Beyond the Sunset (33 page)

‘We could stand here all day getting nice and wet – or we could retrieve our luggage and find out how best to make our way to Lancashire.’

She grasped his hand and dragged him to the Customs shed. ‘Let’s not waste a minute.’

They said goodbye to Mr Plumley, who had been met by one of his sons. After booking places on the train to London the following morning, they found a hotel near the station.

Pandora felt so much better she decided the time had come to put an end to her husband’s foolish heroism. ‘You’ve got me here safely, Zachary. I can’t thank you enough. I couldn’t have managed without you to look after me when I was ill. And it seemed to take until Gibraltar before I felt to be myself again. I’m sure Mr Featherworth will be delighted with you.’

He nodded, but his expression remained stern and she could see that he didn’t share her euphoria. ‘What’s the matter? Aren’t you glad to be back?’

‘Yes, but . . . I’ve been wondering how I’ll ever fit into the life of a shopman again,’ he admitted.

‘You won’t be a shopman. You’ll be part-owner of the shop. You’ll be running it.
You
, not that Harry person.’

‘At best I’ll be the owner’s husband . . . if you still want me once you’ve settled down.’

‘Surely I’ve proved by now that my feelings won’t change?’

He gave her one of his determined looks. ‘I haven’t changed my mind. We’re doing nothing about our marriage until
you
have had time to settle in.’

‘But what are we going to
do
when we arrive in Outham? Live apart without telling anyone?’

‘Yes.’

‘I won’t do it. You’re my husband and I want you by my side. If you won’t live with me, I’ll come and live with you, if I have to camp on your doorstep to persuade you. I mean it, Zachary. I’m not going to change my mind and I’m
not
going to deny my marriage.’

‘You make it impossible for me to do the right thing.’

‘Who are you to decide what’s right for me?’

‘I’m your husband.’

‘Then act like one!’

They argued intermittently until they fell asleep, but she couldn’t make him change his mind.

When they arrived in London, he insisted on her taking off her wedding ring and staying overnight in a hotel near the station in separate rooms, as Miss Blake and Mr Carr. He went out to send a telegram to Mr Featherworth saying they’d arrive the following day. ‘I shan’t tell him about us until we’re face to face,’ he said.

Alone in the hotel bedroom, she cried herself to sleep. Why did she have to love the most stubborn man in England?

They argued on and off all the way to Lancashire, by which time each was exhausted.

As they walked out of the station in Outham early that evening, a lad came hurrying towards them.

‘I work for Mr Featherworth. He sent me to meet you, Miss Blake, Mr Carr. And if you please, you’re not to talk to anyone about anything at all till you’ve seen him. It’s
very
important, he says.’

They looked at one another in surprise then Zachary found a cab to take them and their luggage to the lawyer’s rooms.

Before she got into it, Pandora stood for a moment staring round. ‘Home,’ she said softly. ‘I thought I’d never be able to come back to Outham.’ She raised her eyes to the green ridge above the town. ‘I’m going for a walk up there on the moors as soon as I can. I’ve missed them so much.’

Zachary had missed them too and almost said they’d go together, then remembered the youth sitting opposite him and bit back the words.

They passed Blake’s Emporium and as Pandora would have said something, he said, ‘Shhh. Mr Featherworth said not to talk about anything.’

The youth nodded vigorously and she shrugged, clamping her mouth shut in an exaggerated way and throwing Zachary a mischievous glance as she did so.

They left the youth to keep an eye on the luggage and were shepherded straight through to Mr Featherworth’s room. As he came forward to greet them, they heard someone hurrying along the corridor and Mr Dawson joined them.

He didn’t waste time on civilities. ‘Why have you only brought back one sister, Zachary? Surely you looked for the others too?’

It took them a while to explain why Pandora’s sisters hadn’t returned.

When she handed over the documents giving her the right to handle their business affairs, Mr Featherworth held up one hand to stop her talking for a moment then scanned them quickly.

‘Drafted in a hurry,’ he said, ‘but not bad. They’ll serve. It was a good idea to have Francis Southerham as one of the signatories. His signature is known in the town and he can’t be accused of having an interest. We shall need a copy making of this, Dawson.’ He passed it to his clerk then turned back to his visitors. ‘Please continue.’

When Zachary faltered over the tale of their marriage, it was Pandora who took over.

‘I wanted to marry him. I fell in love with him very quickly.’

Mr Featherworth cast a glance of disapproval at Zachary, and Mr Dawson’s face expressed the same emotion. She couldn’t bear them to think ill of him, so said hastily, ‘I had to persuade him to do it. He said it wasn’t right.’

‘I’m in complete agreement with him on that matter,’ Mr Featherworth said sharply. ‘My dear young lady, you are in comfortable circumstances. This young man, worthy as he is, is not even in a position to support a wife. I cannot help feeling that you’ve betrayed our trust, Carr.’

Zachary opened his mouth and she knew what he was going to say. ‘Don’t!’ she begged. ‘Zachary, please don’t tell them.’

‘Tell us what?’

He looked steadily at the two older men. ‘We’ve not consummated the marriage.’

They both looked at him in relief. She could have wept.

‘I thought it only fair that she have a way to get out of it,’ Zachary added. ‘In case she changed her mind once she settled down here again. Getting married was the only way we could get a passage back to England for two months, and . . . I do love her. So I did it, married her. But she was alone, ill and unhappy, so it was only natural she’d turn to me, think she cared about me. So I wanted her to be sure.’

She leaned forward to refute this, even though she could feeling herself blushing. ‘But I
am
sure! I always have been.
He
’s the one who won’t – make our marriage real.’

There was silence, then Mr Featherworth looked at Zachary with a return of his old cordiality. ‘That was well thought of.’

Mr Dawson added softly, ‘And it can’t have been easy.’

Zachary nodded, looking at Pandora again, sure that circumstances would take her away from him now they were back. ‘It was very difficult. But I love her too much to trap her.’

‘If you love me, then be my husband!’ she pleaded again.

He shook his head. ‘Not yet.’

‘If I wasn’t so tired, I’d go on arguing, but I can hardly sit upright. But be warned, all of you: I won’t let anyone annul my marriage,’ she declared. ‘Not unless Zachary proves that he doesn’t care for me.’

The two older men smiled at them and Mr Featherworth said quietly. ‘No one will do anything you don’t wish for, my dear Miss Blake. But for the moment, I think it’ll serve our purpose better if we don’t reveal the marriage and if Zachary goes back to work in the shop, where he’ll be the best person to see what he can find out. Tell them what we suspect, Ralph.’

‘We have reason to believe Harry Prebble is stealing goods from the shop. Not large amounts, but probably enough to double his income. That family dabbles in a few suspicious areas. I don’t know why Mr Blake took on someone with that background.’

‘Harry begged for a job, said he wanted to work honestly. Mr Blake believed in giving people a chance and I have to admit that Harry worked hard for him.’

‘Hmm. Well, I think he’s stealing from the shop and thinks we don’t know. That young man is overconfident and scornful of others. It will be his downfall in the end, I’m sure.’ He explained about Miss Blair and the intruder, about placing Marshall Worth to work in the shop.

‘I can’t believe Harry would steal!’ Zachary exclaimed. ‘He doesn’t need to. He’s bound to get on, because he’s a hard worker and good at his job . . . even if I don’t always agree with his methods of running the shop.’

‘We’ve not
proved
it’s him yet, I must admit, but there’s no one else who could be doing it. No one else has a key to the building or the gates.’

‘It’s a dreadful thing to do, rob people when they’ve trusted you,’ Zachary said.

‘Some people are greedy, want what other people have and have no scruples about taking it,’ Mr Dawson said quietly.

Mr Featherworth shuddered. ‘My clerk has been handling that side of things. I don’t know how I’d have coped without his help, I really don’t. I’m a lawyer, not a policeman.’

Zachary thought of the plump family man he’d seen in his home, happy in the bosom of his family, and found it hard not to smile at the thought of Mr Featherworth acting as a policeman, trapping criminals. He saw that Mr Dawson was watching his employer with an indulgent expression on his face, and when he turned to Zachary, he smiled, as if they were accomplices in helping the lawyer.

Mr Dawson looked up at the clock on the wall. ‘You have another appointment in a few minutes, Mr Featherworth. Shall I take these young people into my room to discuss the practicalities, then escort them home? I didn’t like to think of putting Miss Pandora into those living quarters alone, with only a young maid, even with the new locks in place, so I took the liberty of sending a message to Miss Blair, warning her of Miss Pandora’s imminent arrival and asking her to stay on for a while.’

‘Will she do that?’ Mr Featherworth asked.

‘Oh, yes. She doesn’t wish to leave Outham. She’s made some good friends here, as well as having her only close relatives living in the town.’

‘That was very well thought of.’

Zachary sat in the heavily loaded cab opposite Pandora as the horse clopped through the streets. Most shops were still open and it wasn’t dark yet, but few people were around. When they stopped outside the emporium, she looked across at him and said very emphatically, ‘I shan’t change my mind.’

He stared at her, not allowing himself to respond.

Mr Dawson filled the silence. ‘Remember to say nothing about your real situation, my dear Miss Blake. And Zachary, please contain your impatience. We’re relying on you to find some way of proving what’s going on.’

‘I’ll keep my eyes open too,’ Pandora said.

‘Oh, my dear young lady, this is not work for a woman. Please leave that sort of thing to us.’

‘It’s
my
shop, mine and my sisters’.’

As Zachary helped her out of the cab, Harry came to the shop door, a smirk on his face.

‘So you’re back, Carr.’ He stared at Zachary for a moment or two, frowning as if he hardly recognised him then turned to Pandora. ‘May I be the first to welcome you to your new home, Miss Blake.’ He looked back down the street. ‘I presume your sisters are following?’

Pandora inclined her head. ‘Thank you for your welcome, Mr Prebble. I shall look forward to working with you.’

Mr Dawson made shooing motions with one hand and Harry hesitated then went back into the shop.

It all seemed very dream-like to Zachary – or rather, like a nightmare. He wanted to tell Harry to stay away from her, but he no longer had the right. Already being back in Outham was putting a distance between him and Pandora. Whatever she said, the gap could only get wider.

When Dot answered the doorbell of the living quarters, she beamed at them and held the door wide, saying simply and with obvious sincerity, ‘Welcome home, Miss Blake. Mr Dawson said you were coming today. This way, please.’

‘I’ll help the cab driver carry your trunk up,’ Zachary said.

‘Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.’

She followed the clerk upstairs. ‘I’ve never been inside the living quarters before.’

‘You’ll find them very comfortable,’ Mr Dawson said. ‘Ah, there you are, Miss Blair. Allow me to introduce you to Miss Pandora Blake, who is very tired indeed.’

‘Welcome home,’ Alice said. ‘What a long journey you’ve had.’

Pandora returned her smile. ‘Thank you. I’m very glad to be back but I’m exhausted. Could I just have something to eat and go straight to bed? I’ll make more sense in the morning, I’m sure.’

Alice turned to the maid. ‘Dot?’

‘Ham sandwich and a piece of cake be all right, Miss Blake?’

‘Just a piece of cake and a cup of tea.’

Zachary and the cab driver puffed upstairs with the trunk and Miss Blair showed them which room to put it in.

‘I’ll leave you ladies alone,’ Mr Dawson said. ‘I’ll come round again tomorrow morning, Miss Blake. I hope you sleep well.’

‘I’ll show you out,’ Alice said.

Left alone with Pandora, Zachary hesitated. ‘Are you feeling better now?’

‘I shall be once I’ve slept. I’m sure you’re exhausted too.’

‘Yes. It’s been very . . . tiring.’ He turned to follow the others down the stairs.

‘Zachary . . .’ she called.

He swung round. ‘Yes?’

She said it again and would go on saying it until he believed her. ‘I shall
not
change my mind.’

‘You think you won’t. Wait till you’ve settled in again.’

‘How long do I have to wait to prove that to you?’

‘Two or three months.’

She drew herself up. ‘No. That’s too long. One month then I’m telling everyone. You can move in with me or not after that, but I’ll still tell everyone.’

‘Pandora, you mustn’t—’

She went back into the parlour with a toss of her head and slammed the door on him.

The cab dropped Mr Dawson off at the lawyer’s rooms first and he paid the driver for the whole journey. ‘Don’t forget,’ he murmured to Zachary. ‘Keep quiet about your changed circumstances.’

‘Yes.’

The clerk hesitated. ‘You love her, don’t you?’

‘Too much to spoil her life.’

‘Oh, I don’t think marrying you would spoil her life, but I do think we need to sort out the other business first. No need to go to work on Monday, or for a day or two. We have a lot of things to sort out first and you’ll need to recover from the journey.’