Deborah saw her father nodding vigorously at that. “Indeed she has. Her abilities that way are extraordinary.” He then named a sum which opened her eyes wide. “This is the dowry I intend to settle on her on her marriage.” He smiled at her surprise. “Moneys for you and Ruth have been set aside from your births, very small at first but added to over the years and well invested. It did not appear in the estate books which you have so beautifully set in order and which I will hope to keep so and hand on to John in due course. As we’ve mentioned to you, Lord Branford, we are expecting him and his family in July and this time we trust his wife will agree to settle here with perhaps annual visits to her French family. I would want his boy brought up here to appreciate what he will one day inherit himself.”
“Speaking of days,” Deborah broke in before Frederick could reply, “when should we fix our wedding day?”
Frederick pressed her hand but he was looking at her father. “There will be more to settle, Sir Daniel, when I return to my grandfather with the news of our engagement.” Then he met her eyes again. “As soon as possible, I hope.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Nathaniel Jean, always called Jean here in Rombeau, was toddling along the broad walk at the château having pulled away from Nurse Forêt’s hands while John and Jeanetta followed, watching his independent steps with great pride. Nurse Capot, Diana’s nurse was trailing behind them carrying the baby.
John had been handed a letter from England as they left the château but seeing only his mother’s writing he was not in a great hurry to read it. His brain was full of a lightning visit he had had the day before from Edouard le Vent. He was recalling his excited whisper, “Colonel Nathaniel Hooke is this moment with King Louis at Versailles. He has brought a paper signed by many Scottish lords showing that the country will rise for James as soon as he lands with French support. The plan is to head south from Edinburgh and invade the north of England and occupy the coalfields which supply London. This will compel the government to capitulate. Did not the same thing happen in the time of Charles the First? Was not the port of Newcastle closed?”
“I don’t know,” John had said, “I wasn’t born then but I think I heard of that from my grandmother.”
“Well, it was so. It is a good plan. Military and economic pressure at one stroke.”
John had not mentioned that his father was mining coal on his land. Le Vent would know that. He seemed to know everything. “Do you want me to go to England sooner,” he asked him.
“July will be soon enough. Louis’s force may not be ready before autumn. And if they miss that it will be the spring of next year. I will be in England ahead of the force but I will not come to you at Horden Hall lest your formidable sister sees me. I will get a message to you when I know the king is about to sail. To avoid detection the message will say nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“The day you receive a blank sheet of paper with only my initials in the corner, that will be the day you are to set off from Horden Hall. Of course you will bring what force you can from your own tenants.”
John’s heart quailed at this. There were no Catholic families within their land. He knew no one but Matt who would attend him willingly.
Le Vent was still talking. “The task of shipping the French force may be given to Admiral Forbin. You have heard of his success at Beachy Head.”
John nodded. The court at Versailles had been celebrating it with lavish parties. A naval defeat for England was a matter of great rejoicing, with two of Her Majesty’s ships sunk and the Royal Oak only just escaping ashore at Dungeness with a hole in her side. Twenty-one sail of merchant ships had been carried into Dunkirk. John was a little guilty at his own delight but just now he felt more French and Scots than English. King James would have safer passage if the English navy was depleted.
Well, he would collect all the men he could as he rode north through Northumberland and le Vent would not know with how few he started out.
His thoughts now, roaming towards personal glory, were interrupted by a howl in front of them. Jean had fallen over and was being dusted down by Nurse Forêt. Jeanetta ran to him and called out to John, “There’s blood on his brow. I can’t bear to look.”
John came up with her. “It’s only a scratch. He must learn to be a brave boy.”
Nurse Forêt took him in and Nurse Capot followed saying baby Diana had had enough of the sun.
“Why don’t we sit down and read your letter?” Jeanetta said. “Were they not having a visit from Lord Branford? Perhaps he has gone for Deb’s hand after all?”
“Old Deb? I doubt it.” But they found a seat and sat down.
“Well, it is so,” he exclaimed after opening it up. “I never thought that little fellow would stand being overtopped by so much. They are talking of a wedding in the autumn so that Deb can be shown first to his mother and the old earl for their approval I presume. They may find we have a change of monarch by then.”
“But that means she will leave Horden Hall. Will you be glad of that? Will you expect us to go and live there all the time?”
“Father has promised us Nether Horden Grange so we will be on our own as a family. You’ll be happier there.”
“It’s only an ordinary house. Where will the servants sleep?”
“Nay, it’s much bigger than you think. You have only passed it at a distance.”
“We must have our own carriage. When Deb is married why shouldn’t the old people go and live in the Grange and we in the Hall. There must be room for Ruth there too and I’m sure she won’t be as much trouble for a husband as Deb has been.”
“Netta, my father is the baronet. He’s in charge till his death or till he’s too old to carry on.”
“But we have everything here.”
“And I am nobody but your husband. Your brothers are growing up. Pierre is your father’s heir and already giving himself airs. I’ll answer Mother’s letter and tell her we expect to have Nether Horden Grange when we come. That should give Father time to see it’s fit for us. When we are there I can come and go on the true king’s business without any interference.”
Jeanetta went into a long sulk. “I will have Maria and you will have Matt and there will be the two nursemaids. What other servants will we have? I hope you’re not expecting me to cook and clean.”
John got up. “Oh Netta, there are much more important things to plan for. You were as excited as I about le Vent’s news.”
“I was but I can see it now. I will not be allowed to ride with you. LeVent does not trust women around and it is he and this Colonel Hooke who will lead the expedition, not you. I think they distrust you because your family is not Catholic.”
John stamped his foot. “I will not have you say that. I shall go in and write home now.”
She shouted after him, “You see you call thatplace home This is home to me.”
He didn’t look back. He marched into the château, hot and angry. It was true that Le Vent had not addressed him as if he were the leader. Colonel Hooke had the nobility organised and Le Vent like the wind moved everywhere. The lowlier gentry that he had stirred up himself would mingle with their superiors when the great march began and it would be the standards and banners of the great ones that would be carried in front. “I willmake my mark,” he told himself as he went from the heat of the garden to the cool of the library to write his letter.
Deborah walked over with Frederick and her father and mother to look at Nether Horden Grange when they received John’s letter. “It is just such a place as you and I could be happy in,” she said to Frederick.
“And much bigger and grander than where Iwas brought up,” he said.
If only we couldlive here, she thought fleetingly, only a mile from home and my beloved father! But my new life is to be Countess of Branford. I mustn’t be afraid.
Eunice was running her finger along the window ledges. “There are cobwebs and damp everywhere. I think, Daniel, if you really promised it to J
ohn we should have concentrated our improvements here these last months. At least the Hall was clean if not shining.”
They explored every room and descended to the big kitchen which had a heavy trapdoor in one corner.
“A cellar as well!” Frederick said.
Her father laughed. “Nay, it is more than that if I remember rightly. I’ll show you.” With the help of Frederick he lifted and dragged the trapdoor along by its iron ring, revealing stone steps down into the depths. “Wine has been kept here but these were actually dungeons. There was a medieval castle here once but it fell into ruin and much of the stone was taken by villagers. The site was cleared long before Sir Ralph’s time and the Grange built for a yeoman farmer. The dungeons were all that remained and were kept for storage.”
The heavy door was dragged back and let fall into place with a hollow sinister clang that reverberated beneath their feet.
Eunice shivered. “How could anyone be so cruel as to shut someone up in there? Let us get out into the sunshine again.”
They walked round the outside in the overgrown garden. Daniel looked up at the wing that had been added by Sir Ralph’s grandfather whose mistress occupied the Grange and produced a large illegitimate family.
“It occurs to me, Lord Branford, that if we have the place done up for John and his family he wouldn’t need that wing at first. You and your man could occupy it in the days leading up to the wedding so that you and Deborah were not under the same roof beforehand. I believe some people think that unlucky.”
“I would say, unseemly,” Eunice said. “Luck is not an idea I approve of. Everything is overruled by our Father in heaven.”
“Whatever arrangements you make will be acceptable to me, sir, but I would be most grateful if you would address me as Frederick.”
Deborah saw her father smile. “I will come to it in time.”
“I would like to start work on this garden,” Deborah said. “I wonder if there are tools in that shed.” She went to look.
“And there’s nothing I would like more than to help you,” Frederick said, following her.
A few minutes later as Daniel and Eunice were walking back to the Hall, they glanced over their shoulders at the two figures attacking the overgrown shrubs, Lord Branford with his coat hanging on the gate post and his shirt sleeves rolled up and Deborah in an apron she had found in the kitchen.
“An answer to prayer,” Eunice said.
“Indeed.” He heaved a great sigh. “I still can’t conceive how I am to part with her.”
Letters had been written to the old earl and Lady Branford, his daughter-in-law, and they were to expect to meet Frederick’s betrothed at the beginning of June. Deborah would make the return journey to Northumberland after a month’s stay and prepare for the wedding in September. Setting off for the journey south took Deborah back to the excitement of the start of her travels. She had never seriously imagined she would end up as an affianced bride. Such a hope she had told herself was the height of folly. She was only seeking new scenes and adventure and after meeting Edouard le Vent on the packet boat she had vowed to have nothing to do with men. Yet here she was now with Lord Frederick Branford sitting beside her in the stage coach and Suzette and Peter up top, three characters who had come into her life in these last two years. She was heading for a first look at the place which was to be her home for the rest of her life. The two years were an age and yet the time had brought so much change so quickly that she felt out of breath just thinking about it. “Frederick,” she said suddenly, “I want to ask you two
questions.” No one else could hear for two men passengers, a Scot and an Englishman were engaged in a lively discussion about the Act of Union. Frederick had evidently been listening to them but he immediately inclined his head to her. There was an anxious crease to his brow and an unusual wariness in his eyes.
She said, “Did my tale of Ranald Gordon truly make no difference to you?”
His face cleared at once. “I told you. I was only filled with greater love.”
“Even though I had loved another man and he had me.”
He shook his head. “We are both shaped by what has happened to us but our future together is a new thing for us both.”
She nodded. That chimed perfectly with her own sentiments. “The other question is, what made you come to me when you did?”
The anxiety returned. He hesitated. “My grandfather had been ill.”
“You could have written to me.”
“I did – from Rome – and you sent Peter but no letter. I felt – when we parted in Florence – that our friendship was becoming too close for you.”
“I know. I was unkind to you. I was fearful of meeting your grandfather’s titled friends. Who would they think I was? And then Will Smyth –”
He managed a rueful smile. “I fell out with Will Smyth. We were never close before but after that the rest of the tour was more of an endurance than a pleasure. Before I left home this time to visit you he thought he would be coming too but I told him his duty was to stay with my grandfather.”
“But I still wonder what inspired you to write to my grandmother and suggest the visit after so long a silence.”
He was definitely uncomfortable now. “Your silence held me back.”
“But something stirred you into action.”
“My grandfather improved. I could leave him. The silence had become a pain to me. I needed to know if there could still be hope for us and the moment I saw you I felt sure there could be, despite everything.”
“Despite my ridiculous height.”
“Ah, no.” His eyes were bright and clear again. “Despite the months of doubt.”
She ought to be satisfied but she was not. She had felt he was a man who would never have anything to hide from her. It had been his chief attraction, utter honesty and simplicity. Well, she had a month to get to know him in his home surroundings. “Tell me about your mother,” she said.
The Branford carriage had been sent to the staging inn and she renewed her acquaintance with Joseph who was driving it. It was very newly painted and polished and Frederick laughed when he saw it. She joined in. “Your family has behaved just like mine. I hope you didn’t imagine dear old Horden Hall was usually so smart.” It was lovely to feel that bond of amusement with him at the ways of the world.
He said to Joseph, “Castle Branford couldn’t possibly be like this all over?”
“Why no, my lord, but there’s been a deal o’ effort made.”
The first thing Deborah saw was that there was a solid lodge house at the gates and a stout lodge keeper, in a livery far too small for him, bowed his way out and flung back the gates.
She chuckled to Frederick. “We had to send one of our two grooms to open ours for you and then he had to run back to help with the carriage horses. As you saw later our gates are usually left open.” She looked about. There was a fine park with many trees but no sign of the house. “Yours is a long drive. And you call home a castle. I ought to be very nervous but somehow I’m not.”
“That’s one of the things I love about you. Your serenity, your humour. You do not know fear.”
“Oh come, I told you on the way that I was frightened to meet your society friends.”
“And I didn’t believe you. If you had met them you would have done it with charm and dignity.”
They were holding hands and she laughed and pressed his. They rounded a bend, passed through a great avenue of oaks and beeches, and rounded another bend.
“Oh!” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh!” She swallowed and turned her gaze on him. “Now I am frightened. It really isa castle. It’s – it’s huge!”
“That’s just what I said when Ifirst saw it. I’m still a little frightened but it’s truly just a rambling old place and most of it is hardly used.”
“Well, that’s a shame. It’s a waste of a fine building.”
The central castellated pile had spawned long wings in both directions. Could not on
e wing be a school? It began to dawn on her that the day would come when she would have a say in the management of this place. Frederick had never disagreed with her about anything yet. Was that how it would always be? For the present she kept silence though she could feel many plans stirring in her brain. But first she had to meet his grandfather, the earl.
It was his mother who came to the great pillared entrance to greet her. Oh, she could see her as a farmer’s daughter, rosycheeked, with Frederick’s light blue eyes, her grey hair unpowdered and neatly pinned behind. She was short but sturdy and looking younger than her age which must be late fifties. Deborah at once saw her as easier to deal with than her own mother, Eunice.
From the step she was standing on she could look straight into Deborah’s eyes and her first words were spoken with laughter.
“Fred did warn me. I think we’ll always have to hold our conversations out here.” But she came down and took Deborah’s hands. “You don’t look tired but come in and have a dish of tea in my little parlour.” She waved her hand towards the vast building behind them. “Don’t take any notice of all this. We can be quite cosy.” She gave her son a swift, passionate hug and then turned to Suzette, hanging back several paces behind her mistress as usual.
“You must be Suzette. Welcome, my child. There is a snug little bed in your mistress’s dressing-room for you. Follow us and I’ll show you where it is.”
Then she led the way up a wide staircase talking all the time. “You know, Deborah, I’m supposed to hate you for taking Fred from me but I won’t be that sort of mother-in-law. I wasn’t with Mary but she was a mere twig to your tree. She askedto be bullied so I made sure I didn’t.” She turned her bright face up to Deborah and laughed freely again. “I wouldn’t even try with you.”
They had been settled in the small parlour for five minutes and Lady Branford had poured tea with her own hand when a knock came on the door and a grey ancient face peeped round.
“Oh come in, Papa Ted,” cried Lady Branford. “Meet our Deborah.”
Prue Phillipson - Hordens of Horden Hall Page 22
