The Honeyfield Bequest

by Anna Jacobs

  ‘Had you seen the man before?’

  ‘I think it was our Irish grandfather.’

  She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to work out what to do. ‘We’d better keep you two home from school tomorrow. Maybe he’ll go away if he doesn’t see you again. I don’t think anyone from the village will tell him where we live, not now Sal’s put the word out that there’s someone trying to hurt us.’

  But she didn’t feel easy and in the end she telephoned Mr Perry and explained her worries. ‘I’m sorry to trouble you, but if you could just advise me …’

  He was silent for a few moments then said, ‘If you like, I’ll speak to your children’s headmaster tonight and warn him about the man. He’ll probably take it more seriously coming from me.’

  He didn’t say ‘because I’m a man’. He didn’t need to.

  ‘It’s a lot of trouble for you. Only, Honeyfield isn’t on any railway line and I have no means of getting away quickly.’

  ‘It’s not too much trouble because I have my own motor car now and it only takes about twenty minutes to drive over. I know where Mr Fleming lives and I’ve met him a few times on a church committee. I’ll telephone you afterwards.’

  ‘Thank you so much. I shouldn’t ask your help because you have enough on your plate, but I don’t know who else to turn to.’

  ‘You’re always welcome to ask my help. Always.’

  He had better telephone Mrs Latimer about this as well, he decided, and make sure she knew what was going on.

  Harriet Latimer was shocked. ‘Oh, dear! And we still haven’t found a suitable man to act as a guard. I should have made more effort. I’ll look into that straight away. Could you let me know what the headmaster says?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  Nathan might not be able to put himself into a position to get to know Kathleen better on a personal level, but he was certainly going to make sure he kept watch over her from a distance. And he’d ensure there were other people watching out for her too.

  It seemed so unfair to meet a woman he found attractive at a time when it was impossible to offer her anything but debts and the decline of his mother’s health and understanding.

  And at a time when she might have to flee and go into hiding. How would he ever find her again if she did that?

  Since there was no telephone at the school, Nathan telephoned a farmer whose accounts he did in Honeyfield and asked him to send his lad round to the headmaster’s home with a note asking if it would be convenient for him to call on James Fleming that very evening to discuss an urgent matter relating to the school.

  The farmer telephoned back saying Mr Fleming had suggested seven o’clock.

  Nathan intended to take Fleming into his confidence about Kathleen – though he must remember to call her Mrs Wareham. He could never think of her except as Kathleen, though.

  He was ready early, so left the car outside the shops and went for a short stroll round the village. He stopped in surprise at the sight of a man walking slowly along, staring at passers-by, muttering to himself.

  Could that be Keller? Nathan studied him carefully. Kit had a look of him, something about the eyes and the way the man’s hair curled.

  Who else could it be in a small village?

  Nathan slipped into a doorway and continued to watch, wondering what Keller was intending to do. Had he teamed up with Godfrey Seaton to trap his daughter? Would the man really sell his own flesh and blood, and risk seeing Kathleen and her children murdered? That went against human nature.

  He watched Keller go into a pub. Perhaps he didn’t know exactly where his daughter lived. Reluctantly, he decided not to follow him because he mustn’t miss his appointment, so he got back into his car and drove to the schoolmaster’s house on the edge of the village.

  James Fleming took him into a small study and listened carefully as he explained the situation. ‘Are you sure about this?’

  ‘I’m very sure that those two children could be in danger. But whether from their grandfather or their father’s cousin I don’t know. Perhaps both. They saw their grandfather outside the school, and I’ve just seen a man answering to his description walking up and down as if searching for something. So, as there’s little doubt that it was Keller lingering outside the school, I felt it wouldn’t hurt to alert you to the possible danger.’

  ‘May I ask why you’re involved in Mrs Wareham’s affairs?’

  ‘My firm does the accounts and oversees the management of the house where Mrs Wareham is the matron. It’s being paid for by the Honeyfield Bequest, money left by a generous lady to help women in trouble through no fault of their own. Such places can attract men of ill will.’

  ‘Ah, I see. My wife would probably like to get involved with something like that if she can be of any assistance to you.’ Fleming gave him a wry smile. ‘She’s a firm believer in equal pay and votes for women, though not, of course, in violent means of getting the vote like those Pankhurst females advocate.’

  ‘I believe women should have a vote too,’ Nathan said. ‘In my experience they’re no less intelligent than men. Believe me, the lady in charge of the bequest would put many men in the shade when it comes to handling money and running a business. And after all, what is a big charity like that but a type of business? A lot of men employ me to look after their accounts because they can’t even cope with keeping the simplest of account books.’

  James smiled. ‘You sound like a man who shares our views of the world. My wife and I will have to invite you round to tea one weekend – and your wife too, of course.’

  ‘I’m not married.’ He managed not to sigh, but he wanted to. ‘Nor am I likely to be able to contemplate it, much as I’d like to have a family. My father left his business affairs in rather a mess and it’ll take me a while to sort them out. And my mother is … not well, and not likely to get better again.’

  ‘Then you could come here on your own and the three of us will sort out the country’s problems over tea and crumpets.’

  ‘I’d really like that.’ Nathan leant back in his chair, liking this man more and more. It was a long time since he’d had an intelligent friend, not since his schooldays. Heavens, how quickly the years had slid past! Was he really twenty-seven already?

  ‘We might be able to sort out the problems here in England, but there’s trouble brewing in Europe, unless I’m much mistaken,’ James said thoughtfully. ‘And now there’s a second Moroccan crisis. Where is it all going to lead? Didn’t we have enough with the Boer Wars? Major nations talk about peace but they don’t seem to be able to settle into it.’

  ‘I couldn’t agree more. The German Kaiser in particular seems to have some very dangerous ideas, for all he’s related to our British royal family.’

  A clock chimed the hour just then. ‘Goodness me! I hadn’t realised I’d been here for so long. I mustn’t take up any more of your time.’

  ‘Well, I do have some marking to finish, I’m afraid. It’s been a pleasure to chat to you. Do you have a card? Thank you. Here’s mine. I’ll be in touch with you about coming to tea. And as for the other matter, you can be assured that I’ll keep my eye on those two children. I take my responsibilities as headmaster very seriously, I promise you.’

  After a day at home, Kit and Lizzie – who both loved their new, shorter names – said they’d rather go back to school because they were missing their new friends.

  ‘I’ll come and meet you after school and we’ll walk home together,’ Kathleen said at once.

  Kit groaned. ‘Oh, Mum, do you have to? It’ll make us look like babies.’

  ‘Then you’ll just have to look like babies. Do not leave the school yard until you see me. I mean that! Do not even go near the gates!’

  She was so anxious about their safety she was waiting there as the final bell of the day rang, standing behind a group of women and watching the passers-by carefully in case her father was there.

  But there was no sign of him, thank goodness. She ho
ped he’d given up looking round Honeyfield.

  The three of them walked along the main village street, with the children telling her about their day. But as they turned off towards Honeyfield House, her father suddenly stepped out from behind a cart whose horse was waiting patiently for his master.

  She stopped dead, not knowing what to do.

  ‘I’m not going to hurt you, Kathleen, but let’s get out of sight of people who might,’ he said in his gravelly voice.

  The children stared at him uneasily and he stared back, his expression sombre, not giving away anything about why he wanted to see her.

  She turned into the lane and then stopped. ‘You can run off home now, children. We’ll follow you more slowly.’

  She watched them hurry off down the lane, relieved that Sal would be there at the house. Dear Sal wouldn’t let anything happen to them. ‘What do you want, Da?’

  ‘I need to know where you are, and now that I’ve found out, I want to know what you’re doing here.’

  ‘So that you can tell your employer where to find me? Well, we won’t be here by the time you get back, I promise you. I have friends who’ll help me get away this very night.’

  ‘There’s no need to run off. I’ll not be saying a word to him about you.’

  He bent his head, fiddling with the hat he was still holding in his hands, then looked at her with a sad expression. ‘He’s worse than I’d thought, Mr Godfrey is, an evil man. It didn’t take me long to find that out and I’m leaving Seaton’s as soon as I find another job. He’s cruel to the horses, that one is, expects too much of them.’

  His father had always cared more about horses than people, she thought.

  ‘It’s always a bad sign that, folk who’re cruel to their working animals. No need to make pets of them, but if you want them to work hard, you have to treat them right. The old master’s wife dotes on Mr Godfrey and he takes care to keep her happy, because he wants her money, but he doesn’t give a fig for anyone else and the men are afraid of him.’

  She studied her father’s face as he spoke. She’d learnt years ago that certain muscles in his jaw twitched slightly when he was telling her lies. They weren’t twitching now. Was it possible he was telling the truth? Did she dare trust him?

  No, she didn’t dare, just simply couldn’t after the years of harsh treatment. But it wouldn’t hurt to listen to him, to find out if what he had to say was credible, see if she needed to flee or not. She looked along the lane. It led to nowhere but Honeyfield House, so there could be no disguising where they lived.

  ‘You might as well come home with me, Da. I’ll make us a cup of tea.’

  ‘That’d be welcome. I’ve a powerful thirst on me. And a bite of something to eat, if you can spare it.’

  ‘You always did eat and drink a lot.’

  ‘I work hard. I need to feed my muscles, don’t I? And now that I daren’t go into a pub, I get more thirsty of an evening.’

  She’d set off walking but stopped in surprise at this statement. ‘Daren’t go into a pub? Whatever do you mean?’

  ‘He said if he sees me in a pub, he’ll sack me on the spot, and the same goes for any of the men. Seems he’s a teetotaller and wants the whole world to be as miserable as he is. It was a bad day for us all when Mr Seaton died. You’re not the only one to lose by it.’

  If her father was spinning a story, it was better than his usual efforts, she had to give him that.

  ‘How come you’ve got time during the day to come hunting for me, Da?’

  He shrugged. ‘Work’s slowed down because people don’t like dealing with him. He’s sent all the men home for three days without pay, except for one man to take care of the horses. How does he think we’ll put bread on the table if we don’t have any money?’

  ‘How did you think of coming to Honeyfield? How did you find me? That’s what I don’t understand.’

  ‘Barty mentioned the place he’d taken you to his friend Bill, who is also my friend. But he wouldn’t give me your address, even though I told him I’d not be hurting you. He said the fellow who helped you get away lives round here, but has stopped going for walks at weekends.’

  She should have remembered that Bill knew her father and not been tempted to live at Honeyfield House. It was too close to her old home.

  ‘I hired a horse and rode over to see if I could find you. The fellow at the pub is keeping an eye on the horse for me. You see a lot when you’re on the road on foot or riding a horse. You don’t see nearly as much when you’re in one of them tin boxes with your nostrils full of the stink of petrol. But the day before yesterday, almost as soon as I got here, I saw the school and thought I’d have a look at the children.’

  ‘Sheer chance, then.’

  ‘Nay, I had the wit to come to Honeyfield, didn’t I? The wit to think that my grandchildren would be at school, with a mother so fond of book learning. Do you think you’re the only one in the family with a brain? Well, you’re not. Anyway, I recognised your two straight off, because that little lass has a look of you, and your lad looks like our Daniel did when he was a boy. Only they ran off and I couldn’t find them.’

  He shrugged. ‘I knew then that you’d be living somewhere round about so I came back today. They weren’t there. I was going to see the headmaster and ask him, only I saw you walking down the street with them.’

  Blind chance had a lot to answer for, she thought bitterly. ‘Well, come in.’

  But he was staring at the house and then at her, frowning suspiciously. ‘How come you’re living in such a grand place? Have you got yourself a gentleman to keep you?’

  ‘No, I haven’t. I work here. I’m the matron. Or I was till you found me. Now I’ll have to run away again and who knows where I’ll wind up? I should have gone further away this time, if it weren’t for being offered such a good job.’

  ‘You’ve no need to up your sticks again. I’ll not be telling him where you are.’

  ‘Except that I don’t trust you.’

  He grabbed her arm and gave her a quick shake. ‘I’m telling you the truth, Kathleen Frances.’

  The kitchen door flew open and Sal hurtled out brandishing the poker. ‘Let her go, you brute!’

  He laughed, feinted and grabbed the poker, twisting it quickly out of her hand.

  Kathleen pushed between them. ‘This is my father, Sal. He’s coming in for a cup of tea and a chat. Don’t ever let him take the children away, though. I don’t trust them with anyone else. Are they all right?’

  ‘Yes. They came running in and went off to hide. That’s what they think of their grandfather. I’ve got one grandchild now and another was on the way when I left. I’d be ashamed for them to be hiding from me, deep-down ashamed.’ She scowled at Fergus.

  He blinked in shock at this defiance and didn’t seem to know what to say. His years with her meek mother hadn’t prepared him for dealing with women who stood up for themselves, Kathleen thought. To her surprise she found herself smiling. She’d back Sal against anyone unless Sal was outnumbered.

  ‘And you’ll have bruised your daughter, grabbing her and shaking her about like that, Mr Keller. Shame on you. If you were my man, I’d wait till you were asleep and hit you good and hard with a big stick to pay you back.’

  To Kathleen’s further surprise, her father began to smile.

  ‘I bet you would, too. Ah, come away in with you, woman. I didn’t hurt Kathleen, nor does she need a watchdog barking at me. She’s never been afraid to do her own barking.’ He turned to his daughter. ‘Does this woman know about you?’

  ‘Of course she does.’

  ‘Well, I’d still rather speak to you on my own.’

  ‘And I’d rather Sal stayed with us.’

  A baby cried from inside and Sal turned at once. ‘She’s hungry. I’ll have to feed her or she’ll cry the place down.’

  ‘You’ve got a child?’

  ‘Yes. But no husband because he’s dead.’ She set her hands on her hips for a momen
t and gave him a challenging stare, then went inside.

  ‘She’s a fine woman, that one,’ he said. ‘Got spirit. I like that in horses and women.’

  That was news to Kathleen. Her father had always seemed to want a meek wife …. Or had her mother been meek by nature? That had never occurred to her. ‘Sal’s been a good friend to me. Come away in. I could do with a cup of tea as well.’

  Her father didn’t say much as he drank three cups of tea and ate some bread and jam. Then he began to fiddle with the cup and look sideways at his daughter. ‘You can trust me, you know. Now I’ve had to give up drinking, I’m not feeling as … well, as angry all the time. My mind seems a lot clearer. And your mother didn’t help. She used to drive me wild, the way she wasted my hard-earned money. I’ll try to keep an eye on Mr Godfrey. I think you’d be safer here among people who know you than you would be wandering the country on your own.’

  ‘You’re not the first to tell me that. I hope you’re right.’

  Sal came back to join them. ‘What we need is a strong man to work here and help protect us. Haven’t been able to find one yet, though. He needs to be able to look after a garden, do odd jobs and keep an eye open for intruders. Do you know anyone, Mr Keller?’

  ‘I might.’ He turned to Kathleen. ‘You remember Brian O’Donnell? Well, he’s looking to get away from Swindon. His wife up and died on him and the new baby with her. He’s talking of going on the tramp, he’s so desperate to leave. He was fond of her, was looking forward to having children.’

  ‘I remember him from church. He was in the choir, wasn’t he? Smiled a lot.’

  ‘Yes. He doesn’t do much singing or smiling now, though.’

  ‘Give me his address and I’ll tell the ladies who manage the charity about him. I don’t have the power to hire anyone.’

  He pushed the piece of paper back to her. ‘I’ll tell it to you and you write it down. You write a clearer hand than I do.’ He did that then nodded at Sal and pushed his chair back. ‘Thank you for the food, missus. I’d better be off now. That horse will want to get back to its stable.’