Scandal at the Dower House (25 page)

‘Please, my lord, I cannot tell you. There are secrets which are not mine to reveal. Now forgive me, I cannot remain.’

She dragged her hands away from his grasp and almost ran from the room. Upstairs she struggled not to succumb to weeping. That would serve no purpose. But oh, how she had longed to give way and throw herself into his arms.

* * * *

Jeremy by now was able to move about a little, and he complained he was bored with remaining in his bedroom all day. Nicholas and his valet carried him downstairs the following morning, and installed him on a daybed in the back half of the drawing room, where he could see out of the window.

‘Promise you will go back to bed when you feel tired,’ Nicholas said. ‘I’m leaving Chettle, he can help your man get you back upstairs. I have to go and see that those miscreants are taken to Bristol. The wagon will be slow, so I will stay there tonight.’

Catarina and Jeremy chatted, played cards, and ate a light nuncheon. Because of his broken arm she cut up the meat for him, and peeled an apple.

‘Thank goodness I am allowed proper food again,’ Jeremy said as he ate the slices of cold chicken and ham.

Afterwards he seemed sleepy, but he refused to go back upstairs.

‘I’m perfectly comfortable on that daybed, I’d rather stay there, if I’m not in your way.’

‘Of course not. I have letters to write, so I will draw the dividing doors to so as not to disturb you.’

Catarina sat at her escritoire and began a letter to Joanna. After ten minutes or so she heard horses, and glanced out of the window. Had Mrs Eade, as she had threatened, sent her husband to chastise Catarina? If so, the man would regret criticizing her behaviour. A carriage had drawn up just outside the gate. She could see the top of it over the hedge, but not who was in it.

It was not the Reverend Eade Staines showed into the drawing room. To Catarina’s astonishment it was her uncle Sir Ivor, and her cousin Matthew. She rose to her feet to greet them, and Staines offered wine.

‘Uncle Ivor. Cousin Matthew. I was not aware you were back in England.’

 Matthew grinned at her.

‘Or you would no doubt not have been receiving visitors. I’ve come to claim my child.’

Catarina stared at him in amazement.

‘What on earth do you mean?’

He sighed. ‘Catarina, do not be stupid. You know that Joanna and I were married, and she had a child. That child is mine. Now I am back from Canada and have sold out I want to live with my family. With Joanna’s fortune I can provide a good home for them both. Of course, Joanna’s so-called marriage to that Brazilian is bigamous, and she will have to return to England. And I understand he is wealthy, and will no doubt be happy to recompense me for having deprived me of my wife, and to keep the scandal quiet.’

‘I see,’ Catarina said. ‘When it suited your purpose you told my poor sister the marriage had been a sham, and you repudiated her, leaving her alone and desperate. You had other prospects, it seemed. What happened to the heiress you were planning to marry? Did she discover in time what a despicable rogue you are?’

Matthew laughed and moved towards the door.

‘You will sing a different tune when we have the child. We know she is in the house, we have been talking to people in the village. I am taking her back to Bristol with me now. You will write to Joanna and inform her, and say she can either come home and live with me, or stay with her lover. Of course, if she chooses to do that, she won’t see a penny of the fortune her father left her. Legally it belongs to me, her husband.’

‘If that marriage was legal. I need to have that proven before you can take your daughter away. Joanna left her with me when she went to Brazil, and I intend to keep her.’

‘How do you propose to stop us? I don’t think your ancient butler will be much opposition.’

On the words he opened the door.

‘I suppose the child is upstairs? Do you mean to be sensible and pack what she needs or do we have to remove her by force?’

‘You mean you would kidnap her?’

Matthew, with an oath, swung round at this new voice and saw Jeremy in the hall.

‘Who the devil are you?’

‘I own Marshington Grange, and therefore this Dower House is also mine. I do not choose to have scoundrels such as you in it, so you will leave at once.’

Matthew sneered and moved forward.

‘And I suppose you think you can stop us, even though your arm is in a splint. You’ll get out of our way unless you want to be hurt again.’

Jeremy stepped aside. Matthew, with a smile of triumph, started towards the stairs only to see Staines and the two valets, both of them young and sturdy, blocking the way.

‘What’s this? Cousin, do you keep a male harem here in your snug little house? Are you missing Walter’s attentions?’

‘Get out before you are thrown out,’ Catarina said. ‘And don’t try to come back. We are well protected, as you can see.’

‘I’ll go for now, but you’ll regret defying me, cousin Catarina! We will be back.’

Jeremy laughed as, trying to maintain their dignity, Matthew and his silent father backed out of the front door. He followed them and watched as they scrambled into their carriage and drove away. Then, growing suddenly pale, he fell into rather than sat in a chair beside the front door.

‘I rather think I ought to go back to bed now. Staines, I suggest you secure all the doors and windows, be prepared to repel boarders.’

* * * *

Jeremy slept for the remainder of the day. Catarina surmised he had heard at least some of what Matthew had said while he was in the back part of the drawing room, and he had made a great effort to summon the help of his own and Nicholas’s valets. She relished recalling the look on Matthew’s face when, instead of being faced just with the elderly Staines he had found two young and able bodied men ready to oppose him. He’d known Sir Ivor, who was in his sixties and had said almost nothing during their confrontation, would not have assisted him in forcing his way upstairs. She was impatient to ask Jeremy exactly how much he had heard. Joanna’s secret was now probably no longer a secret, at least from Jeremy. Would he tell Nicholas? Who else would discover it? Did Staines know? Or the valets?

There was nothing she could do. She had briefly considered asking Jeremy not to tell Nicholas, but that would involve him in her own deception, and she could not do that.

It would be at least afternoon on the following day before Nicholas returned, and if the wagon had not been able to reach Bristol in one day it could be even later. Catarina wondered what Matthew would do. Did he intend to make another attempt to take Maria? Why did he want her? If he claimed the marriage between himself and Joanna was legal, he could control her fortune. He did not need the child, and surely she would only be a nuisance.

The reason came to her in the middle of the night. Afraid Matthew might attempt to snatch the little girl during the night, she had a truckle bed made up for herself in the nursery. Staines said the three men would take it in turns to patrol inside the house, so they had taken what precautions they could. Catarina still could not sleep. She was worried for Maria, the truckle bed was uncomfortable, and Clarice snored.

Matthew, she suddenly realized, sitting up in bed as she woke from an uneasy doze, no doubt wanted the child as a hostage. He would promise not to harm her if she and Joanna did not attempt to claim Joanna’s fortune. She had no illusions about her cousin. He would harm the child if it suited him, in revenge if nothing else.

Jeremy, Staines told her the following day when, heavy-eyed, she was trying to force some breakfast down her constricted throat, meant to stay in bed for at least the morning.

‘He found yesterday a strain.’

‘But without him we might have lost Maria.’

‘Don’t fret, my lady. His lordship will be back tonight, and we’re all on our guard.’

She could not help worrying, not just about the danger to Maria, but also that soon Nicholas would know all about the lies she had told. She was in no state to deal with the Reverend Eade when he called in the middle of the morning.

He wore his most solemn expression when Staines showed him into the drawing room, the one he put on when he delivered some ranting sermon complaining about real or imagined sins of his congregation.

‘My lady,’ he said formally, and refused her invitation to sit down. Instead he paced slowly around the room, coming to lean over her when he thought he had some telling point to make.

‘I am here to perform a most unwelcome task,’ he said. ‘My wife is very hurt at the unseemly manner in which you treated her and her advice the day before yesterday. She is much older than you, and although I hesitate to describe us as worldly, she has been about in the world much more than you have. She is concerned for your reputation.’

‘I think I can be trusted to look to my reputation,’ Catarina said, furious at being treated to such a scolding as though she were a child. ‘Neither she nor you have any authority over me, or any responsibility for me, so I will thank both of you to keep your — to refrain from interfering in my affairs.’

‘You are impertinent, speaking to a man of the cloth in such an intemperate manner. But I understand what a strain you have been under since your dear husband died, and it is my duty to forgive you.’

Catarina gritted her teeth and stood, the better to face him.

‘I neither need nor want your forgiveness.’

He strode towards her, and despite herself she backed away a couple of paces. Tall and broad, his hands held out in front of him, he was a formidable figure, and she was afraid for one dreadful moment that he was about to seize her and at the very least shake her.

‘That is not the only problem I have come here to resolve. I was visited yesterday by your uncle, Sir Ivor Norton, and his son. They tell me the child you have here is the son’s daughter, and you are trying to deprive her father of his rights. His wife, your sister, has apparently deserted him and run away with a rich Portuguese merchant.’

‘The marriage they claim between my sister and my cousin was a fake! He deceived her, and a friend played the part of a parson to make her think she was truly married. Then he deserted her. When she informed him she was expecting his child he repudiated her, and said he was about to marry a girl he had met in Brussels, just before the battle. I have no notion what happened to her, but I suspect she discovered what a scoundrel he was.’

‘That, my dear lady, is only what your sister has told you, and if she wanted to desert her child and become this other man’s concubine, she must have thought it a likely story. I am ashamed to think you believed it.’

‘You seem determined to disbelieve me, sir. I will not listen to your bigoted, uncharitable, unchristian remarks any longer, or your slandering of my sister. Please leave my house, immediately.’

‘Oh no, you cannot dismiss me so easily. I have come to take the child away to her true parent.’

‘What? You can’t do that! What right do you have to kidnap a baby?’

‘Kidnap! How dare you accuse me of that!’

She really thought he was about to strike her.

‘Yes, kidnap! You have no proof for what Matthew says, yet you believe him and not me. Have you seen the marriage certificate of this supposed legal marriage? Have you questioned the witnesses, asked who the clergyman was who conducted the ceremony, seen proof of his power to do so? How can you prove the child I have here is my sister’s baby?’

‘Sir Ivor is a respected gentleman, and his son has served his country in the army. I tend to believe such people.’

‘My uncle is a harsh disciplinarian, and as bigoted as you are proving to be, Mr Eade. Now please do as I ask and leave my house, before I have to ask the servants to throw you out.’

‘Very well, I will not give you the heathen satisfaction of seeing a man of the cloth mishandled, but I will return with the magistrate and the constable. You will not presume to defy the law, I hope.’

Catarina stared in dismay. The only local Justice now was Sir Humphrey Unwin, and he would have no sympathy for her since she rejected his offer so decisively.

He swept out of the room, and Catarina flew up the stairs to check that Maria was safe. She had a horrid feeling he might have been keeping her occupied while Matthew sneaked in and stole the baby.

When she saw Maria playing contentedly with a rag doll Clarice had sewn for her she collapsed into a chair. Nicholas, she thought, come home, quickly. I need you!

Catarina almost wept with relief when Nicholas arrived as she and Jeremy were sitting down to nuncheon. Saying he was exceptionally hungry, since he had started back from Bristol early and it was a very cold day, he joined them. Jeremy declared that after a long sleep he was feeling better than ever, and began to tell Nicholas of the visitors they had endured.

‘This man Matthew claimed little Maria was his, and he was married to Joanna,’ he reported, and then glanced at Catarina in remorse. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, should I?’

‘I think I had guessed the truth,’ Nicholas said gently. ‘Maria is so like you, my dear, but you and your sister are very alike. She’s Joanna’s child, isn’t she? Do you fear they will return?’

She nodded, accepting his statement, and explained how she believed Matthew intended to use Maria.

‘Then the first thing to do is move everyone to the Grange. There are more people there, young, strong footmen and grooms, and we can repel invaders. I will send for carriages if you, Catarina, will tell your servants to pack what you will all need for a few days.’

‘All of them?’ Jeremy asked. ‘Even the cook and the gardeners?’

‘We don’t want to leave anyone at the mercy of the Reverend Eade’s tirades, do we? And you have plenty of room.’

‘Yes, of course, but then the Dower House will be empty.’

‘And no one can be bullied.’

Within the hour it had been accomplished, and Catarina, bemused but thankful, was settling Clarice and Maria in the nursery suite of rooms on the top floor of her former home.