The Saint and the Sinner (8 page)

“Very much!” he said defiantly.

“What did you – do after – I left?”

The question was almost wistful, as if she thought she had missed something.

The Earl hesitated and as he did so the door of the room opened and Sir Gilbert Longridge came in.

He had changed from his evening-clothes into a long robe of red brocade with the white frill of his nightshirt showing above it.

He stopped in the doorway at the sight of the Earl, and Pandora turned her head to look at him in astonishment.

The Earl rose from where he had seated himself at the farthest corner of the bed.

“I am afraid you have lost your way, Gilbert,” he said genially. “It is very easy to do so in this large house. “

“I did not expect to find you here, Norvin,” Sir Gilbert replied.

“I was just saying good-night to my cousin. As you know, she went to bed early, but unfortunately she fell asleep and left the candles burning.”

Sir Gilbert obviously was not listening to what the Earl was saying. He was only staring at him in a glowering manner.

The Earl walked towards him and as he reached him Sir Gilbert said,

“You have Kitty. I cannot think why I should be left out!”

“I will see what I can do for you tomorrow,” the Earl replied, “but now Pandora wishes to go to sleep, and so do I.”

There was that authoritative note in his voice which Pandora had noticed before when he sent her to bed.

For a moment Sir Gilbert did not move. Then with what was an oath beneath his breath he turned and walked from the room.

The Earl looked at Pandora. Her eyes were very wide in her small face.

“I am now going to my own room,” he said, and as soon as I have gone, you are to lock the door. Do you understand? Get out of bed and lock the door. And do not open it until you are called in the morning.”

For a moment she did not understand. Then he saw the colour come into her face.

“Do you – think Sir Gilbert might – come back?” she asked almost beneath her breath.

“It is very easy for people to get lost in these long corridors,” the Earl replied evasively.

He walked through the door.

“Lock the door, Pandora, and do not open it again until the morning. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Cousin Norvin, and I am – sorry I left the – candles burning.”

“I will forgive you this time. Sleep well, Pandora.”

He left, and obediently Pandora pushed back the sheets and crossed the room.

She turned the key in the lock and as she did so she thought with a shiver how frightening it would have been if the Earl had not been there when Sir Gilbert had arrived.

He might have tried to kiss her – in fact she was sure he would have done so after all he had said at dinner – and she knew she would have been afraid, very afraid, and perhaps no-one would have heard her cries.

“It must have been Mama who sent Cousin Norvin to see if I was all right,” she told herself. “It would have been terrible if I had set the house on fire and perhaps even more terrible if Sir Gilbert had found me alone.”

She got back into bed but now it was difficult to fall asleep again.

She found herself thinking of what had happened during the day, then worrying as to what other damage might have been done after she left the Dining-Room.

She wondered if it would be possible to persuade the Butler to put away the Sevres service and replace it with the very attractive but not so priceless one that had always been in use in her grandfather’s time.

Then she told herself she had no right to do so, and it would be extremely presumptuous of her to interfere in any way with the running of the household.

She had no standing here and she should just be grateful that her cousin had been so kind to her.

She snuggled down against the pillows.

‘I am sure he is not as bad as they say he is, or as he pretends to be,’ she thought.

She had a feeling that he was putting on an act of being so wicked. But why? What was his motive? Some words of Milton came to her mind.

Wisest men

Have erred, and by bad women been deceived.

‘Was that what had happened?’ she wondered.

She was still puzzling over it when she fell asleep.

*

Pandora was awakened by a knock on the door and started nervously, only to realise that the sun was golden at the sides of the curtains and it was morning.

She jumped out of bed to unlock the door and found Mary standing there with a breakfast-tray in her hands.

“Breakfast in bed?” Pandora exclaimed. “How exciting! It is something I have not enjoyed for years.”

Without waiting for Mary to reply, she hurried across the room and got back into bed, patting up the pillows behind her back and smoothing the creases from the sheets.

Mary put down the tray in front of her and Pandora looked at it with delight.

There was not only a silver dish with a cover, there was toast in a silver rack, golden butter, honey, and a huge peach.

It all reminded her of the time when she had been laid up, before her mother had died, with an attack of laryngitis.

The doctor had said she was to stay in bed and keep warm. Her mother had spoilt her with all sorts of delicacies, so that she had looked forward to mealtimes almost greedily.

She was just about to reminisce about it with Mary, when looking at the maid she saw that her eyes were swollen and red with tears.

“What is the matter, Mary?”

“Nothin’ I can tell you, Miss Pandora,” Mary answered, “but this be a real wicked place, an’ that’s th’ truth!”

“What has happened?” Pandora asked.

“I shouldn’t be tellin’ you such things.”

“What things?”

Mary twisted her fingers in her apron and Pandora saw that tears were filling her eyes.

She was evidently thinking over what she should do, then suddenly she burst into tears.

“It’s – cruel and – hard, Miss Pandora – that’s what it is –and wicked! I never knowed such wickedness existed!”

Pandora moved the breakfast-tray to the other side of the bed.

“You must tell me what has happened, Mary. You know I will help you if I can.”

“It’s that Mrs. Jenkins, Miss. She’s a bad woman! Really bad, she be!”

“What has she done?” Pandora asked.

Mary looked towards the door and saw that she had left it partly open when she came in with the tray.

Swiftly she ran to it and shut it, and with the tears running down her cheeks she came back to the bedside.

“I daren’t tell me mother what she says t’ me this mornin’,” Mary began, her voice heavy with tears.

“But you must tell me,” Pandora insisted.

“Well, Miss, I comes here two days ago t’ help in th’ house, an’ as you guessed, we were glad o’ th’ money. Father’s been sacked by His Lordship’s new agent.”

“Sacked?” Pandora questioned. “But your father has worked in the gardens ever since I can remember.”

“Th’ new agent, Mr. Anstey he’s called, has brought in a lot o’ his own friends, Miss, an’ given them all cottages on th’ Estate.”

“What do you mean – given them cottages?”

“Turned out th’ old people – me Granny being one o’ them.”

“Mrs. Clay! Do you mean to say that Mrs. Clay has been turned out of her cottage?”

“Yes, Miss, an’ there’s nowhere else for her t’ go except th’ Workhouse if me father doesn’t get a job soon.”

“It is disgraceful!” Pandora exclaimed. “Mrs. Clay and your grandfather worked on the Estate all their lives.”

“I know, Miss, but that don’t count for nothing nowadays.”

“Then it should!” Pandora said positively. “Now, tell me what has upset you, Mary.”

“I oughtn’t rightly t’ speak o’ it, not t’ a lady like yourself.”

“Tell me!”

“Last night, Miss, known’ what I’d heard of th’ goings-on in the household, I locks me door when I goes t’ bed.”

“That was a sensible thing to do,” Pandora said, remembering how Sir Gilbert had come to her room.

“‘Twas very late, an’ I’d been asleep a long time,” Mary went on, “when Mrs. Jenkins comes aknocking.

“‘Are you there, Mary?’ she says, an’ I knows by th’ way she’s aspeaking she’d had a lot t’ drink!

“I didn’t answer because I were afraid o’ what she would be atelling me t’ do.”

“What do you mean – what she would tell you to do?” Pandora asked, curious.

Mary twisted her apron more nervously than ever, then she said,

“I wasn’t exactly sure, Miss, but seein’ as what I’ve heard, it was that right enough.”

“I do not understand,” Pandora said again.

“This morning, Miss, as soon as Mrs. Jenkins gets down she sends for me an’ she tells me that one o’ th’ gentlemen wanted me last night t’ go t’ his room.

“‘I’m a good girl, Ma’am,’ I says.

“It makes her angry when I speaks like that, an’ she tells me either I does as she orders or else I can pack me bags an’ leave!”

Mary burst into a fresh flood of weeping before she said almost incoherently,

“‘If you leave,’ Mrs. Jenkins says to me, ‘then you an’ your family can clear out o’ that cottage. It’s wanted for someone who’ll behave as I say, so make that clear!’ “

Pandora gasped from sheer astonishment and Mary said piteously,

“What can I do, Miss? If we’re all turned out, where can we go?”

Pandora was silent.

At the same time, she felt an anger rising within her that was different from anything she had ever felt before.

Now she understood why the last time she had been to Chart the villagers had seemed fearful and afraid to speak of what was happening. Now she knew why people like Prosper Witheridge denounced what was happening at Chart Hall.

She threw back the bed-clothes and got out of bed.

“Listen to me, Mary,” she said. “Say nothing to Mrs. Jenkins until I have spoken to His Lordship. I cannot believe he knows that this sort of thing is happening.”

“He’ll not care, Miss. He sacked Mr. Farrow, said he was too old, and gave Mr. Anstey his place.”

“What happened to Mr. Farrow?” Pandora asked, taking off her nightgown.

“I thinks he were ready t’ retire, Miss, but he always hoped as how his son’d take over.”

“Of course – Michael Farrow!” Pandora exclaimed.

“He be a kind gentleman, Miss. Kind t’ everyone who turned t’ him in trouble. Not like this Mr. Anstey.”

“What else has he done?” Pandora asked sharply.

“He’s raised th’ rents, Miss, an’ if anyone’s late in payin’ even by a few days, he pushes them out.”

She glanced at the door, then back at Pandora, and her voice dropped to a whisper.

“He’s got a wife, Miss, but he’s sweet on Mrs. Jenkins. That’s why what her says goes.”

Pandora did not answer. She was moving towards the washing-stand.

“If you’re agetting up, Miss,” Mary said hurriedly as if she remembered her duties, “I’ll fetch you some hot water, unless you wants a bath?”

“I have no time to wait for hot water or a bath,” Pandora answered.

She poured the cold water from the china ewer into the basin and washed despite Mary’s protests.

“Go on with what you were telling me,” she said. “I want to hear everything now.”

“Well, Miss, Mother’s said for a long time that things be all wrong downstairs. Mr. Anstey sends away Mr. Burrows, an’ that new butler, Mr. Dalton, he drinks His Lordship’s best wine an’ lives like a Lord when there’s no-one in th’ house. Waited on handan’-foot, he be! And they say. . .”

Mary lowered her voice again.

“They say as he’s even sold some o’ th’ best snuff-boxes, them with the diamonds.”

Pandora did not answer.

She was pressing her lips together in case she should say something in front of Mary which she would afterwards regret.

Instead, she dressed almost in silence, only encouraging Mary to go on telling her of the things which had happened on the Estate.

She put on one of the simple but pretty cotton gowns she had brought with her, and arranged her hair as quickly as possible. Then she said to Mary,

“Do not tell anybody that you have spoken to me. Do not answer Mrs. Jenkins back, but just obey orders until I send for you. Do you promise?”

“I promise, Miss Pandora, but Lor’, I’d no wish t’ get you into trouble.”

“I am in enough trouble already for it not to matter to have a little more,” Pandora replied, thinking of herself for the first time since the maid had been talking to her.

It struck her suddenly that if the Earl was furious at what she had to say to him, she would find herself in the same position as Mary and her parents.

For the first time the realisation swept over her that she had burnt her bridges.

If her uncle never forgave her for her behaviour in coming here, what would she do?

Now she knew that she had never really believed the stories that her aunt and the ladies in Lindchester had repeated so gleefully about the Earl’s behaviour.

Yet now she told herself as she ran down the Great Staircase that she believed every one of them to be true.

There was no sign of the Butler but there were several footmen on duty in the hall.

“Is His Lordship downstairs?” she asked.

“He’s in th’ Dining-Room, Miss,” a footman answered.

“Who else is with him?”

“Two of th’ other gentlemen.”

“Ask His Lordship to come and speak to me,” Pandora ordered.

The footman looked surprised at the tone in which she spoke, but he obeyed her and walked down the corridor to the Dining-Room.

Pandora wondered what she would do if the Earl refused, but a few minutes later he came out of the Dining-Room. As he walked towards her, she saw that he was dressed for riding.

“You are very early...” he began as he reached her, then saw the expression on her face.

“What is the matter?”

“I have something to say to you of very great importance. Can we go into the Library? We are not likely to be disturbed there.”

She spoke as though there was no possibility of his refusing her request, and indeed she had turned to walk towards the Library before he could reply.

They entered the huge room with its walls covered with books, many of them priceless, a unique collection that had been accumulated over the centuries.