Hope - Lesley Pearse [178]
‘If Matt hadn’t seen Albert leaving Briargate just before it went up, it would have looked like an accident,’ Nell explained, for Amy had related everything she knew. ‘In the study where it started they found the remains of an oil lamp on the floor. Lady Harvey might have forgotten to put it out when she went to bed, and it could have toppled over in a draught. But the policeman who was investigating it thinks Albert put a burning ember on the hearthrug, then put the lamp on the floor so the oil would run out and catch fire. Maybe he even scattered the oil around too so it would catch books and papers.’
Angus tutted. ‘But what on earth made him do such a thing? The men in the village said it didn’t make sense to burn the place down as he’d lose his job.’
‘It seems Sir William and Lady Harvey had told him that morning that he’d got to leave,’ Nell said. ‘He would have been very angry about that; he loved the garden and thought of it as his.’
Even after everything Albert had done to her and however much she hated him, she could still put herself in his shoes. He had laboured on that garden, turned it into a thing of beauty, and no doubt he had expected he would end his days taking care of it.
‘What reason did she give for dismissing him?’ Angus frowned. ‘He ran the place by all accounts.’
‘She said they couldn’t bear him around any more,’ Nell said with a shrug. ‘She said Albert had been intimidating them both for years and they’d had enough.’
Nell hadn’t had the heart to question Lady Harvey further for she’d started sobbing her heart out and saying all kinds of foolishness, like it was God’s vengeance for her adultery. She kept apologizing to Nell too, and saying that she hadn’t really taken it in about Hope being her child until it was too late.
‘Maybe they could no longer afford to keep him on,’ Angus said thoughtfully. ‘It’s no secret they were in strained circumstances. But what of Rufus? Has he been sent for?’
‘Amy said that Reverend Gosling wrote to him to break the news,’ Nell said. ‘He also sent word to Lady Harvey’s sisters. I expect they will come within a day or two.’
‘Howold is Rufus now?’
‘Only nineteen.’ Nell’s eyes filled with tears. ‘The poor boy! What will become of him?’
‘As I understood it, he has money in trust for him from his maternal grandfather,’ Angus said evenly. ‘And by all accounts he is a level-headed, intelligent young man, so he’ll be all right, though it will be a terrible blow losing his father. Did your brother say when the funeral will be?’
Nell shook her head.
‘I suppose that will be arranged when Rufus gets here,’ Angus said. ‘Meanwhile, let’s hope they catch Albert. He’ll be hanged for this, Nell, and that will at least set you free to marry again.’
‘Sir!’ Nell gasped in horrified surprise.
Angus half-smiled. ‘Is that such a terrible thought? You are a comely woman, Nell, with the kinds of skills any man would wish for in a wife. You are still young enough to bear a child too.’
‘I couldn’t marry again,’ she answered indignantly. ‘I wouldn’t want to be under any man’s thumb.’
‘Ah, Nell,’ he sighed. ‘You and I have both been bruised by love, but maybe we should both put it behind us and try again?’
‘You should,’ she said stoutly. ‘Remember Lady Harvey is now free!’
Even as she made that remark she regretted it, for to speak of such a thing before Sir William was even in his grave was very disrespectful.
But to her surprise Angus did not pull her up for it, all he did was look at her with sad eyes. ‘I do not feel that way any longer,’ he said. ‘My love faded when she treated you so badly. All I feel for her now is sympathy, as you would for any old friend.’
So many times over the years, Nell had been sorely tempted to tell him that Hope was his child. It would have soothed her grief if she could share the secret; he might even have been persuaded to order an investigation into what happened to her. But she’d refrained from the temptation purely because of the promise she’d given Lady Harvey.
She was tempted again now for she couldn’t believe Angus had stopped loving