'Her room is right over mine, and I wasn't asleep,' William retorted. 'The child is hysterical.'
'There was a man!' the child said, whimpering. 'He pulled off me blanket, and tore me nightgown, and when I cried out 'e put 'is 'and over me mouth!'
'You were dreaming!'
'Was she, Mr William?' the maid who had spoken before demanded.
'Hush, Molly!' Cook said.
'I won't hush! It's time 'e was stopped, and now Mr Edmund's back perhaps 'e will be.'
'I don't know what you are saying, Miss, but if you are accusing me of anything you'll be turned off tomorrow!'
'Er, forgive me, William, but it's not your business any longer. You are Molly, I think?' he went on, turning towards the maid.
'Yes, me lord.'
'We will talk about this in the morning. Is the child calm now?'
Cook nodded. 'And she'll sleep with me for the rest of the night.'
Her tone was belligerent, and he wondered what he had done to offend her. Explanations could wait.
'Good. Then I suggest we all go back to bed.'
*
Elinor rose early on the following morning and went to find Molly. The maid was dusting the drawing room, and looked anxiously at the clock on the mantelpiece when Elinor entered the room.
'I'll soon be finished in 'ere, Miss Elinor. After that disturbance I were late getting up.'
'That's not surprising. Molly, what happened?'
Molly frowned. 'I'm not sure I ought ter talk about it.'
'You must tell his lordship, so that William can be stopped.'
'Will 'e believe me?'
'You told me what was happening before his lordship came home. And there is Rosie. She is still with Mrs Craven. What happened?'
Molly bit her lip, then nodded.
'I told you 'e 'ad his eyes on young Tess?'
'Yes.'
'Well, what I think is that because 'e's lost his title and all, he wanted ter come the master over someone, and Tess was the new one 'e wanted.'
'Yes, that makes sense.'
'She told Cook later she woke up and 'e'd put a candle on the table, behind 'im, it were, and he looked enormous, a proper monster, so she screamed. She's a bit simple, and though the rest of us knows what goes on between men and women, I doubt Tess does. He pulled off 'er blankets, then 'eld her down and grabbed 'er nightgown and tore it all down the front. She was still screaming, and 'e put his hand over 'er mouth. She bit him!' Molly said, and grinned.
'Good! I hope it hurt!'
'It made 'im madder, because 'e snatched his hand away and she went on screaming and kicking, trying ter get away. That was when I got there, and I tried to pull 'im off 'er. Cook came next, and 'e pretended he'd heard screaming and thought she was 'avin' a nightmare, and was trying to calm her down.'
'How did he explain her torn nightgown?'
'He said she did it 'erself in a frenzy.'
'An unlikely story! How is she this morning?'
'Still crying, so Cook's made 'er stay in bed and we're to take turns sitting with her, so she's never alone.'
'That's sensible. Is there no way you can keep your doors barred?'
Molly shook her head.
'Mr Gooch had the estate carpenter fix latches and 'ooks inside the doors of all the maids, when 'e knew what was going on. They only lasted one night, someone took 'em away. And Mr William tried to get into my room that very night and couldn't. The next night we found the 'ooks had all been taken away, so they was useless.'
Elinor was horrified at his determination to satisfy his lusts. It must have been William who had removed them. But now he would be unable to do as he wished. She suddenly thought of the new rooms he and Jane were to occupy. They were at the further end of the house, where the stairs led up to the rooms occupied by the menservants, and where there was no connection to that part used by the maids. He would have more difficulty in going silently along that long corridor than when he was almost next to the back stairs.
'When I first came 'ere, Miss Elinor, I was that pleased to 'ave a room of my own. We all were, and there are so many rooms in the attics everyone could. Most of us came from big families, we'd even 'ad to share beds, but it would 'ave been safer if we shared rooms.'
'I'll make sure his lordship will talk to you later this morning. Tell him all you told me, about Rosie, and last night. Now I'd better let you finish the dusting.'
*
Edmund woke when Barton cautiously entered his room. He felt wonderfully rested.
'Come in. Were you disturbed by that commotion last night?'
'No, the men sleep in the other wing, but we've heard all about it.'
Barton clapped his lips together and carried a can of hot water over to the washstand.
'I washed and starched a shirt and some neckcloths,' he said. 'They were dusty after lying in the drawers for so long. Upton, Mr William's valet, showed me what to do.'
Edmund smiled. The man was eager to make a good impression. This comfort and service was almost too much after the past year, when he'd had few opportunities even to launder the shirt he had been given.
'Would you wish me to shave you, my lord?'
Edmund laughed. 'You look as horrified at the notion as I feel!'
Barton blushed. 'I've never shaved anyone else,' he admitted, 'but Upton said you might expect it, and I have to learn.'
'You'll not learn on me!'
'No. Thank you, my lord. I'm sure my hand would shake alarmingly.'
Edmund found he had not lost the art of tying his neckcloths, but contented himself with a simple style. He did not wish to spend the entire morning dressing, and from the look of the pile on Barton's arm the man had only starched half a dozen. In the past, he recalled, he had frequently spoiled twenty or more before he had achieved a satisfactory result.
When he entered the breakfast parlour he found William, looking pugnacious and with a pile of slices of beef on his plate. Elinor was also there, seated as far away from William as the table permitted, toying with a slice of bread and butter and sipping at a cup of coffee.
He helped himself to ham, eggs and kidneys. After the simple and often sparse food he had become accustomed to he must not indulge too far, he warned himself. He poured coffee, and carried plate and cup to the seat next to Elinor. She was looking fresh and charming in a sprigged muslin gown, her chestnut curls held back with a green ribbon. She was much prettier than Jane and had a more pleasant expression.
'I did not expect to see you up so early,' he said. 'Do ladies not breakfast in their rooms now?'
'Some do. I prefer to eat downstairs, unless you do not wish it? I know men do not relish conversation at breakfast. At least, Papa did not.'
'How is your sister today?'
'Better, thank you. She will be ready to move to her new room in an hour or so.'
'That's what I want to speak to you about,' William said. 'We don't know that the dowager will want to live here. She wanted to go and live with her sister, and once she has seen you're alive and well no doubt she'll prefer to go back to Truro. So is it really necessary to have such an upheaval? Why not wait and see what she plans to do?'
'Whether she plans to go back or not, her old rooms will always be kept in readiness for her. Your valet can move your belongings, and Jane's maid – oh, I forgot, she has no maid.'
'I will do it, and if Molly can be spared, she can help me,' Elinor said.
'And I must engage a maid for her, unless you prefer to do it, William?'
'I don't see the need. Her sister has been helping her, she can just as well carry on, for she's nothing else to do.'
'I don't approve, so I will engage a maid.'
William scowled, and muttered that neither his mother nor sister depended on maids to dress themselves, and soon left the room, saying he needed to make sure Upton did not damage any of his clothes.
'My lord,' Elinor said the moment he shut the door, 'will you listen to what the maid Molly has
to say? About last night, and – and other nights?'
After a long, slow look at her, he nodded. This, and he guessed what was coming, was a complication he hadn't expected and did not want.
'I will be in the library for a couple of hours. Send her to me there, if you will be so kind.'
*
Jane grumbled all morning as her clothes were being transferred to her new room. She complained of feeling sick, having a headache, and shivering, so the moment it was possible Elinor put her to bed. Then she turned to her own situation. There was a small room attached to Jane's, and she moved her own belongings there. If Lord Tremaine engaged a lady's maid for Jane, as he had promised, she would have to move again, but she did not anticipate him being able to do anything for several days. Mattie said she was perfectly happy to remain where she was, until and unless Lady Tremaine brought two maids and needed the room.
'Then I suppose I'll be banished up to the attics,' she said with a sigh. 'I don't know how my poor legs will manage all those steep stairs, but I suppose I must be thankful to have a home.'
'Well, I don't know what will happen to me when William and Jane have to go to Bude. William won't want me, he's complaining the house is too small for his mother and sister even. Perhaps his lordship will provide us with a cottage and I can go back to baking.'
'We won't have the bread oven, or the fruit and vegetables we had at the lodge.'
'Mattie, don't fret. We can start to think about that later.'
She had just finished arranging her gowns when there was a tap on the door. It was Molly.
'Oh, Miss, his lordship has given orders for those 'ooks to be replaced, and 'e says as soon as 'e can contrive he will put on stouter locks. And 'e says Mr William will be thrown out of the Court if he ever comes up to the attics and our rooms again!'
'That's good. You will all feel safer now.'
The new Lord Tremaine was decisive, but Elinor wondered, when Molly had left, whether William would be deterred. She knew nothing of how married people behaved, but she suspected that William was not normal. Most men, she felt sure, could control their basic urges. Men like her father, who had lost their wives, did not molest their maidservants. Some did, she knew, but if many of them did surely she would have heard gossip? Even though the married women of her acquaintance did not speak openly to unmarried girls, there was plenty of gossip and many hints easy to understand.
*
Jane was persuaded to dress and come downstairs later in the day.
'You cannot remain in bed for ever!' Elinor said, permitting her annoyance to show. 'You have to meet Edmund at some time.'
'Yes, but if only he had come home three months ago I should have married him instead of William!'
'Oh, do stop complaining! There is nothing you can do about it, and you have said you didn't love him. Perhaps you were too quick to accept William.'
'I wish I never had. I won't even be Lady Tremaine now.'
'Edmund's mother is expected soon. Mr Bellamy's son was sent to Truro to inform her of his return, and no doubt she will come here. She may even wish to live here again.'
Jane groaned. 'If she does she will soon get rid of both of us, as well as William and his mother.'
Lady Tremaine arrived long before anyone expected her, just before dinner that same day. Samuel Bellamy, after drinking a mug of ale, said he wished to return to his home and would not remain for dinner, as invited.
'I suspect he has had enough of her during the journey,' Jane whispered to Elinor.
She was taken to her old room, loudly demanding the trunk which contained her evening gowns to be brought upstairs immediately and that dinner be delayed until she had changed. Elinor was thankful Jane's possessions had all been removed, and the room cleaned.
They moved into the dining room as soon as she returned, for she said she had not been able to eat anything on the journey.
'Carriages, even one as comfortable as my own chaise, are never conducive to proper digestion.'
She regarded with disgust the dishes set out on the table.
'Is this the sort of fare you have been forced to endure, Edmund? It will not do for me, and I shall talk to the cook tomorrow. If she cannot provide food fit for your table she must be dismissed.'
'I have only been back for four and twenty hours, Mama, and these dishes are a feast compared with what I had to eat in France.'
'The food I have ordered is perfectly adequate,' Mrs Tremaine said, her colour high.
Lady Tremaine ignored her apart from a contemptuous glance.
'You should not have been there at all, Edmund, if it had not been for the utter incompetence of the British army in mistaking that other man for you.'
'There is no point in refining on it,' Edmund said. 'You made the journey from Truro in good time.'
'Mr Bellamy was fortunate to find me there. I was already packed, as I had the intention of removing to Bath today.'
'To Bath? To drink the waters? I trust you are not seriously unwell?'
'No Edmund, I am not unwell at all, unless you can describe the utter tedium of living with Augusta as an illness. I was proposing to live in Bath but now, of course, I can come back here.'
'I see. Naturally, you will be welcome,' Edmund said.
'And since your unfortunate absence has at least saved you from making an unequal marriage, I can begin looking round for a suitable bride for you.'
Elinor stifled a giggle. Her ladyship had managed to insult not only Mrs Tremaine and her family, but also Jane and herself. She glanced at Edmund. He was looking embarrassed, but as he caught her eye she noticed a twinkle in his own. Would he be able to control his preposterous mother? Somehow she thought he would. He was strong.
When Lady Tremaine rose to lead the ladies from the room, Jane excused herself and went swiftly upstairs, saying she felt too ill to sit in the drawing room.
'I'll come with you,' Elinor said, just as Mrs Tremaine demanded the help of Amelia to escort her to her bedroom. Lady Tremaine looked at first startled, then furious, and when the dining room door opened and William emerged, she began to utter loud remarks pertaining to the deplorable manners of people who were unfit to associate with such as herself.
She was ignored, and made her way in solitary state into the drawing room. Elinor hoped she would enjoy it. At least she and Edmund would be able to talk in private.
*
When Elinor went into Jane's bedroom on the following morning, she found her sister huddled in the bed. Jane raised a tear-stained face towards her, and stifled a sob.
'Jane, dear, what's the matter? Do you feel ill?'
Jane shook her head.
'It's William! I – I thought that when he knew I was increasing, he would not need to – well, you know what I mean – but last night, he came to me. Ellie, I can't bear it if it starts again, as it was in Exmouth!'
Elinor bit her lip. Depriving William of access to the maids had made life more difficult for Jane. Briefly she considered enlisting the help of Jane's doctor, who might say William was to abstain for the sake of Jane's health and that of the coming baby, but she shook her head. He was a man, and would support William, saying it was Jane's duty to submit to her husband, whatever his demands. Other than importing into the house a girl who would agree to become William's mistress, and there would be little difficulty in finding one, she thought, in Plymouth docks, she could see no solution. And that one would horrify William's mother and Lady Tremaine. Unless she could find a girl who could pretend to be Jane's personal maid, which was unlikely, she could think of no other way to protect her sister.
'Do you want breakfast?' she asked.
'No. I want to sleep.'
Elinor tucked her up, bade her believe William would soon grow less urgent in his attentions, and left the room. She would walk in the gardens. It was a fine morning for once, and Jane would sleep for several hours.
She crossed the knot garden and passed through a gateway into the rose garden. At the
far side she saw Mattie and Phyllis seated on a bench in a small arbour. They waved to her and she went towards them, enjoying the perfume of the roses.
'Come and sit down,' Mattie said. 'Phyllis has been telling me all about Truro.'
Elinor knew she ought not to listen to gossip, but she also knew she would not be able to resist. What had caused Lady Tremaine to decide to leave her sister? Phyllis was soon explaining.
'She liked being able to walk to shops,' she said. 'At first she was very quiet, and Mrs Holt's friends thought she was so brave after the death of her son.'
'Quiet? Her?' Mattie was scornful.
Phyllis laughed. 'Not for long. Then, after a few weeks, and I don't know how she managed it, she began to tell her sister what to do, and invite her friends to visit without consulting Mrs Holt's convenience.'
'That sounds more like her.'
'I know, Mattie, but that wasn't what upset Mrs Holt the most.' Phyllis laughed.
'Go on.'
'It was the final insult for Mrs Holt when she began to go about with Colonel Watts.'
'You mean she had an admirer?' Mattie said, and laughed.
'He had squired Mrs Holt to concerts and parties for years,' Phyllis explained. 'People expected them to marry at first, when he came to live in the town and was making up to her. But she was a wealthy woman, and he had only a small competence. Mrs Holt was not about to give her money to anyone. He still paid her a lot of attention, from what I was told. Whether he hoped to change her mind I don't know. Then my lady pushed her way in. He began to squire her, taking her for drives in his curricle, and Mrs Holt accused her of stealing his affection.'
Elinor, though she found such behaviour by the austere Lady Tremaine difficult to imagine, laughed.
'And that caused a rift?'
Phyllis nodded, and grinned.
'All over the house you could hear these two very proper ladies screeching at each other. It wasn't long before my lady decided she had had enough. She made plans to move to Bath, but, and this you'll not believe, the Colonel was going to move there too.'
Mattie laughed so much tears came into her eyes and she wiped them, still chortling.
'So what is the love-lorn Colonel doing now Lady Tremaine has come here?' Elinor asked. 'Does she mean to install him at the Court?'
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