Hope - Lesley Pearse [56]
She knew better now. Gentry were a different breed altogether from working people and the warmth she’d felt in Briargate in those days hadn’t come from its owners at all. It came from the servants, three of whom were members of her own family. Lady Harvey hadn’t brought Rufus up, Ruth had. He only spent an hour a day with his mama. With Nell in and out of the nursery all day, and James taking him out for rides on his pony, Rufus probably felt closer to the Rentons than he did to his parents.
This, she realized, was partly why Rufus wanted to meet her again, even if he didn’t know it himself. While the Rentons looked to Briargate for their living, Rufus looked to the Rentons for affection and care. He had never seen Nell or Ruth unhappy, nor were they sour-faced and prim like Miss Bird. James no doubt teased Rufus and played around with him like a big brother. As for Hope, he probably imagined that because she’d been his first playmate, she could now be his friend, confidante and ally.
She sighed, knowing only too well that Nell wouldn’t approve of her having secret assignations with Rufus. She was always reminding her of ‘her place’. Hope knew that if she was to try to explain that Rufus was lonely and sad, Nell would snort and say she was talking nonsense. She wouldn’t believe that a boy with so much could be anything but gloriously happy.
Seeing Nell coming down the drive, Hope got up and ran to meet her. Even from a distance she could see her sister was very tired and hobbling as if her feet hurt.
‘Is Albert in?’ Nell asked as Hope reached her.
‘No, he’s gone to the ale house,’ Hope replied.
Nell nodded as if she was glad. ‘How were Matt and his family?’
Hope passed on as much as she could remember of what Amy had said during the afternoon. ‘I think she might be expecting again. She didn’t say she was, but she had that look.’
‘I thought that too at church on Sunday,’ Nell said thoughtfully. ‘And what about Joe and Henry, did you see them?’
Hope wasn’t going to worry Nell by admitting she’d seen the boys fishing off the bridge, when they should have been working in the copper foundry at Woolard.
‘I saw them from a distance,’ she said, for that much was true, and if Nell chose to think this was at the foundry that would spare her any further anxiety.
Hope made Nell a cup of tea when they got in, and fetched a bowl of water so she could soak her feet. Then she sat down with her and asked who had been there for dinner that night at Briargate.
‘The Warrens from Wick Farm, and the Metcalfes from Bath,’ Nell replied. ‘Lady Harvey wore her new blue satin gown and she looked lovely.’
‘Would you say she was happy?’ Hope ventured.
‘She seemed to be tonight,’ Nell said, wriggling her toes in the warm water and sighing with pleasure at finally getting to sit down. ‘But then she always seems to rally round when the master is at home.’
‘So does she get unhappy when he’s away?’ Hope probed.
‘What a one you are for questions,’ Nell chuckled. ‘Yes, she does. Sometimes, when I know she’s been crying, I want to tell her that I’d be as happy as a pig in clover if Albert was to go away.’
Hope knew from that comment that her sister had had a trying day, for although she’d made the remark lightly, as if she were joking, it was quite indiscreet by her usual close-lipped standards.
Nell had never openly admitted that she regretted marrying Albert, but Hope saw it in her face daily. He might treat her better now, but he never showed the slightest affection towards her, and Nell didn’t even try to engage him in conversation any more. While she still did all the wifely tasks of cleaning, washing and mending, she no longer nipped home during the day to prepare his supper because he’d begun having meals at the big house. It was as if Nell was his