The American Earl (2 page)

My father’s solicitor, Mr. John Shields, who bore a strong resemblance to a bulldog the squire once had, called on us the day after the funeral. Aunt Barbara, Maria and I met with him in the library. Since my aunt had arrived we had been forced to use more coal – I didn’t want her to know how tight money was - so the beautiful old library looked warm and inviting as we sat in front of the large stone fireplace.

“There is nothing we can do about the estate until we hear from the heir,” Mr. Shields said, after he had offered his condolences.  “No creditors can be paid, no moneys dispensed.” 

Aunt Barbara and I were sitting on one of the old blue velvet sofas and the solicitor sat on the other one, facing us. He continued, “Lady Julia, I fear this means you won’t have the allowance your father made you to run the house. My hands are bound. All of your father’s estate is untouchable until we can speak to Mr. Evan Marshall, the new earl, and receive his directions.”

Aunt Barbara said in her well-bred, haughty voice, “Surely you can make
some
arrangements, Shields. We’re at war with America. How on earth are we to contact Evan Marshall if we can’t get a letter to him?”

The bulldog face nodded solemnly. “I understand your concern, my lady. Since it’s not possible for a British ship to land on American soil, I will direct a letter informing the earl of his new honor to an English solicitor in Kingston, Jamaica. I have worked with him before and found him trustworthy. He will put the letter aboard a Jamaican vessel bound for Boston. American ports are open to Jamaican goods.”

“Is that where Tommy’s son lives, Shields?” Aunt Barbara asked. “Boston?”

“He lives in a town just north of Boston called Salem, my lady. I looked into the family when your nephew Philip died; I felt it was necessary to know something about the new heir. His name is Evan Marshall and he owns a very profitable shipping company.”

“He’s in trade.”  My aunt looked as if she had spied a rat.  “Well, at least he’s got money.  He’ll need it.  I don’t think Althorpe left him anything but debts.”

I felt as if I was living a nightmare.  At least my father had given me an allowance to run the house, even though it was a pittance.  Now I was to get nothing until this American agreed to it?  How were Maria and I supposed to live? 

Aunt Barbara thought she had the solution to this problem and after Mr. Shields had left, she told Maria and me to pack our clothes.  “You’re coming back to Mereton with me.  I always thought it was a disgrace that your father allowed you to remain here with no adequate supervision.  It was horribly improper.”

She had tried to get me to go and live with her once before, and I had refused.  I refused again.  “I won’t leave Stoverton. Someone has to be here to look after it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Julia.  You are seventeen years old.  You cannot possibly ‘look after’ Stoverton. Nor can you be left here on your own.”

“I’m eighteen,” I corrected her, my voice matching the haughtiness of hers.  “And who else has looked after Stoverton for all these years, do you think?  Mama was rarely here and my father not much more.”

“You have a steward,” Aunt Barbara said. “It is his job to look after things, not yours.”

“The last steward left two years ago,” I said flatly. “I’ve been doing his job ever since.”

My aunt stood and began pacing the room. “This whole situation is outrageous. I knew I should have insisted you come to me after your mother died.” She stopped and glared. “But you carried on as if I was taking you to a house of torture. And Philip, weakling that he was, stood by you.”

Maria’s soft voice made itself heard. “Please don’t argue. It’s upsetting.”

“Of course it’s upsetting,” Lady Barbara snapped. “That is precisely why you should not be here. But Julia insisted….”

I went over to take Aunt Barbara’s seat next to my sister and picked up her hand.  “Our aunt is right about one thing,” I told her.  “You should go to Mereton. I’m sure Aunt Barbara will get you a governess and a music teacher, and you’ll have Lizzie to talk to. It would be the best thing for you, Maria.”

Aunt Barbara backed me up. “Of course we’ll get you a governess, Maria. I’m sure Flora has tried, but … well, best not to say anything more. And your cousin Elizabeth will be happy to have your company.”

Maria sat up straight. She had the Marshall family height as well as its coloring. At fourteen, she was four inches taller than I. “I won’t go without Julia.”

Her blue eyes held mine steadily. Everyone always talked about how stubborn I was, but Maria wasn’t far behind.

“I can’t leave,” I told her.

“I never thought you would.”

The two of us looked at my aunt. I said, “If Cousin Flora stays with us, everything here will be perfectly proper. No one has questioned its propriety for the last few years, and I don’t see why that should change. It’s not as if my father was ever here.”

Aunt Barbara and I went back and forth for another half an hour on this topic, but, since she couldn’t tie me up and carry me out of the house, I won. As she swept out in high dudgeon to return to her own respectable household, her final words were: “When you’re hungry enough, send me word and I’ll come and get you.”

“She doesn’t really want me,” I said to Maria. “She’d take you happily, but she and I dislike each other intensely.”

“I didn’t want to go either,” Maria said.

“Are you certain?” I asked, looking intently into her eyes.

“Yes.” Maria grinned. “You’re much more fun than Aunt Barbara, Julia.”

I laughed and hugged her, but the thought of Aunt Barbara’s last words was chilling. Where was I to find enough money for us to live on?

Chapter Three

I imposed an even stricter regimen than we had been following.  We cut further back on coal consumption and went to bed early to save on candles. 

Sir William Hartly, our Master of Fox Hounds and my best friend, sent us hams and haunches of venison.  Maria kept chickens so we could have eggs.  We were cold and often hungry, but we were still at Stoverton.

Then, two months after my father died, I received a visit from Mr. Shields. We sat in the library and he told me he had thought further about our situation and decided it would be appropriate to advance me an allowance from what was left in Papa’s personal account.

I was hugely surprised. He had made such a point of not being able to do anything until he heard from the new earl. When I queried him on this, he looked uncomfortable.

“I…er…decided that the earl would not like it if his cousins were left penniless and the house was not attended to.  Isn’t a munificent amount, Lady Julia, but it will enable you to remain here at Stoverton with a degree of comfort.”

“How much?” I asked baldly.

When he told me, I blinked. “That’s much more money than the allowance I received from my father. Are you certain about this, Mr. Shields?”

He got that uncomfortable look on his face again and said that yes, he was certain. And he gave me the allowance money for the last two months as well as the next one!

When I imparted this news to Maria and Flora, they were ecstatic. Truthfully, I had been afraid that Flora wasn’t going to stick it out with us, and if she left I didn’t know what would happen. Without Flora, Aunt Barbara would have legal cause to remove us – and I knew she would use it.

But now I could buy enough coal to heat several rooms in the house and Mrs. Pierce, our cook, could order food from the grocer in town. Maria and Flora were happy and I was ecstatic. I hoped the new earl would never come.

* * * *

On April 11 Napoleon abdicated and the war with France was over. The war with America dragged on, however, and still we didn’t hear from Evan Marshall. In August, we learned that negotiations for a peace treaty between Great Britain and the United States had begun in Ghent. Part of me was happy that no more men would be killed, but I must admit that part of me regretted the ending of a war that suited my purposes so well.

In November, the negotiators in Ghent announced they were close to an agreement.  Shortly after this notice appeared in the papers, Mr. Shields drove out to Stoverton bringing with him the inevitable but unwelcome news.

I had just come back from a most satisfactory hunt and was still in my riding clothes when the solicitor’s coach pulled up at our front door. I invited him into the library, which was warm and comfortable thanks to the allowance he sent me faithfully every month. Maria and Cousin Flora were sitting at one of the two big desks doing schoolwork when we came in; I couldn’t see the point of heating the schoolroom when they could work in here. I used the other desk to keep the household accounts.

“Come and sit by the fire,” I invited the solicitor. It was a cold, damp day and the poor man looked frozen.

“Goodness,” Cousin Flora said, coming to greet the visitor. “What brings you here on such an ugly day, Mr. Shields?”

“I have received a letter from the new earl,” he said, going to stand in front of the fire and hold out his hands out to the heat.

I offered Mr. Shields some tea, delaying the dread moment for as long as I could.  He accepted gratefully and I dashed off to the kitchen.  Mrs. Pierce and Lucy, our only remaining maid, were sitting in front of the fire sewing when I came in.  Lucy jumped up to put the tea on and Mrs. Pierce opened the cupboards to see what she might offer a guest. 

“Will you bring it, Lucy, when it’s ready?” I asked.

“Of course, Lady Julia.”

Lucy was Mrs. Pierce’s granddaughter and I had taken her in when her mother ran off with a man from the village leaving the child behind.  Lucy had been only nine when it happened, but I had told Mrs. Pierce that she could live at Stoverton.  I solved the problem of my mother’s certain disapproval by simply not telling her.  My good deed had been rewarded because Mrs. Pierce was fiercely loyal to me and wouldn’t think of leaving.  Nor would Lucy.  That’s why we still had a cook and a maid.

I went back upstairs and announced that the tea was coming. Mr. Shields peeled himself away from the fire and came to sit on one of the sofas that flanked it. I sat next to him and gestured for Maria and Cousin Flora to join us.

We talked about the weather, always a favorite topic of the English, until Lucy came in with the tea tray.

Cousin Flora poured the tea and we all sat back, teacups in hand, and stared at Mr. Shields.

“Well?” I asked. “What did this Evan Marshall have to say?”

“He acknowledged that he had received my second letter and was planning to take ship from Boston. He expects to reach us sometime in February.”

I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath until I let it out. “Well, I suppose it’s inevitable,” I said glumly. “He has to come sometime.”

Mr. Shields put his teacup on the table and looked at me. “There is something else I need to speak to you about, Lady Julia. I have been going over the late earl’s finances, and I think that I should put you in possession of some information before the new earl arrives.”

This sounded ominous. 

Next Mr. Shields looked meaningfully at Maria then back to me.  “Perhaps we could be private?”

I said, “Maria can listen to what you have to say, Mr. Shields.”

“Are you sure, Julia?” Cousin Flora said nervously. Clearly she thought the report was ominous too.

“Do you want to stay?” I asked my sister. “It’s obviously not good news.”

She nodded definitively. “Yes. Whatever Mr. Shields has to say, it will affect me too.”

I turned back to Mr. Shields and lifted an eyebrow.

The solicitor sighed. “Very well. First let me give you some information about the new earl. Evan Marshall is, as you know, the son of your father’s younger brother, Thomas. Thomas went to America when he was quite young and did very well for himself. He settled first in Boston and then moved to Salem, a city on the Atlantic coast just north of Boston.”

He took another sip of his tea.

Cousin Flora said, “I remember Tommy very well. A delightful boy.”

Too bad it wasn’t Tommy we were dealing with.

Mr. Shields said, “He did so well that when he died he left a shipping business worth millions of dollars to his two children, his son Evan and his daughter Frances.”

My eyes nearly popped from my head.
“Millions?”

“Yes, Lady Julia.”

This was the first good news I had heard since finding my father. 

Maria said, “Do you think he will want to live here, in England?”

“I don’t know,” Mr. Shields replied. “His letter was rather terse. I must say he didn’t sound happy about his new title and responsibilities. These Americans, you know, are an independent lot.”

These words cheered me immensely. If he didn’t want to be an earl, then he’d go home, I thought. Perfect.

Mr. Shields cleared this throat. “Lady Julia, I regret that I must also tell you that your father’s personal debts are far greater than any of us anticipated. In fact, he has left debts that – as far as I have calculated – amount to almost half a million pounds.”

Maria gasped. Cousin Flora almost dropped her teacup. The three of us stared in horror at Mr. Shields.

He went on, his bulldog face looking immensely sad. “There is no money left in the estate account and very little in the earl’s private banking account.” 

“Then where are you getting the money you have been sending me?” I demanded.

That peculiar look came over his face again. “I have taken it from what was left in his personal account.”

Something about this didn’t sound right, but I didn’t want the allowance to stop so I dropped the subject. 

Maria asked, her voice sounding breathless, “What is going to happen to us, Mr. Shields?”

He said, “That will be up to the new earl, Lady Maria.  You and your sister are now under his guardianship.”

“His guardianship?”
I glared at the solicitor.  “I’m eighteen years of age.  I don’t need a guardian.”

He looked at me steadily. “Under the law, you do, Lady Julia. The earl will take the place of your father until you marry.”