When he told her, she blenched. ‘But that is surely far too much? Goodness, it would represent a quarter’s pay for some.’
‘Aye, it do.’ Ennor nodded, his tone of voice low, harsh with unspoken anger. ‘It’s double what we were paying last year, but Mr Jago claims the rent was uneconomic before because Sir Ralph allowed himself to be taken advantage of, which isn’t true. The master was always fair, but Mr Jago—’
His wife nudged him with her elbow and Ennor stopped whatever he’d been about to say, clearly adjusting it slightly before continuing. ‘Mr Jago, ’ee says as how prices are rising, jobs are scarce and we’re lucky to have a roof over our heads at all.
‘We started down this road in my father’s day, back thirty year or more. Agriculture went into a depression, and we’ve hardly come out of it since. We all blamed the weather at first, there being several wet summers, followed by years of drought. The weather didn’t help, of course, but then it became clear that imports flooding the market were causing havoc with prices. With no sign of recovery, folks lost heart. They upped sticks and went north to work in the factories, earning more money than they could ever get on the land. It’s little better today. Prices may rise in other things, but not in farming, where they’re as depressed as ever. Like I say, if I sell a cow or a young lamb, I’m paid a pittance for ’ee. I might as well give it away. The golden years of farming are over.’
‘Can’t you explain all of this to Jago?’ Rose asked, feeling somewhat bemused by this long, heart-rending tale.
The farmer almost laughed. ‘There’s no shifting the master once ’ee has an idea in his head. All I would say is, even if ’ee turns us out, ’ee’ll not find anyone else willing to pay the rent ’ee’s asking. There aren’t many fool enough to work the hours for what we get in return, not and live as we do, a bucket out back for the necessary. I tell you, milady, we wouldn’t eat as well as we do if it weren’t for my good wife. We’d be in a worse state if it weren’t for her skills.’
Judging by the state of the family, Rose couldn’t begin to imagine how much worse that might be, but her mind was made up. These people were tenants on Robbie’s land, and she was quite certain that dear Rosalind would have moved heaven and earth to help them.
‘I shall certainly have a word with Jago, and put these points to him. I will do the very best I can for you. I’m sure we can resolve this matter to everyone’s satisfaction.’ But as they made their way back in the ferry to Fowey, Tilly gushing with gratitude, Rose didn’t feel anywhere near as confident as she had sounded. But then Jago represented a formidable adversary.
Chapter Eleven
Bryce was waiting for them on the Town Quay as the ferry boat bumped against the harbour steps, and came quickly down to hand her out before the ferryman had the chance.
‘Are you agreeable to a short walk, or have you had enough for one day?’
Just the touch of his hand on hers was turning her knees to jelly. What could be wrong with her? Didn’t she thoroughly dislike this man?
‘What about Tilly? We can’t just abandon her.’
‘Don’t worry about me, milady, I shall call on my aunt and uncle, who have a watchmaker’s shop on Fore Street, and visit various friends hereabouts. I could introduce them to Master Robbie, if you’ll allow me to mind him for you.’
‘That would be most kind, Tilly.’
They agreed to meet back at the Town Quay on the dot of five, then Rose hesitantly accepted the arm Bryce offered, and allowed him to lead her away.
They walked the length of Fore Street, past Albert Quay, named after Victoria’s beloved consort, and on through Passage Street, the whitewashed cottages seeming to nod to each other across the narrow street, as if enjoying a pleasant gossip.
They walked for some distance and Rose was about to ask where he was taking her when he stopped outside a large house built close to the Bodinnick Ferry, a small jetty jutting out from the front yard into the river. ‘Here we are, my new place of business. Ideally placed for passing traffic, both of the road and river variety. It’s not open yet, but would you like to see inside?’
‘Very much.’
He led her up the steps of a tall Georgian building and unlocked a blue-painted door. Rose wasn’t certain what to expect, having heard of his intention to open a chandler’s but not being entirely sure what that might involve. Once inside, it was like an Aladdin’s cave. There was everything the boatman might need, from ropes to waterproofs, lanterns and nets, life jackets and whistles, paint and varnish, and all manner of provisions and supplies.
‘We’ll supply the big ships that come down the River Fowey, not only the simple fisherman, and as it’s a busy port, we hope to do well.’
‘By “we”, do you mean you and Jago?’
His face seemed to darken. ‘No, what my brother will ultimately do with his life I have no idea, but I am in partnership with a fine young man who was looking for a backer to loan him the money to start this splendid business. I was only too happy to oblige.’
‘For a share in the profit, obviously?’ Rose said with a smile.
‘But of course. We will be equal partners, and business is business, after all. Don’t tell me that you are against making a profit? Every woman likes money, certainly my mother does.’
Rose carefully expressed no opinion on that particular point. ‘I personally have never been in the position to open a business, but I’m sure if I were then I’d consider a good profit on my investment to be essential. I applaud your entrepreneurial spirit.’
‘Was your husband not in business, in New York?’
Rose looked up into his politely questioning eyes and felt her mind freeze over. Yet again he had caught her off balance, one minute all jovial and friendly, the next catching her unawares with a pointed question. She really had no idea what job, if any, Rosalind’s husband had done. She’d rather assumed that as a gentleman he’d had no need to work. Now, she wondered if that were true. Their wedding had been simple and they’d lived in a one-bedroom apartment, so perhaps the couple were not as well off as she’d at first imagined.
‘Oh, Robert managed to earn an honest living one way or another,’ she said, rather dismissively. So many questions. So many lies. Rose really had no wish to add to them, not just now. ‘Goodness, what is this?’ she asked, anxious to change the subject.
‘It’s a flagpole, for a ship. We can provide your own personal flag too.’ But he clearly had no intention of letting her off the hook so easily. ‘What kind of honest living? Did Robert work in finance, or politics, as gentlemen do? Or did his father provide an allowance for him despite their estrangement?’
‘My husband was ever the gentleman. With regard to the allowance, I really couldn’t say. I never thought it my place to ask.’ She met his curious gaze with defiance in her own, watching his struggle not to press the matter further with some amusement. Yet all Rose could think of was that having removed his hat, the wind had tousled his hair most delightfully. She was wondering how it would feel to brush back those dark curls from his brow.
‘Then you were a rare wife indeed.’
‘Oh, very rare.’
He said nothing more, as if by his silence he might force her to continue. Feeling rather pleased with herself at having resisted yet another attempt to probe, Rose again turned to examining the stock. ‘And what is this, might I ask?’
‘It’s a tiller, and here are several rather clever compasses that will help you navigate your way around the world. Would you like to travel one day, do you think?’
‘Sailing from America to England was quite enough for me.’ She almost laughed out loud at the question, wondering what his reaction would be if she told him that she had in fact travelled halfway around the world to America, and back again. ‘Particularly since I was alone.’
‘You could always come with me.’
Rose quickly turned away, flustered by his teasing, and by that so-familiar glint in his eye. ‘This must be the finest
set of oars I ever saw,’ she said, in desperation. Not that she was any judge on such devices, never having any reason to notice them in the past. They’d certainly had little sight of such items in steerage.
Bryce was chuckling softly in that knowing way he had, which always brought a warmth to her cheeks. It was almost as if he recognised the effect he was having on her, and was really quite enjoying it. ‘Perhaps you would simply wish to cruise up and down the river, in which case we could provide mahogany seating for your cabin, with plush crimson cushions. And here is a most beautiful set of crockery to which we can have your own personal crest added. What do you think of that?’
The awkward moment seemed to have passed, and Rose too was laughing, responding to his boyish enthusiasm. ‘Quite astonishing. I’m hugely impressed.’
‘Would you like to see the offices?’
Then they were clattering up the stairs and Bryce was explaining which would be his office on the days he came in to deal with the accounts. It all looked most efficient and businesslike.
‘When do you open?’
‘Any day now. Certainly by Midsummer’s Day.’
A thoughtful crease marred her brow. ‘That’s the next quarter day, isn’t it? The 24th of June.’
‘It is indeed, when our – or rather your – son’s estate rents are paid.’
‘Who sets the rents?’
‘That is Jago’s job.’
‘I rather thought it might be.’ She said nothing about the Carwyn family, not wishing to break Ennor’s confidence. Rose was reluctant to embroil them in a dispute. Besides, Rose deemed it more correct to speak to Jago first. ‘Does no one else have any say?’
‘Not now that Sir Ralph is dead. Why do you ask?’
‘No reason, I was curious, that’s all.’
‘You weren’t considering replacing him with someone else, were you? I doubt my brother would be too pleased about that.’
‘No, of course not. I’m sure he does a splendid job.’ It was as they were walking back along Fore Street that she asked a question very much on her mind. ‘I take it then that you have no real regrets about the loss of inheritance you’ve suffered?’
‘None whatsoever. I cannot have lost what I never expected to gain. I always had my heart set on some sort of business, and a chandler’s seems the perfect solution.’
‘Good, I’m glad to hear it,’ Rose said.
They walked for a moment in silence, which might almost have been called companionable. Rose was acutely aware of his closeness, of the heat flowing from his body to hers, the strength of his arm upon which she rested her gloved hand. It felt perfectly right there, as if it belonged. She wondered how it might feel if that arm slipped about her waist, if he pressed her to his broad chest and— Her wandering thoughts were jerked back to attention with his next words.
‘My brother, however, is another matter altogether. I would warn you to tread softly around him.’
‘None of this was my doing,’ Rose protested. ‘In fact …’ Lulled into a sense of closeness with him, she almost told Bryce then about the incident on the cliff top, but then changed her mind at the last moment. Blood ran thicker than water, and it was such a wild and crazy thing for Jago to do, Bryce might easily accuse her of making the whole thing up. Then they’d be at loggerheads again. And for some reason she had no wish to be at odds with this man.
‘You were saying?’ He’d paused to look down at her, patiently waiting for her to continue.
She smiled brightly. ‘I forget. Nothing of any consequence.’
‘Everything you say is of consequence, at least to me. You simply don’t say enough, that is the problem.’
‘Perhaps I have said too much,’ she responded, and for once was pleased to see that he was the one looking puzzled.
Rose chose to confront Jago around noon the next day in the estate office. She’d spent a largely sleepless night, and most of the morning, carefully practising what she wanted to say. Now, with some trepidation, she tapped on his door.
‘Enter.’ His tone was not welcoming.
Rose turned the brass knob and did as she was bid. Jago glanced up in surprise. ‘Well, well, what is this? Come to apologise for your ill-mannered behaviour the other morning?’
Rose was taken aback. ‘My ill-behaviour? What reason have I to apologise to you?’ She felt quite breathless with outrage at the thought.
‘For not trusting me with my nephew. Most unsettling.’
‘Step-nephew.’
‘Ah, I can see you are a stickler for the truth.’ He leant back in his chair, steepling his hands while he considered her at his leisure.
Rose stifled a shiver of foreboding at his choice of phrase. ‘He is but a baby and needs to be with me – his mother.’ There was the slightest hesitation before she used this word, and Rose could only hope he hadn’t spotted it. ‘But Robbie is not the reason I wish to speak to you this morning. May I?’ She indicated a chair set before his desk.
‘By all means. May I offer you coffee?’
‘I have already taken some, with your mother in the parlour.’ A silent, chilling affair, as always. ‘Forgive me, but since the estate is now my son’s inheritance, I feel it behoves me to take a proper interest.’
He let out a bark of laughter. ‘And what would a chit like you know about managing an estate?’
‘Very little, so I thought I’d better learn,’ Rose admitted. ‘I thought I might begin by speaking to all the tenants to find out if they have any problems or—’
‘What kind of problems could they possibly have, coddled as they are?’ Jago said, interrupting her.
‘I shan’t know unless I ask, shall I?’ Rose sweetly told him. Having plucked up the courage to get this far, she doggedly pressed on. ‘Yesterday while we were in Fowey, I happened to be with Tilly while she paid a visit to her parents. You may remember them, the Carwyn family, who live in Polruan.’
‘I know them well,’ Jago growled.
‘Of course you do. Well, Mr Carwyn, who is such a fine, hard-working man both on land and at sea, was explaining to me the dire straits that farming is in these days. I must confess that it is not something I’d ever thought about until he explained it all to me.’
Keenly aware of the intimidating manner in which Jago was regarding her through narrowed eyes, Rose tightened her resolve and pressed on. Never had she played her role of Rosalind with more care and skill than she was doing now. ‘I thought it incumbent upon me to investigate further. I intend to sound out the other tenants in order that we can decide how best to tackle the problem. There is little point, for instance, in burdening them with a rent higher than they can reasonably manage to pay. I’m quite sure that were Sir Ralph still with us, he would agree we must do all we can to help these people through hard times. The last thing we want is to lose even more of our tenants to the factories, do you not think? And it behoves me, as Robbie’s mother, to ensure I keep his inheritance safe.’
The silence, when Rose finally ran out of both words and breath, was daunting. Jago got to his feet and moved swiftly to the door. ‘I thank you for your suggestion on this issue. I shall certainly give it all due consideration, and should I need anyone to speak to the tenants to gather their opinions, I will certainly let you know. In the meantime, madam, you can safely leave the management of this estate in my capable hands, as did Sir Ralph for many years.’
At which point he pulled the door open, clearly eager to usher her through it. Rose remained where she was, firmly seated in the chair. Her only response to this apparent dismissal was to smile at him, which quite belied the way her heart was pounding with something between fear and fury in her breast.
‘In point of fact I was not making a suggestion. I was informing you, out of courtesy, of what I intend to do.’
‘You were informing me?’ Jago slammed the door shut again, took a step towards her that was almost threatening. Rose clasped her hands tightly in her lap and managed, by dint of willpower, not to fli
nch.
‘I’m sure we both have the interests of the estate, its tenants and the new baronet at heart. And I believe it is vital that we work together in harmony, you and I.’
‘Do you indeed? And what if I should disagree with your methods?’
Rose could see that he was fuming. She would not have been surprised had Jago actually started to breathe smoke out of that bony nose of his, so fired up was he. ‘That would be most unfortunate. You should be aware that I have spoken with Mr Wrayworth, the solicitor, and he agrees with me that every care must be taken to keep the estate in good order until the baronet comes of age.’
Leaving Robbie in Tilly’s excellent care, Rose had walked down the lane into Penver village first thing that morning, where she had managed to discuss the terms of Sir Ralph’s will with the very helpful solicitor. She’d told him only a part of her concerns, but had come away satisfied, well primed for this discussion with Jago. ‘We have agreed, Mr Wrayworth and I, that there will be no further rise in rents at the present time. And certainly no evictions of good tenants who are struggling to pay through no fault of their own.’
‘The fixing of rents is no damned business of Wrayworth!’ Jago roared.
‘But it is my business, as guardian of the young baronet, in order to protect his inheritance. I am told it says as much in Sir Ralph’s will.’ Rose could hardly believe what she was doing. It was really quite astonishing how new courage seemed to be flowing through her veins like quicksilver.
Now she did get to her feet, and using every scrap of dignity she possessed, which she hoped did dear Rosalind proud, walked calmly to the door. ‘I do hope we can deal with this matter without acrimony, although I would politely remind you that if you wish to continue in your role of estate manager, then you really have no choice in the matter.’
My Lady Deceiver Page 14
