When Midnight Comes

by Beryl Matthews

  ‘Where is my father’s horse?’ he called.

  ‘Safely in the paddock, sir,’ a stable hand replied. ‘They are now all out, and apart from being frightened, they appear to be unharmed.’

  Harry wiped the rain out of his eyes as they led the rest of the horses to the safety of the paddock.

  An hour later the storm had passed and dawn was beginning to lighten the sky. The stable hands were all busy caring for the horses, and Harry saw his father there, soaking wet like all of them. He must have come out as well, but amid all the chaos it had been difficult to know who was there.

  ‘How are the mares?’ he asked his son.

  ‘They are unhurt, but we can only hope they don’t lose their foals. That freak storm has done a lot of damage. We’ll have to delay our trip to London, and you must see if your estate has been damaged as well.’

  ‘I’ll ride over there as soon as I’ve dried off and changed.’

  ‘Do you want someone to come with you?’

  ‘No, you are going to need all the help you can muster. Cook’s already up and cooking breakfast for everyone.’

  ‘Good, I’m starving.’ Now the emergency was over, Joe grinned at his friend. ‘That was like being in the thick of a battle again.’

  Two days later the clean-up and repairs to the barn and stables were well on the way to being finished. The two men had their sleeves rolled up and were fitting a new door to the barn when there was the sound of a horse approaching.

  When Joe saw who it was he chuckled softly to himself and nudged his friend. ‘You’ve got a visitor.’

  Harry turned his head and swore fluently. ‘What is she doing here?’

  ‘You’d better go and see.’

  ‘I’ve been dogged with trouble from the moment I set eyes on that girl.’

  ‘That isn’t true. You were in plenty of trouble before then. Don’t go blaming an innocent girl for everything that goes wrong.’

  ‘You are right, of course.’ He shook his head. ‘But there is something about her that riles me. Ah, well, I’d better see what she wants.’

  Joe followed him, not wanting to miss this encounter.

  The moment she saw him she rushed over, looking very worried. ‘You have damage from that storm. Are the horses all right?’

  ‘They are not injured. Why are you here?’

  ‘I was asked to bring this to you.’ She held out an envelope. ‘It’s the invitations you were waiting for.’

  He took it and then looked around. ‘Where is your escort?’

  ‘Escort? Why would I need an escort? I know the way here.’

  Seeing his friend was about to explode, Joe stepped in. ‘The major is only concerned for your welfare. It isn’t the done thing for a young lady to travel the roads unaccompanied.’

  She smiled sweetly at Joe. ‘Oh, that’s all right – I’m not a lady. If you saw where I was brought up you would know that I’m quite able to take care of myself.’

  ‘That is just foolish,’ Harry told her. ‘Suppose I came across you on your own and decided to molest you.’

  She eyed him up and down. ‘I agree you are a strong man, but if you tried it you would not come out of it unscathed.’

  ‘Like that man you attacked in London?’

  ‘He was a drunken weakling and was trying to rape a child!’ she told him bluntly, offended by his tone. ‘He deserved a good beating.’

  Harry lifted his hands in surrender. ‘I apologise. That was uncalled for.’

  ‘Indeed it was. I am not an ignorant fool, sir.’ She lifted her skirt slightly to reveal a knife in a scabbard attached to her breeches. ‘Now, before I leave, may I have your permission to see the horses?’

  At that moment Bert arrived. ‘Ah, Chrissie, I’m glad you’re here. We have two mares in foal who were very frightened by the storm, and they are not eating properly. Would you have a look at them for us?’

  ‘Poor darlings. Where are they?’

  ‘In the small paddock.’

  ‘Give me two more bags of food and I’ll go and talk to them.’

  They all followed her and watched her walk across the field, and the groom gave Harry a relieved smile. ‘She’ll soon settle them down. It’s uncanny the rapport she has with the animals, and I think it’s because she loves them and they know it.’

  Half an hour later, Chrissie returned with two empty feed bags and handed them back to the groom. ‘They were hungry and will be all right now. They said they were terrified when everything started to crash around them.’

  ‘Are the foals alive?’

  She nodded. ‘I felt them moving, and the mares are quite calm now.’

  ‘I saw you talking to the other two over the fence,’ Bert told her, ‘so are they all right?’

  ‘They are fine,’ she said fondly. ‘It would take more than a storm to panic those two.’

  Harry listened to this conversation in disbelief. His head groom really believed what this girl was telling him.

  She turned back to Harry and gave a slight bow. ‘Thank you for allowing me to see the horses, sir. I will be on my way now.’

  ‘No, you won’t.’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘You will not start your journey back until you have had some refreshments. Go to the kitchen and see Cook.’

  ‘Thank you, sir. I am rather thirsty.’

  As she disappeared from their sight, Joe said, ‘What a remarkable girl.’

  ‘She’s too outspoken, and did you see that knife she’s carrying? A female doesn’t do something like that, or speak so openly about rape.’

  ‘You are forgetting her background,’ Joe reminded him. ‘Have you ever seen the slums of London?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘I have, and in her life there she will have seen and dealt with every kind of situation. It is life in the raw, and you learn fast or you don’t survive. Her father brought his girl up to know what life was all about, and to fight when it was necessary. She will have seen villains, wife beaters, nasty drunks and even murderers. She knows both sides of life – the good and the bad – and I like her a lot.’

  ‘I didn’t know your tastes ran to witches,’ Harry joked. ‘Come on, we’ve got work to do so we can get on our way to London. There’s that urgent problem for us to sort out.’

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The next day Charles returned; there had been some damage to his estate, but not nearly as much as Harry’s. Once all the necessary repairs had been done they set off for London.

  As soon as they were settled in, Charles took the opportunity to go visiting, and Joe went to see if he could discover where Edward was hiding, leaving Harry to spend the day of the function on his own.

  He gazed out at the street with its carriages and fashionable people and remembered the rebuke Joe had given him about his rudeness to that girl. He was right; he had never actually seen the kind of conditions she had been born in to. He had seen and endured many rough times and places while in the cavalry, but his young life had been one of privilege and green fields, and he had never explored the less fashionable parts of the city. His father had told him of the area in Camden she came from, so he decided it was time he went to see for himself. His first thought was to take a horse, but he decided against it, and ordered a hansom cab instead.

  It arrived quickly, and when he told the driver where he wanted to go, he received an odd look.

  ‘Are you sure you’ve got the right place, sir?’

  ‘Quite sure.’

  The man shrugged. ‘That’s a rough area and I can only take you part of the way.’

  ‘All right, drop me off as close as you can and I’ll walk the rest of the way.’

  ‘Do you think that’s wise, sir?’

  ‘Good gracious man, do you think I can’t take care of myself? Drive on.’ He was even more curious now. This man was frightened to drive all the way. Unbelievable.

  He sat back and watched the scenery change from fine houses to mo
dest dwellings, and then hovels all huddled together with dirt and filth littering the streets.

  The cab stopped. ‘If you go down this street and take the second turn on the left it will bring you to the place you’re looking for, sir.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Harry got out and paid him.

  ‘If you need a cab back I can meet you here if you give me a time, sir.’

  ‘Two hours should be enough.’

  ‘Right, I’ll return for you then. Be careful, sir.’

  He nodded and began walking in the direction the cabbie had pointed out. He soon had a gang of scruffy children following him and begging for money. After a while he stopped, turned to face them and asked, ‘If I gave you money what would you do with it?’

  ‘Buy sweets,’ they chorused, apart from one small painfully thin little girl. ‘I’d give it to my mum to buy food for us.’

  He studied her for a moment and his heart ached for the child. She didn’t look as if she’d had a decent meal in a long while. When he thought about the sumptuous tables set by the wealthy, he was ashamed. He’d known there were many poor, of course, but this was the first time he had ever seen it with his own eyes. ‘Where do you live, child?’

  ‘In the next street.’

  He held out his hand. ‘Show me.’

  ‘Why?’ She eyed him with suspicion. ‘We ain’t done nothing wrong. Are you a copper?’

  ‘No. My name is Major Frenshaw, a cavalry officer.’

  ‘Where’s your ’orse?’ one of the boys shouted and they all fell about laughing.

  ‘I couldn’t bring him down here, because he’s a warhorse and would have chased you all away.’

  ‘Cor, does he fight, then?’

  ‘Yes, and he’s very big and strong.’ He turned his attention back to the little girl, who was still surveying him with caution. ‘I will not harm you, so will you show me where you live now you know who I am?’

  She thought about it for a minute, nodded, and came to stand beside him. ‘This way.’

  They walked the street with the children dancing round him and the questions came in torrents, which he answered, much to their delight. When they came to a small shop with lots of jars in the window, he stopped. ‘Come on and I’ll buy you all sweets.’

  A cheer rang out and there was a stampede through the door.

  ‘Quiet!’ he ordered, and the bedlam ceased immediately. ‘Now, I want each one of you to choose what you want.’

  Such a big decision took time, and while they were trying to make up their minds he went to the fruit crates. With the shopkeeper’s help he soon had a bag of fresh fruit for every child. He paid for all the purchases and handed out the fruit. ‘The sweets are your treat, but I want you to take the fruit to your families so they can enjoy a treat as well. Will you do that?’

  They all nodded, busy sucking their chosen sweets.

  ‘Thanks, mister, you’re a real gent,’ the oldest boy said.

  Some of them ran off home then, clutching the bags, eager to share their prize with their families, but the little girl and two others stayed with him. They turned a corner and walked down a narrow cobbled street, and Harry was appalled at the squalor he was seeing.

  The little girl tugged at his sleeve. ‘I live there.’

  ‘And we live in this street as well,’ the other two told him.

  He took some coins out of his pocket and placed them in each grubby hand. ‘You are to give that to your mothers – no one else – and tell her it’s to buy food.’

  They looked at the money, wide-eyed with wonder, and one of them said, ‘No one ain’t done nothing like this for us before. Thanks, mister.’

  The little girl smiled shyly and they all ran to their homes.

  He didn’t linger and strode away at once. He still had to find out where Chrissie had lived – and that was the first time he had ever thought of her by name, he realised. He had wandered a little out of his way with the children, but after retracing his steps he was soon heading in the right direction again. Then he heard the call ‘rag an’ bone!’ and he stopped to wave down the horse and cart.

  ‘Are you lost, sir?’ the man asked.

  ‘No.’ He walked up to the animal and ran his hands over her. ‘She’s in nice condition. Is this Bessie?’

  ‘Why yes, sir. How did you know?’

  ‘Christine Banner told us about her.’

  ‘Chrissie! You know her? Is she all right? We’ve been worried about her.’

  ‘She’s doing well and working for a barrister in a place near the New Forest.’

  ‘That’s a relief to know, and I’m not surprised, cos she always did have a good head on her shoulders.’

  ‘I’ve come here because I want to see where she lived.’

  ‘Do you, sir? Well, I’m heading for home now, so if you’d like to hop up beside me I’ll take you there, though it ain’t much to see, sir. My name’s Bob, by the way,’ he said as Harry jumped up on the cart.

  ‘Call me Harry. Nice sturdy cart you have here.’

  He nodded. ‘Young Chrissie saved my life when she gave it to me with her dad’s round. Has a heart of gold, does that lass. I didn’t have any money to give her and she could have sold it, but she knew we was desperate, and that we’d take good care of Bessie. She left here with nowhere to go and no money in her pocket, and I’m relieved to hear she’s all right. They had no right kicking her out of her home, but that bastard landlord has only money for a heart. Pardon my language, sir.’

  ‘I was a cavalry officer and have heard worse.’

  Bob grinned and pulled to a stop. ‘I’ll bet you have. This was Chrissie’s place, though it looked better when her and her dad was here. Kept the place spotless, she did, and that ain’t easy to do here.’

  When Harry looked at the tiny terraced house in this desperately poor area, he couldn’t find words to express his feelings. All he could say was, ‘No wonder she had the dream of living in the country.’

  ‘We’d be really grateful to hear how she’s getting on.’ Bob moved the cart a couple of doors along. ‘Could you spare the time to have a cup of tea with us and tell us all the news? You say no if you don’t want to. You’re a fine gentleman and we’d understand if you don’t want to come in.’

  ‘I’d love a cup of tea. Thank you, Bob.’ He leapt from the cart just as several children ran out of the house and began to unhitch the horse.

  ‘How did you do?’ the eldest boy asked his dad.

  ‘Not bad; we’ll eat for another week, anyway. Give Bessie a rub down and a bit of extra feed; she deserves it. Come and meet the wife, she’ll be excited to hear your news,’ he told Harry.

  He followed him into the house and straight through to the scullery.

  ‘Gladys,’ Bob called. ‘Put the kettle on, cos we’ve got a visitor with news about Chrissie.’

  She stared in astonishment when Harry walked in, seeming to fill the small space, and looking completely out of place in his fine clothes.

  ‘This is Harry,’ her husband told her.

  Aware of her discomfort, Harry reached out to shake her hand, a smile on his face. ‘I’m pleased to meet you, and thank you for inviting me in for a cup of tea.’

  ‘You’re very welcome, sir.’

  ‘Harry,’ he prompted.

  ‘Please sit down, the water’s nearly boiling.’ She rummaged in a cupboard and found a cup and saucer, then washed it thoroughly before setting it on the table.

  It was clearly the best china they had, and Harry felt honoured by the gesture.

  As soon as the tea was poured, Bob asked eagerly, ‘Will you tell us all about Chrissie, now?’

  He talked for some time and enjoyed two cups of really strong tea. He knew most of Chrissie’s story and had them laughing about some of the things she had done to get to the country, such as fortune-telling with the Travellers. The only thing he didn’t tell them was that he had dismissed her when he had arrived home. That was something he wasn’t proud of, and it dis
turbed him even more after walking the streets where she had lived. Somehow he felt he had come to know her during this trip.

  ‘That’s such a relief,’ Gladys exclaimed once he’d finished telling them what she had been doing. ‘We’ve been so worried about her. We knew she was a strong girl and well able to take care of herself, but moving away from everything and everyone she knew could have been a big mistake, and we weren’t sure she knew what she was getting in to. She’d had this dream, you see, right from a little girl, and after her dad died I think she felt she had to follow it.’

  Harry stood up and shook their hands. ‘I am pleased to have been able to put your minds at rest. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a cab waiting for me.’

  ‘Where’s that?’ Bob asked.

  ‘About fifteen minutes’ walk from here.’

  ‘I’d better come with you.’

  ‘Please don’t trouble yourself. I’ll be quite all right.’

  ‘I don’t doubt you can take care of yourself, but you can’t be too careful around here. Some can get nasty when they’re drunk. I’ll just walk with you for a way.’

  Seeing it would be rude to refuse, they walked out together. If any villains did try to rob him they would find lean pickings, because after buying the sweets and fruit for the children, he’d only had a half-sovereign, which he’d put under the saucer for Gladys, and that left just enough to pay the cabbie.

  They attracted quite a lot of attention while walking, and many taunts were shouted to Bob wanting to know how much he wanted for the toff. He grinned and ignored them, still talking to Harry, eager to hear any snippet of information he could glean about this man who had taken the trouble to come and tell them about Chrissie. Even more amazing was the fact that he had sat in their scullery drinking tea as if it was the most natural thing for him to do. Bob could only imagine the fine place he lived in with servants to cater for his every need, and yet he hadn’t appeared to be at all uncomfortable with them. Of course, he’d been a cavalry officer in that terrible Crimean War, so he had probably seen awful things. It was a relief to know that Chrissie had found such fine people who obviously cared about her.