The Innkeeper's Daughter (37 page)

As Jamie only half listened, his thoughts being on Hunter, he realized an awareness was seeping into him as the corporal talked. There was something about him that seemed familiar. ‘Where are you from, Corporal? You sound like a Yorkshire man!’

‘I am.’ He grinned. ‘Born ’n’ bred. A country lad, but not from anywhere you’d know.’

‘Try me!’ Jamie said. ‘East Riding, I’d say. Somewhere near the coast?’

‘Spot-on, sir! Place called Holderness, if you know it; at least that was my home, but now my ma and ’rest of ’family have upped sticks and gone to live in Hull.’

It can’t be – it’s not possible. Jamie felt his pulses quicken. Coincidence only, he thought; there are many country people moving into town where the work is; and yet I feel as if I know him. Two brothers, one sometimes surly and antagonistic. The other …

‘You say your mother and family; does that mean you’ve lost your father?’

‘Aye,’ the lad said. ‘He died a few years back. He was an innkeeper, so I reckon Ma thought there’d be more of a living in Hull. They’ve tekken on a public house.’

‘Really? I used to know Hull.’ Jamie swallowed hard. ‘I was at school there. What was the name of it?’

The corporal frowned. ‘Let me think. I haven’t been. They left Holderness after I joined ’military. Ah!’ He put a finger in the air. ‘Maritime! I knew it were summat to do wi’ sea. That’s what it’s called. Maritime.’

CHAPTER FORTY

JUSTIN ALLEN HAD
called frequently at the Maritime during its restoration and sometimes suggested that he and Bella should take a stroll in order to discuss plans. Their steps often took them to the Station Hotel to have tea or coffee and they watched the decorating, the new furniture being brought in and the other refurbishments being done in the premier hotel in readiness for the queen’s visit.

Bella quite liked these outings; it gave her the opportunity to change from the plain and sensible dress which she wore during a normal day into a more stylish afternoon gown, and also to get away from the confines of the Maritime where there was always a pressing decision to make or a job to be done.

Mr Allen, on these outings, told her a little of himself and his achievements, but nothing of his parents who, she surmised, were ordinary people, perhaps in some kind of trade, although he never said. Had they been more important she was sure he would have conveyed this information. Neither did he enquire about her background or aspirations, which she suspected he thought he knew. On one of these occasions, whilst escorting her back, he had gently pressed her hand and said softly, ‘We work so well together, Miss Bella,’ which alarmed her immensely.

Is he working up to something, she wondered, and fervently hoped not. In the final weeks before the royal visit he came almost every day to ask if everything was in place for the
expected
guests, almost feverishly excited, as if Her Majesty were coming to stay at the Maritime in person.

They were almost ready. No definite date had yet been given for the queen’s visit but expectations were building up to fever pitch. Guests were already booked in and they were not ordinary guests but important dignitaries from other towns not as favoured as Hull, who would arrive as soon as the town council was informed of the date of the visit.

‘What if she doesn’t come?’ Sarah said. ‘We’ve got ’beds made up, ordered extra food and everything.’

‘She’ll come,’ Bella said. ‘The invitation was accepted over a year ago. She’s in Scotland at ’minute. It’s my bet that she’ll come on her way back to London.’

Reuben was there, having his dinner in the newly furbished saloon as he now did twice a week. ‘I’m inclined to agree with you, Bella. She won’t waste the journey, and there’s been a lot of preparation going on in the town. Extra flagpoles have been put up, timber yards have stacks of wood ready for sawing, shop fronts are being painted, even extra street lighting, and,’ he added, ‘the Station Hotel had a new red carpet delivered only a few days ago. I saw it with my own eyes. She’ll be here.’

It had been hard work to get the Maritime ready without disturbing the regular customers, but the task had been achieved to everyone’s satisfaction. Even Henry had been given jobs to do, and with Adam had polished the brasses as he rehearsed the songs they had prepared at school for the concert they were to give the queen.

But the biggest risk they took was when Carter, the former caretaker, turned up one morning, clean and sober, and asked if he could possibly have his old job of handyman back. He told Bella that he was a changed character, had forsaken his old ways and hadn’t had a drink since the day he left.

She and her mother had assessed him carefully. His hair was well groomed, his face was shaved and he wore clean clothes, but still – had he really reformed?

‘I’ve been working wi’ down-and-outs,’ he told them, ‘drunks and ne’er-do-wells, and I knew I’d end up just ’same if I didn’t
mend
me ways.’ He’d handed Sarah a letter, a reference from a local vicar who promised to support him, and told her he now had a room of his own.

Sarah said that Bella should make the decision; she was going to be in charge, after all. Bella decided to take a chance on him. He had proved useful in the early days, but Bella had always been nervous about his influence on Joe. But Joe was no longer there and as she looked at Carter, broader, straight-backed, she could see him in a uniform of some kind, someone who might open the door for a lady or gentleman and bring in their luggage; she had thought of Adam in that role, but Adam was useful for other things, running errands, bringing in coal and wood, polishing shoes and boots and keeping the pavement outside the hotel swept and tidy. And besides, she had thought, they were often in need of a strong man to shift furniture and help in the cellar.

‘All right,’ she conceded. ‘A month’s trial. But this is your last chance, Carter. Don’t let us down.’

And so far he hadn’t.

Another surprise was when her uncle Bart turned up. He told Sarah that he was sorry he’d misled her over the Maritime. He admitted that he’d hoped to have a stake in the gambling side. ‘But it’s turned out for ’best, I see; who’d have thought it, eh?’ he said, looking round at the sumptuous surroundings. ‘Not my kind o’ place,’ he’d said. ‘But I didn’t want you to think ’worst o’ me.’

Sarah had told him that she didn’t; that he hadn’t changed a bit and was just the same person he’d always been, and with that truism ringing in his ears he seemed to be satisfied. They’d offered him a cup of tea, but he grimaced and said he had to be going. They hadn’t seen him since.

Friday the thirteenth was the date of the queen’s arrival. The news came ten days before and everyone in the town was galvanized into action. The Corporation had made money available to defray expenses; sub-committees were formed to arrange the workload, and within hours of receiving the news carpenters began to build a wooden amphitheatre near the
railway
station where Her Majesty and the royal contingent would arrive late in the afternoon, and another by the pier whence she would depart the following day.

A triumphal arch was being built close by the Junction Bridge which passed over the River Hull and another in Queen Street, both to be bedecked with the royal arms, flags and the painted words
Vivat Regina
.

Barricades were erected along the streets where the royal party would progress, for thousands were expected to converge on the town, which throbbed with clanking, grating, hammering and sawing.

Bella sent off a postcard to Joe and Alice, for they had said they would close the Woodman for the day and travel to Hull to be with them. Joe had said there would be no point in opening as the villagers were arranging to hire waggons to bring them in on the Saturday when most of the ceremonies would be taking place, and there would be no one left in the village save the very old or the infirm, neither of which groups was very likely to seek solace in the Woodman.

On the Friday morning Bella rose early and then woke her mother, who had extra batches of baking to do, for they expected the saloon to be busy too as visitors poured into the town from all over the county and beyond. Butchers’ and bakers’ delivery was expected early, plus the flowers they had ordered. Carter had already put up flags and bunting, and potted shrubs had been placed at the front door and in the reception area.

Bella supervised the final touches to the bedrooms, making sure the clean towels were neatly folded on the wooden towel rails and the wash jugs and basins were clean and merely waiting for hot water. She slipped out to the market to buy extra posies of flowers for the rooms and saw the flags and bunting decorating the buildings and the fresh plants and shrubs outside the doorways. How exciting it is, she thought. I never ever thought I’d see such a day, let alone take part in it, and she marvelled at how her life had changed.

She felt a pang of nostalgia when she thought of her
childhood
in the Holderness countryside, but her thoughts rarely lingered on her former ambition; she felt fulfilled in the role she was now playing. Yet sometimes, especially when she saw Joe and Alice, who was now pregnant, she mused that it would be nice to share her life with someone special and hoped that she wouldn’t always be alone.

Adam was sweeping the pavement outside when she returned and Carter was on a ladder washing the hotel sign.

‘What a weekend it’s going to be, eh, Miss Bella?’ he called down to her. ‘A time for us all to remember. You’ll be able to tell your grandchildren about when Her Majesty came to visit!’

I hope so, she thought, but right now there’s no one in my life. The only man who shows the slightest interest in me is Justin Allen, and I don’t care enough for him to consider spending the rest of my life with him, even if he should ask, which he hasn’t.

‘I hope we can get to see her,’ Adam said.

‘The dignitaries will be all over her tonight,’ she said. ‘Tomorrow will be our turn.’

‘Postie’s just been, Miss Bella,’ Adam called and she thanked him, hurrying in to take off her shawl and find vases for her flowers.

Her mother was standing in the reception area, holding a postcard in her hand.

‘They can’t come!’ she said.

‘Oh, no!’ Bella was aghast. ‘But we’re all ready. I’ve bought flowers for the rooms!’

‘Not ’guests!’ Sarah said. ‘Our Joe and Alice. Alice is too near her time to come.’ She turned over the card to look at the postmark. ‘Yesterday’s date. She might have had it by now. Oh, I should be there.’

‘Her mother will be with her,’ Bella said gently. ‘She’s had enough bairns of her own to know what to do.’ She smiled at her mother. ‘You’ll be a grandmother afore long!’

Henry flew in through the door at midday. ‘There are no more lessons today. I have to have my dinner and then go
straight
back for a final rehearsal,’ he said. ‘We’re singing ’national anthem in ’morning. There are going to be over ten thousand children. I don’t think I can count up to so many numbers. And,’ he added importantly, ‘all ’royal princesses and princes will be there as well cos they’re on their way back from their holiday in Balmoral,
and
there’ll be loads of other lords and ladies as well.’

Bella and his mother looked suitably impressed at his first-hand information, and Sarah quickly served up his dinner before he rushed out again.

‘Well, well,’ Sarah beamed after he had gone. ‘A new grand-bairn on its way and our Henry singing in front of ’queen! What a weekend this is going to be.’

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

‘WHAT DO YOU
think, Thorp? Will you be able to travel?’

The corporal had volunteered his name, but Jamie hadn’t told him who he was, nor had he mentioned that he used to call at the Woodman. He didn’t think that William Thorp remembered him at all and in fact the corporal himself had changed considerably. Back then Jamie recalled a fair-haired youth, a little younger than himself, who was rather quiet and didn’t often serve at the inn. Now he was self-assured and upright as a soldier should be, with hair that seemed darker, a reddish beard and whiskers and a weather-beaten complexion.

William pondered. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘I feel fit enough until I stand up and then I don’t have a decent leg to stand on. My foot is very painful and my knee is giving me gyp, but I’d give anything to get home.’

‘I can get crutches made for you,’ Jamie said, ‘but you’ll have to bear the weight on your foot rather than your knee otherwise you’ll do untold damage.’

‘Mm.’ William considered. ‘I’ll risk it, I think. I’m mekkin’ plans and being a cripple doesn’t feature in ’em.’

‘I’ll help you,’ Jamie said. ‘I’m leaving too. We can travel together.’

‘Oh,’ William said. ‘That’s good of you, sir. I thought you’d be stopping here at ’hospital.’

‘No, that wasn’t part of my plan either. I came to seek out my colleague and maybe work with him, but now …’ He paused,
and
sighed. ‘Well, as he’s no longer with us, I’ll have to rethink what I’m going to do; that is, if I’ve passed my exams. I might be practising here under false pretences.’

‘What!’ William said in mock horror. ‘You’re never telling me you’re nowt but a quack!’

‘It’s possible. But unlikely,’ Jamie added modestly. ‘I was told to expect good results.’

He asked one of the carpenters to measure Thorp for a pair of crutches and to pad the tops that went under the arms. It was going to be very painful for the soldier, especially putting weight on his injured foot, and he asked one of the other doctors for the key to the medicine box and took out a quantity of laudanum and a small amount of pure opium.

‘I’ve never tekken owt like that afore,’ William said to him, watching him store it in his bag.

‘As a matter of fact, you have,’ Jamie replied. ‘I’ve given you it on two occasions to help you sleep.’

‘Have you? I didn’t realize,’ William said. ‘Was I shouting?’

‘Just a bit,’ Jamie said, ‘and keeping me awake.’ He grinned. He’d slept in a spare bed in the anteroom as there were just the two of them.

‘Thanks, doctor,’ William said. ‘I’ll try not to mek a habit of it.’