Enoch looked awkwardly around for a chair and then perched delicately on the edge of an upright chair.
“It was never quite explained to me what our relationship was, Enoch. Would you please enlighten me, is it cousin, uncle or brother?”
“Uncle,” he grunted.
“Uncle, my lord,” Xavier suggested pointedly.
“My lord,” Enoch said reluctantly.
“Much better, Uncle Enoch! We have not spoken to each other for many years. I think I was ten when we last had a conversation, Uncle.”
Enoch shuffled uncomfortably and failed to hold Xavier’s gaze which had fixed on his.
“I see Uncle Enoch remembers our last meeting, but for the benefit of Mr Bayliss, I will explain that when we last met, Uncle Enoch saw fit to give me a lesson of his own and thrashed me with my own riding crop.”
Enoch’s leathered face reddened as he clearly recalled the incident and some of the assurance or arrogance seemed to leave him as his shoulders drooped. Matthew Bayliss gasped in shock.
“Did you not inform your father of the incident, surely he was horrified? I am amazed that he did not rescind the right to hunt and fish on the estate, even if he is a sort of relative.”
“I told my father, although the incident did not reflect to my credit. I was furious with Enoch at the time, but my faults did not include dishonesty so I explained why he had beaten me. I had a large and rather stupid long haired mongrel at the time, which I had named Samson. I was cantering through the woods and Samson put up a rabbit, then ran between my horse’s legs following it, the horse reared and threw me ignominiously into a holly bush.”
Matthew Bayliss tried hard not to laugh at the thought of his lordship thrown into a tangle of holly, but his efforts were only partially successful as a sound like he was choking escaped.
“Yes scratched all over and already bruised. I lost my temper with the dog and kicked it, then hit it with my riding crop. Enoch was obviously about his business poaching as usual, and took the crop off me and belaboured me thoroughly with it. I can’t remember his exact words as he rang a fine peel over me, but the gist went ‘You cow-handed nincompoop, got yourself in the mingle-mangle. Can’t hold your seat or train a dog, then beat the stupid animal.’ I admit I was wild, no one disciplined me. I might have been less of a brat, if I had been sent to school.”
“But your father must have been appalled at Mr Caldercott’s actions, a commoner assaulting his heir.”
“Not he, he laughed and then slapped me hard across my face. He said the more fool you are, for standing there and letting him. Then he told me to get out of his sight and went back to his brandy.”
“Not meaning to disparage your father, my Lord, but he did not seem to be much liked around these parts,” Bayliss risked stating.
“No, my father was not much liked. He and my grandfather seemed to think they had ‘droit du seigneur.’ They thought they had the right to any woman, whether married or not. And neither of them liked taking no for an answer. Uncle Enoch’s actions complicate things a bit. If he had been only hunting to feed his family, I could ignore the matter, but it is clear from the quantities of game involved that he was hunting for profit intending to sell his catch.”
“So do you want me to take Caldercott over to Lord Povey, who I believe is the nearest magistrate?”
“I admit I am reluctant to hand him over to the law, partly because of the family connexion, also I knew while Uncle Enoch policed my land, that all other poachers were warned off. I had been considering making his position official and offering to employ him as gamekeeper. Then he could have hunted for the house and his family legally, received a wage and split the profits of any surplus with Kittleton. As it is, his family will be without a provider and they will be evicted when the new houses are completed. I suppose Povey will hang him, as he is too old to be transported or to volunteer for the army.”
Enoch Caldercott squirmed on the edge of his chair and his face blanched. He swallowed hard while he was hoping that his lordship was not serious about having him hung.
“I’ve heard that expert poachers can make excellent gamekeepers, my lord. But the situation of him killing your game without permission and then selling it to outsiders cannot continue.”
“My lord, I would be honoured to be your gamekeeper, truly I would” Enoch blurted out, now frightened for his life and for his family.
“Being a gamekeeper is not a sinecure. I plan to have some pens set up for raising pheasant chicks and that would, of course, be my gamekeeper’s responsibility and I would expect him to train up his own replacement. I had considered asking Uncle Enoch last week, but when I was inspecting the building works; I was horrified to spot Mrs Caldecott, his wife with a vivid black eye. I could not countenance employing a man in a responsible position who beats his wife when drunk.”
“I have always disapproved of men beating women, my lord. They should be cherished and protected by any decent man,” Bayliss declared staunchly.
“Quite so,” prosed Xavier with pursed lips.
Enoch swallowed and hung his head.
“Have you anything further to say Enoch, before Mr Bayliss accompanies you to Lord Povey?” Xavier asked sternly.
“I apologize for beating you my lord, I should not have treated you so disrespectfully and I know I shouldn’t have hit my Annie. But she won’t manage without me, and there are five still at home. Please reconsider, I promise to reform.”
“I forgave you the beating years ago, Enoch, it was a lesson I needed to be taught, but if you can’t keep your fists to yourself when you are drunk, then you had better become Methody and like me eschew strong drink. If I take you on as gamekeeper and find you drunk, or an unexplained bruise on your Annie, I am now more than big enough to thrash you myself. You would be thrown out on your ear. I trust you understand uncle?”
“Yes my lord, I understand fully. I promise it will never happen again.”
“Good, report to the stables at nine tomorrow morning and young Avery will take you into town and get you kitted out in some decent clothes. My gamekeeper cannot appear in public dressed like that. You can ride Sorrel, my brown cob until we purchase a better horse. Then you should report to Antoine, my chef each Monday morning for his requirements for the week. I assume you know how pens for pheasants should be set up. So please remember to explain what is needed to Mr. Hopwood, the carpenter.”
“Yes, my lord, thank you, my lord.”
“Uncle, you may go to the kitchens now, request Antoine politely to prepare a package of meat for you sufficient for fourteen persons, pork, beef or lamb and some other foods. Your family must be tired of rabbit and trout by now. Mr Bayliss I think you had best return Mr Caldecott’s shotgun to him. I assume his fishing tackle was left in the woods?”
Mr Bayliss handed over the shotgun and nodded in confirmation to Xavier’s question. Enoch took the gun and bowed himself out of the library, touching his cap repeatedly in a nervous gesture. He shut the door carefully behind him and Xavier’s face lit up with a grin.
“Join me in a glass of wine, Matthew? I really struggled to keep a straight face while I railed at him. You may call me an utter fool, but for all his failings I believe he will be a brilliant gamekeeper.”
“That I actually believe. Yes, thank you some wine would be nice before dinner. There is another matter I’d like to discuss with you, if you are not too busy, my lord.”
“I had just finished the accounts Matthew, what can I do for you?”
“Do you know the farm called Brook Farm which belongs to Hubert Maddern?”
“Certainly it is on the Western border of what remains of the Kittleton estate. The farm must be a couple of hundred acres, which has been well farmed and drained by the Madderns.”
“Two hundred and sixty acres, my lord. It turns out that Hubert is not well and neither of his daughters had any intention of being farmer’s wives. One daughter has married a vicar who lives in Sittingbourne and the
younger daughter has just got engaged to Sir Charles Fordwich’s third son who is in a cavalry regiment. Hubert Maddern has decided to move to Herne Bay in order to be nearer to his daughter and for the sake of his health.”
“I must remember to visit before he leaves and wish him well. I am afraid that I have fallen out of socialising with my neighbours over the last few years. Thank you for drawing it to my attention.”
“It would be excellent if you could find time to visit, but the reason I informed you about it, is because he is intending to sell the farm and subject to your approval, I have agreed a price with him.”
“Congratulations, but I don’t see why you need my permission to buy a farm, of course if you wish to resign I have no objections. However Lady Kittleton employed you, so you really should inform her of your decision,” Xavier said rather confused about why Matthew was seeking his approval.
“I regret my lord, I did not explain correctly. I made the offer on behalf of the Kittleton estate on my lady’s instructions. Her orders were for me to seek additional land to replace that which had been sold off. She believes that re-establishing the estates is an urgent project, because until the estate has sufficient land to support the house and family, it will be a continual money pit. I apologize my lord, they were her words. She said I should seek to buy land around the Place, even if the new acres had not previously been part of the estate.”
“That is very generous of my lady. She did say that she would seek to re-establish Kittleton Place and its estates, but I never considered she would plan to replace the land sold. Brook Farm has always been a profitable farm and would be an excellent addition to the estate. But while I am managing the estate and the few crops I planted on the grounds, I think we’ll need to put a manager in place there.”
“I was going to suggest that I move in for a few months, run the farm myself and get a team of workers in place there. When I have got it running smoothly, we might get a decent tenant. My lady’s orders are to buy more land for the estate when it becomes available, but I myself intend to wed and I thought it would be nice to have the first few months in a smaller place. My lady did suggest that when the estate has been properly re-established that she would make sure a suitable house was made available for me and Katherine. Katherine is a farmer’s daughter, I think she might feel a little uncomfortable living in Kittleton Place.”
“Well, my many congratulations, Matthew, I hope you and Katherine will be very happy. I think it is an excellent suggestion that you manage the farm for a while, but you will continue acting as my steward?”
“That was my intention and as the estate grows, you may find you will need some assistance here, especially when you are in London. I believe her ladyship wishes for the Falconers to take their proper place in country society when the house and estate are back to how they should be. Her ladyship said I should consult with you over buying stock for the land and if I wish to put in any unusual changes in farming. I fear she thinks my ideas may be too modern.”
“Then you may find I support you in your ideas. The most profitable farmers today seem to be the ones prepared to try new ideas. I would suggest trying them out on a small scale at first, but if successful, then by all means they could be justifiably extended.”
“Not many of the nobility support agricultural changes, they laugh at Thomas Coke and his ideas for farming reform. I think he has some very interesting ideas.”
“Having struggled owing to my ancestors’ profligacy and compounded their errors by my own, I am open to new ways, they cannot be worse than the ones I was brought up to accept. I was taught to expect as a nobleman to spend a life of leisure. The only examples I had were both debauched and drunken. I find that after an enforced change of life style, I begin to see things more clearly. Unfortunately I think my taste in wine has improved, am I right, this wine is truly dreadful?”
Chapter Thirteen – Absence make the heart …
Celestina had been busy; the ramifications from the dock riot needed considerable smoothing over. She consulted with Thomas Erskine, the barrister who led the legal profession in criminal defence. They discussed how they could prevent the case of young James Wellmouth and his employees coming to court. Statements were written by James and his shop workers that declared that the battle had been started by the employees of Higgins & Morpeth. They had first taunted the Wellmouth men with the news, that their company was being bought by Higgins and Morpeth and that all of them would be dismissed, after the takeover. James and his men had retreated to their own shop and beyond denying the claims had done nothing further that had been contentious.
Then just before noon of that day, several of Higgins and Morpeths’ workers had strolled arrogantly over to the Wellmouth shop. A Wellmouth worker had some bad blood with the senior of the Higgins & Morpeth’s men. However the Wellmouth man bit his tongue and said nothing in response to his counterpart from Higgins & Morpeth’s taunting attempt to provoke him into a fight. He had voiced various insults, but the Wellmouth man diligently and determinedly refused to indulge in a scrap in his work premises or during working hours. He suggested the Higgins & Morpeth man meet him privately after the end of work. But the Higgins & Morpeth man swung a punch and his colleagues then deliberately smashed some of the Wellmouth’s stock. Some of that group were those whom Celestina had seen hogtied in the shop, but the real culprit had escaped to organise the rest of his colleagues to attack the Wellmouthers together.
A further assault on the Wellmouth chandlery ended with the capture of another Higgins & Morpeth member and the battle degenerated into building barricades and a barrage of missiles. When the press gang finally reached the docks, they found and detained a group of Higgins & Morpeth’s men who were in the process of breaking the items left outside the Wellmouth chandlery and smashing their windows. The Wellmouth employees had melted away into the crowd and thence to their places of abode. After their detention, the unlucky employees were dragged away by the press gang. After the departure of the press gang, the crowd looted the Higgins & Morpeth chandlery, carrying away everything and anything they found useful or thought they might be able to sell. Although the small windows in the Wellmouth chandlery had been broken, they were barred from within and the locked door prevented their access. Then the watch finally found their courage and arrested a few of the leading troublemakers themselves. The watch left some of their own number behind, but the crowd soon calmed down and drifted away. There was little left in the Higgins & Morpeth establishment left to steal and the Wellmouth chandlery had proved fairly secure.
However the watch were apparently not satisfied; the Wellmouth employees had escaped without punishment and were seeking their arrest and hanging to discourage other disturbances taking place. Celestina was surprised at the vehemence of the watch over the matter because the Wellmouth employees unanimously declared that the Higgins & Morpeth men had started and continued the fight. As the Atropos had sailed, Mr Erskine believed, with the entire complement of the Higgins & Morpeth shop’s staff, they had no evidence to prove otherwise. Celestina arranged for the employees to be speedily moved to places of refuge, while the watch continued to search for them. They even pushed their way into his father’s Southwark house, taking a constable with them, to try to discover young James Wellmouth and arrest him. Celestina wondered at the watch’s vehemence, particularly as none of their members had even been slightly injured in the fracas.
Mr Erskine suggested that there might be some other person or persons who were determined to see James Wellmouth and his staff prosecuted. Celestina did not like to imagine conspiracies, but it did seem that they were being unduly vindictive. However she knew of no particular reason why James or Gregory Wellmouth should have enemies with influence who should wish to persecute them in such a malevolent fashion. Celestina decided that was all she could do for the young man without more information and decided therefore to visit his father, Gregory Wellmouth in person.
The rosy-cheeked serving girl
who answered the door to Celestina’s knock was reluctant to admit either the ‘Countess of Kittleton’ or ‘Celestina Blighton’ to see her master. She finally agreed to disturb his rest and take the message to her master of his visitor. She returned downstairs a little while later very flustered and said that her master would see her, as if that was entirely unexpected. She led Celestina accompanied by one of her footmen upstairs to Mr Wellmouth’s bedroom, where it was clear he was genuinely sick.
Gregory Wellmouth was propped up in bed and was apparently a small grey haired gentleman with a pointed nose. He looked as if he was in severe pain and that pain was in contrast to what Celestina believed would normally be a jovial face. However she could see a slight resemblance to his son James. The maid hovered in the door sniffing, as if disgusted that a lady would dare to visit a gentleman in his bedroom.
“Fetch some tea Katie, shut the door behind you. Hurry up girl and stop sniffing,” he declared to the maid who reluctantly obeyed.
“I am sorry about Katie, my lady. She has some very strange ideas about how ladies with titles behave. Even though she has worked for me for years and knows perfectly well that I am a respectable man. Please excuse me receiving you here, but I am finding walking extremely difficult.” He extended his hand which Celestina shook, before she took a chair and pulled it up beside the bed.
“I am sorry to have to impose myself on your sick bed, Mr Wellmouth. I am very worried about repercussions over the dock fight. I asked Thomas Erskine to try and prevent the matter coming to court, but he insists that there is some deliberate incitement, which is encouraging the watch to try to have charges brought against your son and his colleagues.”
“I fear he may be right. I always got on well with William Higgins and old Dick Morpeth, but after Dick died two years back, Higgins took on a sleeping partner. I could never find out whom, but I heard a rumour it was a titled gentleman who did not want his name dirtied by trade. But from then on there was a lot of ill fortune that beset my chandleries. Or at least I believed it to be bad luck at first.”
The Purchased Peer Page 12
