Cherry Tree Lane (24 page)

Jacob ran lightly up the stairs, disgusted by Arthur’s behaviour and fearful of how this visit would affect a sick woman.

Mattie didn’t wait for the men at the door of the bedroom because she was afraid they’d shut her outside before they started bullying Miss Newington. She’d watched what was going on over the banisters and only a deaf person could have failed to hear what was being said.

The two men didn’t even offer Miss Newington the courtesy of knocking on her door, but pushed it open and walked in.

‘Get out, you!’ Arthur snapped, pointing to Mattie.

Miss Newington clasped Mattie’s hand. ‘She … stays.’

For a moment there was silence, then she added, ‘Mr Ransome … send my cousin … away.’

‘It’s at his behest that I’m here.’

‘Send him away. You stay.’

Mattie could see how white the old lady had gone and ventured to say, ‘Excuse me, sir, but the doctor said Miss Newington was to be kept quiet and peaceful.’

The magistrate glared at her, looked down at the hand clasped around her wrist, and said sharply, ‘If you wish to stay in this room, then you’re to keep quiet. Is that clear?’

‘Yes, sir.’

He turned back to the invalid. ‘Your cousin, Mr Arthur Newington, has asked me to give him the authority to look after you properly. And I can see why he’s concerned, when servants try to order their betters around. These people have taken advantage of you and are no doubt feeding you lies.’

‘Mattie is … following my orders. My lawyer has … signed deposition … about my wishes. And my new will.’

‘Wills can be made under undue influence, dear lady. And you are not yourself at the moment.’

‘I am … in full possession … of my senses. My body is … improving. I do not need … my cousin … whom I detest.’

Mattie watched Mr Arthur out of the corner of her eye, saw him go bright red and start to speak, then snap his mouth shut.

‘I think in these circumstances, I must be the best judge of what’s needed,’ the magistrate said.

‘No!’

But he ignored Miss Newington and said loudly, ‘My finding is—’

* * *

At that moment there was the sound of another car driving up to the house. Arthur nipped across to the window. ‘That damned young lawyer has disobeyed his father and brought the other one with him – what’s he called? Longley, I think. And there’s someone else sitting in the back of the car. Can’t quite see who.’

Mattie didn’t wait. She slipped out of the room and bumped into Jacob.

‘Go and let Mr Longley in! Quick!’

As he ran down she went back into the bedroom, standing near the door, trying not to draw attention to herself. While both men continued to stare out of the window, she had a sudden thought. Taking the key out of the lock, she resumed her position by the bedside and slipped the key under the pile of pillows.

Miss Newington beckoned to Mattie and fumbled for her hand again.

The men turned from the window and walked across to the bed.

‘My lawyer will be able to tell you … what’s been arranged.’

‘He can’t stop me from making a judgement,’ Ransome said.

‘I’ll … sue you.’

Arthur leant over the bed. ‘You’ll be in no state to sue anyone. Hurry up, Thaddeus.’

Mattie saw the magistrate hesitate.

‘Put that maid outside and lock the door. There are things I need to say, to make it legal.’

‘My pleasure.’ Arthur came round the bed and dragged Mattie to her feet. But when he got to the door, he stared at the lock and snapped, ‘What happened to the key? It was here a few minutes ago.’ He shook Mattie hard. ‘You must have taken it. Give it to me this minute.’

She struggled against him as he fumbled for her pocket, outraged at the way his hands were making free with her body. Hearing the front door open, she shouted at the top of her voice, ‘Let go of me, you brute!’

There was an exclamation from downstairs and someone raced up the stairs. Mattie sagged in relief as Jacob burst into the room.

He pushed Newington away from his wife and stood between them. ‘How dare you manhandle my wife!’

Outside other footsteps pounded up the stairs.

Frank came into the bedroom, throwing an angry look at the magistrate as he went across to the bed. ‘I came as quickly as I could, Miss Newington. This must be very distressing for you, so I’ve brought Dr Crawford with me.’

‘Thank you.’

The relief on her face made Frank want to punch her cousin. He even found his hands clenching into fists.

He watched the doctor move to the bedside, feel her pulse and study her face. ‘Clear the room of everyone except Mrs Kemble,’ he ordered. ‘Miss Newington needs to rest. I can’t believe you’ve come here and upset your cousin, Newington. Are you trying to kill her?’

There was dead silence in the room.

‘I’m trying to look after her,’ Arthur said.

‘She’s perfectly capable of managing her own life. How many times do I have to tell you that she’s utterly lucid. Now leave me to speak to my patient.’

The men filed out, but Mattie stayed.

On the landing Ransome turned to Jacob. ‘Find us a room, fellow. I need to make careful enquiries from these two about what’s going on.’ A scornful gesture indicated he was speaking about the two young lawyers. ‘I’m not at all satisfied with the situation here. I’ve never heard of anyone preventing their only close relative from looking after them and I greatly fear that the poor woman has been misled, and that you two have mishandled things.’

‘Does he have the right to do this?’ Jacob asked Mr Longley in a low voice.

‘We don’t want him to claim he was prevented from making a proper inquiry. And it won’t hurt to set him straight about what the real situation is. Though I’m not sure he’ll care about the facts. He’s a close friend of Newington.’

Jacob raised his voice. ‘We can use the dining room, I suppose, sir.’ He led the way downstairs and opened the door, following the others inside.

‘There’s no need for you to stay, fellow,’ Ransome said.

His tone set Jacob’s teeth on edge. He hated it when rich folk spoke in such a patronising way, as if being rich made them superior, which it damned well didn’t. He turned to the young lawyer. ‘In the circumstances, I think I ought to stay, don’t you?’

‘You most certainly ought.’ Frank turned to the magistrate. ‘Mr Kemble is involved in this and needs to be present. Shall we be seated?’

The two young lawyers sat on one side of the table, the older men on the other. Jacob took the end chair without being told, folding his arms, refusing to be cowed. He wasn’t letting Mr Arthur get hold of Miss Newington, not if he had to outface the King himself to do it!

Frank pulled some papers out of his briefcase. ‘These are copies of papers signed by my client yesterday. Before I let her sign them, I checked with the doctor that she was in full possession of her faculties. And I had Mr Painton with me at every stage, so he can bear witness to the truth of what I’m saying.’

Looking sour, Ransome held out his hand, read the pieces of paper carefully, letting out a snort of disapproval, then passed them to Arthur, who wasn’t hiding his anger. He slapped them back down on the table after reading them.

‘As you can see, Miss Newington has made Mr Kemble and myself jointly responsible for her welfare in case of any incapacity. There is no mental incapacity at the moment, so she’s able to make her own decisions, but she’s very weak physically. Therefore Mr Kemble and his wife are staying here to make sure she’s carefully nursed until she recovers. Dr Crawford tells me it was a fairly mild seizure and—’

‘I shall question him myself about that,’ Ransome put in.

‘Certainly, sir. I’ll let him know once he’s finished attending to his patient.’

‘Whatever he says, that fellow’ – he jabbed a forefinger in Jacob’s direction – ‘had no right to try to stop her cousin seeing her.’

‘May I remind you that Miss Newington specifies in her deposition that she doesn’t want her cousin to enter her house, or to deal with her in any way. She made that clear to him as well yesterday, so I’m surprised he’s come here today, knowing her wishes. Mr Kemble has merely been trying to follow her orders.’

Arthur leant forward. ‘I came because Emily was misled, influenced by the Kembles, who’re no doubt out for their own gain. And as for you two, I think you should consider carefully what you’re doing today. You’re young and less able to judge your fellow men than those of us with greater experience of the world. If this matter goes any further, with you supporting common persons against gentlefolk, you could be doing your reputations a great deal of harm.’

‘My first duty is to my client, sir!’ Frank said frostily. ‘Who is also of gentle birth. And I don’t believe there is anything wrong with my judgement, legally or morally. Can you say the same?’

Arthur glared at him, then turned his attention to Sam. ‘I’m surprised your father has let you get involved in this mess.’

‘No one could stop me from defending the truth.’

Jacob was pleased to see the two younger men standing up to the old bullies. They didn’t look down their noses at you, those two didn’t.

Mr Arthur turned to him next, as he’d expected.

‘You should also think very carefully about what you’re doing, Kemble. If anything happens to my cousin …’ He didn’t make an actual threat, but it was implied.

‘I shall continue to do what’s right,’ Jacob said. ‘I’d never let a neighbour down who needs my help. Nor would my wife.’

Arthur turned to the magistrate. ‘Surely those stupid papers can’t stop me from looking after my cousin?’

Ransome stared down at them, drumming his fingers on the table. ‘I need to speak to the doctor first. I’m sure I can get him to … be sensible … and let her family look after her.’

Arthur scowled at him. ‘Then I suppose we’ll have to wait until he comes down. You!’ He looked at Jacob again.

‘Yes?’ He didn’t say ‘sir’ because he didn’t think the man deserved any respect.

‘Tell one of the maids to ask the doctor to speak to us when he’s finished.’

Jacob folded his arms. ‘No need. We’ll hear him coming downstairs.’ He was pleased to see Mr Arthur’s face go even redder and watched as the magistrate laid a hand on his friend’s arm and shook his head warningly.

After that they waited in silence. The clock had a very loud tick and Jacob found himself counting the sounds it made, tapping his forefinger in time to them. When he stopped himself doing that, his foot jerked to the rhythm.

Eventually they heard footsteps on the stairs and Jacob got up to intercept Dr Crawford in the hall, speaking loudly enough for those in the room to hear every word he said. ‘Mr Ransome would like to speak to you before you leave, Doctor.’

Crawford followed him into the room. ‘And I’d like to speak to Mr Ransome. How dare you come and badger a woman recovering from a seizure! Are you trying to kill her? Let me tell you, if anything happens to her, it’ll be because of you, and I’ll complain to a higher authority than you about your abuse of power today.’

‘Is she all right?’ Jacob asked anxiously.

‘I don’t know. I’m worried about her, I must admit. Her pulse is very irregular and I’m concerned about the stress this day’s events have placed upon her.’

Frank caught his eye. ‘Could we ask you about her state of mind? Is she still in full possession of her senses?’

‘Of course she is. I told you that yesterday and I said it again today. How many times do I have to repeat myself? She may only be able to speak slowly, but what she says shows a good deal of sense, which is more than I can say about some people.’ He glared at the two older men.

Speaking in a more conciliatory tone, Arthur said, ‘I wanted to be sure she was safe. It can’t be right for a woman in her position to be cared for by two servants.’

‘That’s what I thought, so I asked Mr and Mrs Kemble to stay here.’

Jacob saw the two young lawyers exchange smiles.

‘
You
asked them to stay?’ Ransome said in tones of disbelief. ‘You’re sure they didn’t hint about this?’

‘Of course I’m sure. Her two women servants are very willing but I didn’t think them capable of dealing with what might happen, so I asked the Kembles to stay – he’s her rent agent, after all, so she must trust him, and his wife’s a very sensible woman. It seems as if I’ve been proved right about the need for their presence here.’ He nodded to Jacob.

Ransome stood up, giving a quick shake of his head in response to Arthur’s questioning look. ‘Well … er … I’m glad to have seen for myself that things are being dealt with properly here. I’m sure Mr Newington can be forgiven for his overzealousness. After all, his cousin is seventy now and—’

‘A year younger than he is, I gather,’ the doctor said. ‘And if your high colour is anything to go by, Mr Newington, you too are heading for a seizure! Now, I think you should leave the occupants of this house in peace.’

The two older men walked outside, both stiff with anger.

Sam let out his breath in a long whoosh of relief. ‘We arrived just in time, eh?’

Crawford was still looking grim. ‘I hope so, but I fear damage has been done. It’s not safe for a woman in her condition to be upset and harassed like this. It’s a good thing you stopped me in the street and brought me out here. Now, if someone can take me back into Bassett, I’ll come out here under my own steam this evening to check that she’s still all right.’

When Sam had driven off with him, Frank looked at Jacob. ‘It’s a bad business.’

‘Yes.’

‘You did well standing up to those bullies. It can’t have been easy.’

‘I try to do what’s right. My wife had to face up to them as well. She’s a brave lass.’

‘You’ve made a bad enemy there. Newington may be getting old but he’s still got a lot of influence in the district and is determined to bulldoze his way through life as he did in his youth. He forgets we’re in the twentieth century now.’

‘I’m not the only one to have made an enemy, I reckon. That magistrate wasn’t looking too happy with you and Mr Painton.’