Hope - Lesley Pearse [194]
‘I really don’t know, Bennett,’ Hope sighed.
‘But Captain Pettigrew spoke of Nell with such affection – she must have a better life with him than with Albert.’
‘That’s very true. But if it hadn’t been for the letter he sent, I wouldn’t have gone to the gatehouse that day and seen Sir William with Albert. The Captain began that chain of events which ended in such misery for me.’
Bennett lapsed into silence for a little while.
‘If only we’d heard about the fire before we left England,’ he said eventually.
‘I can write to Matt,’ Hope said eagerly. ‘I can enclose a letter for Nell too.’
As she jumped up to get some writing paper, Bennett put out a restraining hand to stop her. ‘You need to think this through first, my darling,’ he said gently. ‘There’s still the business of what you saw at the gatehouse. Sir William may be dead and Albert a wanted man, but Rufus and his mother are still very much alive. Before you begin a letter you must be clear on what it is right to divulge.’
Chastened, Hope slumped back down on to the camp bed.
‘Damn it!’ she exploded. ‘If I can’t tell Matt about the Captain’s letter, or about Albert and Sir William, what reason can I give for leaving?’
Bennett pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. ‘I think you must wait until you’ve spoken to Captain Pettigrew,’ he said. ‘You will need to feel your way carefully and try to find out how the land lies back home.
‘Pettigrew struck me as a good man – he wouldn’t have come to see me unless he cared about Nell, and therefore you too. But we have to remember that it wasn’t very honourable to be making love to another man’s wife.’
‘Maybe he always knew what Sir William was?’ Hope suggested. ‘He is a man of the world after all. He might even be intending to marry Lady Harvey now she is free.’
Bennett nodded. ‘True. But you can’t assume anything, and you must remember that the knowledge you have about Sir William is, in the wrong hands, as potentially dangerous as a keg of gunpowder. Therefore you must be careful you don’t accidentally light the fuse.’
Hope went to bed that night with so much on her mind that sleep was impossible. However shocking and sad it was that Sir William was dead and Briargate gone, she was delighted that Nell was no longer with Albert. She would have been happier still if she’d known exactly where her sister was, how Rufus had taken his father’s death, and what he was doing now. But at least she could ask the Captain these questions without having to divulge anything else.
Unfortunately, as Nell had always believed Albert had killed her, Pettigrew was bound to question her about what happened the day she disappeared from Briargate. Should she admit she knew he was Lady Harvey’s lover? Would he believe the intercepted letter was the sole reason Albert had been able to force her to leave?
The following day Hope felt calmer and had new resolve. She wasn’t going to worry herself about questions Captain Pettigrew might ask her. The most important thing was to find out where Nell was, and then write to her. A complete explanation wasn’t necessary immediately; Nell would be happy just to know she was alive and well.
Later that same day the order came that all the troops would be departing from Varna to the Crimea by the end of the week, and this temporarily put Captain Pettigrew and Nell out of Hope’s mind.
The news was received with universal delight, giving a much-needed lift to everyone. The soldiers took the view that they’d come out here to fight a war, and they wanted finally to get to it, beat the Russians and be home for Christmas. Bennett and the other doctors felt the troops’ health would improve with a sea voyage.
The cholera death rate had risen even more sharply during August. Proper funerals had been abandoned long ago, for there were too many, and it was too depressing for the living. Now corpses were just carted away to a communal pit without any ceremony.
But there were thousands more suffering from fevers, bowel complaints and other problems which were attributed