Kerensa didn’t answer but asked another question. ‘And the little girl, how is she?’
‘Aw, a weak little mite she is, what with the difficult birth and all. Reverend baptised her the day after her birth. She wasn’t expected to live for long, you see.’
‘I must go down and see them after I’ve seen the Reverend. If I’d thought of it before leaving home, I would have brought some things over for them.’
‘I was going down later myself with some bread, hevva cake, butter and eggs. You can save my old legs up and down the hill, if you like,’ Mrs Tregonning said, pointing to a basket on the end of the table. ‘By the way, m’lady, how’s this Polly Berryman getting on at the Manor? Been over to see her cousin yet, has she?’
‘Yes, she’s—’
A knock on the door was followed by the appearance of Ben Rosevidney. By his signs and gestures they quickly ascertained that he’d been given a message by someone sent by the Reverend Ivey. He sent his apologies, but would be delayed for an hour. Lady Pengarron was welcome to wait, or he would call on her himself tomorrow at the Manor house. Kerensa decided to see the Reverend the next day, and thanking Ben picked up the basket of food from the table. She would go down into the village at once, relieved to get away from the plump housekeeper’s wagging tongue.
Jenifer shouted out, ‘Come in!’ to her knock on the door, and Kerensa took in the mess and clutter inside the gloomy cottage with one glance.
‘Good afternoon, Jenifer,’ she said. ‘How are you and the family?’
Jenifer looked up from changing Jack’s tattered napkin. ‘Good afternoon to you, my lady. We’re all quite well, thank you. It’s good of you to call again. I hope you’ll excuse the mess but I’m afraid I never seem to get around to clearing everything away. If you’d like to hold Jack when I’ve finished with him, I’ll get the little one for you to see.’
The tiny pink wisp that Jenifer held swamped in a scrap of blanket looked as if she would fit into a man’s hand.
‘But she’s so tiny,’ Kerensa breathed, having difficulty holding Jack as he wriggled about in her arms.
‘She only weighs about four pounds. We thought she wouldn’t survive for long so we asked the Reverend Ivey to baptise her on the day following her birth, but I know she’s going to be all right now.’ Jenifer kissed her newest daughter’s forehead. ‘She’s a born fighter.’
The tiny baby was half the size of Sebastian Beswetherick, and the life and circumstances she had been born into could be in no greater contrast. Jack grabbed at Kerensa’s cheek and jealously tried to receive all of her attention.
‘Look at your baby sister, Jack,’ she cooed to him. ‘Isn’t she pretty?’
Jenifer laughed. ‘Sam says she looks more like a rat than a human being, but he’ll soon be doting on her, like all our others.’
‘What does Bartholomew think of her?’ asked Kerensa slowly.
‘Bartholomew? Oh, he was cross at first that she wasn’t another brother for him, but when we thought we were going to lose her, I’m sure I saw tears in his eyes. Now I think he’s quite proud of her, but it’s always difficult to know what is going on in Bartholomew’s mind.’
Kerensa nodded. ‘I can understand that.’
Jenifer looked at her curiously and Kerensa said quickly, ‘Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all? You must be rushed off your feet, and here’s me with nothing in particular to do with my time.’
Jenifer saw the sincerity in the sad young face and at that moment felt more sorry for Kerensa than the girl did for her. ‘Very well,’ she said, ‘I won’t stand on false pride. How much time have you got to spare at the moment?’
‘Hours really. Sir Oliver is away on business all the way over at Penzance for a few days. As long as I’m back at the Manor by twilight the others won’t worry about me. Have you something in mind?’
Jenifer spread her hands to indicate the condition of the room. ‘I’ve known better times than this., and you’ve known something similar, although I’m sure nothing quite as bad. You say you’re happier when you’re busy, when you’re doing something useful, so if I ask Mrs King to have Jack for a while and keep an eye out for my others, if you’re agreeable we could clear up some of this mess together.’
‘That’s a marvellous idea, Jenifer,’ Kerensa said, her face aglow with the prospect.
When Jack was unhappily settled in with Elizabeth King, and Kerensa had an apron tied around the dress of her riding habit and a scarf around her head, she and Jenifer set to work to give the dingy room of the cottage a thorough cleaning. They dusted, washed and scrubbed, discarded a great deal of rubbish, and collecting up all of Bartholomew’s treasured pieces of driftwood, birds’ eggs, pebbles and shells, put them in an old disused kindling wood box. After that they polished everything in sight and finished off by rearranging the furniture. They had worked without a break for over two and a half hours, shooing away the other curious Drannock children more than once during their time.
‘I’ve still got some of that tea left you brought over the last time,’ Jenifer said breathlessly, when finally they were satisfied everything possible had been done. Pushing back tresses of light-coloured hair she reached for a big tin kettle now cleaned from the blackening of the fire.
‘I’ll make the tea,’ offered Kerensa, ‘I don’t want you to be tired out.’
‘Oh, you are a dear,’ Jenifer said, and on impulse gave the girl a warm hug. ‘And just look at the state of you. You’ve got dust streaked on your arms and face. You look more like one of my little ones than a married woman.’
‘Well, I haven’t enjoyed myself like this for a very long time,’ Kerensa smiled as she ladled out water from a heavy bucket by the door into the kettle.
They had just sat down with their tea when Kerensa looked up at the sound of a noise no louder than the mewling of a kitten. ‘Is that the baby waking up?’ she asked, jumping to her feet and going to the crib. ‘Yes, her little eyes are open. Do you know, I haven’t asked you her name yet.’
‘Her name is Cordelia,’ Jenifer told her.
Kerensa lifted Cordelia with extreme care. ‘She feels as light as thistledown. It’s hard to believe anything so small can be alive.’
‘She’s the smallest of my brood and I don’t mind admitting I hope she will be the last. But I do marvel at the sight of a newborn baby, just like you’re doing now. Each one seems a miracle in their own right.’
Cordelia began to wail and Kerensa handed the near weightless baby to Jenifer to feed.
‘She’ll grow some hair later on,’ Jenifer remarked, ‘but I think she’ll be dark like Bartholomew.’
‘He is dark, isn’t he?’ Kerensa agreed, and mention of the boy was easier now she had put her feelings on the matter aside. And one thing she had learned today was that even if Oliver was Bartholomew’s father, the child was well looked after and lived in an obviously happy home.
‘Samuel is going to see about some goat’s milk for her. I don’t think mine is good enough for her to thrive on.’
‘There’s goats all over the estate, Jenifer. If you like I could arrange for some to be sent over tomorrow for you, for as long as you want it.’
‘Thank you. It’s very kind of you. You’ve been good to us. The girls were thrilled with the dresses you sent over for them and even Bartholomew has been glad to have a decent shirt to wear to church. Thank you again for the goat’s milk. Samuel will be pleased not to have to spend time away from his precious boat.’
Jenifer looked happier and less tired despite all their hard work. The clean and tidy cottage had had a definite therapeutic effect on her.
* * *
Kerensa headed back up the steep hill, smiling happily to herself all the way. When she reached the lychgate a tall man stood barring her way. Although she had never seen him before he somehow looked familiar. He nodded politely before speaking.
‘Lady Pengarron, I hope you don’t mind me stopping you like this. I’d like to talk. I am Samuel Dr
annock.’
They went into the church, which was cool and dark inside except for two carved pews on opposite sides which were bathed in a shaft of bright sunlight. Kerensa sat on the end of one of them, the sunlight giving her an aura of insubstantiality. Samuel Drannock seated himself on the other, facing her. The fisherman had a confident air about him. Kerensa felt uneasy, wondering what the reason for him wanting to talk to her might be.
‘Why do you want to see me, Mr Drannock?’ she asked, wanting to get this interview over with quickly.
‘First of all, to thank you for what you’ve done for Jenifer and the children,’ he replied, his voice firm.
‘It was nothing really. I’m only too glad to help in any way I can.’
‘I don’t hold with charity,’ Samuel Drannock said coolly.
‘Oh!’ Kerensa was taken by surprise, the man’s keen stare making her feel guilty. ‘I didn’t mean to give offence.’
‘Not from the gentry,’ he went on, ‘or my own class even. But particularly not from a Pengarron. It’s only because I know you to be sincere, ma’am, that I’ve allowed you to, that and the fact that before Jenifer married me she was in the position where she did the same. Some folk feel the same as me, some don’t. What I can’t provide for my family I believe they should go without, same as I did when I was a boy.’
Kerensa lapsed into silence at the rebuff. Samuel Drannock smiled at her, a smile full of ready charm. He was not an unattractive man, his frame slim and broad-shouldered. Kerensa guessed he was roughly the same age as Oliver. She could see no reason to return his smile.
He said, ‘I love Jenifer very much. Accepting the clothes for the children made her happy and I like to see her happy, but—’
‘But now you don’t want me to give anything more to your family,’ she finished for him.
‘That’s right, ma’am. Do you understand why?’
‘To be truthful, Mr Drannock, no, not really,’ she said very quietly. She understood male pride but kept the thought to herself. ‘Thank you for telling me how you feel. I was going to arrange for goat’s milk to be sent over for little Cordelia. Can I at least do that?’
Samuel Drannock thought for a moment. ‘Yes, that will be all right. I thank you, ma’am. But after that no more, please.’
Kerensa rose to go, wishing only to reach Kernick and be on the road home. Helping Jenifer had helped her in turn to feel useful and wanted, and now this too was to be denied her.
Samuel Drannock rose with her. ‘There’s something else.’
Her throat was too dry for words but she raised her head to meet any challenge.
‘My wife said you looked shocked the first time you saw Bartholomew. We think perhaps you saw something in him most others fail to see.’
Kerensa held her breath.
‘Do you believe Bartholomew is your husband’s son?’
‘I… I don’t know… Is he?’
‘No, ma’am, he is not. Bartholomew is most definitely my son. I’ve been worried you’ve been thinking along those lines. You’re close enough to your husband to have noticed the same darkness in Bartholomew’s eyes, the same bearing and at times the same wilful expression, aren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ Kerensa said, ‘but I don’t understand.’
‘My son’s Pengarron traits are inherited from his grandfather, Sir Daniel Pengarron. He was my father.’
She sat down again, quite stunned, partly with relief, the rest shock. Samuel Drannock resumed his seat on the pew.
‘You do see that I couldn’t let you go on thinking my own son isn’t mine, and Jenifer knew any man but me?’
‘Of course, and I’m very grateful you’ve told me,’ Kerensa said, having grasped the full meaning of his confidence, ‘but that makes you Sir Oliver’s half-brother. I’ve wondered for weeks if he knew he had a son, now I’d like to know if he knows he has a half-brother.’
‘I’m quite sure he doesn’t, and he must never know. Although we grew up about the same time I resemble my mother, so there was nothing to cause anyone to suspect the truth.’
The fisherman crouched down so they were face to face. ‘My mother only told me who my real father was just before she died. She realised when she found herself with child that Sir Daniel could offer no more than financial support, but when she told him, he wouldn’t even provide that. Flying into a rage, he called her a whore and challenged her to prove he was the father of her baby. A quiet simple man, Caleb Drannock, who fished out of Newlyn, offered her marriage. My mother accepted and they settled down well enough. Caleb was lost at sea not long after my birth and my mother came back to her family in Perranbarvah. She kept her secret for nigh on eighteen years, till her death, and only I and Jenifer, and now you, ma’am, share it. You see now, don’t you, why I want nothing from a Pengarron?’
‘I understand how you feel,’ Kerensa said, ‘but the Pengarrons owe you so much. You shouldn’t have to endure hardship while they live in comfort and plenty.’
‘I’m happy enough as I am, ma’am,’ Samuel Drannock said, getting to his feet. ‘Forgive me if it hurts you to hear me say this, but I want nothing from the Pengarrons, not ever. To me, your husband is little more than a rogue. He’s immoral, and to my way of thinking, cruel and selfish. He’s probably hardly set eyes on me anyway because I don’t go to church with Jenifer, preferring to find my faith at sea, and I don’t get myself involved in his smuggling ventures. Jenifer and I may be poor but we’re content with each other and our children, despite the seeming drudgery of our lives. We don’t need anyone to feel sorry for us. Will you keep my mother’s secret with us, ma’am… please, I beg you?’
‘You have one thing in common with my husband, Samuel Drannock,’ Kerensa said curtly. ‘You both say exactly what’s on your mind. Yes, I’ll keep your secret, but it will be a burden to carry it alone.’
‘I have often wished I did not know it myself. I’m sorry, but I felt I must tell you to save you at least one agony at your husband’s expense.’
Kerensa stood up and faced the fisherman squarely. ‘Agony? My husband is not the monster you think him to be, I can assure you.’
He studied her deeply for a moment. ‘Ma’am,’ he said with a polite nod, then without another word, left the church.
Kerensa was left bringing to mind everything that she could in Oliver’s defence. His better points and good humour. All the acts of kindness to others she had come to know about that he performed willingly. She felt guilty that she had ever believed for a moment that he was the sort of man who could cast a pregnant woman aside and prayed silently for forgiveness, while making up her mind to make it up to him. She wished with all her heart that she did not know the Drannocks’ secret, that she had not promised to keep it from Oliver. If he ever found out, and got to know that she knew…
Chapter 15
A cold numb feeling remained with Kerensa as she journeyed home. She knew she would have to forget about the Drannocks if she was ever going to be content in the future, but it was difficult for her to lose the bad taste in her mouth after the encounter with Samuel Drannock, a seemingly honest, good man.
She had wanted Jenifer for a friend and he had put a stop to it without giving his wife any say in the matter. Kerensa had a feeling he ruled over his family in a way that even Oliver would not insist upon. He had never stopped her from having a friend, she thought sulkily. As far as she could see Samuel Drannock was a bigot.
When they were about halfway home Kernick suddenly lurched and threw off a shoe. Kerensa jumped down on the dusty track, picked up the shoe and gave the pony a few words of comfort before setting off again, holding on to the reins as she walked along beside him.
She wanted to walk and walk forever, glad this would delay her reaching home, glad to be alone with only the pony for company in the countryside where no people or cottages could be found. She took the longest route back to the Manor, following the twisting rutted cart track running between Rose Farm and Polcudden, and skirtin
g wide around the hamlet of Rosudgeon.
The sun sank low in the sky, and the further she walked the more her spirits lifted. She was thinking of nothing but the walk now, the regular motion of step after step, the cooling breeze of the early evening. The feeling of oneness with Mother Nature soothed away her melancholy. Everything and everyone else was forgotten, there was only here and now. Kerensa wanted to walk and walk and walk.
By and by she became aware of the dull thud of approaching hoofbeats, and stopped walking and slowly turned around. She still had no desire for company, but resigned herself to the certainty that whoever it was riding up fast behind her, a Richards or a Sampson most likely, would insist on escorting her safely home.
It was not a farmer, however. She was surprised to make out the figure of Peter Blake astride a handsome chestnut mare.
With a pleasant smile he reined in beside her. ‘Good evening to you, Lady Pengarron. It appears once again I come upon you in need of a rescuer. A task I am more than happy to perform, with your permission?’ Blake dismounted and bent down to look at Kernick’s raised foreleg.
‘It’s only a thrown shoe,’ Kerensa told him haughtily, holding it up for his inspection. She was in no mood for the light-hearted banter of this member of the gentry so soon after the forthrightness of the blunt fisherman.
‘Ah,’ he said, straightening, and flashing his brilliant white teeth at her. ‘Are you quite well, ma’am? If you’ll forgive me being personal, you seem a little pale. You weren’t thrown from your pony, were you?’ He was most handsome in his gallantry but it was lost on Kerensa.
She accepted the offer to ride his mare back to the Manor, feeling it would save time in the end because he would feel bound by honour to insist upon it. Blake indulged in chit-chat as he guided the hobbling pony along beside her.
‘Why are you on this track, Mr Blake?’ Kerensa asked, as soon as it crossed her mind to enquire.
‘I was out putting my mare through her paces. I only acquired her at the weekend and wanted to see what she can do. It was a happy accident to come across you in your time of need, ma’am.’
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