Hope - Lesley Pearse [179]
Once, when he’d had too much to drink, he’d revealed how deeply he’d loved Anne. He said it had torn him apart knowing she was another man’s wife. Before Rufus was born he had asked her to run away to America with him. She had turned him down, and he felt it was because she loved her title too much, and that she couldn’t face a life without servants, money and fine clothes.
Nell couldn’t agree with that entirely. It would take exceptional courage for a woman of quality to face the condemnation of leaving her husband for another man. And Sir William wasn’t a cruel man like Albert; Anne had loved him too. Nell had seen the depth of that love today for Anne had sobbed as she related how she tried to wake her husband up while Matt was getting Baines out.
‘The fault was all mine,’ she had cried. ‘If I’d only told Matt about the back staircase straight away, or got him to pull William out while I went to get Baines! I was pathetic, Nell; I just panicked and acted like a frightened child. Now I’ve lost my dearest friend.’
*
‘Have you considered that when Albert is caught, Hope might come back?’ Angus said, breaking into Nell’s reverie.
Nell’s head jerked up; suddenly she was alert again. ‘Why would she?’
Angus shrugged. ‘As I’ve always maintained, it’s far more likely that he forced her to leave Briargate than that he killed her. Once he is locked up he can’t hurt her or you.’
Nell’s eyes began to shine with hope. ‘I hadn’t thought that way. But she might be so far away she won’t hear of this!’
‘Murder of an aristocrat is newsworthy,’ Angus said. ‘The story made The Times today, even pushing news of the impending war against Russia from the front page. Hope is likely to hear of it, wherever she is.’
Chapter Nineteen
‘We’ll be frozen solid if we stay out on deck much longer,’ Bennett reminded Hope.
‘But doctor, it’s healthier up here than down below,’ she said with a grin. ‘Or do you want to have your wicked way with me again?’ She didn’t really want to go down to their tiny cabin, not yet. The wind and sea spray were so exhilarating and the vastness of the sea astounded her. It was also blissful to be away from people for a while.
Of course she wasn’t including Bennett in that, she thought she could spend every hour of every day with him without feeling irritated or bored. But then he had a wonderful talent for sensing when she wanted to be quiet, or if she was in the mood for noise and chatter. Hope thought he was probably the most perfect husband in the whole world.
At times she had despaired of them ever getting married, for it was four years since her eighteenth birthday when he’d bought her the engagement ring. He’d told her that day that he was thinking about becoming a regimental doctor, but she hadn’t taken it very seriously. Yet he had been serious – just six months later he joined the illustrious Rifle Brigade as an assistant surgeon, and she thought she might lose him then for his regiment kept moving – Winchester, Canada and finally off to South Africa for the Kaffir war – making it impossible to see him.
Hope moved to Bristol’s new General Hospital in Guinea Street to nurse there. Bennett wrote to her constantly, funny, warm letters which made her love for him grow even stronger. But the post was slow and unreliable, especially once he was in South Africa, so sometimes months went past without one letter, then six or seven might arrive all at once.
There had been some very low points over the last four years. The loneliness was almost crippling at times, particularly when Bennett went to Canada and she moved to the General Hospital where she knew no one.
Back at St Peter’s, she’d had the company of the