by Ann Barker
Anna chuckled again as the man gently tucked a strand behind her ear. It was at this unfortunate moment that Ilam came striding towards them across the grass. In the bright moonlight, he must have seen exactly what the man had been doing.
‘Get your hands off her, you depraved lecher,’ he said in threatening tones.
‘And good evening to you too, Ilam,’ said Anna’s companion suavely. ‘I see that your manners are much as they have ever been.’
‘Damn you to hell, Ashbourne,’ uttered Ilam, in the same murderous tone as he came ever closer. So this was Lord Ashbourne, Eustacia thought. She ought to have guessed. She became conscious of another figure running across the grass in their direction and surmised that it must be David Crossley. Dear heaven, she thought, there will be murder done if nothing happens to prevent it! Lord Ashbourne might be all that he was said to be and worse, but on this occasion he had behaved like a true gentleman, and she was a witness to the fact. She prepared to emerge from the shadows, but even as she did so, Anna took a step forward.
‘No, Gabriel, it wasn’t like that,’ she said urgently. ‘He was comforting me.’
‘Oh yes,’ replied Gabriel with heavy sarcasm. ‘And what else was he attempting to do?’
At this point David Crossley arrived on the scene, somewhat out of breath. ‘Gabriel … My lord, wait!’
‘It’s young Crossley, isn’t it?’ said Ashbourne, for all the world as if his son and heir was not breathing murderous threats at him. ‘It must be some time since I’ve seen you. Are you well? And your parents?’
‘Yes, very well, thank you, my lord,’ replied David, making his bow as he had been taught. Then he turned to Ilam again. ‘My lord, please.’ He laid a hand on Gabriel’s arm, but Gabriel shook him off.
‘You don’t know what he’s like,’ he said, his eyes never leaving Ashbourne’s face. ‘God knows what he would have done to Anna if we hadn’t chanced along.’
‘It’s not true,’ Anna protested vehemently. ‘He was going to take me back to the Olde Oak!’
Gabriel laughed derisively. ‘Is that what he told you?’ he said. ‘A likely story.’
Why doesn’t Ashbourne say something in his defence? Eustacia asked herself, before stepping forward and saying out loud, ‘It is quite true, Gabriel. I came to find Anna and overheard part of their conversation.’
Ashbourne turned and saw her. Immediately she recognized the man from the portrait. ‘I doubt if anyone will have the manners to introduce us, so I must assume that you are Miss Hope,’ he said, making a courtly bow.
Eustacia, well taught by her mother, curtsied in response. As she rose from her reverence, the incongruity of this behaviour, given their present situation, suddenly struck her, and she felt a giggle rising in her throat, in response to which Lord Ashbourne grinned.
Unfortunately, this little exchange was noticed by Ilam. ‘My God is there no woman you will not attempt to despoil?’ he exclaimed, throwing himself forward, his fists raised. Yet again, David caught hold of Ilam’s arm. Young Crossley was accustomed to farm work, and this time he held on tight. Gabriel, however, filled with ungovernable fury against his father, pulled himself free, turning at the same time so that the movement carried his arm round with some force. In the meantime, however, Eustacia had stepped between father and son, and so it was that Gabriel’s powerful clenched fist made contact with the side of her head and she fell senseless to the ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
For a moment nobody moved. They stood staring down at the still, crumpled figure lying on the grass in the moonlight.
Ilam was the first to speak. ‘God, what have I done?’ he exclaimed, distraught, sinking to one knee. ‘Eustacia! My darling!’ She did not move.
David Crossley took hold of her wrist, and bent to listen to her breathing. ‘She’s only stunned,’ he said.
‘Little though I wish to disturb your emotional transports, I must insist that we get her out of the night air and have the doctor attend her,’ Ashbourne said to his distracted son in urgent tones that nevertheless still held a hint of his usual society drawl.
‘I’ll fetch the doctor,’ said Crossley, making as if to start across the grass.
‘Tell him to come to the rectory,’ the earl instructed. ‘She’ll be happier if she wakes in her own bed.’
‘The Hall is nearer,’ ventured Ilam.
‘Yours is a bachelor household,’ Ashbourne reminded him. ‘Go, Crossley. Ilam, you had better run to the rectory and make sure that they are ready to receive her. Then find your aunt and tell her to go home.’
‘What of Eustacia?’
‘I’ll bring her.’
‘If you harm her—’ Ilam began menacingly.
‘Strive for a little sense, Ilam,’ said Ashbourne in much his usual tone. ‘I shall have Anna to act as chaperon, shall I not, my dear? No doubt her presence will force me to restrain my rakish impulse to ravish an unconscious and possibly concussed female.’
‘Very well,’ replied Ilam reluctantly, ‘but you’ll answer to me if you drop her.’
‘I see.’ Ashbourne grinned in the darkness. ‘You are obviously wondering whether carrying Miss Hope is within my powers. I can assure you that it is. Where do you think you got your coal-heaver’s shoulders from, Ilam?’
Eustacia never really remembered any of that night’s events clearly after the moment when she had interposed herself between Lord Ashbourne and his son. She was quite unaware of being carried by the earl, whilst Anna walked alongside, opening gates and warning of obstacles as and when the need arose. She vaguely recalled being laid upon something soft and warm amid the murmur of voices. Then there was nothing until late the following morning when she came round, aware of an unpleasantly aching head.
‘Trixie?’ she breathed in a thread of a voice.
‘Oh, heavens, miss, you’ve come round,’ said Trixie. ‘I’ll go and tell her ladyship.’
Eustacia drifted off to sleep again. When she awoke, the pain in her head was a little less, and Lady Agatha was sitting at a table by the window, writing. ‘Letters to the bishop,’ murmured Eustacia.
Lady Agatha got up with a rustle of her black silk skirts and walked gracefully over to the bed. ‘No, not on this occasion,’ she said with a chuckle. ‘Not but what it would be an excellent scheme. I could say that you had developed brain fever and could not be moved. Are you feeling a little better, my dear?’
‘A little,’ Eustacia replied. She was somewhat confused about the detail of what had occurred the previous night and was hoping that her godmother might enlighten her. She was not to be disappointed.
‘Such a drama we were treated to last night,’ said the older lady, sitting down on the bed, after she had helped Eustacia to have a drink of lemonade. ‘You must not think, by the way, that I was unaware of what was happening earlier. I discovered from Mr and Mrs Granby that the young man with them was called Morrison Morrison. There can only be one set of parents who would name their son in such a stupid way, so I guessed at once who he must be. By the time I found out about him, however, Ilam had successfully ejected him and you were soothing Miss Granby.
‘It was Miss August who told me about the search for Anna Crossley. She was much inclined to blame herself for losing sight of you. She thought that you might have gone with Ilam and David Crossley to find Anna. I told her that you would not come to any harm, especially if you were with Ilam. Then, of course, Ilam gave the lie to my words when he arrived looking absolutely ashen and saying that he had hit you over the head.’
‘Gabriel hit me,’ Eustacia murmured, a wisp of recollection returning.
‘I could hardly believe it, even though he himself had said it,’ Lady Agatha confessed. ‘Then Ashbourne, of all people, arrived, carrying you in his arms, and along with him was the wretched young woman who had caused all the trouble in the first place! “She has sustained a blow to the head”, was all he told me. It was Anna who blurted out “Ilam hit her, but I don’t think he
meant to”.’
‘I remember, now,’ said Eustacia slowly. ‘Ilam was angry with his father because he thought that he was seducing Anna.’
‘Absurd!’ declared her ladyship. ‘Ashbourne has his faults – plenty of them – but he’s never been a despoiler of young virgins. Besides, he wouldn’t foul his own nest. You’re looking tired, now. Shall I leave you to rest?’
Eustacia tried to nod, but the pain came back into her head again. Instead, she simply whispered, ‘Yes, please.’
After her aunt had gone, she lay there in bed with slow tears rolling down her cheeks. The scene in the garden had now come back to her with distressing clarity. All Gabriel’s fury had been on Anna’s behalf. He had intended to knock his father down because of her. No doubt Anna’s sudden perceived danger had made him think of the girl in a new light. She recalled how she and Ilam had kissed. Would they have done so if she had not told him the sad tale of her jilting and made him feel sorry for her? She remembered how just before their embrace he had clenched his fists and declared that had he been at the wedding he would have knocked Morrison’s teeth down his throat. He was obviously the kind of man whose chivalrous impulses would cause him to leap to the defence of any female whom he perceived was being badly treated. Probably he had kissed her out of pity. This was such a lowering reflection that she began to cry in good and earnest. Mercifully, the weakened state of her constitution meant that she had soon cried herself to sleep.
When she next awoke, it was late afternoon. She was aware of the sound of voices and opened her eyes to see Dr Bennett standing next to Lady Agatha at the foot of the bed. ‘How are we now, young lady?’ he asked in a voice that was naturally deep and booming but which he had lowered in the sick room to what, if Eustacia’s mother had been speaking, her daughter would have referred to as ‘front stalls’.
Eustacia thought carefully. The pain in her head had subsided considerably, and was now only at the level of a mild headache. She passed this information on to the doctor.
‘Excellent,’ he said. ‘You must look more carefully where you are going in future. Running into a branch, indeed!’
‘Yes,’ agreed Eustacia, not feeling well enough to dispute this point.
‘See how she is in the morning,’ said the doctor, turning to Lady Agatha. ‘She should have a good night’s sleep after one of these powders, but I would not advise getting up, at least until the afternoon, and then only to sit in a chair up here. And no visitors, apart from yourself, of course, my lady.’
The following morning, Eustacia woke up with the pain in her head completely gone. Indeed, she felt so much more herself that she tried to persuade Trixie to allow her to get up.
Trixie shook her head. ‘Her ladyship was most strict,’ she said. ‘You’re not to come down today, or even to get out of your bed until this afternoon.’
‘Surely I can just get out of bed and sit by the window in my dressing gown?’ coaxed Eustacia. ‘I’m so tired of lying in one position.’
‘I suppose it can’t do no harm,’ said Trixie fetching the dressing-gown in question. ‘If you show any signs of faintness, though, it’s straight back to bed with you.’
Eustacia stood up cautiously, and found that there were no ill effects. With a sigh of relief she sat down at the window. She did not want to say too much for she was not sure which version of events Trixie knew: the true version, or the one which involved the branch of a tree. She was aware that if she just kept quiet, Trixie would soon reveal all she knew.
As soon as Eustacia was settled, Trixie began to tidy up the bed, pulling the sheets tight and shaking up the pillows. ‘It’s been very busy downstairs this morning,’ she said. ‘All sorts of folks coming to ask about your welfare. That Lord Ashbourne came,’ she said with a gleam in her eye, hugging a pillow to her before putting it down. ‘He’s a proper rake, he is, as anyone can see. Fancy him carrying you up here and placing you on your bed! What a pity that you weren’t awake to enjoy it! I wouldn’t’ve minded a chance to dally with him but I had to come back up here – no blame going to you for that, miss, of course! He brought those flowers over there.’ She pointed to a vase in which were displayed some magnificent lilies. ‘Aren’t they a picture? They smell as good as they look, but beware of the pollen.’
‘They are lovely,’ agreed Eustacia. Then, after a pause, she asked, ‘Have there been any other visitors or … or enquiries?’
‘Miss Granby came,’ volunteered Trixie. ‘The schoolteacher looked in as well.’ Then after a long pause she said ‘If you must know, that Lord Ilam came – curse him! Hit you on the head! I’ll hit him on the head!’
‘How did you know?’ asked Eustacia curiously.
‘Miss Anna spilled it out as Lord Ashbourne was laying you down on the bed,’ said Trixie, her voice softening at the mention of his lordship and the word bed in the same sentence. ‘Her ladyship says it’s to be a secret. I didn’t see why it should be, since if he’s hit a young lady over the head everyone should know, in my opinion. Then Lady Agatha said that it was to protect your reputation, otherwise everyone would know that you’d been out with a man in the moonlight. So I agreed to hold my peace, but for your sake, not his.’ She paused. ‘He did bring some flowers when he came this morning. I put them in the passage.’
‘I’d like them in here if you please,’ said Eustacia.
Trixie sniffed. ‘They’re nothing special,’ she said, before going into the corridor and coming back with a vase of golden roses. ‘He brought them when he came with Miss Anna.’
‘He came with Anna?’ echoed Eustacia.
Trixie came over and sat next to her. ‘Look, miss, to bring another young lady on an errand like that says something, doesn’t it? They’ve known each other all their lives. A bond like that isn’t broken so soon. If you ask me, the sooner we leave here and get home the better.’
Eustacia thought about what Trixie had said after she had gone. Ashbourne had not appeared to think that Gabriel and Anna’s closeness was of the kind that would lead to love. The fact was that Ashbourne was estranged from his son and therefore might not be the most likely person to know. It was true that Gabriel himself had told her that he did not love Anna in a romantic way as they were dancing, but that was before Anna had disappeared. The anxiety of that moment might have caused him to think about his childhood friend in an entirely different way. If he had had a romantic reason for visiting her today, why bring Anna? The more she turned the whole matter round and round in her head, the more she came to the conclusion that Trixie was right. It was time they went home.
The following morning, Eustacia was halfway down the stairs when the doctor appeared at the bottom of the flight. ‘And where do you think you’re going, young lady?’ he asked her. This time, his voice was nearer to back of stalls level.
‘I felt so much better,’ she confessed. ‘You did not say that I must stay in my room today, so I thought that I might come down.’
‘Not until I’ve had a good look at you first,’ he said. ‘Back upstairs with you.’
After Trixie had been sent for, the doctor examined Eustacia and asked her a number of questions, the answers to which involved, among other things, saying the Lord’s Prayer, and telling him who was king and what season of the year they were in. After he had done all this he pronounced her completely recovered. ‘No more running into branches, mind,’ he warned her. ‘I am sure you will not experience any giddiness, but if you do, just sit down for a time until it passes. Try to avoid getting over excited.’
She thanked the doctor, and asked Trixie to show him out. Then she waited for the maid to return so that she could put her hair up again, since the doctor had been obliged to disarrange it during his examination.
‘There’s a fine to-do going on downstairs,’ said Trixie looking excited. ‘Her ladyship’s arrived.’
‘Which ladyship?’ Eustacia asked her, mystified.
‘Our ladyship,’ said Trixie impatiently. ‘Lady Hope.’
‘My mother!’ Eustacia exclaimed.
‘Well haven’t I just been saying so?’ sighed Trixie in a long-suffering tone. ‘She’s saying something about that Morrison being at that ball the other night. You didn’t tell me about that, miss.’
‘No, I know I didn’t,’ replied Eustacia. ‘Such a lot seemed to have happened since then you see. I wonder what brought her here?’
‘I don’t know; But it sounds as if there’s hell to pay.’
Although Eustacia was feeling perfectly well, she really did not want to face a scene. She therefore told Trixie the whole story, judging that by the time she had finished, Lady Agatha would also have completed her own account. After Trixie had finished exclaiming over Morrison’s perfidy, Eustacia decided to make her way downstairs.
Her mother was sitting in the drawing-room with Lady Agatha. Both ladies rose at her entrance and Lady Hope glided over to embrace her daughter, bestowing a scented kiss upon her cheek. ‘Eustacia, my love!’
‘Mama, this is a surprise,’ Eustacia replied. ‘What brings you here?’
‘A most unpleasant rumour,’ her mother replied. ‘Fortunately Agatha has been able to put my mind at rest over the matter.’
‘And what rumour was that, Mama?’
‘That Lusty fellow came over to see Miss Warburton, and he told me that Rake Ashbourne had made a kind of pet of you – and when I had told you not to have anything to do with him.’
‘But … but that’s nonsense,’ Eustacia exclaimed, colouring. ‘I had not even met Lord Ashbourne until two nights ago.’
‘I told your Mama all about it,’ put in Lady Agatha. ‘That Lusty is a fool and a troublemaker.’
‘He should be drummed out of the church, and so I shall tell the bishop when next I see him,’ said Lady Hope decisively.
‘Oh, pray do not,’ cried Eustacia, not wanting to see the poor man condemned simply as a result of Lady Agatha’s scheming. ‘I am sure that he is just unhappy because Jessie prefers Lord Ashbourne to himself.’
