The Wicked and Wonderful Miss Merlin

by Anne Herries

  Robert stepped towards her, drawing her close. His mouth caressed hers, his kiss drawing the heart from her as she swayed into him. She reached up and touched his cheek.

  ‘I love you so much, Robert. Fenton frightens me. I sense something…a black shadow at his shoulder. I fear that he will harm us if he can.’

  ‘Your intuition has given me good warning,’ Robert said and brushed her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. ‘I am on my guard and he does not frighten me, Samantha. We shall have this out as gentlemen and finish it.’

  Samantha leaned her head against his chest. He kissed her goodnight and they parted, Samantha to retire and Robert to write some letters of business before he sought his bed. It was only when she was lying in bed that Samantha wondered if he meant to challenge Fenton to a duel.

  Chapter Ten

  Robert had breakfasted and gone out when Samantha went down the next morning. Eleanor and Toby had arranged to go driving to one of the local beauty spots. They offered her a place in the chaise but she refused, saying that she had several small tasks to complete, which was true.

  After they had gone, she wrote some letters, looked through her wardrobe and decided that she needed a new pair of walking boots. She had seen some a few days earlier when out with Eleanor, in a shop not far from the library. She would go there first and buy them and then go on to the pump room and meet friends who had suggested they might look in that day.

  She walked to the shop and purchased her boots, enjoying the pleasant sunshine on her walk. Just as she was leaving the shop after having purchased the boots, she saw Robert crossing the road towards the little cake shop. Glancing at the pretty enamelled gold watch pinned to her gown, she saw that the time was a few minutes to twelve. Robert was keeping the appointment she had declared she would not keep and she ought not to be here. About to turn away, her eye was drawn to a man standing a few feet away from her. He was watching the cake shop intently and had not seen her standing in the doorway of the fashionable emporium. As his hand went to his coat pocket, Samantha’s intuition told her what he meant to do. She began to run towards him as his hand came out and she saw the small pistol, its barrel glinting in the sun. Regardless of her own safety, she flung herself on him and grabbed his arm. His pistol turned upward and fired in the air. Robert looked round as did two other gentlemen near by. Fenton was cursing and hitting out at Samantha with the pistol. He struck a blow to her temple and she went down. The last thing she heard before the darkness closed around her was a man’s voice shouting her name.

  The blackness cleared slowly. Her head was painful and she was aware of voices, which seemed to come from a distance, men and women talking over her. Someone was stroking her face and a sharp stinging sensation beneath her nose made her choke and try to push the hand that held the smelling salts away.

  ‘She is alive. Thank God,’ a voice she recognised said. ‘Samantha, my love…thank God…’

  ‘Robert…he was going to kill you…’ She felt tears on her cheeks and then her eyelids flickered and her eyes opened as she came to herself. She was lying on the elegant chaise inside the fashionable emporium she had patronised earlier. Sitting up, the world span about her and she fell back with a cry of pain.

  ‘Do not try to sit up, my love. That devil! I thought he had killed you.’

  ‘He should hang for this,’ a man’s voice said. ‘I think the fellow demented, Brough. He was calling you a murderer…accused you of driving a woman to her death.’

  ‘He is mistaken,’ Robert said gruffly. ‘The lady involved was wilful and brought her fate on her herself. He is ill I dare say, half out of his mind with grief.’

  ‘Well, he is behind bars for the moment and if the magistrate has any sense he will remain there.’

  Samantha’s sight was clearing. She saw that the man who was speaking to Robert was Major Paul Jackson, one of his great friends.

  ‘What happened?’ she asked as she was able to raise herself to a sitting position at last. ‘I know he had the pistol and I tried to stop him – and then…did he hit me?’

  ‘He knocked you unconscious with the butt of the pistol,’ Robert said. ‘My foolish love, what did you think you were doing? A shout would have alerted me…’

  ‘But he might have killed you,’ she said. ‘Where is he now?’

  ‘Paul and another gentleman wrestled him to the ground and he has been taken away. I think he must be ill or have taken leave of his senses to try and murder me in a busy street.’ Robert frowned. ‘Why were you here? I thought we agreed you would not come to the appointment he offered?’

  ‘I bought some new boots, in this shop,’ Samantha said. ‘I may have dropped them. I was about to return home when I saw…’ Her head was swimming as she sat up and saw that someone had placed her parcel on a little table near by. ‘There are the boots, Robert. Please believe me, I had no intention of listening to more of his spite.’

  ‘I do believe you,’ he said. ‘I may owe my life to your quick thinking, dearest – but I am cross with you for putting your own life in danger.’

  ‘What would my life be to me if you were dead?’ she asked simply.

  Robert smiled, bent his head and kissed her before all the people who had gathered round and were watching with great interest.

  ‘The sooner you are my wife the better,’ he said in a soft low voice. ‘I adore you, my darling – and I think, if you can bear it, I shall take you home now so that I can show you how much.’

  ‘Yes, please. I think I can stand if you will give me your arm, Robert.’

  She gave him her hands and he drew her to her feet, but she was still a little shaky and he caught her behind the knees, carrying her through a small crowd of approving onlookers to a carriage that stood waiting outside. Major Jackson followed, carrying her parcel, and opened the door for them.

  ‘Get in with her, Robert,’ he said. ‘I shall have my groom drive you to your house while I’ll fetch the doctor to her. You seem well enough, Miss Merlin, but a doctor ought to check you over after a nasty bang to the head like that – can’t have Robert going into a decline if you take sick, can we?’

  There was a twinkle in his eye as he looked at Robert and she saw the true friendship between them. Safe in Robert’s arms, she closed her eyes and tried not to think of how much her head hurt where the pistol had struck her.

  ‘You gave me such a fright,’ Robert said when the door was closed and the carriage began to move forward at a steady pace. ‘When I thought I might have lost you…’ She felt his shudder. ‘I do not think I could bear it. Please promise me never to do anything so impetuous again.’

  ‘I am quite well,’ Samantha said and leaned her head against his shoulder. ‘I dare say I shall have a headache for a while, but that is a mere nothing.’

  ‘I hope they throw him deep in a cell and throw away the key,’ Robert said, his eyes glinting with anger. ‘That is the second time he has attempted to kill me – and this time he could so easily have…’ She placed a finger to his lips and he subsided.

  ‘Forget him, Robert. I think after so many witnesses saw what he tried to do – what he did to me, he will not be allowed to go free. We must put this behind us and move forward. I think we should start to plan our wedding. Perhaps it could take place as soon as I return from my school?’

  ‘We shall set the banns when we return to my estate,’ Robert said. ‘I think we should be married in the village church so that all our people may be there. Unless you would prefer to be married from your home?’

  ‘Your home is to be my home and I already feel your people are mine,’ she said and gazed up at him. ‘Kiss me, Robert. Promise me you will not think of Fenton again. We must not let him overshadow our happiness.’

  Robert promised, kissing her softly at first and then with increasing passion, until her head was swooning with love rather than the blow she had received.

  He insisted on carrying her into the house and up the stairs to her room, depositing her o
n the edge of the bed very carefully.

  ‘You must rest now and let the doctor see you. Please, for my sake,’ he said and Samantha smiled and agreed.

  ‘Where are you going?’ she asked as he left her.

  ‘I shall wait to hear what the doctor has to say, but I think you should not get up again today, dearest. I have some business but will return before tea and we shall have it together here.’

  ‘What will people think?’ she asked, teasing him.

  ‘They will think that I love you to distraction and cannot bear to leave you alone,’ he replied. ‘And they will be right.’

  After he had gone, Samantha removed her bonnet, which had been hanging down her back by its ribbons, glanced in the mirror at the nasty bruise at her temple and then piled her pillows high so that she might lie against them. She had no sooner settled herself than she heard footsteps outside her room and a maid arrived to show the doctor in.

  Doctor Raven asked her to follow his finger with her eyes, examined her temple and asked her if she knew her name, what day it was and the name of the present king. When she answered his questions easily he smiled and pronounced her fit.

  ‘I fear you may have a headache. I dare say your maid can supply a healing tisane, which is all you need, Miss Merlin – unless you have some magic of your own?’

  ‘No, sir, I do not,’ she said, for she had heard the joke many times and always gave the same answer. Witches were no longer put on trial but it was best to deny all such jests, even when they were made in good nature. ‘I do have a recipe for a tisane, which the maid can make for me.’

  ‘Well, stay in bed and rest today. If your headache persists or you feel sick please send for me again. At the moment I can perceive no worrying symptoms.’

  Samantha thanked him and he left. She did have a nasty headache and decided that it would not do her any harm to stay in bed for the rest of the day, though she would get up for dinner. She relaxed against the pillows and closed her eyes. A tisane was not necessary for she felt sleepy and a cup of tea would revive her when Robert returned.

  Robert left the house after learning that Samantha had suffered no lasting harm but would do well enough with a rest.

  ‘She should take it easy for a few days, but if there are any unusual symptoms of illness send for me again at any time.’

  Reassured, Robert judged that he might leave her for an hour or so. He asked the maid who had been waiting on her to peep in occasionally and to send for the doctor if she noticed anything untoward. She assured him that she had just come from Miss Merlin’s room and that she was resting peacefully.

  Robert left the house and hailed a passing cab to drive him to the magistrate’s home, where he was fortunate enough to find Sir John Marks at home. He inquired a point of law, and asked where Fenton had been taken.

  ‘He was violent and had to be restrained,’ Fenton said frowning. ‘This is a serious matter for he made an attempt on your life and that of a lady – however, I doubt that he will ever be considered fit to stand trial.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Robert was puzzled.

  ‘A doctor was summoned before it was decided where he should be held and it was decided that he was a danger to himself and others. He has therefore been sent to a house for the protection of the insane.’

  ‘My God!’ Robert was astounded. ‘That is terrible. I had no idea he was so far gone. I thought his hatred was for me…’

  ‘He was babbling, raging and foaming at the mouth,’ Sir John said. ‘That was why I had the doctors called to him. He spoke of witchcraft, devil worship and ritual murder but when we asked why he had attacked you and Miss Merlin, he denied it and spoke of his voices, which he claimed were telling him to destroy evil where he saw it.’

  ‘Then I am very sorry for him,’ Robert said. ‘Thank you for being frank with me, sir. I had hoped I might speak with him – see if there was a way that this situation might be rectified. For a man of Fenton’s standing to be accused of murder…it was of his wife and family that I thought. I would not have pressed charges if he gave his word to end this foolish feud of his.’

  ‘I fear you could not take his word. Doctor Adamson is advanced in such medicine and he says that dementia of this kind is almost always incurable and can only become worse. Once the poor fellow would have been treated with hot coals and blisters to drive the devil out, but at least he will be spared such torment. He will merely be restrained, locked in a padded cell so that he can do no harm to himself or others.’

  ‘Then I must put all thought of reconciliation from my mind,’ Robert said. ‘I can only say that I am sorry for him. I think death would have been kinder.’

  ‘I agree with you,’ Sir John said, ‘but it is not for us to make the law. The law says that such creatures should be kept alive until such time as a cure can be found for what ails them.’

  After some more exchanges on the plight of such pitiful creatures, Robert shook his hand and left. He was thoughtful on his way home. His first thought had been to avoid pain for others, to find some way to put Fenton out of harm’s way without shaming his family. There was no way that he could prevent that now, for his wife would learn that her husband had been pronounced mad and his children would live beneath its shadow.

  At least he could be sure that Samantha was in no danger from Fenton. The episode was over, though it left a bitter taste.

  He would have liked to know exactly why Fenton had taken against him. Was it something to do with Marianne – or merely the dementia in Fenton’s mind that had conjured some vile imagining against him.

  Samantha was right. He must put it all from his mind and move on.

  ‘We shall meet again soon,’ Samantha said as she kissed Eleanor’s cheek and shook Toby by the hand. ‘I know you will enjoy your stay with Toby’s family, my dear, and when you return to us, I shall have finished my business at the school and our wedding will take place in a few weeks.’

  ‘I am so pleased for you,’ Eleanor said. ‘It is right that you and Robert should be married before us, because Toby has a lot of relatives he wants us to visit and that will take some weeks. We shall return to Brough House for your wedding and then go visiting again. When you return from your wedding trip, you can help me plan my wedding.’

  ‘It will be my pleasure,’ Samantha said and kissed her again before stepping back to wave them off.’

  ‘They have gone then,’ Robert said as he came out of the house to join her. ‘I was making sure that everything had been packed and thanking the staff here for taking good care of us.’

  ‘Are we ready to leave?’ Samantha asked as his chaise was brought round to the front of the house. ‘I have arranged for my trunks to be sent to your home, Robert. I need only a small bag for most of my things remain at Merlin Hall and must be packed before I come down to you in the country.’

  Robert was to deliver her to her school and then go on to London, where he had business – business long neglected that had become urgent and needed his attention.

  ‘I would much prefer to stay with you,’ he said, ‘but I know you will have much to do, people to see and business to keep you busy. In two weeks I shall return for you and we will return to my home together.’

  Their wedding was planned for the following week, by which time Eleanor would have returned from her visit to Toby’s parents.

  ‘Yes, quite ready,’ Robert said and handed her into his chaise. He gave the word to his groom and he let go of the horses’ head before leaping up at the back.

  They had just turned the corner when a cab drew up outside and a man jumped down. He banged urgently on the front door and asked for Lord Brough, but was told that his lordship had left for London. Perplexed, the man scratched his head, looked at the message that he had been told to deliver urgently and then offered it to the maid.

  ‘Have this sent on to him urgently,’ he said. ‘I have other messages to deliver.’

  Turning away, he left the maid staring at the sealed lette
r in dismay. The housekeeper was out and she had no idea where to send Lord Brough’s letter. Slipping it into her apron pocket, she closed the door. She would give it to the housekeeper when she returned.

  Samantha looked around her parlour and smothered a sigh. She had been very happy here and it was a wrench to leave it in some ways, but already her personal things had been packed into wooden cases and were awaiting the wagon to collect them and take them to her new home. She would miss this place and all the people she had gathered about her, and of course her pupils. There had been tears from some of the girls as well as congratulations on her engagement and coming marriage, some of which had been shed by Samantha. Miss Anne Hampden had been so disappointed that she would never join that special circle of girls to take tea with Samantha and begged to be told the story of the wishing well.

  Samantha had told her that it was just a pretty fairytale, because now that she would no longer be here to explain why it might be foolish to ask the lady of the well for too much, she thought it best that the story should be forgotten.

  However, she would miss her visits to the well and decided that she would pay one last visit to the well to say goodbye. Not at midnight for she did not wish to ask anything of the lady. All she could ever want of life was to be hers; a husband she loved, security and hopefully children of her own.

  Robert was due to come down the next day and she would not want to be away from the house for there would be many last minute things to do, people to say goodbye to. She would visit the well this afternoon and say goodbye to the lady, who had been a friend to her these many years.

  She spoke to the English teacher, Miss Henderson as she walked through the hall, telling her that she was going for a walk in the woods.