Hope - Lesley Pearse [176]
‘Real friends always rally round in emergencies. Besides, as I’m sure you already know, Mrs Warren has been nursing Mr Baines too, and has made him very comfortable. But sadly I don’t think he’ll be with us for much longer, he’s sinking fast.’
All at once Anne realized that Nell had been to Wick Farm to see Baines. Undoubtedly she felt it was inappropriate that the mistress of Briargate should be nursed in spartan conditions at her brother’s farm while her butler lay in luxury. Anne guessed she had raised this matter and given Mrs Warren no option but to extend an invitation to her too.
Anne didn’t want to go anywhere on sufferance, and the suspicion that Nell might be more than a housekeeper to Angus was back in the forefront of her mind.
‘Poor Baines,’ she said, aware she had a position to maintain at all costs, and in any case she was genuinely fond of the old man. ‘He shouldn’t have had to end his days this way.’
‘He’ll pass on happily if he can see you first,’ Nell said crisply, going over to the doorway to a bag she’d left there, and drawing out a black dress and some crisp white petticoats. ‘Mrs Warren sent these for you. Now, up you get and I’ll help you dress.’
Anne shuddered at wearing clothes that weren’t her own, yet at the same time there was something very soothing about having Nell dressing her again. She’d thought of everything: a chemise, stays, petticoats, even a pair of padded slippers large enough to go over the bandages on her feet. Once she was dressed, Nell turned her attention to her hair, brushing it carefully and fixing it in a neat chignon at the nape of her neck.
‘That’s better,’ she said, tweaking the ruffle around the neckline of the dress. ‘You look like my lady again.’
Anne felt that remark held real affection, and although it didn’t exactly allay her niggling suspicions, she felt it would be expedient to give Nell a long overdue apology. ‘I’m so sorry, Nell,’ she blurted out. ‘You deserved so much better than the way I treated you. Tell me, is the Captain a good master?’
Nell half-smiled. ‘The very best! But I fear he’ll be off again soon with his soldiering, there seems to be trouble brewing with Russia.’
‘Surely our troops won’t have to go to that?’ Anne said. William had mentioned something about the Turks and Russians having a dispute just a few days ago, but it hadn’t sounded serious.
‘It seems to me that any trouble anywhere in the world calls for our army,’ Nell said. ‘But come now, the Warrens’ coachman is waiting. Amy and Matt will come along to visit you in a day or two.’
‘How was she?’ Angus asked the moment Nell came through the door late that same afternoon. Nell got the impression he’d been pacing up and down the hall waiting for her return.
The passing years had been kind to Angus. At forty-seven he was still as lean, straightbacked and handsome as he had been when Nell first met him. Even a touch of grey hair at his temples only served to make him look more distinguished.
‘She looks fragile and deeply shocked,’ Nell replied as she took off her bonnet. ‘But she’s unhurt apart from the sore feet she got walking to Matt’s without any shoes.’
‘Come in by the fire and have a glass of wine with me,’ Angus said, taking her cape and hanging it up with her bonnet. ‘Did you persuade Mrs Warren to take her in?’
Nell nodded. ‘She sorted out some clothes for her too. She was very kind, but then she is a good woman.’
‘And Baines? How is he?’
Nell shrugged. ‘Poorly. But he was very pleased to see me. Maybe he will get better with complete rest and good food. I don’t think he has had either in the last few years. But I can’t help but hope he’ll just slip away quietly in his sleep – all that lies ahead for old servants is the workhouse.’
Angus took her arm, drew her