Jessie's Promise

by Rosie Clarke

‘Well done,’ his father said and ruffled his hair affectionately. ‘I’ll have to see about getting you that pony.’

  ‘Can I really have a pony?’ Jack jumped up, suddenly eager. ‘When, Father? When can I have a pony?’

  ‘Soon,’ Harry promised. ‘I’ll look round, see what I can find. Say goodnight now, Jack – and be good for Jessie.’

  ‘I’m going to have a pony of my own!’

  Jack ran round the room with his arms out, his excitement bubbling over as his father closed the door, but Jessie smiled and let him get on with it. He wasn’t doing any harm. She saw that Catherine was absorbed with her dolls and spent the next hour or so tidying the nursery and washing the children’s clothes in the little room provided for their laundry.

  The children were bathed and in bed by seven. Catherine went to sleep almost at once but Jessie had to read Jack a story from one of his favourite books before he would settle. He fell asleep at last and putting all but one small shaded lamp off, she tiptoed out.

  She went along the hall to see how Nanny was, finding her dozing and seemingly peaceful. Then she went to visit Lady Kendle and make sure she had taken her medicine, doing a little tidying and plumping up pillows and cushions to make sure that she was comfortable before going downstairs for her evening meal.

  ‘I should think you are ready for this,’ Cook said and pushed a cup of tea in front of her. ‘Your dinner is in the oven. I thought you were never coming.’

  ‘Jack was a long time going off and then I popped into see Nanny and her ladyship.’

  ‘You should have left the boy to it once you got him to bed,’ Cook said. ‘You’ve been on the go the whole day.’

  ‘Yes, but I’ve enjoyed myself,’ Jessie said and sipped her tea. ‘It was fun being with the children and Lady Kendle is so easy to look after.’

  ‘It’s a long day, and you’ve not finished yet. You’ll be taking drinks up later I expect.’

  ‘For Nanny and Lady Kendle,’ Jessie agreed.

  ‘As long as we know the routine,’ Cook said and gave her a straight look. ‘You’ve given this household a good shake up today, Jessie. Can we expect more of the same?’

  ‘The children enjoyed their food. We’ll try giving them the same as they have upstairs, unless it’s something spicy or cooked with wine. If you’re having something suitable in the kitchen that will be fine – but not eggs or mince all the time.’

  ‘Right you are. It’s rabbit pie for us this evening. That all right with you?’

  ‘Lovely. I’m not a fussy eater and everything you cook is delicious.’

  Cook was satisfied with her answer and left Jessie to eat her supper in peace while she took her ease by the fire.

  It was a similar evening to the first, though Alice wasn’t there. Mrs Pearson had taken her place in the upstairs dining room, but in every other way the routine was the same.

  Maggie was even friendlier than before and Jessie shared her time between the kitchen, Nanny and Lady Kendle. She was made to feel welcome everywhere and when she sat down to write her letter to Archie that night she realised that it was beginning to feel like home.

  *

  The weekend was rather more hectic because of the guests, though Jessie kept well away from them. She took the children for a long walk after breakfast, and they ended up visiting the farm, which was at the end of a long, rutted track beyond the home park.

  There was no sign of Jack’s father that morning but the farm workers knew the master’s son and welcomed their unexpected guests. They were taken to see new calves in the pens and then the farmer’s wife came out to ask them into her kitchen.

  ‘This is a surprise, miss,’ she said. ‘I’m Bess Goodjohn and you’ll be the new girl up at the Hall, I dare say.’

  ‘I’m Jessie Hale. Please call me Jessie. This is very kind of you, Mrs Goodjohn. Jack wanted to show me the animals but we didn’t want to be any trouble.’

  ‘We’re pleased to see you, Jessie. Master Jack comes with the captain, of course, but we haven’t seen Miss Catherine. She’s a little love, isn’t she?’

  ‘Catherine is very good. She’s a little tired at the moment, I think. We’ve had a busy morning.’

  ‘Well, sit yourselves down and have a cup of tea. There’s milk or my own lemon barley for the children.’

  ‘Lemon barley please, Mrs G,’ Jack piped up, clearly at home with the plump, smiling woman. ‘It’s good, Jessie. You should try it.’

  ‘Thank you, I will,’ Jessie said. ‘Catherine can share mine, Mrs Goodjohn.’

  ‘Call me Bess if you like. Most do, except for Master Jack and his father; they’ve got their own name for me. Captain Kendle started it when he was a young man, before he went off to the army, that is. He was a lovely young man in those days and his boy is just like him, bright as a new button.’

  The lemon barley was cool and delicious. Jessie made a note to ask Cook if they could have a jug in the nursery sometimes. She would have to be diplomatic, of course, but it would make a welcome change for the children.

  The walk home seemed longer because Jessie had to carry Catherine, who was happy but tired after her exhausting morning. It was obvious that she was not used to much exercise. Nanny was too old to take the children out for long walks, and Captain Kendle took his son sometimes but not his daughter. She did not think the neglect was intentional on his part; it was natural for fathers to take more notice of their sons and in many families of this kind children were ignored completely until after they left the schoolroom.

  It seemed odd to Jessie that children should be kept apart from their parents, but she knew it was true. She was learning a lot about the gentry from Nanny, who liked to talk about what she thought of as her family.

  Jessie’s own day was much as the previous one, except that she was not summoned to the study, nor did she see Captain Kendle. He did not visit his son all day. Jack told her his father would come when the guests had gone.

  ‘Father gave me lots of sums to keep me busy. He comes when he’s not busy.’ Jack frowned. ‘He’s busy lots of times.’

  ‘Yes, I expect he must be,’ Jessie agreed as she got on with ironing the clothes she had washed the previous day, but her opinion of the captain was a little diminished. Surely a few minutes could be found for visiting his children!

  It was not until she went down for her dinner that evening that she saw Alice, who had been rushed off her feet all day looking after the guests.

  ‘Did you enjoy the dance?’ she asked.

  Alice pulled a face. ‘It was all right. My feet hurt the whole time and I’ve got a blister on my little toe.’

  ‘You should’ve let me stretch your shoes,’ Carter said coming in with a basket of logs for the kitchen fire at that moment. A newspaper lay on top of the logs and he threw it on the table in front of Cook. ‘Have you seen that? Nothing but trouble everywhere. We’ll have strikes again before we’re done. You’d think folk would be glad to buckle down to a good day’s work now the war’s over, but all they do is grumble.’

  ‘A lot of people haven’t got work,’ Jessie said as she saw the article that had caused Carter’s outburst. ‘You would think those that have would be glad of it.’

  ‘There’s some will never be satisfied,’ Cook said. ‘What’s behind it all, that’s what I’d like to know.’

  ‘Agitators, that’s what,’ Carter said. ‘Travelling up and down the country holding meetings and stirring up trouble.’ He opened the paper and jabbed his finger at a photograph. ‘He’s one of them. The police arrested him but the magistrates gave him a caution and let him go. Afraid of upsetting them new-fangled unions, I shouldn’t wonder.’

  Jessie looked at the picture that accompanied the article. The nerve-endings at the nape of her neck tingled as she picked up the paper and stared at it. The photograph was dark and poor quality and she couldn’t be certain but she thought it was the man from the train. What had he said his name was? Oh yes, Paul Smith. She read the article. It
was about a disturbance that had taken place on the evening of the day she’d arrived here at Kendlebury. The man referred to was named as Paul Keifer and was said to be working for the unions as an agitator.

  ‘He looks a right trouble maker,’ Carter said. ‘I met his sort when I was younger. I worked up north in the shipyards before I went into service, in the transport side for the management. Met some rough types there. They would as soon spit in your face as look at you.’

  ‘None of that talk in my kitchen,’ Cook said. ‘Are you going out on your half day, Jessie?’

  ‘I haven’t given it a thought,’ she replied, pushing the paper away. She didn’t want to think about the man on the train, though if he was an agitator it might explain why he had boarded without a ticket. He certainly wasn’t the kind of man she wanted to know! ‘I’m not sure – did Mrs Kendle tell me it was on Monday?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Cook said. ‘I’m Tuesday. Mrs Pearson Wednesday. Maggie’s Thursday. Carter takes his when he likes. Alice has Friday, though she wasn’t off until gone four this week. She’ll go home on Sunday afternoon for a few hours to make up for it. We don’t have a cooked meal on Sunday nights. They have it in the middle of the day instead.’

  ‘What will happen with the children if I take my time off?’

  ‘Alice and Mrs Pearson will manage between them,’ Cook said. ‘You want to take what’s due to you, lass. It’s only fair.’

  ‘Yes, I shall sometimes,’ Jessie replied. ‘But I’ve only just got here and I don’t think I need to take it this week. Nanny may be better soon and then she can watch them while I’m out.’

  ‘Don’t let Madam know,’ Carter warned. ‘She’ll expect it all the time if you give way to her.’

  ‘I’ll take time off when I really want it, but not yet. However, I do have letters to post. Can I do that in the village?’

  ‘I’ll take them for you,’ Carter said. ‘Bring them down in the morning and I’ll post them in Torquay. I’m driving Madam in on Monday morning and your letters will go quicker from there.’

  ‘Thank you. I’ll bring them down and leave them on the table later this evening.’

  Jessie spent half an hour settling Lady Kendle for the night. They talked about the children and Jessie’s day but there were no personal revelations that night. Lady Kendle seemed tired and only sipped her drink. Nanny was more talkative.

  She wanted to know about Jessie, about her life in London, and she told Jessie about her own childhood in the north.

  ‘There were ten of us at home,’ she said. ‘My father worked in the coalmines and Ma took in washing until the laundry started up. Once folk started going there she lost most of her customers. I was nine when I was put to work in the sorting room. You wouldn’t believe the stink in there! I hated it and I got out just as soon as I could. It was more than four years though, and I’d moved up to the wet room, got chilblains there.

  ‘Then I heard someone was looking for a nursery maid. The Kendles were visiting with friends up north and their girl had run off and left them in the lurch. I’m talking of Sir Joshua’s parents, of course. I never expected to get the job but I think they were desperate. The nanny they had was a tarter. She soon put me in my place but I learned fast. I helped look after Sir Joshua’s brothers and sisters, though he had left the nursery when I joined it.’

  ‘Did he have many brothers and sisters?’

  ‘He had three brothers and a sister. They’re all dead now. Two died before they were of school age, one had a riding accident when he was twenty, and the girl died a few years back. Sir Joshua was very fond of his sister and her death broke him up – especially after losing his eldest son.’

  ‘So you’ve been with three generations of Kendles then?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right. I replaced the old nanny when she left to retire and then stayed on with Sir Joshua when he married. They had several children, but they weren’t lucky either. It’s an unlucky family in some ways.’

  ‘What do you mean they weren’t lucky?’

  ‘They had three children,’ Nanny said. ‘Master John, Master Harry and Miss Priscilla. Captain Kendle was the youngest. Lady Kendle had a miscarriage with her fourth child. She was never the same after that. She wasn’t an invalid then, of course; that came later. She had an accident after Master John was killed…’

  ‘I had wondered why she found it so painful to get about. She isn’t actually crippled, is she?’

  ‘No, not quite, but the pain can be terrible at times. She fell down the stairs and injured her back, you see. She was in bed for a long time and they thought she might never move again, but she gradually got so that she could get out of bed with help, but she can’t walk more than a few steps and the pain is always with her. But I think she still feels the pain of losing Master John as much as that in her back.’

  ‘What happened to him?’

  ‘They didn’t say a great deal at the time, but the boys were out with a shooting party and somehow Master John got in the way of the guns. One of them shot him. They brought him home with the blood pouring out of him and his mother saw him. She was ill for weeks, and it was when she was feeling poorly that she had the accident. They had the doctor to Master John but it was useless. He lingered the night but by morning he’d gone.’

  ‘That must have been a terrible time for the family,’ Jessie said. She thought it explained the sadness she had witnessed in Lady Kendle on her first night. ‘Is Captain Kendle the only one of the children left?’

  ‘Bless you, no,’ Nanny said. ‘Miss Priscilla was married ten years ago; she was older than either of the boys, you see. She has three children of her own. Lovely girl, as you’ll discover when she comes to visit. Pity she can’t visit more but her husband is something in the government. They spend part of their time in Yorkshire, which is his home, and the rest in London. She can only come for a few days once or twice a year.’

  ‘It is a shame she can’t see her mother more.’

  ‘Yes. She cheers us all up when she does come.’ Nanny looked at Jessie thoughtfully. ‘You’re a bit like her in a way. She has a very direct manner too, and she says what’s on her mind. Argues with her father a lot, and takes Captain Kendle’s side. They are fond of one another, you know.’

  ‘I hope she doesn’t get into as much trouble as I do,’ Jessie said and laughed. She was still smiling as she left Nanny’s room and went along the hall to the nursery. She just wanted to see the children were all right before she went to bed.

  As she entered she caught the scent of sandalwood and her heart missed a beat; it was the scent of the cologne Captain Kendle used and she could see him standing by the playroom window, looking out at the night.

  ‘Don’t go,’ he said without turning round. ‘It’s a beautiful night, don’t you think so, Jessie?’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ she replied moving to stand beside him and look out. The sky was a velvety black and sprinkled with stars.

  ‘They are both fast asleep,’ he said and turned to look at her. ‘I come here sometimes at night if I’ve been too busy earlier, just to look at them and to think. I like to remember the way it was before… after all, it was my room for years. Priscilla was grown up and my brother was killed in an accident when he was twelve. I was ten at the time. Everything changed then…’

  ‘It was a terrible thing,’ Jessie said. She could see that haunted expression in his eyes and thought she understood. ‘To lose your brother that way.’

  ‘Do you think the sins of the father are visited on the children, Jessie?’

  ‘No, of course not. Why should they be?’

  ‘I hope not. I pray it isn’t my fault that Catherine is the way she is. I should hate her to suffer for my sins.’

  ‘That’s nonsense. Catherine’s birth was unfortunate. It had nothing to do with you.’

  Harry was silent for a moment, then said, ‘My father blamed me for my brother’s death, you know. I was bored with the shooting. I didn’t like it much. It seem
ed cruel and senseless to me… all those birds getting shot in one day. I made John come with me.’

  ‘How could you do that? He was older than you.’

  ‘I told him about the badger set I’d found. He wanted to see. We left the shooting party and went off for more than an hour. When we came back there was no noise. We thought it was all over and we were laughing, larking about. John was ahead of me. He ran across the line of the guns just as they started shooting again. They had just stopped for a drink…’

  His story was even more shocking than Nanny’s had been, perhaps because she could see that it had affected him deeply, scarring him. Jessie stared at him in silence for a few moments, unsure of what to say.

  ‘That doesn’t make your brother’s death your fault,’ she said at last. ‘It was an accident.’

  ‘We were warned not to wander off. We knew it was dangerous. John wouldn’t have gone to look at the badgers if I hadn’t persuaded him. My father blamed me. I think Mother did too, though she has never said it to my face.’

  ‘Your father was wrong,’ Jessie said. She didn’t know why she was talking like this. It wasn’t her place to pass opinions on something of which she knew so little, but she sensed the desperate need in him, the guilt that had lived with him all these years and she wanted to ease his pain if she could. ‘Accidents happen. It wasn’t your fault, and it isn’t your fault that Catherine is a bit backward.’

  ‘A bit backward – is that how you see her?’ A smile flickered in his eyes. ‘If only I could see it that way.’

  ‘She’s a bright little thing really,’ Jessie said. ‘Give me a little time and you’ll see a change in her.’

  ‘Shall I? You almost make me believe it.’ He was silent for a moment and then moved towards her, bending his head. She knew he was going to kiss her and she knew she ought to move away, but somehow she didn’t. His kiss was soft and gentle, a mere brush of his lips against hers.

  ‘Thank you for not making a fuss,’ he said as she made no comment. ‘It wasn’t a prelude to seduction, Jessie. It was just for comfort. I was feeling pretty desperate when I came here. You’ve made me feel better. Thank you for that, too.’