Back in Service (23 page)

‘What do they want?’ came the rude reply, but Leo would not brook any more of this discourteous behaviour. He pushed past the woman in a surprise offensive, and pulled Hetty into the room after him. They went and stood before Sir Victor, who was sitting beside the fire in his nightcap and nightgown, a plaid rug tucked around his knees and a large glass of brandy on a table beside him.

‘What the devil do you two want, barging in here at this hour?’ The old man looked up at them angrily. ‘Can you not leave a poor old invalid to take his medication in peace?’

‘Call that medicine?’ Leo sneered. ‘You are a drunken renegade, father, and I have received further proof of the depths to which you are prepared to sink.’

Seemingly unperturbed, Sir Victor took a sip of brandy. ‘If you have anything to say to me, get it over with quick. I want to go to bed.’ He picked up an iron and poked the fire, sending sparks spiralling up the chimney.

‘I have it on the best authority that you attempted an unnatural act upon young George, my brother-in-law, this very afternoon,’ his son accused him coldly. ‘My disgust at this revelation knows no bounds. I can hardly believe you would do such a thing, yet I am obliged to accept that you did. What would my mother say if she knew how you abused the hospitality of our family?’

‘I do not know where you heard that story, but it is a downright lie. Did the weasel man himself dream it up? He is after money, you can be sure.’ He pointed a bony finger at Hetty. ‘Is she in on the scheme, too? She thought she was marrying you for your money, that one, until she discovered otherwise. I dare say this is another of her greedy schemes to get her hands on the family fortune.’

Hetty stared at him in disbelief. The skill with which he diverted the finger of suspicion from himself onto her and her brother amazed her. ‘I strongly object, sir,’ she began, but Leo interrupted her.

‘I want a clear answer, father. Did you, or did you not, attempt to commit an act of sodomy upon George Adleston this very afternoon and in this very room?’

‘It was all a stupid misunderstanding, I dare say.’ Sir Victor waved his hand dismissively. ‘The young man was administering some liniment to my aching limbs, with Mrs Baines here in attendance. I am sure she will testify nothing untoward went on. Is that not right, nurse?’

‘Quite right, Sir Victor,’ she agreed impassively.

‘Anyway,’ he gave a deprecating snort, ‘I do not know how anyone could imagine me getting up out of this damned contraption I am forced to wheel about in to perform any act, decent or indecent, upon anyone at all. Come to your senses, man. Can you not see how ridiculous such an accusation is?’

To Hetty’s dismay, Leo did look rather uncertain. ‘Apparently it was Nanny Baines who aided and abetted you in the act,’ he insisted, but his voice suddenly lacked conviction.

‘Really? Did you hear that, Mrs Baines? You are supposed to have hoisted me up and helped to insert my poor wilted member into the unfortunate lad’s arse. What a miracle of recovery that would have been.’ He snorted again derisively.

‘No!’ Hetty cried, incensed. ‘According to my brother, you made him perform a lewd act first, to ensure your member was good and ready, and then you had that woman grease her finger and… oh I cannot continue, it is all too dreadful. Poor George!’

‘Poor
George, indeed,’ Sir Victor sneered. ‘Poor impoverished George, who has to resort to lies and blackmail in order to get his grubby little hands on some cash. Well, little sister, you can tell him it will not work. He is not going to abuse our hospitality by making such obscene accusations. If he persists, I shall get my solicitors
Greaves, Bodley and Harm
on the case, and then we shall see him well and truly buggered, I promise you that.’

Glancing at Leo, Hetty could tell he had no spirit left in him to continue fighting his wily father. She felt sickened. Their righteous anger was no match for the cunning of a depraved invalid and his nurse, a pair who seemed in league with the devil himself. She and her husband would have to find some other way to get the better of the Master of Longton.

Lady Alice returned from York none the wiser about the events that had occurred at Longton during her absence. Hetty reflected she was perhaps the most innocent of them all, but then she had spent her whole married life turning a blind eye to her husband’s misdemeanours. Yet there was a time when Lady Alice had been curious about her spouse’s activities. Wryly, Hetty recalled how her former mistress made her dress in men’s clothing in order to spy on Sir Victor’s bawdy revels and report back to her. How long ago that now seemed. These days, all Lady Alice seemed interested in was gossiping with her few friends about the goings on in the village. What went on under her own roof seemed to be of no further concern to her.

Yet Hetty felt Lady Alice should care about what happened to Jane, her personal maid. It crossed her mind to mention Sir Victor had behaved improperly with the girl again, but then decided against it. Jane was blooming of late, looking more relaxed than Hetty had ever seen her before, and she did not want to open old wounds. She knew the cause of the girl’s new happiness, of course, and it made her feel terribly guilty because she also knew it was a lie with no future.

She would have put it all from her mind if she had not come upon a dreadful scene one day in the stillroom. She had gone there to renew her supply of lavender water and was surprised to find the door locked and muffled cries emanating from within. Since she carried keys to all the rooms in her reticule, it was only a moment’s work to unlock the door and enter the room. The sight that met her eyes made her gasp in stunned disbelief.

Lying on her back naked to the waist, and strapped down to the cold marble tabletop, was Jane. She was firmly gagged with a white cloth, her face was deathly pale, and there were telltale red stripes across her bare breasts. The towering figure of Nanny Baines was wielding a short-handled lash over her with vicious cruelty, and her cold expression chilled Hetty to the core of her being. ‘Stop that at once!’ she cried, her voice filled with righteous anger. ‘How dare you? How
dare
you?’ She rushed forward and snatched the weapon from the woman’s hands, then without thinking, she lashed out at the thick arms hoping to inflict real pain. But the nurse merely snatched the lash back from her and threw it on the floor.

‘She deserved it, the little cow,’ she snarled, heading for the door.

‘Oh
no
you do not.’ Hetty blocked her way. ‘I want to know what you have been doing here to this poor girl, and why. Remove her gag and let her speak for herself.’ The woman responded sullenly, and also flung the gag on the floor before tossing her victim her discarded clothing.

Hetty put her arm gently around Jane’s shoulders as she burst into tears. ‘There, there,’ she murmured, ‘it is all over now. You need not be afraid.’

‘She has been asking for it for months,’ Baines declared righteously. ‘Her ladyship has not the mettle to bring her into line, so someone else had to do it for her. It is for Jane’s own good. She must learn discipline no matter—’

‘Shut your foul mouth!’ Hetty yelled, outraged. ‘Can you not see how badly you have injured this poor girl, how wickedly you have used her, and for what? What crime has she committed to deserve such punishment?’

‘She acted insubordinately,’ Baines replied coolly. ‘She would not help me with Sir Victor when I asked her to.’

‘That is not her job,’ Hetty countered even more frostily. ‘She is Lady Alice’s personal maid, not Sir Victor’s.’

‘It is her job to help out wherever she is needed. She gives a hand in the kitchen or waiting at table whenever she is asked to, so why should I not get her to help me with the master? Her ladyship does not give her enough to do. Half the time she is just sitting around while I am up to my neck in work. That is not fair.’

It was about the longest speech Hetty had heard Baines make, and suddenly she saw the woman in a different light. Her work must indeed be tedious, dealing with that cantankerous old man all day. Perhaps it was not unreasonable for her to seek help sometimes. Yet she could not condone the harsh punishment she had meted out to Jane, or the things she made the innocent young woman do for her depraved master. ‘A polite refusal to help does not warrant such vicious punishment, Mrs Baines.’

‘If you say so.’ She sniffed. ‘But before you came here things ran pretty well, if
I
may say so.’

‘Are you implying I am somehow interfering in the smooth running of the household simply because I will not allow Jane to be treated so cruelly? Look how upset she is. Perhaps we should hear
her
side of the story. What was it Baines asked you to do, Jane? You may speak freely.’

‘She… she asked me to give Sir Victor a blanket bath. I knew what that might lead to, so I said I would not do it, that it was not my place. Then she brought me down here and punished me for it.’

‘I see.’ Hetty rounded on the nurse, who was looking as defiant as ever with her arms crossed over her voluminous chest. ‘You knew very well it would have been improper for a young woman like Jane to perform such an intimate service for his lordship. She had every right to refuse. Now get out of here before I use the lash on you again.’

The woman left, still glowering stubbornly, and Hetty fetched some salve for Jane’s welts from a shelf. She rubbed the cream gently into her chest and felt her breasts swelling and firming beneath her touch. The girl looked embarrassed, however, so she performed the deed as quickly and efficiently as possible, much as her hands wanted to linger on the ripe young bosom.

‘Thank you for everything, Hetty,’ she said fervently, kissing her cheek. ‘If you had not come when you did, I do not know how I should have stood any more lashes.’

‘Lady Alice must know of this,’ she said firmly. ‘Come with me now and I will help you. She must know how you have been persecuted by that dreadful harridan.’

‘Oh no.’ Jane shrank from the prospect. ‘It will only be the worse for me in the long run.’

‘I shall make sure nothing more happens to you, Jane. I made you that promise before, and I was unable to keep it properly. But this time I give you my word. Do you trust me?’

‘I trust you, Miss Hetty, of course I do.’ She looked thoroughly miserable. ‘But sometimes I think you have no more power than I to stop what goes on in this house.’

Secretly, Hetty knew she was right. Her status as Leo’s wife meant nothing to Sir Victor, and she suspected it meant little to Lady Alice as well. The pair of them probably still thought of her as a jumped up servant, yet she could not admit as much to Jane. ‘I have more power than you think. My husband is only here because Lady Alice begged him to come home from Paris and take charge of the estate. We could go back to Paris tomorrow if we so desired, leaving your master and mistress in the lurch.’

Hetty knew she had miscalculated when terror possessed Jane’s comely countenance. ‘And where should I be then?’ she wailed. ‘Oh please, Miss Hetty, do not ever think of leaving here or it would be the worse for me!’

Hetty hugged her close and planted a kiss on her pale forehead. ‘Jane, dear, if I ever did think of leaving here it would not be without you. I should take you with me as my maid wherever I went. I give you my solemn word.’ She could think of no better way to reassure the girl, although she knew she had made a rash promise.

‘I hope it will not come to that, Miss Hetty. But perhaps there is another way I may be freed from this place.’ She gave her a look that was almost sly. ‘There is a certain young man, someone close to both our hearts, who might take me away from here himself some day.’

Hetty closed her eyes for an instant, unwilling to gaze upon the joy and hope glowing in Jane’s guileless eyes. The girl was already thinking of marriage with George, setting her sights on a figment of a man with no more substance than a hero in a romantic novel.

‘I think you know of whom I speak, Hetty,’ she whispered. ‘Will you help me by discovering his true intentions towards me? That would be the greatest service you could possibly do for me.’

‘I – I will try, Jane.’

‘Ever since he left Longton I have been thinking of him night and day,’ she confessed with a sigh. ‘But I do not know when I shall ever see him again. Poor George, he left under such a cloud he will probably never want to return to Longton again.’

‘Of course my brother will return.’ She had to say something to comfort her. ‘He will want to see me again, for one thing, so do not fret. I told my husband George was returning home, but I was not telling the truth. He was so concerned about your welfare that he is staying on at the
Crown
for a few days. You may see him sooner than you imagine.’

The smile that lit up Jane’s face was wondrous to behold. ‘Oh Hetty, that is wonderful news! When may I see him?’

‘When you have recovered from this last ordeal. Now go to your room and rest. I shall talk to my husband about this act of barbarity and we will decide what to do about it. We may call upon you to serve as witness later.’ After helping her dress, she accompanied Jane upstairs and then left her to go find Leo. Her husband was out in the lower field discussing the perennial question of how to drain the marshy ground, but he agreed to break off for ten minutes to talk to her.

‘It is Jane,’ she began. ‘I am worried about her. I caught Baines giving her a savage beating in the stillroom.’

‘I am glad you caught her. How is the poor girl?’

‘Hurt and terrified. Leo, we must tell Lady Alice. The girl is her responsibility, after all.’

He did not argue, so they arranged to see her ladyship after her afternoon nap. She was usually in a good mood then anticipating dinner, the highlight of her day.

‘Do we have to involve Jane?’ Hetty asked doubtfully.

‘I am afraid so. My mother will want to question her.’

She sighed. ‘This is all such an ordeal for her, and I think she has fallen in love with George, Leo.’

He let out a roar of laughter. ‘My dear wife, that is the funniest thing I have heard in ages!’

‘It may seem funny to you,’ guilt made her snap, ‘but it is deadly serious to her. I am worried about her. What will happen when she finds out about George?’

‘Does she
have
to find out?’

His question left her speechless; she had not considered this option.

‘He could appear at decent intervals and write her love letters, and so on,’ he suggested. ‘You are so good at that sort of thing, Hetty, I am sure you could carry it off. And then, when Jane finds herself a real beau, one who can satisfy her completely, if you understand my meaning, George will bow gallantly out of the picture.’

‘But my brother is in such bad odour with your father now,’ she protested half-heartedly.

‘Then he will have to keep out of his way, that is all. It should not be too difficult now the old brute is in a wheelchair. I am sure an athletic young man like George could outrun him if he had to.’ He laughed again, but Hetty could not join in his mirth. The complex web of deceit she had spun at Longton with her husband’s connivance threatened to ensnare her, too, and she feared the consequences.

First and foremost, however, she was concerned for Jane’s physical welfare. That overbearing nanny’s sadistic tendencies had to be curbed or she would end up ruling the roost at Longton.

Jane was, predictably enough, most reluctant to tell her mistress what had happened to her in the stillroom that morning, but Leo and Hetty insisted, Hetty gently, Leo more forcibly. ‘If you do nothing now it can only get worse,’ he told her bluntly.

Lady Alice rang for Jane at half-past six to help get her ready for dinner, so she was startled when a trio consisting of her maid, her son and her daughter-in-law trooped into her bedroom. ‘What is this,’ she demanded, ‘a deputation?’

‘Of sorts,’ Leo said soberly. ‘We have something unpleasant to tell you, mother. I am sorry to interrupt your toilet, but it concerns Jane.’

Lady Alice’s expression was severe as she looked at the girl. ‘What have you done now, Jane?’

‘She has done nothing wrong,’ her son assured her. ‘It is more a matter of what has been done to her.’

At that, Lady Alice looked even more alarmed. ‘Oh my Lord, Jane, you are not…’ She stared beseechingly at her son. ‘The girl is not… not with child, is she?’

‘No, no, mother, rest assured that is not the case. But she has been cruelly abused beneath our roof and I feel you should know about it.’

Her ladyship’s expression suddenly became guarded; it was the look she always wore whenever her husband’s misdemeanours were broached. ‘Well, what is it this time?’ she asked wearily.

‘This time, mother, it is not father but Nanny Baines who has been persecuting the girl. That is not to say Sir Victor is blameless. As you well know, he will abuse any female servant whenever he has the chance.’

‘Leonard, how dare you speak of your invalid father that way?’

‘Mother, you know it is true, and from what I have heard, his being in a wheelchair has made little difference to his immoral behaviour. For one thing, he enlists the help of Baines in fulfilling his debauched desires.’

‘
What?
Are you telling me that woman aids and abets him?’

‘It is true, Lady Alice.’ Hetty decided to add her two-penny’s worth. ‘I have myself witnessed how he uses her, and how glad she is to be of assistance to him. But this morning I caught her administering such severe and cruel punishment to poor Jane of her own volition I vowed she must be brought to justice for it.’