Obsession

by Claire Lorrimer

  Charlie chattered all the way home, and Harriet was happy to leave him to Maire’s loving care as they went indoors. Fletcher was in the hall waiting for them, as was Charlie’s nanny, who took him upstairs to have his hot milk and biscuits before putting him to bed. Fletcher bid Harriet a good evening and took her cloak, bonnet and gloves, before telling her that she had a visitor who was downstairs in the kitchen awaiting her return.

  ‘Who is it, Fletcher?’ Harriet broke in, a cold fear invading her body as it crossed her mind that, despite her promises, Mrs Bates had come uninvited yet again.

  Seeing the dubious expression on his mistress’s face, Fletcher said quickly, ‘It is someone I think you will be very pleased to see, madam. She has asked me not to tell you her name as she wishes to surprise you. Have I your permission to tell her you will see her in the morning room?’

  Still uneasy, Harriet nevertheless made her way to the empty room. Felicity would not be in the kitchen of all places, she thought, but no one else came to mind who would pay her a call unexpectedly at this time of the evening and refuse to give her name to Fletcher. Had one of her sisters arrived unexpectedly from their distant homes wanting to surprise her? But they would surely have written to announce their intentions.

  Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the door opened and her ‘visitor’ came into the room. One glance was enough to set her heart thundering in her chest. Tears of joy sprang to her eyes as she held out her arms … It was Bessie! Bessie, who she had feared never to see again – looking a little older, perhaps, but rosy-cheeked and nicely dressed.

  Smiling happily, Bessie clasped Harriet’s hands. ‘I came as soon as I could, Miss Harriet. I wanted to write but they wouldn’t let me. I was their prisoner, you see …’

  She broke off as Harriet pulled her down beside her on the sofa. Harriet felt as if she must be dreaming. It was two long years since she had last seen her dear, dear maid; two years during which she had feared she might be dead. Now Bessie was here … here in Hunters Hall beside her! Harriet was too full of emotion to speak.

  Bessie continued to hold her hands. ‘I understand what you’s feeling, Miss Harriet!’ she said gently. ‘I only discovered that you were alive and well when I reached home yesterday and Ma told me. It was quite late and I was that tired after my journey, I thought it best to wait until today to travel up here to the hall to see you. I got here an hour since but you’d left to go to Sir Walter’s house. I would have let you know I wasn’t dead after we were attacked that night, but I couldn’t, me being in another country and helpless.’

  Harriet was bewildered. ‘Bessie, dear! Start at the beginning,’ she begged. ‘What happened to you that terrible night in Liverpool?’

  Bessie drew a deep breath and said, ‘I was took to a real hovel of a place where the men what had attacked us was living. They locked me in one of the rooms, and I could hear them next door in what turned out to be a filthy kitchen. They were discussing whether they should keep me for their own pleasuring or …’

  She broke off, shuddering. Harriet caught her breath realizing that Bessie – her faithful Bessie – had been alone and unable to defend herself.

  Seeing the look of horror on Harriet’s face, Bessie said quickly, ‘After a bit, they decided not to despoil me: their greed for money was more important to them than I was. They were in the pay of an oriental gentleman, you see, who paid them to get hold of young females. He didn’t want them for his pleasuring, but because he could get very large sums of money for them in his own country and, if the girls had not been despoiled, his reward would be even greater, as would the pay of them who found us.’

  Harriet’s face was a mask of horror as Bessie paused for breath before continuing her story.

  ‘So’s them two rogues realized there’d be far more money for them if they left me alone. They took me to the oriental gentleman’s house and he kept me prisoner there for several weeks. He wasn’t unkind to me – fed me and bought new expensive clothing for me to wear and a clean bed to sleep in. I had everything I asked for except to be allowed to go free. Nor would he let me write to you as I hoped by then you’d be safe back at Hunters Hall. I wanted to say I wasn’t dead.’

  She paused momentarily for breath and then continued, ‘A foreign woman who couldn’t speak no English watched me all the time like a hawk so as I couldn’t escape through a window or else; but otherwise she waited on me as if I was a lady like yourself, Miss Harriet.’

  ‘Oh, Bessie, I cannot believe this!’ Harriet whispered. ‘You must have been so frightened!’

  Bessie nodded. ‘Yes, I was, but mostly I was worried for you, Miss Harriet. I’d seen you lying on the ground with your eyes shut, and I didn’t know whether you was alive or dead. One of the men what attacked us had said how you was bleeding ever so much – not just from that gash on your head, but down your legs. Then, three days later, the oriental man who had bought me from the robbers came to see me, and when I begged him to tell me if he knew what had happened to you, he said a constable had taken you to a convent for the nuns to look after you as the hospitals were full, and that you was having a miscarriage.’

  There were tears in her eyes as she added: ‘If I’d knowed you was carrying, Miss Harriet, I’d never have let you travel to Ireland to see your sister, not after all them other mishaps.’

  ‘Don’t cry, Bessie dear!’ Harriet broke in. ‘I kept such suspicions as I had from you; I even pretended to myself that nothing unusual was happening as I so wanted to go to Una’s. I wouldn’t allow any doubts. I hated being in my house without my husband, and when he wrote and said how much longer it was going to be before he came home, well …’

  Bessie put her arms round Harriet and rocked her, the way she had last done when they were young girls. Harriet had been bitten by one of the ferrets and had to be stitched by the doctor whilst she lay on the kitchen table.

  Afraid now that Bessie was going to ask her more about her miscarriage, Harriet turned the conversation quickly back to Bessie’s shocking adventure. Listening as Bessie talked, she almost wished she need not learn the terrible facts.

  Her captor, Bessie now told Harriet, had taken her in a boat from Liverpool to his own country; Bessie was not sure whether it was China or Japan. There she had been put in a strange house with a number of other young women, and forced to allow strange men to do what she called ‘intimate things’ to them – things only a husband should do with his wife, she explained.

  Harriet’s dismay intensified as Bessie continued her story. One of the girls who befriended her, she said, who could speak a very little English, explained that the men who owned them were paid very big sums of money by other men wanting to do as they wished with pretty white girls like themselves. They did not receive any of this money, she said, but were kept in luxury as if they were ladies in their own countries: given beautiful clothes to wear, good food, comfortable single rooms, and even a maid to clean and wait on them.

  Bessie drew a long, trembling sigh. ‘I was never beaten nor hurt,’ she said. ‘I wanted for only two things – my freedom and that I might never again be obliged to have strange men doing dreadful things to me.’

  Harriet was horrified. She had often in her thoughts imagined Bessie being beaten, starved and ill-treated, but never that she would have been spirited to the Far East and made to become a ‘fille de joie’ – a profession Felicity had once explained to her when she’d queried a comment she had heard one woman make to another at a garden party.

  ‘I was fortunate, Miss Harriet!’ Bessie was saying as if to ameliorate Harriet’s distress. ‘One of the men who came regularly to see me was a much-travelled government official who spoke good English. He took pity on me when he heard my story and that I was there against my will. He was a very rich man, and as I was no longer untainted, he was able to pay the price my owner demanded for my release.’

  She paused briefly for breath and before Harriet could comment, she said in the same level tone of voice as b
efore, ‘He brought me back to England on the first occasion his business required him to make the journey. He was a good man, Miss Harriet! He wanted me to stay with him when we reached Liverpool, but when I told him all I wanted was to be allowed to go home he gave me sufficient money to do so.’

  Harriet was having difficulty in believing this extraordinary adventure of Bessie’s, whose appearance gave no inkling of the ordeal she had suffered so bravely – none of which would have occurred but for her own selfish wish to get away from Hunters Hall for a holiday with her sister.

  She put her arms round Bessie and hugged her. ‘I am so very, very glad you are safely home!’ she whispered. ‘I have missed you so much, Bessie, not only as my maid but as a friend.’

  ‘You will have had to replace me, I know,’ Bessie said sadly, ‘but my ma said I was to tell you that you will be welcome any time in our house, so we shall still see each other if you want. It’s perhaps as well I won’t be living here – Hastings, you see. I can never marry him now, and I couldn’t stand for him to know that other men have … despoiled me. I realized that as soon as I knew I would be coming home.’

  ‘Oh, Bessie!’ Harriet whispered sadly, ‘surely Hastings would understand that none of this was your fault, that …’

  ‘No, Miss Harriet, I couldn’t tell him. I wouldn’t want him to think badly about me even if he didn’t blame me. Any road, I dare say as how he may have found himself another girl, thinking I was killed or summat. No, it’s to be a secret ’tween you and me, Miss Harriet. I dursn’t even tell my family.’

  A secret! The word hit Harriet with as much force as if it had been a flash of lightening. She was the one with a secret! She was the one who dared not tell a single soul ever that Charlie was not Brook’s child. Not even Bessie must know.

  No matter how devoted she and Bessie were to one another, not even to her trusted servant dare she tell the truth.

  For some reason, Harriet thought unhappily, she was finding it harder to voice the lie to Bessie than it had been for her to allow Brook to assume Charlie was his child. Barely above a whisper, she said shakily, ‘Bessie, I have news to tell you: unlike yours, it is good news which will surprise you. That night in Liverpool I wasn’t having a miscarriage as the policeman who found me thought – I was having a child, a little boy. He is upstairs now in the nursery, and his name is Charlie …’

  Close to tears, she broke off, unmanned by Bessie’s look of astonishment and joy, and her own mixed feelings of guilt and relief.

  THIRTEEN

  1868

  As was customary, Brook and Harriet repaired to the morning room, after they had finished their breakfast, to discuss the plans for the day.

  ‘Felicity is calling for me at ten o’clock,’ Harriet said. ‘She is taking me to her dressmaker in Leicester to have a new gown made for Viscount and Lady Harrogate’s ball.’

  Brook smiled. ‘I could hardly have forgotten, my love, with you and Felicity talking of nothing else every time she lunches with us or we go to Melton Court to dine with her and Paul.’

  Harriet laughed. ‘I know you enjoy their company as much as I do, Brook.’

  Brook smiled. ‘We are lucky to have such good neighbours, are we not? Denning is a clever chap – takes after his father, I suppose; he seems to be managing their finances just as successfully. He has given me some excellent tips which have done well for me on the Stock Exchange.’

  ‘I admire the way he cares for Felicity,’ Harriet said. Then, adding with a smile: ‘Even if he wasn’t so kind, you would like him, dearest, simply because he is the best shot you have encountered or so you told me!’

  They both laughed, and then Harriet continued, ‘Felicity told me yesterday that her second footman, Robert, asked her permission to court Maire. Now don’t laugh, Brook: I understand the two of them have got to know one another quite well when Maire comes with me to visit Felicity.’

  Brook laughed once more.

  ‘It isn’t funny, dearest,’ Harriet protested. ‘Maire is quite taken with him. Felicity has told her she would employ her as a maid if I was agreeable to let her go.’

  Brook frowned. ‘Are you agreeable to lose the nanny Charlie is so fond of?’

  ‘It is the perfect solution!’ Harriet answered him. ‘As now Bessie is back, and if I can persuade her to return, I would dearly love to employ her again. I did not feel it fair to dismiss Maire, who could not have been a more satisfactory nanny. Charlie does love her, but Bessie has immense experience with young children, and I would have no anxieties were she to become Charlie’s nanny in Maire’s place. I thought it hugely kind of Felicity to suggest this solution.’

  Brook sighed. ‘Well, I’m sure you know what you are doing,’ he said. ‘Now, remind me, my love, when exactly in August is this ball taking place? Actually, I’m surprised the Harrogates are holding it here in the country rather than in London. I am also surprised that they have invited Denning and his sister, conscious of their rank as they are. Still, money seems to be quite an entrée into society these days, beside which I happen to know Denning made a great many titled friends at Oxford.’

  He drew a long sigh. ‘Frankly, Harriet, I’ve come to the conclusion that society pays far too much attention to breeding. Personally, I don’t see how anybody could find fault with Paul Denning, or indeed our jolly widow, Mrs Felicity Goodall! If one did not know of their background, one would have no idea that they were not our social equals.’

  Harriet smiled as she reminded him that only the other day he had remarked that Felicity’s laugh was sometimes a little too loud for comfort. ‘I agree they are a very likeable couple,’ she said, ‘and as you know, Felicity and I have become the very best of friends. She is one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I know.’

  Pretending concern, Brook frowned. ‘Are you implying that I am not always kind or thoughtful?’

  Seeing the twinkle in his eyes, Harriet laughed. ‘Indeed, you are not!’ she exclaimed. ‘You have not kissed me since we awoke this morning.’

  Getting swiftly to his feet, Brook chuckled as, ignoring the footman, he crossed the room and said, ‘Only one kiss, my love, and then regrettably I shall have to leave you. Hollingsworth has asked me to look at the new coups and runs he has made for the pheasant chicks he is rearing for the shoot. He says we shall have an excellent year’s sport. What with the ducks on the lake being so prolific this early in the year, and the ducklings likely to survive now he has got rid of the pike which took most of them last year.’

  As they walked arm in arm from the room, Harriet said, ‘I do hate the thought that the birds have to be killed, Brook. I know there would be insufficient sport for you all were you not to raise the chicks but …’

  Brook sighed before he interrupted her, saying, ‘Can’t change our national sporting heritage, Harriet, and when Charlie is older I’ll be teaching him how to shoot. Won’t do to have him soft-hearted. I think his grandfather has already bought him a 410; I had to remind him Charlie was still only two-and-a-half years old!’

  ‘Your father spoils him quite dreadfully,’ Harriet replied, laughing.

  Brook nodded. ‘Bound to happen, the boy being the only one. It will rectify itself when younger ones come along.’

  Seeing the expression on Harriet’s face, he added quickly, ‘I shouldn’t be impatient, I know. Doctor Tremlett assured me that although you haven’t managed it again yet, there is no reason why you cannot have more babies now you’ve produced this one. Meanwhile, I for one am more than content with that rascal of ours.’ He crossed the room to ring the bell for his valet.

  A terrible stab of guilt, almost unbearable, pierced Harriet’s heart, and she longed desperately to be able to confess her deception whilst knowing it was far too late to do so. Instead, she forced a smile to her face as she followed Brook into the hall.

  Hastings was waiting to give Brook his linen coat and felt hat. Brook dropped another kiss on Harriet’s head and disappeared through the front door with
his valet.

  Upstairs, Ellen was laying out a chip hat trimmed with a posy of violets for Harriet to wear with the new paletot mantle trimmed with lace that she would be wearing that morning.

  When Harriet was dressing with Ellen’s help ten minutes later she was delighted to hear the sound of carriage wheels in the driveway below her window and see Felicity alight.

  It had now become habitual for Felicity to visit Hunters Hall no less than three times a week. Very occasionally, Harriet wished she and Brook were able to enjoy those afternoons alone together if he was at home, but at other times she thoroughly enjoyed the older woman’s company. Brook, too, enjoyed her slightly risqué conversation, and remarked very favourably on the attention she devoted to young Charlie if the little boy was in their company. Children in other households spent most of their time with their nannies in the nursery, but now that Charlie had progressed from babyhood to that of a child with whom he, Brook, could converse, and who wanted nothing more than to be with his papa, Brook loved to have his company.

  Whilst such occasions gave Harriet great pleasure, there were others when she was reminded painfully of the little boy’s real parentage. He had discovered the pianoforte in the drawing room, and whenever he was permitted, would kneel on the piano stool and try to find the right keys to produce the sound of one of Maire’s songs. Fortunately, Brook’s mother had been very accomplished at the pianoforte and had always been asked to play or sing at soirées, so Brook never queried the child’s unusual talent.

  As for Bessie, she was radiant with happiness at being once again a member of Harriet’s household. She had resolutely decided to put all thoughts of eventual marriage to Hastings out of her mind. He had been overjoyed to see her, as she was to see him, but she cared too much for him to let him think she was the innocent girl she’d been before her abduction. She was also too proud to confess the real reason why she had changed her mind about renewing their courtship.