A Sense of Duty

by Sheelagh Kelly

  The fact that she was banned from the main house presented no problem in regard to her lover, for she had deposited a note in the grotto. Moreover, she had kept her old room, for there was none vacant in the laundry, and so there was legitimate reason for her to be in the servants’ hall that evening. By this means she was able to gain access to a saucepan and all the ingredients she needed to make hand cream.

  Only one small problem remained: she was still in possession of one of Mr Dolphin’s books and must try to return it to the library without being caught.

  This she attempted to do the following morning on her way to the laundry. There was some difficulty in that, early though it was, others were up and about their business. One of them being Ivy, who had just been to set the table in the breakfast room and was on her way back through the house to the kitchen, when she happened upon Kit trying to sneak into the library.

  Receiving Ivy’s pointed warning that Mrs Grunter had asked staff to report any illegal sighting of Kit, the latter asked if that meant she should keep the master’s book instead of trying to return it? Ivy retorted that she should not have taken it in the first place, adding that she hoped Kit would swiftly remove herself to another place and not put others in a compromising position.

  ‘And talking of compromising positions,’ she added before leaving, ‘that Master Denaby has just asked me where you are when I took him his morning tea – seemed to have been expecting you, in fact. What mischief have you been up to?’

  ‘None of your business.’ Kit looked secretive.

  Ivy shook her head accusingly. ‘You’re a disgrace to your family.’

  Kit was highly offended, putting the comment down to jealousy and the fact that Ivy’s former sweetheart had grown tired of her. ‘How can it be a disgrace to marry someone above your own class?’

  Donating something akin to a sneer, Ivy marched off towards the kitchen, muttering that chance would be a fine thing.

  After replacing the book, Kit followed in the parlourmaid’s wake. When she arrived in the kitchen for breakfast it was obvious that Ivy had repeated Kit’s assertion, judging by the looks on the others’ faces. It had been rash to divulge her relationship, but then apparently no one believed it anyway. Kit enjoyed an inward smile. She would soon show them.

  The note Kit had left in the grotto instructed Thomas that she would be there at three. However, when she arrived that afternoon there was no one to greet her. Delving into the place where the missive was deposited, she was heartened to find another in its place. But her joy soon reverted to despair upon reading that Wyndham had forbidden his friend to have any contact with the maid whatsoever. The few scribbled lines went on to say Thomas was watched like a hawk and so they must recourse to meet some other way. He begged her to take heart for he had devised a brilliant plan. The note ended with the request that she try to be in the library tonight after the household had gone to bed.

  Kit crumpled the note in her fist, cursing Wyndham for a jealous little brat. Wondering why Thomas had chosen the library, she pictured herself being intercepted there by a superior. Still, it was doubtful they would risk another tantrum from Tish by sacking her. She deemed the risk one worth taking. But for the next eight hours or so, mere dreams of passion must suffice. Faced with this agonizing wait, she wandered dolefully back to the laundry.

  * * *

  That night in her room, without aid of a timepiece, Kit had to rely on guesswork that the entire household had gone to bed. Luckily, her reckoning proved to be correct and she was able to make her surreptitious journey to the library unaccosted. She had expected Thomas to be already there but the library was empty and in complete darkness. There was not even the glow of a fire to light her path, for due to the unexpected burst of hot weather the only grate alight was in the kitchen. Unwilling to sit here alone in the dark, and familiar with the layout of the room, she groped along the wall until she found a bracket and thence laid hands upon a nearby silver matchbox, finally putting flame to a gas lamp. This done, she seated herself in Mr Dolphin’s high-backed leather chair to wait.

  She waited a long time, anticipation serving to keep her awake. Eventually, though, her eyelids began to droop, her chin sank further and further into her breast, and she fell asleep.

  Something woke her – was it a shout? Had she been discovered? Kit sat bolt upright, listening. There was still no one else here. There it came again! A bloodcurdling scream – and another, and another! She jumped up and ran for the door, intending to make for the safety of her own room. The safest route was by the back stairs but to reach them she would have to dash all the way through the house until she reached the corridor that led to the kitchen, and there was the greater risk of discovery. Nearer by far was the main staircase. Kit took it – had almost reached the end of the landing and the back stairs when she was spotted.

  Answering Mrs Grunter’s command to stay where she was, Kit turned to watch the frantic activity which appeared to centre on Miss Agnes’s room, servants rushing hither and thither with dustpans and brushes, towels and bowls of water. Curiosity getting the better of her, Kit wandered nearer, but immediately wished she hadn’t, for there in the daughter’s bedroom stood a beanpole figure covered from head to toe in soot. Mr Dolphin was demanding an explanation, which Thomas was trying to give, not very successfully.

  ‘I beg you, sir, do not spring to the wrong conclusion—’

  ‘There is only one possible conclusion I can draw upon finding a young man in my daughter’s bedroom!’

  ‘But I mistook the room!’ Thomas suddenly noticed Kit and clammed up altogether. But Mr Dolphin had noticed his preoccupation and all of a sudden things fell into place.

  Commanding one of the women to take the sobbing Miss Agnes to her mother’s room, and the rest of them to clean up the soot that had fallen down the chimney with Thomas’s descent, Mr Dolphin ordered both Kit and her suitor to follow him downstairs to his study.

  Trembling with awe, and feeling a desperate urge to visit the privy, an incredulous Kit listened as young Denaby gave a fuller reason for his deed.

  With his host now aware that it was Kit he had been attempting to meet, there seemed little point denying anything. He confessed to his love for her, adding that Wyndham’s reluctance to share his friendship meant that he had no opportunity to meet her. Upon coming across a plan of the house he had noticed that the chimney from his room was directly connected to the library underneath – or so he had thought.

  ‘But I must have taken a wrong turning because I ended up frightening the life out of Miss Agnes. Please believe me, sir, when I tell you how utterly ashamed I am to have done so!’

  Mr Dolphin accepted the explanation but remained censorious. ‘And what if you had found the correct room? How must I interpret your intentions?’

  ‘Oh, I beg you, do not think ill of me, sir!’ Brown eyes pleaded from a sooty face. ‘My actions were undertaken purely from desperation. It is my full intention to marry Kit.’

  Kit’s breast surged with a mixture of love and pride, that he had broken his secrecy – and in front of his own kind!

  Concerned that he could be blamed by the boy’s parents for allowing such a relationship to get out of hand, Mr Dolphin spoke in measured tones. Kit watched his thick lips form every word. ‘I appreciate that there was no dishonourable motive in your behaviour, Denaby, but you put me in an unenviable position. What am I to tell your parents? You are after all under my protection, it would reflect badly—’

  ‘I implore you not to do so but to let me break the news,’ said Thomas.

  ‘You do appreciate that they expect you to marry someone of your own station?’

  ‘I am quite aware of that, sir, but I believe when I tell them how very fond I am of Kit they will understand. Please, allow me to do so in my own time.’ He and Kit shared a fond, nervous glance.

  After a period of deep thought, Geoffrey Dolphin said wearily. ‘Very well, we will not speak of this further tonight. Go and was
h yourself now, then back to bed.’

  Thomas thanked him, but showed concern for his paramour.

  Dolphin was stern. ‘I have no intention of wasting further time on either of you. Kit, you may go too. You will present yourself in the drawing room after breakfast.’

  * * *

  Naturally, Kit enjoyed very little sleep. Hour after hour she laid there, reliving the scene, unable to believe that Thomas had voiced his intention to marry her. But there was apprehension too, for the lovers were not out of the woods yet. The master would do his best to prevent the espousal.

  In the morning, she deemed it pointless to go to the laundry for she was very likely going to be dismissed. Unable to stomach any breakfast, due to nervousness at facing Mr Dolphin, she sat at the table gazing sightlessly at her plate, until Algy dashed in with an announcement.

  ‘Eh, have you heard?’

  ‘Master Denaby got caught with his pants down in Miss Agnes’ room,’ said Lily without interest. ‘Tell us summat we don’t know.’

  ‘He did not!’ Kit came alive, furious at the assassination of her lover’s reputation. ‘He got the wrong room.’

  ‘And I suppose he were looking for yours?’ Lily’s bulldog jaw protruded goadingly.

  Kit obliged. ‘He was looking for me, as a matter of fact – though we’d arranged to meet in the library.’

  ‘Always comes down the chimney, does he?’ sniffed Cook, over her teacup.

  Others, too, were unimpressed. ‘You’re such a romancer,’ accused Rosalind. ‘My goodness, is there a man in this house who’s not after you?’

  ‘It’s true!’ protested Kit. ‘And for your information we’re going to be married. Tom told Mr Dolphin last night!’

  ‘If you’ll let me get a word in edgeways!’ Algy interrupted further exchange. ‘I’m not talking about last night’s palaver, I’m on about Master Tish eloping with dopey Myrtle.’ There was a united gasp of disbelief, then vociferous demands to hear the full story. Even Kit was agog.

  Grinning with self-importance, Algy began to don his outdoor apparel whilst telling his captive audience that he couldn’t tarry long as he had been ordered to fetch the police. It transpired that Ivy had just gone to take Tish’s morning tea and found his bed had not been slept in. Having promptly alerted the master and mistress she had accompanied them back to Tish’s room where a note was discovered telling them of his plans but not his whereabouts. ‘Seems he must’ve escaped while all that kerfuffle was going on last night!’

  ‘The little cat!’ breathed Cook, referring to Myrtle. ‘I wondered where she’d got to this morning. I just assumed she was poorly, she grumbled about feeling unwell last night. Why, she must have had it all planned!’

  ‘God, you wouldn’t think either of ’em could plan a walk to the gate,’ offered Lily.

  Ivy came rushing in then, saw Algy had beaten her to the revelation and cursed him. ‘You’re meant to be fetching the police!’ Under pressure from the others for more information she turned instead to Kit whilst the footman left. ‘The master wants to see you at once!’

  All eyes upon her, Kit rose with a sense of impending doom.

  * * *

  In the drawing room there was no preamble. ‘Are you aware what will happen if my son and this girl have children?’ said Kit’s employer when she was standing before him.

  Numbed by events, she remained silent.

  With the lack of response he gave bitter clarification. ‘These people do breed, you know.’

  How cruel, opined Kit, to refer to your child in such a manner.

  ‘Well, speak up! You have had enough to say when persuading our son to go against us!’

  To her horror Kit realized that she stood accused of being instrumental in the elopement. ‘Sir, I had no idea Master Tish had even gone—’

  ‘I don’t believe you, and I doubt that the police will either!’

  Kit’s bowels turned to water. She begged her employer to believe she was not involved.

  He was in no mood to listen. ‘Was it not you who told my son that he could do as he liked when he was twenty-one?’

  ‘Well—’

  ‘Well, indeed! He has carried out your instruction to the letter, has he not?’ Dolphin paced the room angrily. ‘Do you deny that you encouraged this relationship?’

  Kit tried to minimize the damage. ‘Myrtle is a lovely girl, sir. She thinks the world of Master—’

  ‘I dare say she does! For according to Ivy she is little more than an imbecile herself!’

  Kit damned Ivy’s unkindness, tendering nervously, ‘Master Tish feels the same about her, sir.’

  ‘Then, if this relationship was such a desirable one perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us why we, his parents, were the last to know? You stupid romantic fool! Did you never stop to ask yourself if either of them, barely capable of looking after themselves, is a fit person to look after a child? My son certainly is not, I am sure of that. He is little more than a child himself. Yet you encouraged him to think of himself as a man! Suppose they succeed in marrying before we find them? To what kind of life have you condemned their offspring? Or its parents, come to that? Where will they live? Eustace has no income. If the police are unable to trace him …’ He paused as if to allow the maid to reveal where his son was.

  Kit was contrite. ‘I wish I knew where they were, sir, but I didn’t even know they were going.’

  Dolphin shook his head in dismay. ‘I do not think you truly realize the consequences of your fanciful notions. Is it not enough that your aspirations to seduce a young gentleman have led him to dishonour his family?’

  Kit tried to protest that she and Thomas were bespoke, but was given short shrift, and at this point her interrogation was interrupted by the entrance of Algy and a police sergeant from the village, who said he had already sent a constable to broadcast the alert to other stations for his colleagues to be on the look out for Master Eustace. Was there any further information that might be helpful in ascertaining his whereabouts?

  Geoffrey Dolphin looked exhausted. ‘This person is instrumental in my son’s disappearance and may be persuaded to assist.’

  Imagining herself being dragged off to prison, Kit began to weep. ‘I don’t know where he is! I’ll swear on the bible if you want! Neither of ’em told me they were going!’

  After putting her through a brief but harsh grilling, the police sergeant said that he had not been aware that the young couple concerned were both of age, and this being so there was no real crime involved and he could not reasonably detain Kit.

  ‘No crime?’ Dolphin spoke quietly, though his ire was great. ‘Would you not term child abduction a crime? For that is what my son is. He may have the body of a man, but his mind is that of a child.’

  Kit would liked to have argued that Tish was in no danger, that Myrtle was capable of looking after them both, that he deserved to be happy and to enjoy luncheon at his own table without being shoved behind a vase of flowers. But even had she dared she was not given the chance.

  Mr Dolphin made one last announcement to Kit. ‘You are dismissed. Collect your belongings forthwith. Charles has been instructed to remove you from the premises. Mrs Grunter will see to any outstanding pay.’

  A distraught Kit had barely emerged from the drawing room when Thomas and Ossie Postgate descended upon her from a hiding place, having been eagerly waiting to hear the outcome of last night’s debacle. When she did not stop, but hurried tearfully across the wide expanse of the great hall towards the servants’ quarters, they rushed alongside her, continually entreating her for details. Lachrymosity forbidding speech, Kit bustled onwards between the suits of armour and rows of weaponry, twisting her handkerchief between her hands, trying to escape from her two escorts. She had burst through the dividing door and into the servants’ section of the house before Thomas persuaded her to halt and tell him what on earth had occurred.

  Out of range of the master’s wrath, she now felt safe enough to fall into Th
omas’s arms. ‘Oh, Tom, it’s worse than you imagine! Mr Dolphin believes I’m responsible for Tish running away!’ Asked if, indeed, she was, she blurted, ‘No! But I’m the one being blamed – and now I’m being sent away! How will I get another job – and how will I see you?’ She burst into fresh tears.

  Aided by Postgate, Thomas tried to comfort her. ‘Kit, you ninny! Why would you need to find work if we’re to be married?’

  ‘But you haven’t completed your education!’ came her muffled reminder.

  ‘Stuff! I told you I’ve no wish to go to university.’

  She lifted her tearful face from his shoulder. ‘But if Mr Dolphin tells your parents, they might object—’

  ‘Stop worrying, I implore you! My parents aren’t such snobs. Besides, I doubt they’ll hear anything. If I were Mr Dolphin I wouldn’t want to broadcast last night’s shenanigans.’ He broke into a grin and described the moment he had tumbled down Agnes’s chimney on a fall of soot. There followed a moment of laughter between the three, before Thomas made an invitation. ‘I want you to come to luncheon on Monday. That gives me most of the weekend to prepare them.’ Due to the rumpus he and Postgate were being packed off early.

  ‘Will you tell them I’m a servant?’ asked Kit, drying her eyes.

  Thomas replied brightly that there was no need, as she was no longer a servant, and besides she didn’t look like one.

  Ossie Postgate regarded his feet for a moment, mulling over the idea that perhaps Denaby’s parents would not feel the same way he did. ‘If one may make a suggestion? I do feel in some part responsible for your dilemma, as it was I who encouraged you two to meet.’ Staving off Denaby’s cry of gratitude, he added. ‘Supposing your parents object – you are after all only seventeen. It may be some time before you’re allowed to marry and in the meantime Kit will have no livelihood. Have you thought of that?’ He reproached his friend’s guilty expression. ‘No, I thought as much. It’s hardly fair of you, old fellow.’ Lifting his face to that of the tear-stained girl, he said, ‘I can arrange employment for you if you wish.’ Kit asked if he meant at his parents’ house and with his nod she agreed gratefully. It would give her time to save for her wedding. Ossie seemed glad. ‘I’ll arrange it with my mother when I get home. I shall also write you an introduction which you can keep for the future, as a safeguard. Present it to the housekeeper. She’s not such a dragon as Mrs Grunter.’ He backed away, saying he would run and scribble a reference now and meet her outside in five minutes or so. ‘Coming, Denaby?’