Hope - Lesley Pearse [177]
Nell pursed her lips. ‘I hope not, but then I expect Baines imagined he’d see his days out in Briargate. It doesn’t seem possible that it’s gone. I looked across the fields from Woolard – you used to be able to see the house from there – and it looked right eerie with it gone.’
‘And how was Lady Harvey with you?’ he asked.
‘Uppity as always,’ Nell said, pulling a face. ‘She did apologize to me for the past, but I don’t think she liked to see me so…’ She broke off, not knowing how to explain what she meant.
‘Well cared for?’ Angus prompted.
Nell nodded. ‘She looked at me with great suspicion. But perhaps I should have worn something older and more suitable for my station.’
Angus chuckled. ‘You are my housekeeper, Nell, your clothes reflect your position. I hope you told her I have a maid now too, and that thanks to you I have a home I am proud to entertain in.’
Nell blushed. The Captain was always so appreciative of all she did for him, and it made him a joy to work for. In her first two years here she had undertaken everything that needed doing to turn a ramshackle place into a home suitable for a gentleman. She had whitewashed walls, scrubbed floors, made curtains, dug and planted out the garden, and found tradesmen to do the tasks which were beyond her. She hadn’t expected praise, it was reward enough to have a position again, and the hard work prevented her from brooding too long on Hope.
But when the Captain came home from his soldiering he missed nothing. He would smile and pat her cheek when he saw the rows of her preserves in the pantry; he would chuckle as he got into bed on a cold night to find a hot brick already in there warming it. He claimed meals she cooked were as good as banquets he’d attended in the officers’ mess, and that no one had ever washed, pressed and mended his clothes so well. He said that all his friends envied him for having such an accomplished housekeeper and that they would poach her from him if they could.
Nell pretended she believed this to be empty flattery, but she knew he was sincere, and that knowledge had helped her confidence enormously. She’d never had a chance before to show what she could do as her whole life had been spent taking orders, and it was a thrill to be trusted to make decisions, to plan menus, to buy any equipment or ingredients she needed. Even in her own home, Albert wouldn’t so much as allow her to rearrange the furniture without his permission. She’d got into the way of thinking that she was dull-witted, and that her opinions were of no value to anyone.
*
‘Now, tell me all you learned about the fire,’ the Captain asked earnestly, clearly desperate for information. ‘Was it all as we’d been told?’
They had got the news of the tragedy at third hand. Nell had been in the shop at Keynsham when she overheard two women gossiping about a fire. It was only when she heard one of them mention a farmer from Woolard that she really took notice, and interrupted them to ask which farm had caught fire.
It transpired that the older of the two women was the doctor’s cook, and she explained that one of the Renton lads had called early that morning to fetch the doctor. She said that the fire was at Briargate and that Sir William Harvey had died in it, but that was the extent of her knowledge.
Nell had been so horrified she ran straight home without buying the groceries she’d gone for. She sobbed out the story to the Captain and he immediately rode down to Compton Dando to find out more. It was a terrible shock to hear that Albert had set the fire and the police were searching for him, but Nell took some little pride in hearing that Matt had bravely rescued Baines and Lady Harvey.
Nell was dead set on going straight to the farm, but Angus wouldn’t let her. He said she must wait and let Lady Harvey recover a little. He pointed out that some people might take a too speedy arrival as evidence she was pleased to be proved right about Albert.