Hope - Lesley Pearse [214]
‘She’s made of stern stuff,’ Angus smiled. ‘Has she had a letter from Nell yet?’
Bennett shook his head. ‘She’s on the lookout for the mailboat every day. And she must have written a dozen letters home. But no one has had any for two weeks now, so they must come soon.’
‘You can move in today,’ Angus said. ‘My stuff’s all packed, ready to be taken away. I got a Tartar woman to clean it for you and light a fire. Her name is Rosa, at least that’s what I’ve been calling her.’
‘That is really very good of you.’ Bennett suddenly felt a little ashamed of his thoughts about the man.
‘You should have been given a decent billet from the start,’ Angus said. ‘All you doctors deserve a medal for what you’ve done here under the most appalling conditions. It makes my blood boil to read in the papers from home that the general public is being encouraged to believe some of you are being derelict in your duty. I’d like to string up those who really are responsible for the chaos out here. And some of the bloody dimwit officers who can hardly wipe their own arses, much less lead their men.’
Bennett smirked. ‘Calm down, Angus, you’ll burst your stitches,’ he said.
Angus chuckled. ‘Hope did too good a job for that,’ he said. ‘But I must be off now. I hope I’ll be welcome to call on you both next time I’m down here?’
‘We’d be disappointed if you didn’t,’ Bennett said.
‘Are you sure I’m not in your way, Nell?’ Rufus asked. ‘Just say the word and I’ll clear off.’
It was a few days before Christmas and they were in the kitchen at Willow End. Rufus had turned up just as Nell was making some marzipan to cover the rich fruit cake she’d made to send out to Hope.
‘Bless you, Master Rufus.’ Nell beamed at him. ‘Of course you aren’t in my way, it’s a pleasure to have you here with me. Just let me get this on the cake and then I’ll fetch Hope’s letters for you to read.’
In Nell’s opinion Rufus was the finest gentleman she’d ever met, and the most handsome. He had the best of his parents’ looks, the pure blond hair, bright blue eyes, and the elegance. She liked to think, though, that it was the Rentons who had influenced his character, for he was stalwart, capable and kind-hearted. As for his determination and strong backbone, that must have come from his paternal grandfather, for legend had it that he’d been a force to reckon with.
Rufus had gone back to Oxford after his father’s funeral, leaving his mother with the Warrens at Wick Farm. But at Easter he had returned home and informed Lady Harvey he wasn’t going back to Oxford, and that he intended to farm the Briargate estate, not sell off the land as everyone expected.
‘So tell me, sir, how is Lady Harvey coping now?’ Nell asked. Her former mistress had been horrified when Rufus had told her they would be living in the gatehouse. Her first question had been to ask where the housekeeper would live!
‘Don’t call me “sir”, Nell,’ he said with a grin. ‘Nor Master Rufus either, it’s just plain Rufus now. As for Mother, she’s still bemoaning the rough furniture, the smallness of the rooms, and having to do so much for herself, but I think this is just habit. She does seem a little less miserable now, and she’s become an able cook.’
He picked up a piece of marzipan left on the table and nibbled it thoughtfully. ‘Tell me, Nell, was I cruel to make her live there?’
‘As I see it, she was lucky to have somewhere to live,’ Nell said tartly. The years away from Briargate had made her see her old mistress in a different light. Sympathetic as she was to Lady Harvey in the loss of her husband and home, she didn’t think anyone, however highborn, should expect others to support her. Left to her own devices, she would have stayed on with the Warrens indefinitely. Her sisters had made it plain they didn’t want her in their homes. And she had no money to live anywhere else.
‘Sometimes I think maybe I should