Her back was straight, her hands in her lap and her eyes were filled with an expression that he knew he had never seen on any woman’s face before when she was looking at him.
There was a short pause until, as if she were feeling for words, Dorina began,
“I am sure you are not aware, my Lord, that amongst the women your new housekeeper has engaged, is a young girl called Mary Bell?”
She stressed the word ‘new’ and the Earl interrupted her to say,
“My new housekeeper? Is there any particular reason, Miss Stanfield, why I should not have one?”
“It is up to you, my Lord,” Dorina replied, “to employ whomsoever you choose, but I can hardly believe that what I have just learned from Mary’s mother is something that could have happened at Yarde!”
“What has happened?” the Earl asked bluntly.
“Mary Bell is only just sixteen,” Dorina said. “She came back to see her mother this morning in a deeply distressed state because last night one of the gentlemen in your party attempted to assault her!”
The way Dorina spoke was an accusation in itself and, as the Earl did not speak, she went on,
“Mary ran to the housekeeper for help, only to be informed that in future she would either do what your Lordship’s friends required of her or she would be dismissed without a reference and the housekeeper would see that her family was turned out of their cottage!”
Dorina had managed to speak clearly and slowly. Then as if her feelings overcame her, she rose to her feet to say furiously,
“How could this sort of thing happen at Yarde of all places, where we have always been so happy and where all the people employed by your uncle felt they were one of the family?”
Now her words seemed to tumble over themselves and she spoke impetuously with an anger that seemed to vibrate through her.
“I suppose,” the Earl said, “that you are quite sure of your facts and that what has been reported is not some hysterical fancy of a young girl?”
Dorina drew in her breath.
“I might have anticipated, my Lord, that that would be your reaction!”
Now she was even angrier than she had been before.
“Your new Manager has dismissed all the old servants who, as I have already said, felt they were part of the family and were so proud of Yarde that they would never have allowed anything wrong or wicked to happen there.”
The Earl would have spoken, but Dorina continued,
“Instead, he has filled their places with servants who would not be tolerated in any decent person’s household, let alone your uncle’s if he was alive.”
“I can hardly believe that this is true!” the Earl managed to expostulate.
“If you think I would lie about what is going on, then all I can say is that I am ashamed and deeply humiliated, that you should have taken the place of a man who was revered and respected by everybody with whom he came in contact and – loved by – those who – served him.”
She paused not only for breath, but because her voice broke and there were tears in her eyes that she wiped away impatiently.
The Earl rose slowly to his feet. Then he said,
“I think, Miss Stanfield, that we should start again from the beginning. You must first explain to me why you are concerned with what goes on in this house and also help me to make sure that none of the accusations you have made are exaggerated or untrue.”
He spoke in a quiet conciliatory manner, at the same time with a note of authority, which made Dorina feel that she had been overdramatic.
But she was still furiously angry and afraid that the Earl was going to dismiss everything she had said not only as untrue, but also as unimportant.
With what was almost a superhuman effort, knowing that, though she wanted to leave him, it was imperative that she should stay, she forced herself to sit down again on the chair.
As she did so the Earl also sat.
As if he had now taken charge, he said still in that quiet voice that somehow took the heat out of the atmosphere between them,
“You were announced as Miss Dorina Stanfield. Do you live in the village?”
“My father, my Lord, is the Vicar.”
“Now I understand,” the Earl said. “So in everything that occurs which the villagers find distressing, they turn to your father for help. But why on this occasion should they have come to you?”
“Mrs. Bell is a respectable, decent woman,” Dorina replied stiffly, “and she would have been embarrassed to speak to my father of – such things.”
“So she preferred to tell what happened to you, who, if you will excuse my saying so, are a very young girl and obviously inexperienced in such matters.”
“If you mean by ‘inexperienced’ that we are not used to such behaviour in Little Sodbury, my Lord, then that is true,” Dorina said quickly, “and Mrs. Bell had only me to come to, since my mother is no longer alive. We have always been protected by Yarde and your uncle the Earl set an example of everything that was fine and noble and the village tried to live up to him.”
Dorina spoke simply in a way that the Earl could not help thinking was very dignified.
Then she went on,
“We also had the example of your uncle’s sons, William and Charles, who were loved, respected and emulated by every young man in the village.”
She gave the Earl an unmistakable look of hostility before she added,
“I cannot imagine that any of the gentlemen who visited Yarde in the past would have behaved in the same way that your guest did last night nor that any senior servant could have behaved as your new housekeeper did!”
The Earl was silent for a moment. Then he said,
“I can understand, Miss Stanfield, that what you have heard has shocked you and I can only deeply regret that any guest of mine, if this is true, should have behaved in such a manner to one of my servants.”
“Of course it is true!” Dorina said. “Mary is a very truthful girl and, as anyone in the village will tell you, she is reserved and has always kept very much to herself. If you are thinking that perhaps she encouraged the advances of the gentleman in question, I can assure you that she was genuinely appalled by what he suggested, and he terrified her, because here in the country we never expected to encounter such – wickedness.”
Before she could continue, the Earl said dryly,
“Then I can only say, Miss Stanfield, that you have been very fortunate!”
He was thinking as he spoke of the behaviour he had seen commonly in France and which he knew was echoed in London amongst the gentlemen of fashion who pursued any woman, whatever her status in life if she attracted them.
The Earl was indeed extremely annoyed that anybody staying in his house should have outraged the sensibilities of a young servant.
He wanted, however, before he condemned the gentleman in question, whoever he might be, to be absolutely sure that, as he had said to Dorina, this story was not just the hysterical imagination of a young girl or perhaps one who was making herself out to be more important than she really was.
He was not prepared after his last words, however, for Dorina once again to repeat,
“If you are going to make excuses, my Lord, for what any decent man would say was a disgusting and outrageous incident, then I feel there is nothing more I can say on the matter. I can only ask you, if you have any feelings of justice, not to carry out your housekeeper’s threat and turn the Bells, who have served the Yarde family all their lives, out of their cottage.”
“Can you really believe I would do such a thing?” the Earl asked sharply.
He could not help thinking that, while it was an experience that may never have come his way before, to be raged at by this young and very pretty woman, she was really going too far.
“I see no reason why I should not believe it possible,” Dorina said. “What has already been done at Yarde by your Manager has horrified everybody who lives on the estate and my father has been deeply shocked,
although he does not feel that you would listen to him if he told you so.”
“As Vicar of this Parish, I should have thought it was his duty to tell me anything that might be to the detriment of the family name!” the Earl snapped back.
Dorina’s eyes widened as she looked at him with what he knew was an expression of astonishment.
“You cannot really think that everyone would not be appalled at the manner in which the old servants were turned out of the house as Burrows was after forty years of service.”
“Who is Burrows?” the Earl asked.
“The butler. He was noted for training his footmen better than anybody else in the County and he kept his silver shining so that you could see your face in it.”
Dorina sounded for a moment as if she was talking to herself and then she went on quickly,
“And Mrs. Meadows, the housekeeper, was turned out with an inadequate pension that will hardly keep her alive and she was told the only cottage available for her was one in which the roof leaks and half the panes in the windows are cracked.”
The Earl was silent and Dorina said again with a catch in her voice,
“How could you have – done these things? How could you have been so – cruel to people who loved William and Charles as if they were their – own sons and would at any time have – laid down their lives for your uncle?”
Again tears came into her eyes and she turned her back on the Earl and walked away towards the window to stare out into the garden.
He did not speak and after a moment she said in a different tone of voice from the one she had used before,
“This is such a lovely place! Everyone in the village wanted to work here and as soon as they were old enough to think, they began to prepare themselves for coming up to the Big House.”
“Are you telling me that attitude has changed?”
“Of course it has changed as a result of your instructions,” Dorina answered. “You told Major Richardson, your Manager, to get rid of all the old people and you raised the rents of the farmers while all the other landlords in the County and doubtless all over England have lowered theirs because of the crisis in agriculture now that the war is over.”
“Is that true?” the Earl asked.
“Once again,” Dorina said angrily, “you are doubting my word. If your Lordship does not believe me, ask Major Richardson to show you the rent books. Ask anyone you like in the village what has happened to the families who have always served the Yardes from the cradle to the grave – and ask Mary Bell – what happened last night!”
Once again the words were tumbling over themselves as Dorina spoke and the Earl could see that her slim body silhouetted against the window was trembling with the fury she felt.
What she was saying was completely incredible to him. At the same time he knew it was something that he must investigate immediately.
There was a considerable pause before, as Dorina had apparently no more to say, the Earl remarked,
“You have surprised me, Miss Stanfield, and I must assure you that I had no knowledge whatever of what you tell me has been happening in my absence.”
Dorina turned round.
“Are you denying that everything Major Richardson did was on your orders?”
“I sent Major Richardson here from Paris because my duties prevented me from coming myself,” the Earl replied. “I learnt that Mr. Andrews, who had looked after the estate in my uncle’s time, had died and the Solicitors suggested that I appoint a Manager in his place.”
“Mr. Andrews was a very conscientious man,” Dorina said, “who knew and understood the problems and difficulties of everybody who worked here. Major Richardson made the changes and gave the orders in your name and did not even call on my father or anyone else in the vicinity.”
The Earl found this hard to believe, but he did not say so. Instead, he answered,
“What I am going to suggest, Miss Stanfield, is that you let me find out exactly what has been happening in my absence, then – ”
Before he could say any more he was interrupted when the door opened and Lady Maureen burst in.
She was dressed ready to return to London in a striking gown of crimson silk with a taffeta pelisse in the same colour which was flung open to reveal that around her neck she was wearing a necklace of rubies and diamonds.
The same stones glittered in the earrings which swung beneath her dark hair, half-covered by a bonnet trimmed with ostrich feathers.
She looked flamboyant, but at the same time very beautiful with her face skilfully embellished with powder rouge and lip salve, as was the fashion.
She swept across the room towards the Earl to say,
“Really, Oscar, how could you be so long when you knew I was waiting for you?”
Then, as if she suddenly realised that he was not alone, she glanced at Dorina and said in an amused voice,
“Are you already taking your landlord’s duties seriously and can this be one of your pretty milkmaids? My dear, I am quite jealous!”
She was laughing sarcastically as she reached the Earl’s side and, putting up her hand to his cheek, she added as she did so,
“Poor Oscar! I can see you will soon be involved in all the passionate problems concerning peas, potatoes and pigs.”
The Earl removed Lady Maureen’s hand from his cheek and managed to interrupt what she was saying by remarking dryly,
“You are making a mistake, Maureen. This is Miss – ”
Even as he began to introduce Dorina, she turned swiftly from the window where she had been standing and, walking across the room, went out through the door that Lady Maureen had left open when she entered.
“Wait!” the Earl tried to say.
But Lady Maureen’s arms were around his neck and she was saying with her crimson lips close against his,
“Dearest Oscar, don’t be such a bore! I can assure you that you will find the country bumpkins very dull, but if you come back to London with me, I will make sure you are amused and entranced by everything we do together.”
She spoke very beguilingly, but the Earl said firmly with a note of anger in his voice,
“I have told you, Maureen, that I am not coming to London until I have had time to explore my new possessions and I have already discovered that there is a great deal for me to do here.”
Lady Maureen shrugged her shoulders prettily and added,
“Then don’t blame me it you are bored to distraction, which you will be. But, Oscar, I shall be bored too without you!”
The Earl was about to reply when a man appeared in the doorway to call out,
“Do come on, Maureen! The horses are restless and so, for the matter, am I!”
“I am coming, Jarvis,” Lady Maureen replied. “I was just trying to persuade your cousin to change his mind and come to London.”
“I exhausted all the arguments about that last night,” Jarvis replied. “I am sure Oscar will soon be bored to tears when he finds that nothing ever happens in the country from one year’s end to another. Then he will come post-haste back to London.”
He looked at the Earl, as he spoke, in a provocative manner. At the same time he seemed to be almost pleading with him.
He was a quite good-looking young man.
Equally, the Earl thought, as he had thought before, he was overdressed, almost to the point of being a dandy and he had the idea that he spent far too much on his clothes.
He was also convinced that he spent far too much money in a great many other ways.
As Jarvis Yarde opened the door wider, he said,
“I hope, Oscar, you have enjoyed your first house party. I hate leaving you, but I have promised to take Maureen back to London. There is a party tomorrow night that neither of us wants to miss.”
He paused for a moment before he added,
“Change your mind and come with us! I assure you it will be something you will not regret.”
“I have made my plans,” the Earl said quietly. “As I h
ave already told you, Jarvis, there is so much for me to see to here, that for the moment I have no time for any more parties.”
“You would have time for me,” Lady Maureen said softly. “You must admit that, dearest Oscar.”
Once again the Earl disentangled himself from the arms she was entwining around him and said,
“You heard Jarvis say the horses were restless and I expect those who are going with you are feeling restless too.”
“He is right,” Jarvis agreed. “Come on, Maureen, there’s no use hanging about.”
Lady Maureen kissed the Earl passionately before she cooed softly,
“Goodbye, dearest, wonderful Oscar. I shall be thinking of you every minute and will be devastatingly lonely until you are with me again.”
The Earl took her by the arm and drew her firmly down the room and out along the passage towards the hall.
A few other guests were waiting for them there and, as he looked at the dissolute face of Sir Roger Chatham, who was one of Jarvis’s friends and had been specially invited by him to Yarde, he had a suspicion that he might be the man who had assaulted the young housemaid the previous night and brought the wrath of the Vicar’s daughter down upon his head.
He thought Sir Roger was a man he could never like and would never trust.
It was only on Jarvis’s insistence that he was an excellent fellow and an extremely good card player that he had been invited to Yarde.
‘If, in fact, it was he who assaulted the girl,’ the Earl told himself, ‘this is the last time he ever darkens any door of mine!’
As, however, he had no idea of making a scene, he merely said goodbye to Sir Roger politely and to the other members of the house party who were waiting to bid him farewell.
Lady Maureen had the last word.
“If you have not come to London by the end of the week, Oscar, I shall make Jarvis bring me back to you,” she asserted. “You know it is impossible for me to live without you.”
The Earl murmured some noncommittal reply, helped Lady Maureen into the phaeton which his cousin was driving, and before she could say any more, he turned to help two other ladies, Sir Roger and another man into a travelling chariot.
The Devil Defeated Page 3
