In a way I felt the same as Veronica, my life had changed yet again, but changed for the better. I too now had responsibilities, but responsibilities to my family in Richmond, and I wanted to be there as often as possible. Spending precious time with my grandfather was important to me as no one knew just how much time he had left. Also my mother, so much valuable time had been lost, and I did not want to waste another moment.
I regularly asked George would he be prepared to move to Richmond. His answer was always the same. ‘I don’t want to leave the house or the girls on their own.’ That was his excuse but I think another important issue was that he would miss being with his friends at the Tavern.
Every month I exchanged letters with Anne, mostly writing about my new family, but I had still not been able to find the right words to tell her just who they actually were. To do that I decided I needed to tell her face-to-face, but when that opportunity would come… the good Lord only knew.
As it happened, that time was to come sooner than I could ever have imagined.
***
It was no surprise to me that Arthur Crossley adapted quickly to the change in employment. In less than six months he was more than capable of working alone.
I had now completed my commitment to teach him the job, and with some sadness and a little trepidation, the time came when I had to pack up my belongings and moved permanently to Richmond.
I was saddened at leaving my life as a courtier in the Royal House of Stuart, but in that time I had made many friends, none more so than Arthur. I had met his charming wife and his beautiful children, and I had given him a conducted tour round St James’s and Westminster Palaces. We would no longer be working together but during the time we had, we created a bond of friendship that was to last a lifetime.
***
The first thing I always did when arriving at Brocklehurst House at the weekend was to search out my grandfather, and to listen to him pontificating on about the past, in particular our family history.
But on this occasion he seemed only to want to talk about business.
‘Sit down Toby, I have some important news to tell you, news that may, or may not, please you. I have a mind to expand our business into shipping, and to do that I need a business partner who thinks like me and is prepared to take a risk. I need an honest man who is wealthy and is willing to invest his money. The first name that came into my head was William Huxley.
‘A month ago I wrote to him outlining briefly what I had in mind and suggested that if he was interested he should come here to Brocklehurst House with his family, and spend a weekend here to discuss the details.
‘His reply came back yesterday, and judging by the tone of his letter he is eager and enthusiastic to get involved, but naturally before making any decision, he wants to discuss my ideas further. He has accepted my invitation and will be coming next Friday with his wife and daughter.
‘Sadly for you Toby he says that he was already coming to London to arrange his daughter’s wedding. I take it that you have not told her who we are.’
‘I have told her all about my new family. But not the family name, nothing about the business or that one day I may inherit a title. I wanted to tell her, I intended to tell her, but I thought a letter was not the correct way to break that kind of news. So after a considerable amount of soul-searching and thought I decided to wait until I could tell her to her face. Things have moved so fast I can hardly believe what has happened to me myself.’
‘Perhaps he will change his mind when he hears the truth about your heritage.’
‘Who is he forcing her to marry?’
‘That I do not know Toby.’
I was devastated and angry but also determined to speak to him regardless of what the outcome may be. Whatever he said, I intended to remain calm and accept his decision with dignity and self-respect. I knew Anne’s mother was on my side, perhaps she would speak for me.
***
I watched them arrive from the window of the music room where I had been sitting with my grandfather. The coach stopped outside the front entrance, a footman placed a stool by the coach door and William Huxley took his wife’s hand as she stepped down, he then helped Anne.
Sir William’s beard was now almost completely grey with just a hint of red beneath his lower lip, it was also trimmed shorter which I thought was an improvement. Anne was wearing a sky blue coat and hood which she lowered just enough for me to see her beautiful but sad-looking face and her shiny
strawberry-blonde hair.
I returned to my seat beside my grandfather and waited while my mother and father went down to greet our guests… determined to remain calm and dignified whatever the outcome.
As they all entered the room, I helped Pop to his feet then stood by his side facing our visitors.
The surprised look on all their faces when they recognised me would have been hilarious, had it not been for me also so sad.
‘Sir William,’ I said, ‘I would like to introduce you to my grandfather Sir John Brocklehurst, 10th Viscount of Kettleford. I see that you have already met my parents, Edward and Charlotte.’
He stepped forward and offered me his hand. ‘I was hoping to meet with you during my stay here in London, but I confess this is the last place I expected to find you. We must talk Toby.’
‘I would like that too sir,’ I replied.
Anne could not contain herself a moment longer, she ran to me and kissed me hard and long on the lips, unconcerned by the reaction of her father or anyone else in the room.
I was expecting the worst as I turned to face him, but I didn’t get the response I expected.
‘We must talk about the wedding,’ he said.
‘Who is she marrying?’ I asked.
‘Why you of course, who else do you think she will marry? It’s always been you.’
‘But you have always been so against the idea of her marrying me.’
‘I now know I was wrong. I was told lies about you and I foolishly believed them.’
‘Tell me Sir William… were these lies told to you by a soldier named Richard Leeson?’ asked Pop.
Looking surprised he replied, ‘Yes… yes sir, they were.’
‘Toby why don’t you take Anne for a walk. Show her the house and gardens while I tell Sir William the truth about my feral son Richard. But try to be back here in one hour. We have business to discuss and I want you and your father here.’
I took Anne’s hand and we hurried down the stairs to the front door. ‘Before I show you round the house I have something to show you in the garden.’
Courtier in the Royal House of Stuart Page 39
