Firebird (27 page)

‘I'm here to see Mr Morton-Edwards.' Offended by Maura's lack of courtesy, Llinos's tone was icy.

‘Well, come in! Sure there's no need for you to stand on the doorstep like a tradesman.'

She led Llinos towards the open door of the drawing-room. It was a room Llinos had liked at first sight, it was long with high windows at one end and French doors on the other leading out to the garden beyond.

‘I'll see if Mr Morton-Edwards can see you.'

The crying of the baby from somewhere in the back region of the house began to intensify and Maura closed her eyes wearily.

‘Oh, mother of God! If only the child would be quiet, just for me to get my breath.'

She disappeared and Llinos sat on one of the plush chairs staring out of the window. Joe had been right, Maura was not living in blissful happiness. She looked harried, sickly and unhappy.

Joe. The thought of him brought a warmth to the pit of her stomach. The warmth spread through her and her body tingled with what she dimly recognized as desire. She wanted Joe to hold her, to make love to her, and yet she wanted so much more of him than that. She wanted his unconditional love, she wanted to be his soul mate. She had thought he felt the same. Why then was he keeping his distance from her?

‘Llinos, it's good to see you.' Eynon entered the room and pulled her to her feet, studying her at arm's length. She could not help noticing how thin he looked in his linen shirt. He was so pale and there were shadows beneath his eyes.

‘Are you well, Eynon?' she asked and he nodded, drawing her towards the sofa.

‘I am well enough, how about you?' He looked at her, his eyebrows raised. ‘Have you run away? Has my dear father shown his true colours?'

‘Oh, Eynon! Don't start all that again. I wanted to see you and spend some time with you. Do I have to have an ulterior motive for visiting you?'

‘So you are not here to talk about my father?'

‘Well, I wouldn't say that. I would like to talk to you about your father as it happens.'

‘I thought so.' He sat but there was a closed look on his face, a set to his mouth so that for once he appeared almost hard.

‘He's not as bad as you make out, Eynon,' she said. ‘I have been living beneath his roof for two weeks now and he has shown me nothing but kindness.'

‘He's not stupid, he will not show his hand, not until he's ready. Anyway, why aren't you slaving for him today?'

‘I'm entitled to my day off, aren't I? In any case, your father treats me more like a daughter than an employee.'

‘A daughter, eh? That will change It won't be long until he's trying to inveigle you into some underhand scheme or other. He damages everything he touches.'

Llinos took a deep breath and tried again. ‘He has found this new method of making porcelain. You should see it, Eynon, it's so beautiful, it's like snow when it is just beginning to melt. It's so fine you can see your fingers through it.'

‘When you say my father has found this wonderful new method, you doubtless mean that one of his overworked employees has come up with a recipe which my father will make his own.'

‘I'm assisting Mr Wright,' Llinos skid. ‘And we are not overworked. We're experimenting with varying degrees of bone and soaprock. Your father
is
funding the venture, don't forget.'

Eynon rose to his feet. ‘I'll fetch us some cordial, you look hot and flustered.'

He left the room and, impatiently, Llinos followed him through the hallway and along the passage to the kitchen. The scene that greeted her was one of chaos. Dishes stood piled along the table at the side of the stone sink. Bits of food had been trodden into the flags of the floor. Over all was a smell of rancid food that almost made Llinos gag.

‘Good heavens, Eynon, why are you living like this? Where are your servants?'

‘Well, Mena was all the help I had beside Maura. She walked out, quarrelled with Maura about the baby. She said she couldn't stand the noise of the child crying any longer. To tell you the truth, I'm sick of it myself. I've had the doctor here several times and he says there's nothing wrong, the child is just teething.'

‘Oh, Eynon, what a state on the place!'

‘Maura can't cope with the housework and the baby,' he said mildly. ‘She's unhappy, Binnie comes home less and less. God knows where he spends his time.'

Maura entered the kitchen and stared at Llinos defensively. ‘The baby cries and cries. The only one who can do anything with the child is Mr Morton-Edwards. I'm at my wit's end so I am.'

‘For heaven's sake, Eynon! You must get yourself more staff, you can't go on this way, you'll all die of some horrible fever. Come on, Maura, boil up some water. While I'm here, I might as well make myself useful.'

She took the hem of her gown and twisted it into a knot above her knees. ‘I'll clean this place up for you, starting with all these dishes, and when I return to town I will try to find you more servants.'

Eynon laughed. ‘I wish you would marry me, Llinos, it would solve a great many of my problems.'

‘Be careful, I might just take you up on that. Go on, Eynon, you take care of the baby, Maura and I will get on with the cleaning.'

It was not as easy as Llinos had imagined. She had kept house after her mother died but she never had to cope with so much filth and grime as challenged her now. The water for washing the dishes cooled rapidly, gaining a film of grease in the process. Maura kept the fire going, carrying the boiling water to the sink but her heart was not in it. She sank against the door frame and wiped her eyes. ‘I'm weary, I can't stand this any more, sure an' aren't I only human?'

Llinos shook the water from the last of the dishes and stared round her. There was still a great deal to do, the cupboards needed cleaning and the floor had to be scrubbed.

‘Go on, have a rest, I'll carry on here.'

Maura nodded. ‘Do what you can, 'twill be in the same mess tomorrow or the day after, any road.'

Left alone, the task was doubly hard. Llinos needed to keep the fire going as well as carrying the water and doing the cleaning. It would have been better if she had brought in a band of young girls who were used to domestic work. The job would have been done much quicker and far more efficiently. But it was too late to think of that now, she might just as well finish what she had started.

She lost track of time as she scrubbed woodwork and cold flagstones until her fingers were raw. When she rose, her back felt as though it was breaking in two.

‘When are you going to stop?' Eynon stood in the door, Maura's baby in his arms. ‘You don't want to kill yourself, do you?'

‘It's finished now. Doesn't it smell much sweeter in here?' Llinos opened the door to the back garden, allowing the fresh air to fill the kitchen.

‘Where's Maura?' Eynon said as the baby began to cry. ‘I think the little one needs feeding.'

‘She must be resting. She looks terrible, Eynon. Are things that bad between her and Binnie?'

He shrugged. ‘Go and find her. One thing I can't do is give this child suck.'

As Llinos climbed the stairs, she became aware that the bottom of her skirts were clinging damply to her legs. Llinos went into the bedrooms one by one but there was no sign of Maura in any of them. Llinos frowned, a suspicion beginning to form in her mind. She opened the cupboards, looking for Maura's belongings, for any sign of the girl's presence. There was nothing. Slowly, Llinos descended the stairs.

‘She's gone.'

Eynon looked at her. He had been crooning to the baby but now his eyes were wide with panic.

‘She can't be gone, what can I do with a baby?'

‘She is gone. Now keep calm, Eynon. Nothing is insoluble. We'll get a wet-nurse from town, just for the time being, until Maura comes to her senses.'

‘You are so damn sensible it hurts!' Eynon said and Llinos looked at him in surprise.

‘Is that a fault then?'

‘No, but it would be nice to see some reaction from you for a change, some indication that you actually
feel
for people.'

Llinos closed her eyes, if only Eynon knew how deeply she did feel and how hard she worked to keep her feelings hidden.

‘I'll go into town, I'll send some women up to you as soon as I can. In the meantime, can you manage the baby alone?'

Eynon smiled then. ‘I suppose so, except I'm not exactly the right person to be nursing the child.'

‘Oh, I don't know, I think it suits you!' Llinos kissed his cheek. ‘I'll have servants with you before nightfall, I promise. Until then, you'll just have to manage.'

She fetched her cloak, sniffing appreciatively at the clean smell of the kitchen, pausing to admire the order which she had created out of chaos before closing the door behind her.

‘My son can be all sorts of a fool.' The words though harsh were tempered with a smile and Llinos looked across the table at Philip Morton-Edwards and knew she was warming to him. He was so kind, so humorous.

The early sun slanted across the room, giving the silver on the sideboard a glow as if a light shone through the metal. It was a fine morning and soon Llinos would go to work in the pottery, doing the job she had come to love, experimenting with bone, sand and soaprock.

‘Eynon is too gentle for his own good.'

‘I agree with you there.' Philip's expression had changed. ‘I think he should have been a second son, then there would have been no pressure on him to follow in my footsteps.

‘He is too soft by far,' Philip continued. ‘He allows folk to take advantage of him.' He spread his hands. ‘I ask you, what other man would allow himself to be saddled with another man's bastard child?'

‘But he can't help his nature,' Llinos protested. ‘He's loving and kind and honest, he's my dear friend. Don't you love your son for what he is, Mr Morton-Edwards?'

‘Of course I do. But he has no time for me and that I find hard to bear.'

‘I'm sure any misunderstanding between you could be cleared up if only you spent time talking to each other,' Llinos said.

Philip did not reply. Llinos sighed. ‘Anyway, I think Eynon is happy with the arrangements I have made for servants from the village to go and work at his house.'

‘Let us change the subject. What of the porcelain, how are the experiments coming along?'

Llinos leaned forward eagerly. ‘We are having less breakages, now. The new recipe seems to be working well.'

‘And you are not tempted to pass my recipes on to your father?'

‘I would not do that, sir.' Llinos heard the indignation in her own voice even as she registered Philip Morton-Edwards' reaction to it. He was smiling.

‘I know you well enough by now, Llinos Savage, to realize you would never betray a trust. I am teasing you.'

She looked down at her hands, smiling ruefully at her own foolishness. ‘I think I have a great deal of growing up to do yet, sir.'

‘I disagree, you are a very mature young lady.'

The door opened and Estelle entered the dining-room still wearing her nightgown and robe. She was paler than ever. She seemed to be fading away with each passing day.

Philip rose to his feet. ‘My dear Estelle, should you be out of bed?'

‘I am tired of lying in my room day after day.' She sounded petulant and yet her voice lacked energy and life.

‘Come sit with us, have something hot, you will feel better if you eat.'

She took a chair beside her husband and stared down at the table. ‘I'm not hungry, Philip. I think I should have the doctor.' She glanced up half fearfully.

‘Of course, my love. I shall have Perkins run into town at once.' He rose and left the room and Llinos watched in concern as Estelle twisted her thin robe between her fingers.

Estelle looked up. Her eyes were wide; they appeared unfocused. ‘He's poisoning me,' she said flatly.

Llinos was not sure she had heard correctly. She searched Estelle's face and saw she was serious.

‘You are mistaken, I'm sure Mr Morton-Edwards loves you too much to wish you harm.'

‘You don't know him, Llinos, you see only the civilized side of my husband. You can't know what a beast he is in the bedroom. Pray God you never find out.'

‘The doctor will come soon, tell him how you feel,' Llinos said uneasily. Suddenly an air of foreboding seemed to inhabit the sunlit room.

‘You don't believe me, you think I'm mad. I can see it in your face so don't deny it.'

‘No, no, you are sick, you will feel better once you see the doctor, I promise you.'

‘Don't make promises you cannot keep, Llinos. And take my advice, get out of this house. There is evil here and it's embodied in the man who is my husband, God help me.'

Philip returned to the room, ‘Perkins has gone post haste, darling.' He bent over his wife, helping her to her feet. Carefully, he guided her to the door. She cast a last anguished look towards Llinos as though begging for her help.

Llinos felt disturbed all morning. Not even the excitement of working with Mr Wright on the glaze for the new porcelain could erase her feelings of uneasiness.

‘What's wrong, girlie?' He rubbed his hands against his stained apron and looked at her. ‘You seem distracted.' She shrugged.

‘It's Estelle – Mrs Morton-Edwards, she's very sick.'

‘Well, the boss will see to it that she has the best doctor money can buy. No good you fretting about the ills of those older and wiser than you, girlie.'