Sally James (2 page)

Once inside the wall Susannah soon discovered her way to the house, which was set on the slopes of a hill some distance away. She cantered towards it and went straight to the stables, leaving her horse with an ancient groom who muttered something to her in such a broad dialect that she did not understand a single word. Smiling at him, she nodded and went towards the house.

It was quickest to go through the kitchens and Susannah did not intend to be on ceremony with her brother. She went through the archway that connected the kitchen yard with the stable block and picked her way amongst a flock of dispirited-looking hens scratching away in search of food. Eyeing them morosely, his chin resting on his outstretched paws, was an ancient dog Susannah recognized as one of her brother’s favourite gundogs. He was lying on the step outside the kitchen door and as Susannah appeared lifted up his head and whined, wagging a limp tail at her.

‘Hello, Ben, won’t they let you into the house?’ she asked, bending down to scratch his ear and wondering whether he had committed some crime to be so banished, for normally Julian permitted his dogs to roam at will all over the house. She opened the kitchen door and the uncanny silence from within suddenly struck her as odd. In most houses at this time of day the kitchen would be bustling with activity, but as she stepped inside she saw there was no one in sight and, even stranger, the fire was almost out.

The dog had risen to his feet and followed her into the kitchen. After a cursory glance about him he made for the door leading onto a passage that connected with the store room and the butler’s pantry. Here the silence was if anything deeper and Susannah, somewhat alarmed by now, hurried through the baize-lined door to the large hall which was the centre of the house, several hundred years older than the rest, which had been added at various times.

Ben unhesitatingly walked across to a door which stood open and Susannah caught the sound of a log falling in the grate. She followed the dog and entered the room, to halt abruptly on the sight of her brother sprawled in a big chair before a large fire, a glass half full of wine tilted precariously in his hand as his arm rested on the arm of the chair. Ben went to lay his head on his master’s knee and Julian opened his eyes and stared blearily at the dog.

‘Ben? Where’ve you been?’ he asked in a slurred, thick voice and Susannah, exasperated, spoke briskly as she moved into her brother’s line of vision.

‘Shut out of the house which is apparently bereft of servants! But, as the master seems to find nothing wrong with being castaway so early in the morning, it is perhaps a trifle too demanding to expect the servants to be at their work!’

‘Eh? What? Susannah! Where the devil did you spring from?’

‘I came to bring the list of jewels back. I’ve copied it, as you wished. I’ll leave it here on the table and trust you do not throw it into the fire in mistake for another log!’ she said tartly and tossed the rolled sheets of paper onto a table behind her.

‘Oh, don’t shout! My head hurts!’

‘Hardly surprising!’ she snapped. ‘You’d be better in bed, Julian, if you could find anyone to put you there.’

‘They’ve all gone to London,’ he explained slowly and then an attack of sneezing gripped him and for a few moments he was helpless.

‘Who have? The servants?’ Susannah demanded when he was once more able to speak.

‘Yes. To open the town house for my grandmother. She’s due back from Cheltenham soon.’

‘Lady Horder? But you cannot have sent all the servants! There must be someone here. Where’s your man?’

‘Carter? How should I know?’ he asked irritably. ‘They haven’t been near me all morning, although I rang the bell.’

‘You don’t look capable of walking over to it,’ Susannah said frankly, eyeing him with disgust.

‘You don’t understand. I’ve been in bed for the past few days. Caught a fearful cold after getting wet to the skin the other day. The bridge had gone, after the storm. You know the little plank bridge across the river, near Pettit’s farm - ‘

‘Of course I do not! I’ve scarcely seen the house above half a dozen times.’

‘No, no, of course, forgot,’ he explained. ‘It was gone, and I had to wade through the river. Icy cold it was. Up to my armpits in the middle. Never known it so deep. Everard climbed up a tree and swung across, but the branch broke and so I had to wade in. Not keen on that sort of acrobatics anyway,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘but Everard didn’t seem to mind. Everard - what day is it?’

Susannah eyed him. fulminating.

‘Wednesday,’ she said curtly, ‘though why the day should matter to you I cannot think.’

Julian was looking at her in dismay.

‘Wednesday? You’re sure? Oh, Lord! Where are the servants?’ he added, struggling to his feet and clutching the arm of the chair to save himself from falling, sending the wine glass hurtling to the floor where it shattered into tiny fragments. ‘Carter! Where the devil are you, man? Carter! Swale!’

‘What is amiss? Why are you so suddenly concerned over the day? What does it matter if it is Wednesday?’ Susannah asked, puzzled, and turned in some relief as a deprecating cough from the doorway announced that Carter, Julian’s quiet and self-effacing valet, had appeared in response to his master’s summons.

‘Because Everard and Percy Tempest are coming to dinner!’ Julian snapped. ‘Carter, why didn’t you remind me what day it was?’

‘I did, my lord, when you insisted on rising from your bed this morning, my lord,’ Carter replied smoothly and with a murmured apology to Susannah walked across to his master and, taking his arm, persuaded him to sit down again. ‘You said, my lord, that you needed to dress in order to prepare for them, when I asked you if I should send messages to put them off.’

‘Can’t put them off, you fool! Everard’s on his way to stay with his uncle, that fat fool Andrews. And Percy - Percy wants to meet him. Rarely goes to town, Percy, you know,’ he added, turning back to Susannah.

‘Do you mean that you have visitors for dinner?’ she demanded angrily. ‘With the house in this state, no servants here and you, drunk as a pig?’

‘I’ve been ill, and I told you the servants have gone to London. But they haven’t all gone. Can’t have. Swale is here. He never goes up to town. And some of the maids. Where are they, Carter?’

‘You cannot have remembered that I told you Maggie had the cold, having contracted it from you, my lord, when she was waiting on you. She is in her bed, unable to move, and Peg has, I fear, given way to hysterics, saying she cannot do everything herself.’

‘She don’t have to, stupid wench. Swale is here too.’

‘Mr Swale, I am afraid, has been overcome, my lord. He opined that it was all too much for him at his age and he retired to his pantry. When I looked in on him a few minutes ago he was lying on the floor, having imbibed, as best as I could judge, two bottles of your best port.’

‘What? Send the fellow here at once! How dare he!’

‘I very much fear Mr Swale is at the present time unable to obey such a command, my lord. I made him as comfortable as I could with a cushion and some blankets, but he is too heavy a man for me, unaided, to carry to his room.’

Susannah, who had been listening to these revelations in amazement, found her initial disgust was giving way to an irresistible desire to laugh. She caught Carter’s eye and it was so full of sympathetic understanding that she choked, turning away to hide her amusement, while Julian berated his servants for a pack of stupid nincompoops.

‘Yes, my lord, of course. Will your lordship try to come upstairs now, and I can still send messages to put off Lord Chalford and Mr Tempest.’

‘No, I can’t, and you won’t,’ Julian said stubbornly. `I want them to come. Can’t turn round and say they can’t come to dinner after they’ve been invited, you fool!’

‘No, my lord, except that there is no one to cook the dinner, so even if they do come there would be nothing for them to eat.’

`What the devil do you mean? No one to cook? Where’s Mrs Mansell?’

‘Cook, my lord, slipped and fell down the stairs. She has hurt her leg and declares she cannot walk. It is no more than a sprained ankle, my lord,’ he added soothingly and Susannah, catching sight of Julian’s aghast expression, could hold her laughter no more.

‘Poor woman!’ she gasped. ‘Is there anything I can do for her?’ she asked Carter, but he shook his head.

‘I assisted her back to her room and there is nothing she needs yet, Miss Susannah. I was attempting to persuade Peg to sit with her when his lordship called, which is why I took so long in answering, but Peg sought refuge in tears and would not move from her own room.’

‘But what are we to do?’ Julian said wildly. ‘There must be someone else!’

‘Who is sane, sober and healthy,’ Susannah suggested.

‘I fear there are but the gardeners and the stablemen,’ Carter answered. ‘Really, my lord, it would be best if you were to permit me to help you back to bed.’

‘Damn you and your everlasting bed! I’ve had enough of bed these past few days, and I won’t put off my guests! Lord Chalford’s never had much time for me until recently, but he’s been very friendly of late, and he’s all the crack, you know. A devilish fine whip and one of the best amateurs I’ve seen with his fives. I can’t offend him, or I’d be cold shouldered by half the men in town! Be the laughing stock of the clubs if it got out!’

‘More so than if they had come to find this wretched state of affairs?’ Susannah asked dryly, but Julian was deep in thought and paid no heed to her.

‘I’m afraid his lordship is very difficult to dissuade once he is determined on some course,’ Carter said in an aside to Susannah and she gave him a quick look of appreciation.

Suddenly Julian looked up at them in triumph.

‘Mrs Skinner!’ he announced.

‘Who?’ Susannah asked.

‘The lodge keeper’s wife, Miss Susannah. I was hoping his lordship would not think of her,’ Carter said quietly, then turned to Julian. ‘She cannot manage entirely on her own, my lord,’ he remonstrated, but Julian, pleased with himself, stubbornly insisted he had found the solution to their problems, and nothing they could say would make him change his mind. Carter looked despairingly at Susannah.

‘It won’t do, Miss.’

She had been thinking hard.

‘Can you sober him up in time?’

‘Oh, yes, Miss Susannah, no trouble with that.’

‘Then that’s the first thing. I’ll see to the rest. Julian, if you’ll go with Carter now, you shall have your dinner. I’ll send for Mrs Skinner.’

Carter still shook his head in disagreement, but she ignored him, telling Julian sharply that his servants were as unreliable as their master and if he found bread and cheese on the table for his dinner he might consider himself fortunate.

‘And, as for Amanda, it’s my opinion she would be well rid of a bad bargain without you! What in the world she sees in you I cannot tell. You’re nothing but a drunken, gambling-mad fool and it’s only because I’m unfortunate enough to be your sister that I propose to help you. Now get out of my way. I shall be occupied by quite sufficient problems for the next few hours without having to take any account of you.’

And with these words she gave Julian a final disgusted look, smiled encouragingly at Carter and swept out of the room and back towards the stables.

Chapter Two

Susannah found two younger men in the stables besides the ancient who had received her and they all came running at the unexpected sound of her voice asking whether there was anyone alive in such a benighted spot. She gave them rapid instructions and soon, bemused, the quicker-witted of the two was saddling a horse ready to take a message to The Hall to say that Susannah would be staying the night at Horder Grange, while the other was sent off at a run to the lodge a few hundred yards away to beg Mrs Skinner to leave everything and come to give Susannah assistance in the kitchens. The ancient was despatched to find the head gardener, who was said to be in the vegetable gardens, and send him to the kitchen.

By the time Susannah returned to the kitchen she found Carter there collecting the ingredients for a draught that he said could be relied upon to sober his lordship.

‘Let us hope so. With Mrs Skinner’s help I can contrive a meal. Is Peg fit for anything? Can she serve at table?’

Carter pursed his lips doubtfully.

‘She’d manage it if Swale were there to tell her what to do, Miss,’ he said slowly, ‘but she’s a silly wench and bound to forget instructions and drop things, and most like end by becoming hysterical again.’

‘Well, I’ll go up and see if I can force her into helping me. Is there no footman? I recall two the last time I was here. Have they both been sent to London?’

‘Only one, Miss. I am afraid that Fellowes has disappeared. He is a most unreliable man and, as his family live a few miles off, he no doubt thought it a good opportunity to steal off to visit them.’

‘Altogether a miserable crew, apart from you, Carter! We’ll contrive, never fear. Take that noxious-looking stuff up to my brother and choke him with it,’ she added.

Carter permitted himself a discreet smile, but stayed to put more wood on the fire and stir it into a blaze.

‘I will come back when I can to fetch you some more wood, Miss, and water,’ he offered and she smiled at him gratefully and nodded, then, as he left the kitchen, looked doubtfully at her riding habit. It would, with its long skirts, seriously incommode her and she had to find something else. She left the kitchen and ran up the back stairs, looking into the rooms on the servants’ floor until she found a girl, obviously the maid who had contracted Julian’s cold, huddled in bed in one of them.

‘Hello, how are you feeling?’ she asked and the girl smiled wanly at her.

‘My voice is funny and I can’t stop sneezing,’ she replied hoarsely. ‘Who are you, Miss?’

‘I’m Lord Horder’s sister. I’ve come to help since everyone is ill, but I need a more sensible dress. May I borrow one of yours?’

‘You can’t do that!’ the girl protested and began to struggle out of bed. ‘I’ll have to get up!’

‘No, you won’t! You’re far too ill,’ Susannah replied and pushed her back onto the pillows. ‘Can I use this dress?’ she said, pointing to one hanging on a nail in the wall.