Obsession (21 page)

Dancing was resumed at the end of the lavish banquet, and the floor was once more crowded. The room became very hot and some of the men dabbed at their foreheads with their white silk handkerchiefs as they escorted their partners back to their chairs at the end of the dance. Several couples who had exerted themselves on the dance floor went out through the open French windows on to the terrace.

Felicity declined her partner’s suggestion that they should do likewise and quickly returned to her chair, where she waited, her heart beating furiously, for the orchestra to strike up the opening bars of the waltz. After what felt like eternity, Brook approached her from across the room and led her on to the dance floor.

As he put his arms around her, Felicity realized that in all the eight years she had known him she had never been as close to him as she was now, her hand clasped in his, her body moving in unison with his. She could feel his breath on her cheeks, even the warmth of his arm where it rested on her waist. Through the open French windows, she could see a harvest moon lighting up the statues on the stone terrace surrounding the house.

Before the dance ended, her heart leapt at the sight of two couples, clearly overcome by the heat, walk out on to the terrace and she knew her opportunity had come. The dance was nearing an end, and in as casual a tone as she could manage she remarked to Brook that she was feeling a little faint: perhaps they could go out on to the terrace for a few minutes, where the night air would be cooler.

Brook was at once solicitous and, taking her arm, guided her through the throng of other dancers out into the night. For a minute or two Felicity stood breathing quickly and fanning her cheeks with her dance card.

‘Can I get you a glass of water, Felicity?’ Brook asked anxiously. ‘Are you certain you are all right? It was very hot indoors.’

Felicity shook her head. ‘I think I am a little less giddy now,’ she said in a faint tone of voice. ‘Could we walk a little way? I need to test my balance before I return to the dance floor.’

‘Why, of course!’ Brook replied, linking his arm in hers. ‘I, too, am finding the cooler air very welcome.’ He led her slowly away from the house and asked, ‘Have you ever seen so many stars? I do declare there is nothing more beautiful anywhere in the world than a summer night in England.’

He turned his head to hear Felicity’s reply. Her eyes closed and she swayed towards him. He heard her whisper that she was afraid that she was about to faint. Instantly solicitous, he put his arm around her. Keeping her eyes closed, Felicity arched her body backwards so that her white voluptuous breasts spread up from beneath her corsage. Her arms lifted to the back of Brook’s neck as if to support herself from falling.

‘I am so giddy!’ she whispered. ‘Please hold me, Brook, I think I am going to fall …’

She now fell forward against his chest. Tightening his arms around her, Brook said urgently, ‘Let me help you indoors, Felicity. There will be a rest room where you can lie down and recover, and there is certain to be a maid on hand to wipe your forehead with cologne. Do you think you can walk?’

Felicity shook her head, surreptitiously moving her body closer to his as she did so. The sound of the music from the terrace, of laughter, made Brook realize suddenly what a compromising position the two of them must appear to be in. He should take her back to the house without delay, he thought uneasily, conscious as he was of the fact that she was a very alluring, seductive woman. He was reminded suddenly that several of his friends had remarked somewhat crudely on her desirability. Brook always told them to cease their banter: that Felicity was a very close friend of his wife’s, and should be shown suitable respect.

Nevertheless, he could now see very clearly why they thought as they did. Not only was Felicity’s figure entirely womanly, but her movements, her laughter, her readiness to banter with them – or indeed with him – made her an amusing companion. He, of course, had no wish to bed her. He was still very much in love with his wife and entirely satisfied with their love-making. Holding Felicity now in his arms, seeing her breasts full and enticing in the moonlight, he could not avoid the thought that were he not happily married, and she not a friend of his wife’s, he could well be tempted to take what she was offering, albeit, he was certain, unconsciously.

The moment passed, and he gently pushed Felicity away from him. ‘I insist upon taking you back indoors where you can receive proper attention,’ he said firmly. ‘Come now, Felicity, I will put my arm around your waist and support you as we walk.’

Allowing no argument, he did so and, despite the brilliance of the moonlight, he failed to see the look of fury and frustration on Felicity’s face.

B
rook and Harriet rose quickly to their feet as Doctor Tremlett, the family physician, came into the morning room. He was smiling.

‘I am very pleased to be able to tell you that you have no need for further worries: young Charles has turned the corner. His temperature is back to normal, and when I left the room his nanny was giving him some chicken broth.’

Tears of relief filled Harriet’s eyes and Brook’s voice was husky as he thanked the doctor, who had called religiously every day since he had diagnosed Charlie’s illness as measles. The childhood disease could quite often be fatal, he had warned Brook, and the utmost care must be taken of him.

‘I have instructed Nanny that now he is on the mend he is to be fed small quantities of nourishing foods in increasing amounts as he gets better,’ he continued. ‘He may also have small quantities of port wine, and I have here a prescription for the action on the skin and kidneys which the apothecary will make up for you, half a teaspoonful of which he is to have every two to three hours.’

‘How are the children in the village who were similarly afflicted?’ Harriet enquired after thanking him again. ‘I was informed that the epidemic of measles amongst the village children was severe.’

The doctor shook his head. ‘I’m afraid two of the babies and one little girl have died,’ he said. ‘The saddler’s wife’s twins and one of the carpenter’s little girls. The rest are recovering, some quicker than others. The speed of their recovery, I believe, has much to do with how well they have been fed in the past. As I dare say you know, Mrs Edgerton, one or two of the villagers cannot always afford the kind of nourishment growing children need.’

When the physician had been duly thanked once more and had departed, Brook looked at the piece of paper in his hand. ‘“
Acetate of Ammonia
”, “
Impecacuanha
”
,
“
Mucilage
”
…
never heard of ’em,’ he said. ‘Still, if that is what the man recommends, Albert shall go straight down to the village to the apothecary to have it made up.’

‘I would like Albert to wait a few minutes,’ Harriet said, ‘whilst I write instructions for him to go to the baker, greengrocer and dairy. I wish them to make up baskets of food for Albert to give the families of every child who has been similarly afflicted as Charlie. Oh, Brook, how great is the relief of knowing he is on the way to recovery! I dare not think if …’

Brook went over to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. ‘It is better to forget such dreadful fears as we have endured this past week, my darling. Now we must do what we can, as you have so kindly suggested, to help the village children recover as our Charlie is doing. Let it be known in your note to the shopkeepers that I expect them to make their deliveries generous ones as I shall not complain about their subsequent charges.’

He dropped a kiss on top of Harriet’s head before adding: ‘I will pay a quick visit to the sickroom and then I must go down to the stables to see Jenkins. He sent word this morning that Snowball was lame and he thought he might have laminitis. The veterinarian may be needed … and will probably say he must not be ridden. Ah, well, Charlie won’t be riding on his precious Shetland pony for a while!’ He gave a sudden smile. ‘I shall tell him that the veterinarian says Snowball has had the measles too! That will make more sense to him than laminitis!’

Harriet laughed and departed to write her notes for Albert to give the various shopkeepers. Sitting at her escritoire in her bedroom she was suddenly reminded that in two weeks’ time it would be Charlie’s third birthday, and that as a consequence of his being so ill this past week she had delayed writing the promised letter to Mrs Joan Bates. She would do so as soon as she had completed the orders for Albert, after which she would pay her morning visit to the invalid.

At lunchtime the previous day, Felicity had arrived, unexpectedly bearing a delightful clockwork toy for Charlie – a box which when wound up played the noise of a drum which the little wooden bear on top was beating. She had stayed to have lunch with them, after which she had managed to persuade Brook to ride home with her, knowing as she did that his morning exercise routine had been interrupted by his wish not to miss the doctor’s daily visit. As she had expected, Harriet had still been too concerned about Charlie to go with them.

It had been quite dark when Brook returned, having stayed to take tea with Felicity and her brother, Paul, who was on one of his rare visits home.

Brook had laughed off her fears for his safety, pointing out that no harm could have come to him with his groom accompanying him back from Melton Court.

‘I suppose I was being silly to fret!’ Harriet had admitted as he put his arm round her. ‘I start imagining all the perils that might occur, and how I would not be able to bear it if you came to serious harm and I lost you.’

Brook’s arm had tightened around her. ‘Nothing short of death can ever do that, my darling,’ he had said, ‘and I can assure you that I was never in danger of that happening this afternoon.’ He had stopped to kiss the top of her head, his eyes suddenly alight with laughter. ‘Mind you, my darling, I might have been tempted to have a little flirtation with your friend, Felicity. I swear, if Paul had not been present this afternoon, she would have been quite agreeable to a little coddling. I don’t think she is aware of it, but sometimes she can be overly flirtatious.’

Harriet had smiled. ‘It’s just her way, Brook. She told me once that she enjoys men’s attentions, which is why she dresses so beguilingly. She calls herself a merry widow, but one thing I am sure of is that she would never in a hundred years try to come between you and me.’

‘Nor could she if she did try!’ Brook had replied. ‘Now, my love, I shall go upstairs to enjoy that hot bath Hastings is supposed to be preparing for me, and I will see you at dinner.’

‘And I shall go and change into my most seductive gown to see if I can rival my dear Felicity in your eyes!’ Harriet had smiled, confident as she was that she had nothing in the world to fear.

The following morning, when finally they had risen from the marital bed after a night of love-making, Brook departed to his study to write some overdue replies to the letters on his desk. Harriet had decided that she, too, had a seriously overdue letter to write to Felicity on Charlie’s behalf, thanking her for all the gifts she never failed to bring him each time she visited.

After looking in on Charlie as she’d intended, Harriet thought once more about her letter to Mrs Bates. It would not be a difficult one to write, she thought as she went to her escritoire, as there was so much to tell her: not least, of Charlie’s ability to pick out with one finger the first six notes of the National Anthem with only an occasional mistake. She might also like to know of the Shetland pony his doting grandfather had given him and, most importantly of all, Charlie’s complete recovery from an onset of measles which had laid him very low for several weeks. The first paragraph of her letter would be the easiest to write as the words would come so readily from her heart.

Ten minutes later she was seated at the desk, her pen in hand.

It is not possible, dear Mrs Bates, for my husband and I to love the little boy you gave me that day in Ireland three years ago more than we do. He is the happiest, most affectionate little boy and …

She broke off as there was a knock on the door and Ellen came into the room.

‘Excuse me, madam,’ she said in her customary toneless voice, ‘but Cook has sent up to say that young Doris has cut her finger so badly it might come off, and shall she send Jenkins to ride down to the village and fetch Doctor Tremlett to come up and stitch it on?’

Harriet rose quickly to her feet, saying, ‘Thank you, Ellen. I’ll go straight downstairs and see Doris. The poor girl! I suppose she was disobeying orders and using one of Cook’s carving knives again!’

She hurried down the big staircase and through the green baize door leading to the kitchen. Sixteen-year-old Doris, the kitchen maid, was sitting with her arm on the scrubbed table top, her hand bandaged in a blood-soaked teacloth. She was white as a sheet, and even the implacable cook was looking shocked.

‘Her finger’s hanging near right off!’ she said to Harriet. ‘I don’t know how many times I’ve told that girl not to use the big knives for cutting up carrots but …’

‘I know, Cook!’ Harriet said firmly. ‘This is not your fault. We shall get Doctor Tremlett up here as quickly as possible. I’ll ask Hastings to hurry down to the stables and tell Jenkins it’s very urgent.’

Keeping her voice as calm as possible, she turned back to Doris, saying, ‘I know it must hurt, Doris, but try to be a brave girl, which I’m sure you can be. Cook shall make you a nice hot cup of cocoa while we wait for the doctor.’

‘Will he cut my finger right off, ma’am?’ Doris enquired in a shaky voice.

Unwilling to lie, Harriet said gently, ‘I don’t think that is likely, Doris, but even if the very worst happened and he did have to do so, it wouldn’t hurt any more than it does now.’ She had a sudden inspiration. Upstairs in one of her wardrobes she had already packed in tissue paper and tied with red ribbon Christmas presents for every member of staff. ‘If you are very brave, I shall have a little surprise for you!’ she added.