Hope. Part 30

His indecision was because of Albert. If he spotted Matt, he was likely to take a pot shot at him, using the excuse that he thought he was an intruder. But as the gatehouse was in darkness he surmised Albert was fast asleep and therefore he'd be safe enough.

Matt was thirty-seven now. His hair was growing thin and grey, his face very weatherbeaten, but he was still as strong and lithe as he had been fourteen years ago when he married Amy. Life had treated him pretty well. He'd managed to hold his head above water through several bad harvests, and over the last three years he'd done well enough to put a bit of money away. He counted himself blessed that he had four healthy children and the best wife a man could wish for.

His younger brothers, Joe and Henry, had slunk back to the farm three years ago with their tails between their legs. London had not been good to them. They were thin, hungry and filthy, without a penny to their name. Matt acted cool with them, reading them the riot act before agreeing to let them stay, but in his heart he was overjoyed to have them home. And the boys had kept their promise to him, working hard and keeping out of mischief, and they both had sweethearts now, steady girls who would make good wives.

But Joe and Henry always reminded Matt of Hope for they'd been inseparable when they were all small. It seemed incredible to him that she'd kept her silence about where she was for six whole years. Sometimes he thought Albert must have killed her after all, or that she'd been carrying a child when she ran away and perhaps even died having it. But mostly he was concerned she'd got herself into such bad trouble she was afraid to come back.

Nell still believed Albert had killed her, but that didn't stop her hoping for a miracle. Each time she came back to the farm the first thing she asked was if there was any news. Rufus was the same. Going off to that school for young gentlemen and then going away to university hadn't stopped him caring about her. The minute he got back to Briargate he rushed down to the farm. Matt wished more than anything that one day he'd have something good to tell them both.

Matt was about ten feet from the stable yard, just about to go behind the wall to the stile and the footpath to the village, when he heard something.

It wasn't a loud noise, just a clicking sound which might have been the wind moving something, but it could have been a key turning in a lock, so he dived out of sight behind the stable wall.

Straining his ears, he waited. The wind had become quite fierce and he could hear nothing above it, but a sixth sense told him someone was there. He was right; he heard a m.u.f.fled cough, and then suddenly there was Albert.

Matt knew little about the routine at Briargate, but he couldn't imagine any reason why a gardener would be in the house this late at night, unless of course he was bedding Lady Harvey.

That was improbable. Rufus claimed his mother hated the man, and in any case Sir William was always there these days rumour had it he only rarely went out. But even stranger was how Albert was behaving. Instead of just walking down the drive he was climbing over the railings.

Matt pressed himself further against the wall and watched, wondering where on earth the man was going. But stranger still, Albert remained close to the railings, going back in the direction of the gatehouse. What's more, he kept turning to look back over his shoulder at the big house.

'He's creeping on the gra.s.s so he won't be heard!' Matt muttered to himself. 'I bet he's been up to no good.'

Aware that if he was seen lurking around the house, he might be blamed for whatever Albert had done, Matt slunk away himself, over the stile and down the paddock that flanked the hedged garden of the house, towards the footpath that led across fields to Woolard.

As he got right to the bottom of the paddock and went to climb the stile, he turned slightly. To his surprise there was a faint orange glow in one of the ground-floor windows at Briargate.

His first thought was that someone might have heard something and lit a lamp to go down and investigate. But lamplight was yellow, and surely one lamp wouldn't be that bright.

All at once he realized what it was. 'Fire!' he gasped. 'So that's what he was doing there!'

For a second he was undecided what to do. The first rule in the case of a fire was to raise the alarm, but Lady Harvey, Sir William and Mr Baines were in there, and by the time he raised men in Woolard, then got back to the house, all three of them could be burned to death.

Throwing off his heavy coat, Matt raced back up the paddock. He could smell the fire now, so he didn't bother with the stile by the stables, but forced his way through the hedge into the garden.

He had only been inside Briargate once, the day he came to see Sir William after Nell left, but he remembered the drawing room he'd been shown into ran from the front to the back of the house, with gla.s.s doors at the back opening on to the garden.

A piercing scream from upstairs made him run faster. Once at the gla.s.s doors he could see inside the room plain as day for it was lit up by the glow of flames at the front of the house. Picking up some kind of heavy flowerpot on the terrace, he smashed the gla.s.s doors in, ran across the room and cautiously opened the door into the hall.

It was like opening an oven door. He was blasted by heat and the smoke made his eyes sting. The fire had clearly started in the room next to the front door, and that was an inferno; flames were already licking across the rug on the hall floor towards the stairs.

Cracking, popping and hissing sounds accompanied the roaring of the fire as it devoured everything in its path. Shutting the drawing-room door behind him, Matt took a deep breath and dodging the flames on the floor, ran for the stairs.

Lady Harvey was still screaming as he turned on to the landing. She was wearing a long white nightgown and wringing her hands, clearly too terrified by the flames below to attempt going down.

'It's me, Matt Renton, m'lady,' he said firmly, aware that she was so deeply shocked she wouldn't know him. 'I'll get you out. But first showme where Sir William and Mr Baines are.'

'I can't wake William,' she sobbed. 'I tried just now. He takes drops at night to sleep and he's too heavy to move.'

'Is there any water up here?' Matt asked, wishing he knew his way around.

'Only jugs on the washstands,' she cried. 'We're all going to die, aren't we?'

'Not if I can help it. Now, calm down and show me where Sir William is.'

The room she led him to was right above the seat of the fire below, and full of smoke. Coughing and spluttering, Matt groped his way to the bed, grabbed Sir William like a sack of potatoes, threwthe cold water from the jug over his face and then hauled him out on to the landing floor.

'Wake up, sir!' he yelled, slapping at his face. 'There's a fire, you must wake up and get out!'

There was no immediate response, but the roaring sound of the fire below was growing louder by the second. 'Wake him up,' he ordered Lady Harvey, who was bent over her husband, coughing hard. 'I'll get Baines. Where is he?'

'Upstairs,' she said.

Matt ran back to the staircase, only to find it didn't go up a further floor. The flames were at the bottom of it now; they couldn't get down that way.

By the time he'd got back to Lady Harvey and learned from her that there was another staircase and where it was, she was so distraught at not being able to wake her husband that Matt had to lift her bodily out through the door to the back staircase, and leave her there while he ran up to find Baines.

The old man was already trying to put his breeches on, coughing and spluttering in the smoke. Matt heaved him over his shoulder and staggered down the stairs to where he'd left Lady Harvey. But she had disappeared, and a.s.suming she'd gone down the stairs he continued too. He found himself beyond the kitchen in what looked like the servants' hall Nell used to speak of, but there was no sign of Lady Harvey. He kicked open the door on to the stable yard and dumped Baines outside, telling him to get right away from the house.

As he came back through the backstairs door to the bedrooms, the other end of the landing was ablaze, and Lady Harvey was there, collapsed on top of her husband's p.r.o.ne body. Matt didn't know if she'd been overcome by the smoke, or was so frightened that she had fainted.

Matt scooped her up in his arms and carried her down to safety, depositing her on the far side of the stable yard where Baines was slumped, coughing his lungs up.

Smoke was billowing out all over the house now, even under the door Matt had just come through. He could hear crashing sounds inside and the roaring of the flames. Taking the kerchief from his neck, he dipped it in a b.u.t.t of water by the stables, and tying it over his nose and mouth, went back in to get Sir William.

He could feel the heat from the flames even through the door to the landing, and he opened it carefully just an inch or two to look. He only kept it open for a second, but it was long enough to see he was too late to save Sir William. He was already engulfed by the flames.

The smell of burning flesh and hair made Matt retch. He knew Sir William must be dead already and he'd be killed too if he didn't get out right now. So he shut the door and fled back downstairs.

'Joe, ride into Keynsham and get the constable!' Matt yelled as he came staggering into his farmhouse, supporting Lady Harvey with one arm and Baines with the other. 'Henry, you ride for the doctor!'

The two brothers came tumbling out of the room beside the kitchen bleary-eyed, pulling on their clothes. 'What's happened?' Henry asked, looking at Lady Harvey in her mud-splattered nightgown as if she were a ghost.

'Albert set fire to Briargate,' Matt said tersely. 'Sir William is dead and these two are lucky to be alive. I must go and round up some men to try to save the house.'

Amy appeared on the stairs in her nightgown. 'Be careful, Matt,' she said, and then coming on down the stairs she went straight into the boys' room, returning with two blankets.

'You are safe now,' she said, wrapping the blankets around Baines and Lady Harvey and nudging them on to chairs. They were silent and motionless as statues and looked too deeply shocked even to know where they were. 'Just give me a minute to stir up the stove and I'll see to you.'

Anne lay in the hard, narrowbed staring at the low, stained ceiling, thinking that this was like one of the terrible nightmares she used to have as a child. She remembered how she used to force herself to wake up, sometimes even to walk around the bedroom, but the moment she got back into bed and closed her eyes again, it would come back.

This nightmare didn't relent for even a moment though. She could still hear the crackling of the flames, feel the heat, smell the burning, and picture William lying there on the landing in his night shirt.

It was her fault he had died. If only she'd got a grip on herself when Matt arrived to save them! She could have shown him where the backstairs were straight away, and the pair of them could easily have dragged William to safety.

But then, if she hadn't goaded William into getting tough, Albert would have had no need to resort to burning Briargate down. What kind of fool was she that it never occurred to her he would take some form of revenge?

She had been here three days now, lying in this hard little bed with its scratchy sheets, so full of remorse and sorrow that she was barely aware whether it was night or day. Just the other side of the door Amy and her four children were carrying on with their normal life. From time to time she heard ordinary family sounds, laughter, chatter and arguing. She could smell food being cooked, heard dishes being washed, the stove being raked, chairs sc.r.a.ping on the stone floor. They were familiar enough sounds and smells, yet they seemed alien, as though she'd been transported to a foreign land where everything, language, customs and behaviour, was strange and frightening.

She had never met Amy, Matt's wife, before the night Matt had brought her here, and she couldn't fault the kindness the woman had shown her. She'd washed her as though she was one of her own children, bandaged up her feet because they'd been torn to ribbons walking through the woods to get here, even lent her one of her own night dresses, yet Anne hadn't even been able to thank her, much less explain how she felt, or even ask why she could still smell smoke.

It was so strange. The soap Amy had used on her was strong enough to banish any lingering smells on her skin and her nightgown was clean. If she felt no pain from her cut feet, why should she still smell smoke?

Yet even in her almost trancelike state she was very aware of how remarkable Matt had been. He'd rescued her and Baines from Briargate, and got them both back here to safety, no mean feat when they were hardly able to walk. He'd then summoned men from the village and gone back to Briargate to try to save it.

Sadly, that was a lost cause. Amy had explained that with only buckets of water and the strong wind whipping the flames, their efforts were wasted. She said the house was razed to the ground, that by morning even the walls had caved in.

Constables were out searching for Albert. It was thought he might have seen Matt coming out of the burning house with Baines and Lady Harvey and run off in a panic. Matt said that the whole county had been alerted now and he didn't think it would be long before he was caught.

Anne wasn't sure she even wanted him caught. It wouldn't bring back William or rebuild Briargate, but it would give Albert an opportunity to expose both her and William at his trial. It was bad enough to deal with widowhood, the loss of her home and all her worldly goods she didn't need scandal too.

She smarted with shame as she remembered how she'd often wished for William's death in the past, just so she could be with Angus! How could she have been so wicked?

But she'd got her punishment now. In truth, she would rather have died in the fire with William than have to face Rufus. Amy and Matt might believe there was nothing more to this than Albert taking revenge because he'd been dismissed. But Rufus was sharp-witted and perceptive, he'd know something else lay behind it, and he'd probe, poke and ask questions until he got the right answers.

A tap on the door made Anne look round. 'Come in,' she said wearily, expecting that it was Amy again with yet more food she couldn't eat.

The door opened, and out of politeness Anne tried to force a grateful smile. But it wasn't Amy in the doorway, it was Nell.

Anne gasped involuntarily, not only because she hadn't expected Nell to call, not after six years of estrangement, but because she looked like a well-to-do housewife, not a servant. She was thinner than Anne remembered and far more attractive; her midnight-blue dress and matching bonnet gave her somewhat sallow face a real glow, and the hair visible beneath her bonnet was still raven-black.

'I'm sorry if I startled you, m'lady, but I had to come.' Nell's voice quivered with nervousness. 'I know I've always said how wicked Albert is, but I didn't think he'd ever hurt you and Sir William. I'm so very sorry, m'lady.'

Anne began to cry, not so much because of her former maid's words but for all the memories her face brought back. 'You don't need to apologize for Albert,' she sobbed. 'If we'd taken more notice of what you'd said about him years ago, this wouldn't have happened.'

'There, there.' Nell was by her side immediately, stroking Anne's forehead comfortingly, just the way she always used to. 'Don't you blame yourself now, we've got to get you well again.'

'I'm not sick, Nell,' Anne said, clutching her hand in both of hers and pressing it to her lips. 'At least, not in body, only in the heart. I'm so glad you came.'

Anne knew Nell to be ten years younger than herself, which would make her thirty-eight now, but it was something of a shock to see her looking far younger than she ever had while she was at Briargate. An uncharitable thought sprang into her mind that this could be because she'd become Angus's mistress.

'You've had a terrible shock,' Nell said, sitting beside her on the narrowbed. 'I know what that does to a body. But we must get you somewhere more fitting for a lady of quality. You'll recover quicker where you feel more at home.'

Anne felt shamed that she'd allowed herself to jump to the wrong conclusion. Sweet, loyal Nell had in fact come to take her to Angus's house!

'Dear Nell,' she sighed. 'You always did have the ability to instinctively know what I wanted or needed. But I really don't deserve your understanding.'

'I slept in this very room myself for a time and I know how noisy it can be,' Nell said with a fond smile. 'You'll get some peace at Wick Farm. Mrs Warren is getting a room prepared for you. She sent some clothes for you too; she said to tell you that you are more than welcome.'

Anne felt as though a rug had been pulled from beneath her feet. 'Howkind of her,' she managed to say, stifling her disappointment. The Warrens had been good neighbours for her entire married life, but they weren't close friends, and Anne had been quite curt with Mrs Warren when she last visited some months ago. 'I wonder that she can be bothered with me when I haven't seen her for so long.'

'Real friends always rally round in emergencies. Besides, as I'm sure you already know, Mrs Warren has been nursing Mr Baines too, and has made him very comfortable. But sadly I don't think he'll be with us for much longer, he's sinking fast.'

All at once Anne realized that Nell had been to Wick Farm to see Baines. Undoubtedly she felt it was inappropriate that the mistress of Briargate should be nursed in spartan conditions at her brother's farm while her butler lay in luxury. Anne guessed she had raised this matter and given Mrs Warren no option but to extend an invitation to her too.

Anne didn't want to go anywhere on sufferance, and the suspicion that Nell might be more than a housekeeper to Angus was back in the forefront of her mind.

'Poor Baines,' she said, aware she had a position to maintain at all costs, and in any case she was genuinely fond of the old man. 'He shouldn't have had to end his days this way.'

'He'll pa.s.s on happily if he can see you first,' Nell said crisply, going over to the doorway to a bag she'd left there, and drawing out a black dress and some crisp white petticoats. 'Mrs Warren sent these for you. Now, up you get and I'll help you dress.'

Anne shuddered at wearing clothes that weren't her own, yet at the same time there was something very soothing about having Nell dressing her again. She'd thought of everything: a chemise, stays, petticoats, even a pair of padded slippers large enough to go over the bandages on her feet. Once she was dressed, Nell turned her attention to her hair, brushing it carefully and fixing it in a neat chignon at the nape of her neck.

'That's better,' she said, tweaking the ruffle around the neckline of the dress. 'You look like my lady again.'

Anne felt that remark held real affection, and although it didn't exactly allay her niggling suspicions, she felt it would be expedient to give Nell a long overdue apology. 'I'm so sorry, Nell,' she blurted out. 'You deserved so much better than the way I treated you. Tell me, is the Captain a good master?'

Nell half-smiled. 'The very best! But I fear he'll be off again soon with his soldiering, there seems to be trouble brewing with Russia.'

'Surely our troops won't have to go to that?' Anne said. William had mentioned something about the Turks and Russians having a dispute just a few days ago, but it hadn't sounded serious.

'It seems to me that any trouble anywhere in the world calls for our army,' Nell said. 'But come now, the Warrens' coachman is waiting. Amy and Matt will come along to visit you in a day or two.'

'How was she?' Angus asked the moment Nell came through the door late that same afternoon. Nell got the impression he'd been pacing up and down the hall waiting for her return.

The pa.s.sing years had been kind to Angus. At forty-seven he was still as lean, straightbacked and handsome as he had been when Nell first met him. Even a touch of grey hair at his temples only served to make him look more distinguished.

'She looks fragile and deeply shocked,' Nell replied as she took off her bonnet. 'But she's unhurt apart from the sore feet she got walking to Matt's without any shoes.'

'Come in by the fire and have a gla.s.s of wine with me,' Angus said, taking her cape and hanging it up with her bonnet. 'Did you persuade Mrs Warren to take her in?'

Nell nodded. 'She sorted out some clothes for her too. She was very kind, but then she is a good woman.'

'And Baines? How is he?'

Nell shrugged. 'Poorly. But he was very pleased to see me. Maybe he will get better with complete rest and good food. I don't think he has had either in the last few years. But I can't help but hope he'll just slip away quietly in his sleep all that lies ahead for old servants is the workhouse.'

Angus took her arm, drew her over to a chair by the fire and poured her a gla.s.s of wine. 'You are not going to end your days in the workhouse,' he said reprovingly.

Nell pursed her lips. 'I hope not, but then I expect Baines imagined he'd see his days out in Briargate. It doesn't seem possible that it's gone. I looked across the fields from Woolard you used to be able to see the house from there and it looked right eerie with it gone.'

'And how was Lady Harvey with you?' he asked.

'Uppity as always,' Nell said, pulling a face. 'She did apologize to me for the past, but I don't think she liked to see me so...' She broke off, not knowing how to explain what she meant.

'Well cared for?' Angus prompted.

Nell nodded. 'She looked at me with great suspicion. But perhaps I should have worn something older and more suitable for my station.'

Angus chuckled. 'You are my housekeeper, Nell, your clothes reflect your position. I hope you told her I have a maid now too, and that thanks to you I have a home I am proud to entertain in.'

Nell blushed. The Captain was always so appreciative of all she did for him, and it made him a joy to work for. In her first two years here she had undertaken everything that needed doing to turn a ramshackle place into a home suitable for a gentleman. She had whitewashed walls, scrubbed floors, made curtains, dug and planted out the garden, and found tradesmen to do the tasks which were beyond her. She hadn't expected praise, it was reward enough to have a position again, and the hard work prevented her from brooding too long on Hope.

But when the Captain came home from his soldiering he missed nothing. He would smile and pat her cheek when he saw the rows of her preserves in the pantry; he would chuckle as he got into bed on a cold night to find a hot brick already in there warming it. He claimed meals she cooked were as good as banquets he'd attended in the officers' mess, and that no one had ever washed, pressed and mended his clothes so well. He said that all his friends envied him for having such an accomplished housekeeper and that they would poach her from him if they could.

Nell pretended she believed this to be empty flattery, but she knew he was sincere, and that knowledge had helped her confidence enormously. She'd never had a chance before to show what she could do as her whole life had been spent taking orders, and it was a thrill to be trusted to make decisions, to plan menus, to buy any equipment or ingredients she needed. Even in her own home, Albert wouldn't so much as allow her to rearrange the furniture without his permission. She'd got into the way of thinking that she was dull-witted, and that her opinions were of no value to anyone.