An Indelicate Situation (The Weymouth Trilogy) (24 page)

Mr Wright
took a deep breath and told himself not to panic.

‘A new governess, my love? What has the governess to do with all of this? Are you not happy with the way in which Miss Owens is teaching the children? I cannot say that I have seen that aught is amiss, myself.’

‘Oh, I daresay she is as good as the
next
girl with the
children
,’ acknowledged his wife
, a little tetchily
. ‘Though she
should
be able to get them to behave a little better in company, I’d have thought. No, it is
nothing
to do with her
teaching
skills. It is her
honesty
that I am calling into question. I am not perfectly convinced that she is a
totally honest
young woman
at
all.’

Though this appeared to be a slightly less dangerous topic than the one
that
he had most feared,
Mr Wright
secretly determined not to be lulled into a sense of
absolute
security just yet. After all, he knew his wife extremely well. She was more than capable of leading him
to a place he would much rather avoid
and then attacking him as soon as he
was
there
.

‘Dishonest? I must say I have had no cause to think of her as dishonest. Whatever makes you think that the girl is not honest enough?’

‘It is what my Aunt Staveley keeps
saying
. You know how she
mutters
and
talks
to herself all the time. She has lost some
old jewellery
– a couple of worthless trinkets like as not – and she is
convinced
that someone has
stolen
it from her. I understand that Freddy searched her room with her the other day, to no avail, and I cannot think that she ha
s
taken
the
wretched
things
anywhere else
since we came to
this
miserable
little
town
. Well, it seems most likely to me that it is that
worthless
governess who has stol
en them from her room. I remember asking her to get something from it
for me
one afternoon – my aunt was waiting with me down in the
hallway
-
so I know for a
fact
that she has been
in
there on her own. Aunt Staveley is so
rarely
out of the house – and so
rarely
out of her own room when she is here – that it seems
most
unlikely that anyone else would have had the opportunity
to take
anything
. And she certainly has some
singularly
expensive gowns for a governess. We
certainly
do not pay her
anything like enough
to keep her in clothing like
that
.’

Her
summary dismissal
of his advances
still acting to wound his pride, William was in no particular mood to protect Maggie from the accusations of his wife
. Having said this,
he was a fair man
. He
knew full well that it was most unlikely
both
that
Maggie
should
have been tempted to steal Mrs Staveley’s old jewels in the first place, and that she should
have given in to
th
is
temptation
even if she had
. W
hy, had he not
just been given
sufficient
proof of her integrity for himsel
f?
Even had this not been the case he also knew that the fact that she had once been in Mrs Staveley’s chamber on her own was scarcely suffi
cient to condemn her as a
thief.

‘Perhaps we should ask her about it, my love?’ he suggested,
hesitant
ly. ‘
I
must say that I do not feel totally
convinced
that Miss Owens is to blame
and we should certainly give her a chance
to state her case
.’

Mrs Wright threw her husband a menacing gla
r
e.

‘Maybe we should, William,’ she agreed. ‘But not just yet. Perhaps we should give her some further opportunities to
expose
herself
before we do so
. Once a thief always a thief is what I say. Let us see whether Aunt Staveley
– or anyone else in
the household
-
misses any
thing
further of value before we show our
card
s. I would
really
like to catch her red handed. That would certainly sort her out.’

Oblivious
t
o the conversation that was just then happening in the privacy of Mr and Mrs Wright’s bed chamber, Mr Staveley was
just concluding a
visit
to
his mama in
the chamber directly above
. Having discovered that she spent the vast majority of her time within it, he had quickly
requisitioned and
rearranged the furniture to provide a pleasant little sitting area, with two easy chairs
and a small table, in the space provided by the
bow window directly fronting the
sea. Indeed, he had so soon determined on this being so
pleasant a
little sitting
area that he himself had taken to sitting there in preference to sharing his evenings with his cousin and her husband in the grander rooms downstairs. The arrangement appeared to suit Mrs William just as much as it suited Mr Staveley
, and as his own room
, above Maggie’s, provided him with precious little comfort he generally vacated it as often as he could
in order
to visit his m
other
in the
much
better room
next door.

They were just concluding a game of dominos – Mrs Staveley’s favourite game, and one at which she still demonstrated some skill.

‘You have b
...
b
eaten me again, ma
...
.ma
ma,’ acknowledged Freddy, sacrificing his final blocks and getting up
, stretching,
from his ch
air. ‘You are far too good for
m
e.’

His little mother, neat as always in her black silk gown and cap, smiled placidly at him.

‘I shall miss you whilst you are gone, Fred
erick
,’ she said. ‘I have quite got use
d to having you around
.’

‘I know. I had m
...
much rather not go, m
...
myself, but a fellow must work, I
suppose, and
I shall be stiver cramped
if I have to pay my cousin
for
very much longer.
Captain Wright
has b
..
.been decent en
ough to suggest it so it would
be churlish t
o refuse. And you never know –
may
..
.maybe I shall get some luck out of it.
I should not be gone for long.
’

‘Well I do hope so, Fred
erick
. It still pains me to know that you
have to go back to sea, when you
should have had enough to live
up
on without
it
. I wish you did not have to go.’

The absence in question
concerned a proposal by
Captain Wright
that he and Freddy should make a trip up to Town to petition the Admiralty for some preferment now that both of them had been promoted. Though Freddy fully understood the desirability of doing this –
passed
-
midshipmen
being two
-
a
-
penny, and the opportunity of winning some prize money alluring – he was also feeling loath to absent himself from the
rather different opportunity
and
allure
that Miss Brewer still presented despite the capriciousness of her manner towards him
, and
, besides,
he did not at all relish the thought of a
four
-
and
-
twenty
hour trip to Town in a crowded, stuffy coach, and the same
dreadful journey
to return
.
Nevertheless, go he felt he must, and as
Captain Wright
wanted to waste no further time
in doing so
they had agreed to set off
for London
with
in
the
space of the
next
two
days
.

‘I was wondering,
m
...
mama, whether you would
welc
...
welcome
some further com
...
company whilst I am away? I know that M
...
Miss Owens would like to have a friend in the hou
sehold. I wondered whether you
might enjoy her co
..
.company
every
now and then?’

‘Miss Owens
? Who is...oh, is she
the
children’s
governess, Fred
erick
?’ Mrs Staveley’s eyes narrowed for a moment. This was
an interesting development. ‘Well
, I do not see why I should not. She seems to be a
n elegant,
genteel enough young lady, quite thoughtful.
I
seem to think that she has helped me out a couple of times, though I cannot for the life of me think what it was that she did.
Yes, I should be quite happy to have her company of an evening
every
now and
then
.’

‘Good. Then allow m
..
.me to
mention it to her b
..
.be
fore I go to Town. I shall f
eel
a lot
ha
..
.happier
about you knowing that you
b
..
.both have at least one f
riend you can rely on.’

On the evening prior to his departure Mr Staveley had made a point of trying to reinforce his influence with Miss Brewer by inviting her to accompany him to the theatre. Miss Brewer, to be sure, had provided him with a somewhat
lukewarm response
but she had done so with so becoming a smile that he had taken her ‘maybe’ for a definite ‘yes’ and rushed out immediately to acquire two tickets for
the final performance of the day
.

It was
therefore
in
some state of disappointment that Maggie discovered him, note in hand, standing disconsolately in the hallway at about a quarter after six that evening. Indeed, he appeared to be so distressed that for a moment she wondered whether his mama had fallen ill.

‘Oh, my dear Mr Staveley, whatever is the matter?’ she asked quietly, placing her hand on his arm for a second. ‘I hope there is nothing wrong?’

Mr Staveley
wrenched himself
from his inner thoughts and managed to flash her a
somewhat
wintry smile.

‘No – no, I thank you, Miss Owens. It is nothing serious, to b
...
b
e sure. It is just that I had invited M
...
M
iss B
...
B
rewer to the theatre thi
s evening and had
b
ought tickets on the
imp
...
impression that she had agreed, and now I find this note from her saying that she will b
...
b
e una
...
unab
le to attend after all
as she is
f
eeling a little indisposed
. I
...
I
’m sorry. I do hope I didn’t alarm you?’