by Dilly Court
‘As a matter of fact it was Hector who gave the bride away,’ he said casually, ‘and a fine job he did of it, too.’
Eloise sniffed the air suspiciously. ‘Have you been drinking, Humphrey?’
‘I had a glass or two of champagne to toast the happy couple and to wish Hector bon voyage, if that’s appropriate for a man who might be facing war.’ Humphrey curled his fingers around Angel’s hand. ‘You could have come home in time to see him off. We might never see him again.’
‘Don’t say things like that.’ Susannah’s bottom lip trembled. ‘Haven’t I suffered enough without you adding to my troubles?’
‘You always were selfish, but I thought better of you, Mama.’ Humphrey strolled off, leaving his mother and sister open-mouthed.
‘Come back here this minute, Humphrey,’ Eloise cried, stamping her foot like a spoiled child. ‘You cannot speak to your mama in that tone of voice. I won’t stand for it.’
Susannah placed her arm around her mother’s shoulders. ‘This is all your fault, Angel. You encouraged that girl to think she was our equal, and now Humphrey is being objectionable and you’ve allowed him to drink. Shame on you.’
Angel could see that neither of them was open to reason and she turned away. ‘Dinner will be served in an hour,’ she said coldly.
‘Susannah, help me upstairs.’ Eloise leaned heavily on her daughter’s arm. ‘And as we have no chambermaid you will have to bring hot water to my room, Angel Winter. You will work to pay back the hospitality that has been lavished upon you since my brother foisted you on us.’
‘That’s not very fair, Mama,’ Susannah protested as she helped her mother to ascend the wide staircase. ‘It’s not Angel’s fault that we have to make economies.’
‘Is it not? It’s strange how bad luck has come upon us since her arrival. We were a happy and united family until she was forced upon us.’
Angel did not wait to hear Susannah’s answer. She sighed, but she was used to Aunt Eloise’s barbs, and in that respect nothing much had changed. She made her way to the kitchen to ask Lil to wait on table that evening, and she sent Flossie upstairs with a pitcher of hot water.
‘I can’t wait on table,’ Lil said stonily. ‘You know how clumsy I am, Angel. Like as not I’ll tip soup into Madam’s lap.’
‘Serve her right.’ Cook slammed a lump of dough down on the table top. ‘I know I shouldn’t say it of my betters, but the housekeeping has gone awry since Mrs Kerslake retired and no replacement was found. How can a house of this size be managed with just the three of us? It’s impossible, that’s what it is.’
‘We know there’s something going on, Angel.’ Lil gave her a searching look. ‘Out with it. Tell us the worst, and don’t pretend that things are normal, because I saw that villain, Galloway. What did he want here?’
Angel could see that they were not going to be fobbed off with platitudes. ‘The truth is that the family are in trouble financially. Sir Adolphus has lost a lot of money and his creditors are threatening to bankrupt him. It’s possible that Grantley and the estate might have to be sold.’
Cook slumped down on a three-legged stool, leaving just the top of her head and her white mobcap visible above the table. ‘Heaven help us all.’
‘I wouldn’t trust anything that Galloway fellow says.’ Lil folded her bony arms across her chest. ‘You remember what he did to you and to poor Mrs Wilding.’
‘Of course I do. I’ve told Captain Devane everything, but he had no choice other than to sign an agreement to repay the creditors a monthly sum.’
‘Can we afford it?’ Lil’s sandy eyebrows knotted over the bridge of her nose. ‘Has her ladyship upstairs got a private income?’
Angel shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘What does it mean for us?’ Cook demanded angrily. ‘Are we going to be dismissed?’
‘Not if I can help it.’ Angel moved to the doorway. ‘I’m going to do everything I can to ease the situation, and I know you’ll help me, even if it means putting up with extra work.’
Lil and Cook exchanged weary glances. ‘I’ll wait on table,’ Lil said gloomily, ‘but don’t blame me if it goes horribly wrong.’
‘I can’t work any harder.’ Cook rose stiffly to her feet and began attacking the bread dough. ‘But I’ll do me bit, Angel.’
‘Thank you both. I knew I could count on you. But please don’t say anything to the outside staff, not yet anyway. I’m going to London tomorrow to see Galloway in his office and find out exactly how we stand. We’re none of us going to give in easily.’
The firm of Beauchamp and Quelch had offices in one of the terraced four-storey houses in Lincoln’s Inn Fields that had once been the homes of lords and ladies, but were now inhabited almost entirely by the legal profession. Angel arrived there with Lil in attendance. The clerk in his green-tinged black suit, worn shiny at the elbows and knees, gazed at them suspiciously.
‘Mr Galloway sees nobody other than by appointment.’
‘I think he’ll see me,’ Angel said confidently. ‘Please tell him that Miss Winter wishes to speak to him on an urgent matter.’
Lil leaned over the desk, fixing the nervous man with a hard stare. ‘And if you value that skinny neck of yours you’ll come back with a satisfactory answer. Do you understand me?’
He stood up and backed away, keeping a wary eye on Lil until he was able to escape into a narrow corridor.
‘Galloway will see me,’ Angel said firmly.
‘If he refuses I’ll break the door down.’ Lil cracked her knuckles, making an impressive sound that echoed off the wainscoted walls. ‘Don’t think I won’t do it, Angel. I’m not in a mood to be thwarted by a mealy-mouthed clerk.’
They waited for nearly an hour with Lil growing more and more impatient as the minutes ticked by. She sat, flexing her fingers and glaring at the clerk, who was becoming increasingly anxious, and had started twitching nervously. Angel was also losing patience and she was about to demand an explanation when she heard the sound of footsteps and Galloway appeared in the doorway.
‘I’m sorry to keep you waiting, ladies,’ he said with an ingratiating smile. ‘Come with me, if you please.’ He hesitated, turning his head to give Lil a sly look. ‘Not you. I don’t deal with old lags.’
Lil drew herself up to her full height, bristling and baring her teeth. ‘No need to bring that up, guv. I’m a respectable woman now and I’m here to look after Miss Angel.’
‘I have no secrets from Miss Heavitree.’ Angel controlled her voice with difficulty.
‘You do know the history of the woman who suckled you as a baby, don’t you, Angel?’
His tone was offensive, but Angel realised that he was being deliberately provocative and she forced her lips into a smile. ‘Of course I do, sir. We have no secrets from each other. Now might we get on with our business? You’ve kept us waiting long enough.’
He shrugged. ‘Follow me.’
His office was at the far end of a dark and narrow corridor, and its interior was just as gloomy, with a strong smell of musty books and town gas. Galloway motioned them to sit on upright wooden chairs while he enthroned himself comfortably behind his desk.
‘Now what can I do for you, Angel?’
‘It’s Miss Winter to you, mate,’ Lil said angrily. ‘I remember how you wormed your way into poor Mrs Wilding’s good books. I reckon it was you who caused Mr Wilding’s financial ruin while feathering your own nest. I blame you for both their deaths, you scoundrel.’
Galloway leaned forward, eyes narrowed and lips pulled back in a snarl. ‘I could have you up in court for slander, Lumpy Lil. Do you think a magistrate would believe the word of a fallen woman?’ His bark of laughter echoed round the room. ‘I could lay my hands on your police record if I wished, so don’t try to be clever.’
Angel laid her hand on Lil’s arm. ‘Ignore his taunts, Lil. You’re better than that.’ She met Galloway’s cynical grin with a straight look. ‘And don’t try to fri
ghten me, Mr Galloway. I’m here today to find out the extent of Grantley’s financial problems, and I want straight answers from you.’
‘I can see that you have grown up, Miss Winter,’ Galloway said, nodding. ‘Well, since you ask I could show you the mortgage agreement that Sir Adolphus signed two years ago, and the demands for payments that have not been met, but as Captain Devane went through them so recently I don’t think it appropriate.’
‘I need to see them for myself.’
‘Surely this is none of your business,’ Galloway said silkily. ‘After all, Mrs Devane is head of the family in the absence of her brother and her eldest son.’
Lil rose to her feet and leaned over the desk. The muscles in her forearms stood out cord-like beneath the thin cotton sleeves of her grey frock. ‘You will do as Miss Winter asks, Galloway. I learned a few tricks in prison and I ain’t afraid to use them on you.’
He stood up abruptly, and for a moment Angel thought that he was going to strike Lil, but he snapped his fingers in her face instead. ‘Sit down, you silly bitch. I could have you up before the magistrate for making threats on my person, but you’re not worth the bother.’ He sat down again and opened a drawer, taking out a sheaf of papers, which he slammed down in front of Angel. ‘I represent the family and you are an interloper, taken in by Sir Adolphus on a whim. By the same token the Devanes could throw you out and refuse to have anything more to do with you. Read these and then get out of my office. If you return I’ll give my clerk instructions to have you forcefully ejected. Do you understand, Angel Winter?’
She bent her head over the papers, holding up her hand for silence. ‘This is all I need. I wouldn’t think of coming here again, but your days as the family’s solicitor are numbered, I promise you that, Mr Galloway.’ She could hear him spluttering, but she ignored his mumbled insults and concentrated on the documents, which seemed genuine enough. When she was satisfied that she had understood their contents she rose to her feet.
‘I can do nothing about you. That will be for Sir Adolphus to settle, but he knows how you treated me when I was a child and he will not take kindly to learning that you’ve taken over from the late Mr Beauchamp.’ She joined Lil, who had already risen and was holding the door open. ‘Good day to you, Mr Galloway. I hope we never meet again.’
Outside in the sunshine Angel took a deep breath. Even though the air was fetid with the stench from the river and festering privies and drains, it was still cleaner than the smell of corruption that surrounded Galloway in a nimbus cloud.
‘That man is a villain,’ she said, sighing. ‘But I couldn’t see anything to suggest that he was lying about Grantley’s financial position.’
Lil mopped beads of sweat from her forehead with an already damp hanky. ‘I could have wrung his neck, the old toad. Men like him should be strung up and left for the crows to feast on.’
‘He seems to be enjoying Grantley’s difficulties,’ Angel said thoughtfully. ‘You’d think that it would be in his interests, as the Devanes’ lawyer, to save the estate from bankruptcy.’ Angel waved to attract the attention of Russell, the Devanes’ coachman who had been waiting in the shade of the huge plane trees. ‘I can’t bear to see everything lost, even though none of it belongs to me.’
The carriage drew up at the kerb and Lil opened the door before the coachman had a chance to leap down and oblige. ‘I ain’t helpless, cully,’ she said, giving him a gap-toothed grin. ‘Take us back to Grantley, away from the city stench.’ She bundled Angel unceremoniously into the carriage and climbed in beside her. ‘Drive on.’ Her strident tones caused the pigeons and sparrows that had been pecking at the ground in their constant search for food to fly up into the branches with squawks of alarm.
Angel leaned back against the worn squabs and closed her eyes. She needed to think, but try as she might she could see no easy way out of the problem. Hector had promised to talk things over with his uncle, but they were both far away and the creditors were obviously pressing hard for repayment of the mortgage. That was clear from the demands she had just seen.
They travelled on in silence and Lil fell asleep, her head lolling to one side and her mouth open. Angel gazed out of the window at the mean streets, the filthy, ragged children running round barefoot, and the slatternly women leaning in doorways with babies in their arms and toddlers hanging on their skirts. The stench of the gasworks and the soap factory mingled with the smoke and heat from the iron works as they headed east towards the River Lea. Having crossed the river, Leyton marshes stretched out on either side of the main road. Soon they would be home.
Then, without warning, the carriage came to a halt, almost throwing Lil from her seat. She awakened with a start.
‘Lord bless us!’ Lil righted her bonnet, which had slipped over one eye, and leaned across Angel to peer out of the window. ‘What’s happened?’
Angel opened the door and climbed down to the ground. She had seen a girl in an obvious state of distress, leaning against a tall young man. Their luggage was strewn about the road and a coachman and a footman were in the process of unharnessing the two horses, as the carriage tilted dangerously to one side.
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Angel asked anxiously. ‘Are you hurt?’
The young man managed a smile but it was obvious that he was shaken. ‘Thankfully, no. But as you can see, my sister is very upset.’
‘What can we do to help them, Russell?’ Angel asked urgently.
‘Leyton is only a short distance away, miss. But Grantley is nearer, although they’d need a tow to get there.’
The worried young man turned to the coachman, who was leading one of the horses. ‘You’d best ride to the nearest village for help, Atkins.’
Atkins glanced at the sturdy carriage horse and paled beneath his tan. ‘I – I never rode bareback before, sir. I’ve driven plenty but I ain’t no rider. Smith will have to go.’
The footman shook his head. ‘I can’t ride. I never had a chance to learn, sir.’
‘What’s the matter with you lily-livered cowards?’ Lil demanded angrily. ‘Help me onto the brute’s back and I’ll go. I’m good with horses, even though I never sat on one.’
‘That won’t be necessary,’ Angel said hastily. ‘I’m sure one of the others will be brave enough to try.’
‘It’s all right, Mr Montgomerie, sir. Smith will go and I’ll give him a leg up.’ Atkins tethered his animal to one of the shafts. ‘Come on, Smith. There’s nothing to it, boy.’ He tossed the unfortunate footman onto the horse’s back and slapped the animal’s rump, causing it to break into a trot that almost unseated the nervous footman.
‘Will he be all right, Atkins? Smith doesn’t look too confident on horseback.’ The young man watched anxiously as the footman clung to the horse’s mane.
‘Smith will be fine, sir, but I can’t say the same for this here vehicle.’ Atkins surveyed the damage, shaking his head. ‘I’m afraid the axle is broken, sir. This can’t be fixed in a hurry.’
The young lady lifted her head, tears streaming from her large blue eyes. ‘Oh, Percy, what will we do?’
‘Calm down, Belle. No one is hurt and the horses are unharmed. The carriage can be mended; it just means a delay of a few days.’ The young man turned to Angel with a winning smile on his pleasant features. ‘How do you do, ma’am? As there is no one to introduce us formally please allow me to present my sister, Belinda Montgomerie, and I’m Percival, although everyone calls me Percy.’
‘I seem to have lost my hanky,’ Belinda said, sniffing.
Lil stepped forward, taking a slightly damp handkerchief from her reticule. ‘Use this one, miss. It’s quite clean, just a bit soggy. It was hot as hell in the city.’
Angel shot her a warning look as she stepped forward, holding out her hand. ‘I apologise for my maid’s colourful language, but it was exceedingly warm. However, that’s by the bye. I’m Angel Winter and I live at Grantley Park, which is just a few miles east of here.’
&nbs
p; Belinda wiped her eyes and blew her nose before handing the hanky back to Lil. ‘Thank you, Miss Winter. I’m only upset because we’re going to miss our cousin’s wedding in Colchester, and I was so looking forward to being a bridesmaid. I wish now that we’d taken the train.’
‘Just be thankful that you’re in one piece,’ Percy said severely. ‘It could have been so much worse.’ He turned to the coachman, who was holding the reins of the second horse. ‘How long do you think it will take to repair the damage, Atkins?’
The coachman scratched his head. ‘I dunno, sir, and that’s the truth of it. Out here in the wilds it might take any amount of time to get the vehicle towed to a coach builder or a smithy.’
‘What do we do in the meantime, Percy?’ Belinda’s bottom lip began to tremble ominously.
‘Here, miss. You’d better keep hold of this,’ Lil said, handing her the crumpled hanky.
Angel laid her hand on Belinda’s shoulder. ‘If you would like to come with us you can stay at Grantley until your carriage is roadworthy. Would that be a help?’
The Montgomeries exchanged glances and nodded in unison.
‘That is very kind.’ Percy’s worried frown was replaced by a smile. ‘It looks like rain and I wouldn’t want my sister to suffer from exposure. She’s quite delicate and easily takes a chill. But,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘we will only accept if you allow us to pay for our accommodation.’
An idea struck Angel with the suddenness of a summer thunderstorm. It was so obvious that she wondered why she had not thought of it before. ‘Yes,’ she murmured. ‘Come with us and we’ll talk about that later.’
Chapter Thirteen
‘What?’ Eloise’s voice rose to a shriek. ‘Turn Grantley into common lodging house? Over my dead body.’
‘A hotel, not a lodging house. There’s a big difference.’ Angel handed her aunt the silver vinaigrette containing a sponge soaked in sal volatile, and Eloise inhaled deeply, her blue-veined eyelids fluttering.
Susannah sank down on the sofa, fanning herself vigorously. ‘You must be mad, Angel. What will you think of next?’ she said angrily. ‘You’re upsetting Mama with such talk.’
