Never a Mistress, No Longer a Maid (6 page)

“But what if she doesn’t?”

“She will.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m old and wise.”

“How do I know you’re not just old?”

“You’ll have to trust that I’m both.”

“Why?”

So that was how Lord Edward Kellington, brother to the Duke
of Lynwood, a Lieutenant of the Guards who’d been praised by Wellington and an
agent for the Crown who’d faced death on more than one occasion in service to
his country, found himself on a branch moments later, coaxing the fattest cat
he’d ever seen to get out of the tree.  In response, the improbably named
Titania simply stared at him.

“Vi!  Where are you?  Vi!”  A woman who wasn’t at all happy
with Ned’s new friend was calling from somewhere near.

“I’m in for it, now,” said the little girl.  “I’ve got to
go.  What about Titania?”

“I promise I’ll get her out of the tree.”

“Thank you!  It was a pleasure meeting you, Ned.”  She
curtsied again.

“You, too.”  He waved at her, almost losing his balance.

The girl turned and ran toward the unseen woman.  Ned turned
back to the problem at hand, only to see Titania blithely hop from branch to
branch before hitting the ground and running after Vi, leaving Ned to wonder just
how he was going to get out of the damned tree.

*                    *                    *

“Where is he?” Miss Merriman screeched at her mama, after
waiting long enough to make an entrance at breakfast, only to find their
houseguest was not at the table.  Or in the manor itself.  A quick search of
the grounds by the servants – Miss Merriman couldn’t do the searching herself
because she didn’t want to look like she was chasing the man – had revealed no
Lord Edward.

“He couldn’t have gone off to London, could he?” wailed the
girl.

“Heaven forefend!” said Lady Barrington, who was on the
verge of hysterics herself.  “But if Lord Edward has gone back to town, it
could be because you frightened him off by not acting like the lady you were
raised to be.  You almost told him about Jane Wetherby, didn’t you?”

“I did no such thing,” Miss Merriman said, trying and
failing to look the offended innocent.

“Don’t try to bam me.  I know it was on the tip of your
tongue.  A properly bred lady shouldn’t even know about such things and should
certainly never speak of them, except in the company of trusted lady friends.”

“So what if I wanted to talk of Jane and that brat?  She has
no shame – parading the girl around and not appearing the least bit embarrassed. 
I cannot believe Jane and I were ever friends, she’s changed so completely.   She
likes to mingle with the tenants!  And to think that was Lord Edward’s first
impression of Marston Vale.  It’s enough to scare him away completely.”

“That would never do,” said Lady Barrington.  “We must find
a way to keep Lord Edward occupied.”

“Don’t worry, Mama,” said Madeline.  “I have several ideas
to accomplish that.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“And that, Lord Edward, is the sketch I did of the view from
the folly at noon,” said Madeleine, as she showed Ned her sketchbook, leaning unnecessarily
close to him to do so.  They were in the back garden, well within view of her
mama and sisters, but Ned still wished the chit would move just a bit further
away.  He hadn’t wanted to look at the sketches in the first place, but Miss
Merriman had made such a fuss when he’d returned to the house after his walk
that he’d looked for the first diversion he could find.  Unfortunately, it was
turning out to be a most boring one.

She turned the page.  “And this is the sketch I did of the
view from the folly at dusk.”

“Yes, I can see the nuances,” said Ned, although he could
see no such thing.  The drawing looked just as bland as the last one, but it
seemed like a believable compliment.  Of course, he wasn’t sure why he was
trying to sound realistic since he suspected Madeleine Merriman believed all
compliments, no matter how farfetched.

“Lord Edward, you really should accompany me to the folly
some time.  You’d find the view quite spectacular, particularly at dusk,” said Madeleine,
looking at him from beneath her lashes and brushing her breast against his arm.

Good God, thought Ned, what has happened to country-bred
virgins? 

He was temporarily saved from more of Miss Merriman’s
flirting by the arrival of Warren, Rutherford and Overton, much to the displeasure
of Lady Barrington.  As far as Ned was concerned any – or all – of them were
welcome to her.

“Excuse me, my lord, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” said a
deceptively humble Rigg, who’d appeared at his side, “but I must speak with
you.”

“Of course, Rigg.  If you’ll excuse me Miss Merriman?”

Madeleine looked like she’d try to have Rigg flogged for
even attempting to separate them, but she held her tongue and turned back to
her court.

“I have information on your Miss Jane,” said Rigg quietly. 
“Her name is Jane Wetherby.  The servants were surprisingly tight-lipped about
her, as if they were afraid you were going to murder the poor woman in her
bed.  You aren’t going to do that, are you my lord?  I should hate to be an
accomplice to such a deed.”

“I promise not to murder the lady, but can’t give you
assurance that I won’t seek out her bed.”

“Very good, my lord,” said Rigg with the hint of a smile. 
“I couldn’t ascertain where she lives, although I believe one of the kitchen
maids is warming to me and I might yet get the information you require.  But in
the meantime, I do know where she is right now.”

*                    *                    *

“If I have three strawberries, then find two more in the
garden, how many do I have?” Jane asked the dozen children seated in front of
her in the shade of the old oak not far from the village green.

Half a dozen eager hands went up, including Tommy Simmons, a
boy who usually didn’t care much for sums.

“Tommy?”

“I don’t know how many, Miss Jane, but I reckon it’d be enough
for a tart.”

Jane and the children laughed.

“I believe it would, indeed.  But now, Tommy, I’m going to
ask you to solve the problem.”

The boy looked a bit embarrassed as he tried to work out the
answer.

“I know you can do this, Tommy.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he said “Five?”

“Excellent!  You’re becoming one of my best pupils.”

Tommy blushed at the compliment, but Jane could tell he was
pleased. 

“Look,” said one of the older girls, “it’s that Lord Edward
Miss Merriman’s to marry.”

Jane’s heart stopped as all of the children turned to look
at Lord Edward, who stood watching them from a few yards away.

“Please forgive me for interrupting your lesson, Miss Jane,”
he said.  “Although I couldn’t help admiring Tommy’s wit and his skill at
sums.”

Tommy was once again embarrassed but pleased to be the subject
of praise.

“Yes, Tommy is a very smart boy,” said Jane, offering up a
silent prayer of thanks that Vi hadn’t joined them today.  “But if you’ll
excuse us, Lord Edward, we need to continue the lesson.”

“But Miss Jane,” said the girl, “you said that was the last
of the sums for today.”

“So I did.  But now we’re going to have a lesson on cleaning
our hands.”

Ned couldn’t completely hide his laughter when a slight
groan went up among the children.  Jane frowned at him, then continued with the
lesson.

“Remember to wash your hands before you eat, after you use
the necessary and whenever you feel ill.”

“But Miss Jane,” said a young boy with a runny nose, “me da
says it’s a waste of soap to wash yer hands so much.  Although he do like that
ye teach us.”

“It may seem like a waste, but there are spirits of disease
that linger on our hands that may cause us to become ill.  If we wash our
hands, they cease to exist.”

It was a point she’d made with the children and their
parents countless times.  But they all looked at her like she was a sweet, yet
utterly daft, lady.

“Very well, wash when you can.  And I will see you all in
three days.”

The children each took their leave of her, then left for
home, teasing Tommy fondly as they went.   

Jane was frustrated to find her heart rate accelerate with
each step Ned took toward her.

“I must express my surprise that you didn’t give each child
a dram of Scots whiskey to ward off the spirits of disease,” he said.

“Did you come here solely to vex me?”

“No, but it is an added bonus to my visit.  How often do you
teach the children?”

“Twice a week, except during harvest when most of them can’t
be spared from home.”

“Is there no school in the village?”

“Not for the farmers’ children.  The vicar and his wife
offer classes in Greek and Latin to some of the older boys of the gentry who
can’t afford tutors, but they already have too many responsibilities with the
vicarage to expand their lessons.  All I do is offer reading and sums, with a
few pointers on how to stay healthy.  Now I suppose I must endure more mockery
from you.”

“I’m afraid not, Jane.  At least not about this.”

“And what has put you off, so I might thank God for it in my
prayers?”

“I admire you.”

It was true, Ned realized.  He really did like this woman. 
He’d known for years that he’d like to lie with her again and had done so
countless times in his dreams.  But as he’d watched her with the children,
sitting under the tree and wearing a drab grey gown with her beautiful hair
pulled back into a severe bun, he realized he liked her.  Admired her.   She
was hidden away in this dreary village, sewing up farmers one day and teaching
sums to their children the next.  And furthermore, the children had seemed to
enjoy their lesson.  Of course, if any of his tutors had looked the least bit like
Jane Wetherby, he would’ve enjoyed his lessons, too.

“May I escort you home?”

“No,” she answered, just a bit too quickly.

Ned’s senses went on full alert.  Was she hiding something? 
A husband, perhaps?  No, Rigg would’ve told him if she’d been married.  A
lover?  A jolt of a strong emotion ran through him that might’ve been jealousy
in another man.

“I must insist, Jane.  Who knows what could be lurking in
these woods.”

“My lord, I assure you I do not need an escort.  I’m
perfectly safe.”

“It’s not ‘my lord,’ it’s Edward.  Preferably Ned.  And I
must insist on a safe escort.”

“I don’t need one.”

“But I do.  I’m afraid I have a terrible sense of direction
and cannot find my way on my own.”

“In that case, I’ll escort you to Barrington Manor.  I’m
sure Miss Merriman is missing her fiancée.”

Before Ned could press his case again, Jane began walking in
the direction of Barrington Manor.  If he wanted to talk, he’d have to do it on
her terms.

“I’m afraid you are under a misapprehension.  I am not now,
nor will I ever be, Miss Merriman’s fiancée.”

“But she’s had an understanding since birth with a member of
the nobility.  You are a member of the nobility and have come to stay with her
and her family.  I believe the misapprehension is yours, my lord.”

“Ned.  I would know if I were getting married and I can
assure you I’m not.  We could argue this point endlessly, but I don’t want to waste
this opportunity to speak with you.  How did you learn about such things as
spirits of disease?”

“It’s something my father believed in quite strongly.  He
was a physician who studied medicine through the ages.  The Greeks believed
there were agents unseen by the human eye that cause disease.  I became a firm
believer in the existence of such agents or spirits when I worked in Belgium. 
It was too much of a coincidence that dozens of men would show the same
symptoms of a stomach malady after drinking from a stream that appeared clean. 
There had to be something we couldn’t see that made them sick.

“I also learned those agents of disease could be on objects
like needles and scalpels.  One night we ran out of thread and were forced to
use horse hair for sutures.  The hair itself was too coarse to sew with, so we
boiled it to soften it up.  Over the next few days I noticed the soldiers who’d
been sewn with the horse hair had fewer infections than those who’d been sewn
with the regular thread.  I believe it was something in the boiling process
that neutralized those spirits of disease.”

“But how do you know there wasn’t something about the horse
hair that healed them?”

Jane looked up to see if Ned was making sport of her.  But he
showed no sign of mocking her.  He looked sincerely interested in what she had
to say.

“I don’t know for sure.  It’s impossible to use the horse
hair without boiling it because it’s so tough.  And even if it were possible, I
already know it works with the boiling.  I wouldn’t want to experiment on
someone and possibly make them sick.”

“So how do you know the whiskey counteracts the agents as
well?”

“My father used it, as did several surgeons in Belgium.”

“Did your father encourage your interest in medicine?”

“Absolutely.  I think he would’ve liked to have had a son to
carry on his work.  But whenever possible, I accompanied him on his visits to
patients.  I not only learned about medicine, but about how people lived who
weren’t born into money.  He taught me lessons much more valuable than any I
could’ve learned in school.”

“Does he no longer live?”

“Unfortunately, both my parents are dead.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.  Do you live alone?”

Something flashed in her eyes.  Was she covering up the
existence of a lover? 

“Well, here you are,” she said as they arrived at Barrington
Manor.  “I trust you can find your way up the drive and to the house, despite
your lamentable sense of direction.  That must’ve  made spying particularly
difficult for you.”

“Minx,” he said.  “I confess I’ve never spent this much time
talking about horse hair and invisible agents of disease before, but it’s a
conversation I would very much like to continue.  May I see you tomorrow,
Jane?”

“I thank you for your offer, my lord, but I must decline.”

With that she turned for home and it took every bit of Ned’s
strength not to follow.  Instead, he turned toward Barrington knowing he had a
long day ahead.