declare, Jane, you have the sweetest singing voice I ever heard.’ Jane’s mama bent to kiss her on the cheek.
Jane laughed. ‘You always say so, Mama, and I always repeat that your ear is attuned to my voice simply because I am your daughter. Now, I see you are dressed to go out. Do you need me to do anything while you are gone?’
‘Nothing in particular,’ Mrs Bailey replied, tying her plain bonnet under her chin. ‘Thomas will take me to the village, where I must speak with the butcher. All is quiet upstairs, and Mrs Cullen is content, so now is my chance to slip out for an hour. I have told them all that you speak for me in my absence.’
‘Yes, Mama.’ As housekeeper, Mrs Bailey rarely left Ledbury House, but when she did Jane was an able deputy. ‘Though I am sure nothing untoward will happen.’
Jane returned to her laundry work and Mr Handel’s aria.
Once satisfied, she stepped outside with the wet nightgown and spread it on a bush near the kitchen door. There it would remain for a couple of hours, until it was nearly dry, at which point Jane would bring it indoors to air in front of the kitchen fire. If it did not rain the nightgown would be dry and pressed long before Miss Marianne’s bedtime.
She paused for a moment, enjoying the sensation of the pale winter sunshine on her face.
I am content here, at Ledbury House, she realised.
Then the wind whipped up again and sent her scurrying inside to her mending.
Bang! Bang! The persistent knocking at the door finally penetrated Robert’s slumber. He grunted, gritting his teeth. His chamber at the inn was positioned directly over the taproom, and he had, he believed, just suffered the worst night’s sleep of his life.
Until near dawn he had tossed and turned in the narrow bed, listening to the collective voices of what had seemed like hundreds of local farmers and tradesmen talking, laughing and occasionally singing. Finally the sounds had dwindled, but now, what seemed like only moments later, the landlord had returned to torture him anew.
‘Mr Kendal? Mr Kendal, sir? You asked me to wake you up in the morning, sir.’
‘Very well,’ Robert managed. ‘I am awake.’
Thankfully this was enough to get rid of the man. Robert lay there, contemplating his fate. Having left home five days ago, his bones felt as if they were still rattling with the trundling carriage. Five days of endless roads, of feeling trapped within the coach. Five nights of inns of various quality. Five long days of his own unalleviated company.
Today—finally—he would reach his destination, for it lay only a few miles from here. The name of it, as with every other aspect of this unexpected and unlooked-for assignment, was by this point permanently etched into his brain: Ledbury House.
Disorder had erupted in the scullery. One of the parlour maids had bumped her head, causing a small wound to bleed profusely. The other two were clucking around her like distressed hens, making a tragedy out of what seemed to Jane to be a commonplace injury.
‘No need to fuss,’ she told them, with a hint of her mother’s sternness in her tone. ‘Just let me see to it.’
They continued to exclaim loudly, while trying to mop blood from their friend’s face with towels and wet rags, splashing the bloodstained water far and wide.
Jane, notoriously calm in such situations, pressed a rag to the wound to slow the bleeding. ‘Hold this in place.’
‘Lord, what’s amiss?’ It was Mrs Cullen, the cook, a tray in her hands.
The injured party and her two friends tried to explain, simultaneously and with a cacophonous lack of clarity.
‘Never mind! Who will bring the tea to Miss Marianne and her guest?’
Everyone knew the Countess had welcomed an unexpected visitor, and tea and refreshments had been ordered.
‘Me!’
‘I shall!’
Jane frowned in puzzlement. These girls were not normally so dedicated to their work.
Something is wrong here.
She decided to intervene. ‘Neither of you can do it, for you both have Mary’s blood on your clothing.’
It was true. They looked at the stains with dismay.
Jane’s own gown had thankfully been spared. ‘I shall take it myself.’ She took the tray from Cook, wondering at the parlour maids’ evident disappointment.
‘But—’ Sarah, the more impudent of the two, looked as though she would defy Jane.
‘Yes, Sarah? There is something you wish to say?’ Jane made a fair approximation of her mother’s steely glaze. It had the desired effect. Sarah subsided, looking rather mutinous, and ceased her protest.
‘Come back for the sweetmeats, Jane,’ Cook advised.
‘I shall.’
Keeping an eye on the tray, which was laden with everything Miss Marianne would need for tea for herself and her guest, Jane walked carefully up the back stairs and pushed the door open. The second footman opened the door to the drawing room for her and Jane stepped inside.
Robert appraised the setting. The drawing room at Ledbury House was a comfortable, nicely presented room, with luxurious wall hangings and a well-maintained air. His hostess, Lady Kingswood, had welcomed him inside, bidding him sit and ordering refreshments. She was an elegant, good-looking young woman who looked to be a few years younger than he. She still held his card in her delicate hand and there was an air of puzzlement about her.
As well there might be when Robert himself did not even know why he was here!
‘Your husband, Lord Kingswood, is not at home?’
‘He is not.’
‘I see.’ His discomfort increased. He had hoped to speak to the Earl directly. ‘Might I ask, Lady Kingswood, if you are acquainted with my uncle—?’ He corrected himself. ‘With Mr Millthorpe of Arkendale, in the West Riding of Yorkshire?’
She frowned. ‘I am not familiar with the name, no. My own family is from Cambridgeshire.’
‘Does your husband, perhaps, have links to Yorkshire?’
‘None that I am aware of.’
‘Curious...’ He shook his head. ‘Beyond curious.’
She was waiting patiently.
‘I apologise, Lady Kingswood. No doubt you are wondering why I am here.’ Her puzzled expression confirmed it. ‘Let me explain. I—’
The door opened, admitting a serving maid. Robert bit back his words in frustration. He tapped his fingers on the edge of the chair as the maid set the tray down on a small table beside her mistress, then proceeded to move the items from the tray to the table-top. It seemed to take an age.
‘Have you come far today, Mr Kendal?’ asked Lady Kingswood, filling the silence with an innocuous question.
‘I stayed last night at the inn at Netherton,’ he confirmed.
‘A most excellent establishment, don’t you think?’
‘Indeed,’ he lied, pushing away the memories of last night’s raucous farmers’ choir. To be fair, the place had been clean, and his