Beyond the Storm (19 page)

A
LICE WAS MADE
to feel very welcome at Pendower Manor, quickly becoming firm friends with the lovely Lowena. She also took an immediate liking to Lord Kendall, the head of the family, who returned home two days after Alice’s arrival, having been at the House of Lords in London.

A rather abstracted and reserved man, he did not seem in the least surprised to find her staying in the house and Lowena said it was because her brothers had always been in the habit of frequently inviting their friends, both male and female, to come and stay at Pendower and he had become resigned to having them about the place. Lady Kendall had an easy-going nature too and it was apparent to Alice that Jory belonged to a loving, understanding and caring family.

Jory replied to his mother’s letter by return. He was delighted that Alice was a welcome guest at his family home and grateful to her for the warning she had for him. He was intrigued by the reason for her visit and declared he would try very hard to return home before Alice left, so he might learn the full story of what it was Jeremy had done to make the Trevelyans believe it was a Kendall who had been the cause of Isabella’s tragic suicide.

Unfortunately, on the fifth day of Alice’s stay, Lady Kendall received another letter from him in which he said he would be unable to return to Pendower as he had hoped because he had
been summoned to the Admiralty in London for a meeting about proposed changes in the Coast Guard Service. He also hinted of a promotion in the offing for him.

Reluctantly, Alice felt that as Jory was not likely to return to Cornwall in the immediate future, she should return to the Trethevy rectory and her brother. David had been without her or Eliza for almost a week. He was not the most practical of men and she felt he needed to have someone at the rectory to take care of him.

It was agreed Alice should return on the following day, having been given Jory’s London postal address. As she and Lowena were walking together in Pendower’s beautifully kept gardens, shortly after the decision had been made, Lowena said wistfully, ‘I wish you did not have to return to Trethevy so soon, Alice. I understand your reasons for leaving us but what will happen to David when you eventually marry? Will he be able to cope in the house without you, and with only a female servant for company, will his parishioners not talk about him?’

‘They most certainly would,’ Alice agreed. ‘A parish priest is always a favourite subject for gossip but David needs to have someone living in the rectory to take care of him. He could employ an elderly housekeeper, of course, but actually, there are the first signs of a romance between him and the friend I was staying with when Jory last came to Trethevy. Her father is Dean of Windsor, and that puts such a great distance between them that courting is not going to be easy.’

‘I am sure that if they are serious about each other they will find a solution,’ Lowena said, sympathetically, ‘and, as you say, if you leave the rectory perhaps your brother could bring in a much older woman to take care of him, if only as a temporary solution.’

‘Perhaps,’ Alice agreed, ‘but it is not a problem that needs to concern anyone in the immediate future. I have received no offer of marriage from anyone yet.’

Astonished, Lowena said, ‘You mean Jory has not actually proposed to you? He talks so much about you when he is home that Mother and I felt quite certain you had already agreed to marry him!’

‘To be perfectly honest, although we have always been very comfortable in each other’s company on the occasions we have met, he has never actually said
anything
about his feelings for me.’

‘Well! That is taking being honourable too far! I never took my brother for a such a laggard.
I
know how he feels about you and so does Mother. In fact the whole family knows.’

‘I think Eliza is aware of his feelings too.’ Alice gave her companion a weak smile, ‘It seems I am the only one not to know, and I have behaved so badly towards him recently I would not blame him if he decided to change his mind.’

‘I know Jory better than that, Alice. Quite frankly I think the thought that you might have taken an interest in another man has given him just the jolt he needed. When he next comes home I will tell him you have charmed every man who has come to Pendower during your stay here and that unless he makes his feelings clear very soon he will find he is last in line of those asking for your hand in marriage.’

Alice laughed, ‘It makes me very happy to know that I meet with
your
approval, Lowena, but I think we must wait for Jory to decide what he wants to do – and when.’

‘Nonsense!’ Lowena declared. ‘He is my last brother to marry and I enjoy being a bridesmaid. It is
time
he married and you are absolutely right for each other. Mother likes you very much and Father thinks you will make Jory “a good wife” – and that is the first time Father has actually approved of any of the women his sons have eventually married. Besides, I want you as my friend, so he
has
to marry you.’

‘Thank you. You have all been so very kind to me while I have been staying here I feel I am part of your family already and you
and I are certainly friends. I hope we always will be, but I think it is for
me
to convince Jory that he wants to marry me, and I can promise you that if he really
does
I will give him every possible encouragement.’

As Alice was driven away from Pendower Manor, Lady Kendall and Lowena stood outside the main entrance waving until the carriage passed from view. Inside, Alice sat back in her seat and said to Eliza who was seated opposite to her, ‘I feel quite emotional about leaving Pendower, the family made me so very welcome it was as though I had known them for years.’

‘It is a very happy household, Miss Alice. Most of the servants have been working there for many years and wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. They know they’ll be looked after when their working days are over too. A lot of cottages dotted about the estate are kept ’specially for them and Lord and Lady Kendall see they want for nothing. It’s easy to see why Lieutenant Jory is such a nice man.’

‘You always have been a champion of Lieutenant Jory, Eliza, even when
I
doubted him, but you are right, he
is
a good man and Lowena in particular thinks the world of him.’

Settling back in her seat happily, Eliza said, ‘I am glad you and Lieutenant Jory are friends again, Miss Alice, and that Captain Trevelyan has gone back to India. I had the shivers whenever he looked at me. He was a thoroughly bad man. Worse even than Eval Moyle.’

It was a comparison that was destined to undergo revision all too soon.

A
S THE KENDALL
carriage neared Trethevy Eliza found herself becoming excited at the thought of seeing Tristram again. It was something she had never experienced before and it gave her a warm feeling. It was a realisation that she belonged to someone, and had someone who belonged to her.

Suddenly, the carriage slowed and the groom hauled his pair of horses to a halt. Looking out of the carriage window at Alice’s request, Eliza found herself looking at Eval Moyle. He was standing in the centre of the lane close to an open field gate and looking up to talk to the groom.

They had been brought to a halt because Moyle’s brother, accompanied by a dog, was driving a small flock of sheep along the lane in the opposite direction to that being taken by the carriage.

Pulling her head back quickly, Eliza said, ‘It’s Eval Moyle and his brother. They’re putting sheep in the field just here.’

‘At least it is not a bull,’ Alice commented, adding, ‘Did Eval Moyle see you?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Well, we will keep quiet until we move on again to avoid any possible nastiness from him.’

The two women maintained a silence inside the carriage, but Eval Moyle had seen the crest on the door of the vehicle and, not
recognising it, they heard him say to the coachman, ‘I haven’t seen you before, you’ll not be from these parts.’

‘No, this is Lord Kendall’s carriage, I’m bringing their guest and her maid back to the rectory at Trethevy.’

‘Are you now?’ Moyle replied, with unexpected interest. ‘Well, I won’t keep you waiting any longer than can be helped, there’ll be folk happy to see them back in Trethevy, I don’t doubt.’

Listening from inside the carriage, Alice whispered to Eliza, ‘Is that really Eval Moyle, I cannot believe what we are hearing?’

‘I think that listening to him behaving so politely worries me even more than when he’s being himself.’ Eliza replied.

The two women remained silent then until they heard Eval Moyle’s voice once more, ‘That’s all the sheep in now, so you be sure and get them two women to the rectory, safe and sound.’

The next moment the coachman flicked his reins over the horses’ backs and the carriage jolted into motion. As they passed by Eval Moyle there was a smile on his face and Alice said, ‘That is certainly not like the Moyle we know of old.’

‘Do you think he might have turned a bull loose in the churchyard again?’

‘He knows better than to do that. Besides, the bad-tempered bull was sold off soon after he went to America, but his behaviour has made me feel uneasy. I hope Reverend David is alright. He has always felt a need to prove himself against Moyle.’

David Kilpeck was well, but he was greatly relieved to see Alice and his first words were, ‘Thank the Good Lord you are back home, I have never been so hungry in all my life. I might have accepted it had it been Lent, that
is
a time of fasting, but not when one should be fattening oneself to face winter! The only saving grace is that it brought home to me, albeit in a small way, just how much Our Lord must have suffered from fasting day and night for forty days in the wilderness. For me, a week was far too long. Of course, I
had
food, but, unfortunately, most of it was
inedible
when cooked by Nellie, the young kitchen-maid found for me by Percy. She is no cook, bless her. When I tried to voice my feelings as kindly as I might, she brought me a meal prepared by her mother and I realised then that poor Nellie’s lack of cooking skills is inherited! However, now you are back all is well with my world once more.’

With this, he kissed his sister on the cheek and beamed at her happily before saying, ‘You will be delighted to know I have had a wonderful letter from Windsor – from Ursula. You and I have been invited to spend a week or two with her and Dean Fitzjohn. She and her father paid a visit to Trethevy before leaving Bodmin to return home. They thought our little church absolutely charming and Dean Fitzjohn is most impressed with what we have achieved there. He said we have worked wonders.’

Suddenly self-conscious, David shifted his weight from foot to foot nervously before saying, ‘I was also able to have a chat with Ursula when we were left alone for a while. We … we came to a tentative arrangement. She said she would speak to her father, but feels he would have no objection to marriage with me – after a suitably lengthy engagement, of course, and she is confident Dean Fitzjohn will recommend me for a more lucrative living when one becomes vacant.’

‘David! I am delighted for you, and for Ursula too. She is a lovely person and I know you will be so happy together. Oh, what wonderful news! But why did you take so long before telling me about it? It is the most important thing that has ever happened.’

Alice flung her arms about her brother and hugged him and he said, happily, ‘I am so glad you approve, Alice. I was worried about how you would react to the news, although I was hoping that perhaps you and Lieutenant Jory … Were you able to spend some time with him? When Tristram returned to the rectory he said he had been called away to the Admiralty in London. Did he return to Cornwall before you left the Kendall’s home?’

‘Unfortunately, no, but Lord and Lady Kendall and Jory’s sister Lowena – especially Lowena – made me feel very welcome at Pendower Manor, which is a truly magnificent house, David. Before I left, Lowena and I had a long walk around the gardens and she told me that Lord and Lady Kendall both approve of me.’

‘That too is exciting news, Alice, when do you think you and Jory might be married? I expect they will want you to marry in their family church, but I hope I will be allowed to have some part in the ceremony.’

‘You are being rather presumptuous, David, Jory has not yet asked me to marry him, and he is the one I would be marrying, not his family, no matter how much we may think of one another.’

‘Of course, but in great families like the Kendalls parental approval for a marriage is always of great importance.’

‘Well, we will have to see what transpires when Jory returns from London, but the Kendalls are a truly lovely family and terribly proud of Jory. They believe that while he is in London he is going to be promoted to the rank of commander.’

‘More splendid news! Actually, while you were away I met with Reverend Tyacke, the vicar of St Petroc, in Padstow, where they have seen a great deal of Jory. He also spoke highly of him and said he was extremely well thought of in the coast guard and fishing communities. He predicted he will go far in the service. But mention of London reminds me, we had a visit here yesterday from two London policemen.’

‘What on earth for, why should London policemen come to call on us here, at Trethevy?’

‘One of them was the sergeant who was hired with a couple of London constables by the magistrates at Camelford to come to Cornwall and ensure there was no trouble at the fair. It seems they arrested a woman who was seen by Eliza to steal Tristram’s purse and pass it to an accomplice. I believe the policemen want to speak to her about it.’

‘Neither Eliza nor Tristram has said anything to me about it, I find that most surprising.’

‘Not really, Alice, they both had far more important things to think about.’

While they were speaking, Eliza had entered the room from the kitchen carrying a tray on which was tea she had made for them and she heard much of their conversation.

Hurriedly putting down the tray, she queried, ‘Why should policemen want to come here? Tristram and me told them all we knew and they gave Tristram back the purse the woman took from him. I can’t tell ’em any more than I already have.’

‘Well, I haven’t seen them since, although I believe they were going to Bodmin to talk to the two people involved in the theft who were both sent to the gaol there by the Camelford magistrate. The policemen have probably learned they are wanted for a great many more crimes.’

After relating brief details to Alice and her brother of what had occurred at the Camelford fair, Eliza returned to the kitchen deeply troubled that London policemen should have called at the rectory asking for her.