Authors: Miranda Powers
Miller opened the carriage door. He wore a long coat and top hat all dripping wet from the drizzle.
“Would you accompany me please, I do not wish to go into a public house alone.”
“Of course M’Lady.”
Miller pushed the pub door open and held it for her as she entered. A hubbub of voices through the dense tobacco smoke halted abruptly as the customers caught sight of a beautiful young woman expensively dressed. Clearly she was not a regular at this Inn.
The landlord, a big man with a large belly and mutton chop whiskers, eyed her up and down. “What can I do for you M’Lady?”
“I believe you have a Mr Richard Devere-Scott residing here. I wish to see him. Please ask him to come down.”
“Well now M’Lady, in here we don’t take no orders from women. If you wants to see the man, he’s upstairs in that room there.” The landlord pointed to a door at the top of a flight of rickety steps.
The customers grunted and laughed.
“Please come with me,” Diana said to Miller.
Diana led the way upstairs closely followed by her faithful retainer. At the door, she could hear movement on the other side. She tapped loudly on the peeling paintwork.
“Who is it?”
Diana recognised Richard’s voice.
“Diana. I need to see you Richard.”
“Wait.”
Diana waited.
Richard opened the door. He wore a loose shirt over breeches and no shoes.
“Have you come to tell me that I can take the boy?”
“May I come in and discuss this with you.”
“It isn’t convenient.”
She pushed past him into the room. Diana stopped dead when she saw, lying on a bed, an attractive young Indian woman with a brightly coloured length of cloth wrapped around her that Diana thought may be a Sari when it was worn properly.
This is Kahini, my servant. She will be the boy’s Nanny or Amah as we say in India.”
“Richard, I am not going to India with you and you are not taking the boy. Please don’t ruin his life. It seems you have all you need. Why do this?”
“Because I want the boy. I want a son who I can bring up in India to hand my fortune to when I die.”
“Richard, I can give you a son. You do not have to take this woman’s,” said Kahini standing up still with the Sari wrapped around her.
“I want a white boy, not a…”
“Richard, you said you loved me,” Kahini pleaded.
He shoved her so she fell backwards onto the bed.
If Diana had any lingering doubts about whether to go with Richard that one action was enough to convince her that she had made the right decision to refuse him.
“I’m taking the boy or I’ll ruin him. That is final. Now make up your mind,” said Richard with such venom that Diana had never encountered before.
“If you try to take the boy I shall track you down and kill you.”
Diana spun round to see Miller holding a pistol in his hand and a look on his face that meant murder.
“What is it to you old man? Why should you risk the hangman for a boy who has nothing whatever to do with you? You’re just a servant,” said Richard but Diana could see from his face that he believed Miller was capable of shooting him.
“I am the boy’s great-grandfather,” said Miller holding the pistol rock steady and pointed square at Richard’s chest.
Diana gasped.
“That’s right M’Lady… Diana. I am your mother’s father. She knows and she sent me to live with you when you married Sir Reginald. She wanted me to protect you and that is what I will do. I shall protect you and my great grandson. So Mr Devere-Scott, you say you will take the boy or ruin him? I have lived my life. I am now going to shoot you so you will neither take the boy nor ruin him.
“No,” pleaded Richard.
“Don’t,” said Diana. “Please don’t shoot him. I do not want to see you hanged. He’s not worth it. We shall manage even if he does expose Michael’s parentage.”
Miller squeezed the trigger. Diana held her breath. Richard cowered with his arm over his face as if he could stop the bullet if he couldn’t see it.
Bang. Richard fell to the floor with blood gushing from his thigh.
Miller looked confused. His pistol had not gone off.
Kahini sat on the bed with a pistol in her hand and smoke coming from the barrel. “He has not been himself since the massacre. I could not let anyone take the responsibility I should have taken months ago.”
She jumped from the bed. Her Sari fell from her revealing her nakedness. Kahini grabbed a cravat from a chair and put a tourniquet on Richard’s leg to stop the blood.
Diana heard footsteps thundering up the stairs. The landlord and two other men appeared at the door and looked at Richard lying on the floor, bleeding, with a naked Kahini tending him.
“An accident!” said Richard through clenched teeth to stem the pain. “I was giving a pistol to my Lady friend as a present and didn’t realise it was loaded. I’m afraid I’ve shot myself.”
“Are you sure,” said the landlord looking at the shocked Diana and dumbfounded Miller and then resting his eyes on the naked Kahini. “Shall I call the Magistrate.”
“I think I would prefer you called a doctor,” said Richard managing to smile.
The landlord and his companions left. Miller pushed the door closed. Diana and Kahini got Richard up on the bed and laid him down.
“I’m sorry Kahini. I’m sorry Diana.” Richard passed out.
Kahini loosened the tourniquet and then tightened it when the blood flowed again.
“Why?” said Diana.
Kahini wrapped her Sari around her body.
“I am not a servant. I am the daughter of a Maharaja. Richard and I fell in love, but my father prohibited me from seeing him. I escaped and went to live with him. My father sent an army and massacred the village where we stayed though we had left hours before they came. Richard blamed himself for the massacre and ever since he’s changed. He’s been drinking and fighting. I should have done something but didn’t know what to do. When he heard he had a son, I think it tipped him even more over the edge and he became fixated that he and only he could bring up the boy.”
“I see, I knew there was something wrong. He was such a kind and good man before.”
“I know. That’s why I fell in love with him. I didn’t even know he was rich when I met him. He’s built a huge business in the East of India and helped so many poor Indian families. They think he’s a god. I don’t. I just love him.”
“But you tried to kill him!” said Diana.
“No. I saved his life. Your grandfather there was about to shoot him dead. I am an excellent shot and knew I needed to shoot him first to wound him. He will live and I hope he will forgive me. This may have brought him back to his senses. If not, I don’t know what to do. I shall not let him take your child.”
A knock at the door was answered by Miller.
Doctor Parris stepped into the room carrying a large leather bag, a big belly and a long beard.
Diana couldn’t wait to speak to Miller about so many things, but she knew it would have to wait until the doctor had examined Richard.
“The landlord said he shot himself by accident,” said the doctor looking carefully at the wounded thigh.
“Indeed,” said Diana.
“He must be an ingenious man or have long arms. There are no powder marks,” said the doctor.
Diana shook her head not knowing what else to say. Miller sat in the corner quietly watching and Kahini stroked Richard’s hair.
“The bullet just missed the bone. It isn’t serious, but it would have been if someone hadn’t the sense to stop the bleeding quickly. He’ll be all right soon.”
The doctor dressed the wound and removed the tourniquet. “Who does he belong to?”
Kahini looked at Diana.
She looked back. Diana said: “He belongs to this young lady.”
Kahini smiled and continued running her fingers through his hair.
Richard’s eyes opened and he saw the doctor. “How is it?” he said.
“Provided you don’t shoot yourself again, I expect you will make a complete recovery. Make sure you change the dressings regularly.” And with that the doctor left.
“I don’t know what to say. What got into me? Why I’ve been so stupid,” said Richard.
“Kahini explained about the massacre. You can’t blame yourself, Richard. She loves you dearly. You could have such a wonderful life together.”
“I know. Kahini, I’m sorry about what I said about you having my child. I would be very pleased if we had a son.”
“It isn’t any of my business, but don’t you think you ought to marry the girl?” said Diana.
“I doubt she would have me now.”
“Try asking me. In the circumstances, you don’t have to go down on one knee as is the custom in this country, I believe,” said Kahini.
Richard smiled. Diana could see that his old self was creeping back into his soul.
“Kahini, will you marry a stupid man who promises to love you and care for you and treat you with the utmost respect and kindness for the rest of his life?”
“That description can only apply to one man that I know. I accept.” She kissed him on the lips.”
Chapter Seven
A special license from the Bishop; a very quick baptism into the Church of England for Kahini and all was set for the wedding.
Diana sat in the front pew with Michael on one side. Her grandfather sat on the other side with a smile on his ancient face though he felt uncomfortable in his new gentry styled clothes.
Diana still marvelled at the subterfuge that had happened in her family. As she sat in the pew she thought about the man she had believed was her grandfather but he was not. She had never known him but by all accounts he was an unpleasant bully. Her grandmother had an affair with Miller and produced a daughter. And nobody knew for years though before her grandmother died, she passed on the bombshell to her daughter. Diana wondered if her mother would ever have told her.
Calling Miller ‘Grandfather’ did not come easy though she had always had respect for the old man and liked him. Diana squeezed his hand. He smiled at her.
There were few guests. Isabelle and her husband, Jane, Ann and Cook and a few tenant farmers from Eylebourne with their wives and three old soldiers spread themselves as best they could around the pews to make it look more attended. Richard’s family still disowned him.
Richard looked fine standing in the aisle waiting for his bride. He had abandoned the walking stick he would need for a few months.
Diana blushed when she looked at the vicar waiting in front of the altar for the wedding to begin. Her glance went up to the pulpit. She would never get the chance for him to take her for real. She thought…
if you only knew what a narrow escape you had Reverend
and smiled.
The organist began to play.
The Bride in a beautiful white dress and veil came down the aisle on the arm of William wearing for the last time his Royal Navy Captain’s uniform.
Chapter Eight
Diana sat in the carriage with William, Jane and Michael as it thundered along the highway towards Devon. She smiled when she looked at the hand grips above the seats. Though it was a different one to the carriage that William had made love to her in, she couldn’t help feeling excited and a little damp.
She hoped her grandfather, mother and father would be coping with Eylebourne Hall until she came back.
The driver pulled up the carriage at an Inn in a little village in Wiltshire for the passengers to get out and stretch their legs.
Diana looked down the broad main street of pleasant houses and small shops. She saw a shop with a honey coloured Empire style dress in the window. “Jane, would you please take Michael and find him a drink in the Inn. And order us something to eat. For the driver too.” She handed Jane a purse.
“Err…” said William.
“I have another role for you William. You must come with me and tell me what you think of that dress. I may wear it for my first dinner with your mother provided it is not too… well you know.”
“No, I don’t know Diana. I don’t know anything at all about women’s clothing.”
She whispered, “You know how to remove it.” Diana laughed.
William blushed.
They strode over to the dress shop and went inside.
A scent of lavender was not unpleasant. Two middle-aged ladies who could have been twins stood behind a wooden counter. They bobbed a curtsey and the people of quality who had just entered their shop.
“I would like to try on that dress that is in the window, please,” said Diana.
“Certainly,” said one of the twins as the other stepped over to the display and carefully removed it from its frame.
“Is there somewhere I can try it on?”
“Yes, M’Lady. In there.”
Diana looked down a small corridor to a door. She made her way there followed by a twin carrying the dress. The other twin opened the door. It was a small room, about ten feet by ten feet with a wooden table in the centre and one chair. The twin laid the dress on the table.
“Would you like some assistance with the dress M’Lady?” said the one who had carried it.
“I think not.” Diana poked her head back around the door as the twins made their way back into the shop. “William, would you come here for a moment please, I need to ask your advice.”
William reluctantly obeyed.
Diana closed the door when he came into the room. “What do you think?” She held it up against herself.
“It looks very nice,” he said trying hard not to sound disinterested.
“I shall try it on.”
William went to open the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I can’t stay in here when you are changing. We’re not married. What would people say?”
“They don’t know we’re not married. I’m wearing gloves; they can’t see that I wear no ring.”
“But Diana…”
“William! Help me out of this dress.”
William loosened the ties at the back of Diana’s dress. She slipped it down and off over her stockings and shoes.
As she stood before him, bare breasted and in her pantaloons and stockings, she saw a bulge appear in his breeches.