by Val Wood
‘I saw her going towards ’stables,’ Polly said, ‘but she wasn’t dressed for riding. I’m sure she’ll be back in a minute. She must have heard ’hosses come.’
‘I recognize that accent,’ Mrs Radcliffe said. ‘You’re from Hull!’
‘I am, ma’am,’ Polly told her. ‘Born and bred.’
‘My late husband was born in Hull,’ Mrs Radcliffe said, ‘and although he came to North Yorkshire when he was very young, we used to go back there from time to time to visit his relatives.’ She looked sad for a moment. ‘I haven’t been for many years,’ she said. ‘Not since his death. There never seemed to be enough time; the farm and the children took up most of it.’
‘Do you farm yourself, Mrs Radcliffe?’ Rosalie said in astonishment. This lady was immaculate, a fair skin which wasn’t pale but had a golden glow, as if she spent some time outdoors, yet didn’t look as if she ever got her hands dirty.
Anna Radcliffe smiled. ‘Well, not exactly. I have an excellent foreman and staff, but I look after the books and I’m always aware of what is happening on the farm.’
Dora brought more cups and another pot of tea and they were indulging in quiet conversation when they heard quarrelsome voices in the hall.
‘That’ll be Clementina.’ Luke sighed and rose to his feet. ‘And Edwin too, I should think.’
Clementina burst through the door. ‘Papa! Why were you not here to meet me?’
She stopped in her tracks and gazed open-mouthed as Anna Radcliffe rose from her chair to greet her.
‘Clemmie, my dear,’ Luke said, ‘I want you to meet a very good friend of mine, Mrs Radcliffe. Anna, this is my daughter Clementina, and here, skulking in the doorway, is Edwin. Come in, Edwin, and be introduced.’
Anna was extremely gracious in her greeting and clasped Clementina’s hand. ‘I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Clementina,’ she smiled. ‘Your father has told me so much about you that I feel I know you already.’
Polly and Rosalie exchanged glances, and watched with interest as Edwin gave Anna Radcliffe a formal bow.
‘Now I just have to meet Howard, Luke,’ Anna sat down again, ‘and then I think I have met all of your family.’
‘Have you known Father long?’ Edwin asked abruptly. ‘I don’t recall him mentioning your name.’
‘Yes,’ Luke butted in. ‘You must have heard me speak of Jim Radcliffe, Anna’s late husband. We used to go shooting together.’
Edwin shrugged. ‘Can’t recall.’
‘Well, it’s some years ago, of course,’ his father admitted. ‘How long is it since Jim died, Anna?’
‘Close on twelve years,’ she said. ‘Elizabeth was only a toddler; she doesn’t remember her father at all, which is very sad.’
Polly was keeping a close eye on the reactions of Edwin and Clementina, and both, she thought, seemed very uneasy with the present situation. Clementina won’t like her father’s attention being diverted away from her. Bad enough to have Rosalie and me in the house, but an attractive, marriageable widow! And I can almost hear Edwin’s mind going tick, tick, tick, she thought. Mr Kingston would hardly have brought Mrs Radcliffe here without some intention. If his father should marry a woman with a son, there are endless possibilities for Edwin to have his nose put out of joint.
‘Ring for Mrs Moody again, will you, Clemmie,’ her father said. ‘Tell her we’ll have an early supper, say at seven. And ask her to tell Cook we’ll have one of her meat pies with thick onion gravy.’
Mrs Moody came in to take Mrs Radcliffe upstairs to her room. Rosalie and Polly excused themselves and went out, as had been their intention, leaving their uncle with his son and daughter.
‘Let’s try and find Howard,’ Polly said as they trekked down the track to the moor. ‘I can’t wait to tell him the news!’
They saw him some way off and trudged up towards him. Beyond him, standing on a high ridge, was what looked like a house or farm. It was a square building, outlined against the skyline. ‘I haven’t noticed that before,’ Polly said breathlessly. ‘Why haven’t I?’
She asked the same question of Howard when they eventually caught up with him.
‘You’ve come up at a different angle,’ he said. ‘From some parts of the moor the house is unseen. It’s hidden by various ridges, crags and valleys. But the view from it is spectacular – the moors, the valleys and the becks and streams.’
‘I’d like to see it,’ Polly said eagerly. ‘Could we walk there?’
‘Yes,’ he smiled. ‘I’ll take you, but not today. And it would be quicker on horseback – if you dare!’
‘Well of course we dare,’ Rosalie said boldly. ‘We’re intrepid, aren’t we, Polly? But we came to tell you something, Howard. There’s a visitor and she wants to meet you.’
‘And we’re having an early supper,’ Polly told him. ‘So you’d better come home and get smartened up.’
‘What?’ he said mockingly. ‘Am I not smart enough? I’m wearing my best working clothes.’ He was clad in a pair of corduroy breeches, an old tweed jacket and a battered hat. ‘Good enough to meet anybody!’
Rosalie looked at Polly. Home, she had said, and as if she meant it. She belongs here, she thought. It’s as if she really has come home; Howard too seems to blend into the landscape. They would be right for each other, she mused thoughtfully.
Polly put her head on one side as she scrutinized him. ‘I think for this lady you probably would be smart enough,’ she said. ‘But we want you to make a good impression.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When they assembled in the drawing room before supper Rosalie and Polly were wearing their prettiest gowns, Polly in her favourite blue and Rosalie in primrose yellow muslin with a sprig pattern. They had both pinned up their hair. Polly wore a blue ribbon and Rosalie a lace cap.
Clementina wore white satin and Edwin and his father wore dark frock coats with stiff starched neckcloths. Howard had not yet come down but as Rosalie and Polly chatted to Mrs Radcliffe, and Clementina and Edwin remained silent, the door opened and he came in.
‘There you are, my boy,’ Luke greeted him. ‘Come along and meet Mrs Radcliffe. This is Howard, my dear.’
Howard had indeed smartened up; his fair hair was still wet from washing and he wore a pair of light-coloured trousers, a white shirt with a cravat, and a dark blue waistcoat under a short velvet jacket.
‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Howard,’ Mrs Radcliffe said. ‘And how very modish you are. We don’t often see such style on the moor.’
Howard gave her a courtly bow. ‘I understood we had a special visitor,’ he said, giving her a quick disarming smile. ‘And I wanted to make a good impression this time. Alas, you may never see me looking like this again!’
Anna Radcliffe laughed. ‘Oh, I do hope so. But have we met before?’
‘We have, ma’am,’ he said. ‘When I was a boy. My friend and I came with Uncle Luke to your home during the school holidays, and we went grouse shooting with your husband.’
She raised a finger. ‘You did! I remember. Well, how nice to meet you again after all these years.’
‘Indeed the pleasure is mine, Mrs Radcliffe,’ he said. ‘You had a young son, and a little girl, I think.’
She was about to answer when Mrs Moody knocked on the door to announce that supper was served and they rose from their seats. Luke took Anna’s arm; Clementina and Edwin went next. Edwin muttered, ‘Fop,’ as he passed Howard, but Howard was quite unfazed and merely winked at Polly and Rosalie and held out both elbows akimbo.
Cook had surpassed herself with her beef and ale pie. The meat was tender and succulent and the pastry rich and crumbling. Carrots, leeks and roast potatoes accompanied it, and there was thick onion gravy as the master had requested. When the maids had cleared away, Luke asked that the dessert might be delayed for ten minutes.
He opened a bottle of sparkling wine, filled Anna’s, Edwin’s and Howard’s glasses to the brim, and gave half a glass each to th
e three young ladies. Then he stood at the head of the table with Anna at his right hand and carefully poured his own. He took a breath and surveyed them all, his gaze lingering on Edwin and Clementina before coming to rest on Anna, who smiled.
‘My dears,’ he said, ‘I have something to say before dessert is brought in. I – we’ – he glanced at Anna – ‘have an announcement to make.’
Clementina gave a breathy gasp and clutched her fingers together and Edwin lifted his lip in a sneer. Polly and Rosalie glanced at each other and raised their eyebrows expectantly.
Luke took another breath and continued. ‘I have asked Mrs Radcliffe to do me the honour of becoming my wife, and she has consented. We are to be married at the end of April.’ He broke into a wide grin as he spoke, and reaching for Anna’s hand he tenderly kissed it. ‘I am very, very happy!’ he said joyously.
Rosalie and Polly clapped their hands, and after a quick glance at Edwin, who seemed rooted to his chair, Howard rose to his feet.
‘Very many congratulations, sir. May I say that I think you a very fortunate man?’ He raised his glass and looked round at the assembled company. ‘May I propose a toast?’
Edwin clumsily pushed back his chair and stood up. ‘I rather think that it’s my place to do that,’ he said grudgingly. ‘I am my father’s son, after all.’
Howard nodded in acquiescence and sat down again.
It was a short toast, to the effect that the announcement was quite unexpected but they were both old enough to know what was in front of them and wishing them health and happiness together.
It was put so plainly and baldly that Rosalie thought that perhaps Edwin’s heart wasn’t in it. He seemed totally unprepared and none too pleased. Does he still think of his mother, I wonder, she thought. Is he hurt that his father is taking another wife? But Edwin is a grown man; surely he must want his father to rediscover the joy of love and companionship with someone else? But then she wondered how she would feel if her father took another wife. It is too soon for that, she thought. Far too soon, and once more she puzzled over why he hadn’t yet written to her.
As Polly ate the dessert of apple sponge pudding, and sipped at her first glass of sparkling wine, she listened to the conversation around her. Clementina and Edwin said little, but that made Polly feel easier, for she was very aware of her lowly status and didn’t want to speak unless spoken to. She felt rather out of place, as if she were an outsider, an interloper who really should have been waiting on table or else down in the kitchen washing up at the sink.
‘You’re very quiet, Polly,’ Anna Radcliffe said. ‘Are you quite well?’
‘Oh, yes, thank you, ma’am.’ Polly blushed. ‘I’m just enjoying listening to everybody.’
‘What do you think of our wedding plans? The weather will be settled and our guests will be able to travel more easily.’
‘I’ve never been to a wedding,’ Polly confessed.
‘No?’ Mrs Radcliffe was astonished. ‘Would you like to be an attendant? Let me see,’ she went on. ‘One, two, three, four with Elizabeth. What do you think, Luke? Would four attendants be all right? How lovely they’ll all look, three fair angels and one exotic brunette.’ She smiled at Clementina as she spoke.
How kind she is, Polly thought, she’s including us all and yet Clementina is glowering at her. I wonder if she’s thinking that she’s losing her father.
It was still dark the next morning when Howard saddled his horse and rode up the moor. There had been lambs born during the night in the lower field but no more were due for a few days so he took the opportunity to visit High Ridge House, the building that Polly and Rosalie had seen the previous day. It was his favourite place, even though it was in a state of dilapidation.
He had first seen it as a boy when he came to live with his uncle and aunt; it was a place he came to when he wanted to think or to escape from his hated cousin Edwin, who did his best to make his life a misery. In the distant past it had been built as a field house with a byre and a barn. Howard hadn’t known then that the building was on his uncle’s land and that Luke’s own uncle and aunt had lived in the front, close by their animals, when they were first married.
It was a good pull up the moor and when he reached the house the wind was whistling round it. It needs a shelter belt, he thought. At least it would if anyone lived here. It was built of sandstone and blended in well with the rocky outcrop at the top of the moor. In the late summer and early autumn it stood out proud against the purple heather.
He tethered his horse and sat down in the lee of a wall to eat his breakfast of bread and beef. The sun was rising, lifting the darkness into a suffusion of blue, gold and silver, with apricot-coloured clouds racing across the sky.
He watched as the view of steep wooded valleys and spreading moorland came out of the shadows, and the streams and rivulets ran like silver down the hillside. Sheep were cropping the young heather and here and there were patches of scorched earth where the farmers had burned the invasive ling and bracken.
Should I ask Luke to let me have it, he thought. I could rebuild the broken walls. The roof is fairly sound, for the moment anyway, and I could repair the windows and doors. I could work for him just as easily from here as I do below, and Mrs Radcliffe might be glad to have some extra space. She’s stuck with Edwin, but Clementina, I guess, might, just might, want to go back to Scarborough to our grandmother.
His grandmother was also Clemmie’s and Edwin’s. Howard was very fond of her, even though he didn’t see her as often as he would have liked. She was a very merry and sociable woman who had taken him into her care when his parents had died, until Luke said he and his wife would gladly bring him up with their own children.
When he was growing up their grandmother had told him that she would one day find a suitable husband for Clementina, and with a twinkle in her eye had added that she would search out a wife for him when he was old enough.
He’d shaken his head at her and begged her not to. ‘I’ll need a hardy country girl,’ he’d said. ‘Not one who likes to go to balls or be seen at the theatre.’
He put his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes and gazed down the valley. There was someone far below on horseback; a rider wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a red scarf round his neck. His mount was carrying saddlebags. Howard smiled. He watched for a while and saw the rider cross the valley floor and turn in the direction of High Ridge House. This was a very welcome visitor.
The rider was halfway up the moor when Howard put his fingers to his lips and gave a shrill whistle. The man looked up and waved. It was twenty minutes more before he reached the summit. Howard went to meet him and as the newcomer dismounted he put out his hand.
‘Good to see you, my friend. Were you expecting me?’
‘I’d a feeling that when the weather began to improve you’d be here before long,’ Howard said. ‘It’s good to see you too, Sonny. Or are you Sebastian now?’
Sonny Blake lifted his shoulders. ‘I can be whoever you want me to be. How are your visitors? Are they settling in or anxious to get back to civilization?’
‘I gathered that you knew them.’ Howard laughed. ‘Taken to it like ducks to water. Although they are having a little difficulty with the residents.’
‘Not your uncle?’ Sonny asked anxiously.
‘No. With Clemmie and young maister,’ Howard said ironically. ‘Anyway, I have news for you. Your timing is perfect. Let me tell you about a wedding!’
‘Not yours?’ Sonny said in astonishment. ‘Surely not. The confirmed bachelor!’
‘No! What bosh! Of course not – yet. But do you remember how we fell in love for the first time and with the same woman?’
Sonny opened his mouth in astonishment. ‘Not the lovely Mrs Radcliffe?’
‘The very one.’ Howard grinned.
‘Who?’ Sonny asked. ‘Who would dare to steal her from us?’
‘Luke,’ Howard said. ‘Stolen her from beneath our very noses. They’re to be married i
n April. It has come as a complete surprise to the family,’ he added. ‘At least to some of us.’
‘But not you?’ Sonny asked sagely.
‘No.’ Howard gave awry grin. ‘I’d seen him in Harwood Dale on more than one occasion, heading towards the Radcliffes’ farm, and at first I thought nothing of it, but then he began disappearing from time to time and was vague about where he’d been. I just began to suspect. He seemed to me to be like a dog with two tails.’
‘And he never said?’
‘Well, would you?’ Howard asked. ‘How could he possibly say anything to Edwin and Clemmie until he was sure of the lovely lady?’
‘Ah!’ Sonny exclaimed. ‘And then fait accompli! Lucky fellow. I’m green with envy – although ...’
‘What? Who?’
‘Can’t tell,’ Sonny said. ‘But I’ve met a fair and lovely woman to die for. But you?’ He gave a puzzled frown. ‘You said yet! What does that mean?’
‘Nothing.’ Howard grinned, and wouldn’t be drawn further.
They sat in silent companionship, and Howard offered Sonny a slice of bread and beef, which he took.
‘You know, life’s a funny thing,’ Sonny said, with his mouth half full. ‘We both fell in love with the unattainable Mrs Radcliffe, who treated us gauche youths with such gracious-ness and gave us an understanding of the type of woman we’d be happy with.’ He sighed deeply. ‘It was only a few years later that I met the woman who would teach me all the things I needed to know about my manhood. She was very poor but very beautiful and she always reminded me of Anna Radcliffe. Our relationship ended but we remained friends, and when she died – I was devastated.’
‘She died? This was Ida? I recall you telling me about her. I’m so sorry,’ Howard said.
Sonny nodded. ‘I promised her on her deathbed that I would look after her daughter, who promises to be just as lovely as her mother was.’ He paused and then shook his head, adding, ‘But Polly is a different personality entirely from Ida. So vivacious, so resolute—’
