by Valerie Wood
‘Yes, ma-am.’
‘And you were not a willing, er, participant?’
She shook her head, her hands covering her face in shame.
‘Then he should be horsewhipped. Is it a local man? Someone you were seeing regularly?’
Susan raised her head and stared at her mistress with open eyes. ‘No, ma-am. I said as how you wasn’t going to like it, ma-am.’
Isobel felt a cold fear clutch at her heart. Not Isaac. He wouldn’t, would he? No, not even though he no longer shared her bed. Not with a child such as this, not under his own roof.
Coldly she stared back at the girl. ‘What is it you are trying to say? Is it one of the men here?’
That was it, of course. It had to be one of the staff. A sudden wave of anger swept over her. Will Foster, it was probably him. Well, it would serve Isaac right for employing him, giving him too much authority, now he’d have to get rid of him as well as the girl. But then Maria would go as well and she couldn’t do without her. Oh, what a mess.
She was sure that Isaac would be sympathetic, probably even want to keep the girl on in their employ. He would say it was their duty and dismiss her own views on servants’ morals as being petty and narrow-minded.
‘Not one of ’servants, ma-am.’ Susan paused to let her words sink in, then with her head hung down, she wrung her hands together and whispered. ‘A gentleman, ma-am.’
Isobel lowered herself carefully into a chair. ‘A gentleman? No gentleman would do such a thing.’ As she spoke she knew it wasn’t true. It would be considered no more than sport for some young buck to take advantage of a servant girl, willing or not. She racked her mind to think of who had visited the house who would be capable of such unprincipled behaviour.
Susan lifted her head and looked her mistress straight in the eyes. ‘Mr John, ma-am.’
She sat dumbfounded, her tongue and brain frozen, unable to speak. Susan reached for the smelling salts and silently handed them to her, but she waved them away.
‘How dare you say such a thing,’ she croaked as her voice returned. ‘My nephew is the last man to—’ Words failed her.
Susan nodded her head. ‘Mr John it was, ma-am. That day when I was late back. When I said that I’d hurt my foot. I was afraid to tell you, ma-am. I thought as you wouldn’t believe me – and I didn’t want you to dismiss me. It was in ’barn, ma-am, he made me go in with him.’
‘Stop. Stop this minute,’ Isobel screeched. ‘Spare me the sordid details. Get out of here. I will speak to you later, and do not discuss this with the other servants.’
‘No, ma-am,’ said Susan meekly, dropping a curtsey as she went, ‘of course I won’t.’
Isobel calmed herself and then rang the bell loud and long. Maria, hurrying up the stairs, passed Susan coming down.
‘What’s wrong?’ Maria was anxious. Susan usually answered the mistress’s bell.
Susan shrugged her shoulders. ‘Got a fit of ’vapours if tha asks me. I can’t do owt right for her.’
Maria waited for her mistress to speak. She was obviously upset about something, her cheeks were flushed and she had run her fingers through her immaculate curls, disarranging strands of hair which hung around her forehead.
‘Maria, help me dress, that girl Susan is useless. I’m going to be late for my dinner, and I don’t suppose she has told Walters to bring the carriage.’
‘I’m sorry, ma-am, I’ll do it, I can’t think what’s got into her. I’ll give her a good talking to.’ She helped her mistress into a padded, whaleboned frame and slipped her grey silk gown over the top.
‘I may decide to get someone else to dress me, she really is most unsatisfactory.’
Maria couldn’t hide her astonishment. She had thought that Susan could do no wrong. Mrs Masterson always sent for her rather than anyone else. ‘Has she misbehaved, ma-am, for if so?’ Maria knew that instant dismissal was normal in that case.
‘In a manner of speaking, but I don’t wish to discuss it. Not until I have spoken to Mr Masterson.’ She had already said more than she intended.
‘Would you like Janey to attend you, ma-am? She’s very well behaved and quiet.’
‘Very well, she can attend me when I return. She’s a village girl, isn’t she? At least that should please the locals,’ she added waspishly.
As the carriage trundled along the potholed road towards her neighbours in the next village, she pondered on the dilemma. If the story was true then they would have to pay the girl to keep her quiet, for although it was not unusual for sons of gentry to father bastards, to Isobel the thought was repugnant. She felt that the family would be the laughing stock of the area if word got out, and that she could never again face society. John shall answer for this, she thought angrily. It seems he sailed just in time, but I shall be waiting for him on his return.
The following evening when Isaac returned from his business she told him, and let him know in no uncertain terms of her feelings on the matter.
‘Wild oats, my dear, wild oats. I agree that it is most unfortunate that it should happen right here on our doorstep, hmm, so to speak, but it is a fact of life that these things happen.’ He chuckled, then changed it to a cough as Isobel glared at him. ‘She’s a beauty all right, he probably just got carried away. And she might well have been willing, no matter what she says to the contrary.’
‘I dare say that you think it is of no consequence,’ his wife said coldly, ‘but I have now to find another maid, for I can’t possibly keep her under the circumstances.’
‘Plenty of young girls in the village who will be more than willing to come, my love, don’t you worry about that. I should imagine that once they hear that Susan is going they will be lining up at the door.’ He stopped as his wife gazed icily at him. ‘Not that we will want to shout it from the roof tops, of course. Give the girl another shilling if you think it will keep her quiet, and then when John comes home and admits that the child is his, he must contribute towards it. That’ll teach him to be more careful in future.’
Isobel sent for Susan the next day. The girl looked well and the roses were back in her cheeks, and though she hung her head, suitably chagrined, as Isobel lectured her, she wasn’t as subdued as she might have been.
‘So we have decided that you are to be given your wages and a sum of money to help you, although of course that does not imply that we accept that our nephew is responsible. That will be decided when he returns, for as you know he is at present at sea and will not be back for some considerable time.’
‘Could I speak, ma-am?’ Susan raised her head and looked at Isobel, her violet eyes deep and fathomless. ‘It’s just that I wanted to tell you that I’m courting a young man, and that I had to tell him what happened.’
Isobel drew herself up straight and was about to speak.
‘I had to tell him, ma-am,’ Susan hurried on. ‘I was that upset, and he wanted to know why I kept on crying, and even though I know you said I hadn’t to tell a soul, well, I had to in the end, and he said that even though I was spoiled – well, he would wed me and bring ’bairn up like it was his own.’
She watched unblinking as Isobel heaved a silent sigh of relief. Then she smiled and for some reason Isobel was reminded of a little cat she had once had which used to chase the mice in the garden, patting and pawing, chasing and releasing.
‘’Only thing is, ma-am, he doesn’t have any money to get wed. He was hoping to set up on his own, but if he weds me and a babby coming along, well, it won’t be easy.’ A tear glistened, ‘I don’t know what other chance I’ve got, ma-am. Me fayther won’t have me for sure, he’s that narrow. I should have to go on charity.’
Isobel tried hard not to appear too relieved. ‘Very well, I’ll see what can be done. How much money would this young man require?’
‘Ten pounds, ma-am.’ The reply was sharp and decisive.
Isobel’s eyes opened wide at the sum.
‘He’s got ’offer of a bit of land, ma-am,’ the girl went on
quickly before she could raise any objection. ‘It’s not very good, as all ’best has been sold to ’big landowners,’ she smiled sweetly, ‘but it’s over near Beverley, so I should be out of ’district.’
Isobel made up her mind instantly. She was sure that there would be money in the house, though it was a pity Isaac wasn’t here. She really didn’t have a head for figures and it did seem an uncommonly large amount just for a miserable piece of land. But she would tell him on his return. ‘Very well, that does seem to be the best solution, although it is a very large sum of money. I hope he uses it well.’
Susan smiled, her face lit with pleasure. ‘Oh, he will, ma-am, he will. I’ll make sure of that.’
The next day with the money handed over and safely tucked under her skirt, Susan made her departure. She packed her box and left it in the room which she shared with Janey and slipped out of the kitchen door. Mrs Scryven, busy stuffing a fowl for the evening meal, looked up as the door banged and lifted her head towards the window.
‘Where’s that young hussy gone to?’ she demanded later as Maria came in. ‘She’s been out some time and I need her to take in ’tray to ’mistress.’
‘She’s out of favour with ’mistress, Ma,’ said Maria. ‘I’ll go in with it.’
Isobel was sitting gazing down into the garden, her sewing lying idly on her lap. The scent of newly cut grass mingled with the perfume of spring flowers and drifted in through the open window. Narcissi were nodding their heads in the soft breeze, their pale yellow heads reflecting the afternoon sun. Bluebells and violets unfolded beneath the flowering almond trees, and blue and white periwinkle trailed and twisted into tangled wreaths beneath the blossoming blackthorn hedge.
‘Are you glad you came here, Maria?’ was the surprising question as Maria put down the tray.
Maria hesitated. ‘Yes, I think so, ma-am. Though I miss Hull and all my old friends. But I’m very happy here, ma-am,’ she added quickly lest she sounded ungrateful. She glanced out of the window to the smooth green grass and neat edges and clipped laurel bushes. ‘And I love ’smell of flowers and grass.’ She laughed and turned towards her mistress. ‘It’s better than ’smell of blubber, ma-am.’
Isobel nodded in agreement, her thoughts elsewhere.
‘But it’s ’sea that I can’t get used to.’ Maria stared out of the window, forgetting where she was and who she was with. ‘Tha can always hear it. ’Sound never goes away. Constantly calling, telling me summat and I don’t know what.’
Isobel, drawn from her reverie, turned sharply. ‘I hope you are not fey, Maria. I cannot tolerate that sort of nonsense.’
‘Oh, no, ma-am, I’m not, though I believe my mother was.’ She refrained from telling Mrs Masterson of the strange sensations that sometimes came over her, which she was sure had some hidden meaning that she couldn’t comprehend. She had attempted to explain them to Mrs Scryven, who she hoped would understand, but who only nodded her head, smiled a gentle smile and said quietly, ‘We’ll face what comes.’
‘I wanted to ask you about Susan, ma-am. She went out this afternoon and hasn’t come back yet.’
‘I’ve dismissed her, so she won’t be coming back.’ Isobel’s tone was curt. ‘She has misbehaved. You can look for another girl for the house and I will have Janey to attend me. She is very obedient and will suit me, I think, once I’ve polished her rough, country ways.’
‘Yes, ma-am.’ Maria hid her astonishment. ‘Where shall I send Susan’s things?’
Isobel shrugged. ‘I’ve really no idea. Perhaps her father will collect them. I expect she will stay with him until she marries her young man.’
Maria smiled and raised her eyebrows. ‘Will said that Martin was going to ask for her, but I didn’t realize he already had. We didn’t think she’d have him.’
‘Martin?’ said Isobel as she sipped her tea.
‘Martin Reedbarrow, ma-am, Janey’s father. He’s not a young man though. About ’same as my Will, I’d say.’
Isobel frowned. ‘Where does he live, this man.’
‘In ’village, ma-am. He’s got a nice piece of land.’ She shook her head sorrowfully. ‘But he badly needs a wife for all his poor motherless bairns.’
‘No,’ said Isobel slowly. ‘That isn’t him. Someone else, I understand. Thank you, Maria, that will be all.’
Will was riding back from the mill at Aldbrough when he saw Susan on the carrier’s cart travelling in the opposite direction. She waved cheerfully and blew him a kiss and then put her finger to her lips and winked impudently. He gazed after the cart in surprise, and then grinned. She was up to something, no doubt about it, for she shouldn’t have been out in the middle of the day. She’d be in trouble if she was found out, which she certainly would be, though he wouldn’t give her away.
Martin ranted and raved when he found out Susan had gone. ‘I’ve been made a fool of, Will, by a slip of a lass. Why, if I knew where she was, I’d give her a right tanning and bring her back, just like I would our Janey.’ His confusion was increased by the ale he had drunk as he wallowed in his cups at the village inn.
‘No, tha wouldn’t,’ said Will as he watched his friend unsteadily pour himself another tankard. ‘Tha’s not first to fall for a young lass, and she isn’t thine to bring back. She’d made thee no promises.’
‘But what I can’t understand.’ Martin leaned drunkenly across the table to peer at Will. ‘Where’s she gone? I’ve searched and asked for three days and nobody’s seen sight nor sound of her since she left Garston Hall. Not even her fayther. Her poor old fayther who says he’s worried out of his mind. Poor old gaffer.’ His eyes filled with tears.
‘I shouldn’t worry about her, Martin. I’m sure she’ll come to no harm,’ said Will, with the vision of the carrier’s cart heading for town and the smiling figure of Susan on it still fresh in his mind. ‘She’s got a good head on her shoulders.’
‘Aye, she has, and a lot more than that, I can tell thee.’ He put his head down on the ale-puddled table. ‘But I was right smitten, Will,’ he moaned, ‘I was right smitten.’
‘I suspect the young minx might have fooled us, my dear,’ mused Isaac as Isobel told him what she had learned from Maria.
‘But why should she want to do that? She was so lucky to be here.’ Isobel was nonplussed.
‘It isn’t everyone’s idea of bliss, being cut off in the countryside, you know. Especially a young, attractive female.’ He glanced sideways at his wife. ‘She’s probably heading for Hull and all its amusements. She might not even be, er, in trouble at all.’
Isobel was shocked. ‘Surely she would not make up such a dreadful story?’
‘It is quite possible, I’d say.’ He put his thumbs in his waistcoat pocket and smiled cynically. ‘It’s just as well we only decided to give her an extra shilling or so, she might have asked for more.’
Isobel turned pale. She would have to tell him, he would be sure to find out. ‘She did,’ she said. ‘I gave her ten pounds.’
‘You gave her what?’ Isaac’s mouth dropped open.
She didn’t feel the necessity to repeat the amount. There was nothing wrong with his hearing.
‘Then she might well have fooled us,’ he said gravely, ‘but there’s not a thing we can do about it. We have no proof that what she said about John was, or was not true. Not until he comes home, and then it will be too late to take any action.’ He laughed suddenly, throwing his head back. ‘Imagine that,’ he spluttered. ‘Imagine being taken in by a slip of a country girl.’
* * *
Eleven months passed before the Polar Star returned to her home port, her decks and timbers torn and battered where she had been frozen into the ice. She had been heaved clean out of the water by the crushing, cracking pressure of an advancing floe, and held in a vice-like grip by the relentless ice which piled above her, there to remain until the thaw set in.
There had been little food left and the crew were put on short rations, with the result that scurvy manifested
itself. Four men died of the disease and two more from cold and exhaustion. Some of the sick men were carried across the field of ice on the backs of their healthier shipmates and transferred to ships which were still afloat, but many other ships were trapped themselves in that ferocious landscape and were in danger of being torn apart.
‘He’s lost, isn’t he, Isaac?’ Isobel had said sadly. ‘Our poor dear John is gone from us?’
Isaac had put his arm around his wife’s shoulders comfortingly and shook his head. ‘We won’t give up hope, not yet awhile.’
Maria and Will too were uneasy that long winter. Maria wished that she could go down to the jetty at the mouth of the River Hull and keep watch down the broad expanse of the Humber, as she knew that wives and mothers and sweethearts would be doing as they waited anxiously for the ship’s return and that of the other missing vessels. Will stared out across the sea from the safety of land, his senses in turmoil as he prayed for the protection of the men and boys who defied the seething water, and remembered the cold which froze their beards, their food and fingers, and the fear of the closing, advancing ice.
It was decided not to mention the matter of Susan, for John was thin and ill when he finally came home, and Isobel was so relieved to see him safely back that she carefully obliterated the incident from her mind. Besides, the girl had not been seen in the district since the day she left.
He spent a month at Garston Hall, sitting in the garden when it was fine with a blanket wrapped around him, and being nourished by Mrs Scryven’s cooking. He was an older, soberer man, his youthful vigour had temporarily deserted him, and the dreadful voyage had had a profound effect on his view of the world.
Whereas his first voyage on the Polar Star had been challenging and dangerous, and the sight of the towering icebergs had filled him with awe and excitement, with the youthful certainty of his immortality he hadn’t felt at any time that his life was in danger. On this passage there had been many times as he had chipped away at chunks of glacier ice to supplement their fresh water supply, or made hazardous journeys across the ice on foot to shoot birds and seals to add to their dwindling amount of salt meat and biscuit, when he had thought that he would never see his home or family and friends again.
