The Emperor (44 page)

‘Once the baby is born, it will be easier to hide,' Héloïse said. 'James mustn't know.’

Charles shrugged. 'As you wish. But you must look upon
Roberta and me in the light of parents, if you will, and come to us if you need help of any sort. I shall speak to my lawyer
about the guardianship of the child tomorrow.'

‘
And you and I, my dear,' said Roberta, 'can have a
lovely day shopping, for your little friend will need almost
everything new; and there will be things to buy for the baby,
too.’

Héloïse smiled, suddenly glad to be sharing the know
ledge of her condition, especially with kind, practical
Roberta, who was so newly a mother herself. And her desire
to shew her gratitude had been answered, she realized, by
the providential meeting with Lotti's child. Truly, she
thought wonderingly, I am greatly blessed.

 
At the end of February, 1798, work began at last on the draining and cleaning of the moat. It was decided to do the
work in sections, for the sake of the swans, who resented
any interference with their environment. At first they
tended to attack the workmen, and had to be persuaded to keep to the undrained section by a mixture of threats and bribes. The worst tempered of all was a solitary old penn, whose mate had died some years ago, and who lingered
morosely, swearing horribly at each new generation of
cygnets, and consoling herself with food.

‘Poor thing, she's lonely,' Jemima said, trying to soothe the nerves of a workman who had been forced to donate his noon bread-and-cheese to this avian delinquent. 'They mate for life, you know. I know just how she feels.’

The moat had become silted up with two-and-a-half
centuries' worth of mud and rubbish, which all had to be
dug out and carted away.

‘Extraordinary things you find at the bottom of a moat,'
Edward mused over one day's haul. 'Why is everything
metal? I suppose because it lasts the longest,' he answered himself. There were quantities of old coins from different periods — 'How careless people were with their money,' James remarked — and a single, very beautiful gold candle
stick which no-one could explain, but nothing else of value.
The mud was taken off to be spread on the fields, and the rubbish to be buried, but Jemima pounced on two cannon balls and insisted that they be cleaned up and kept.

‘Mother, who wants two lumps of rusty iron?' Edward said.

‘But they're historical,' she protested. 'They must have come from the time the house was held against William of
Orange's men. It's always said that we were never fired on
in the civil war, because the master kept changing sides just in time. Someone will be very interested in them some day.'

‘
And that's all. A pity,' James said, throwing down an ancient castiron hinge. 'I thought there might be a chest full of treasure.'

‘
Well, there isn't,' said Edward, 'so you had better be
sure not to run off again, because we are paying for all this out of Mary Ann's dowry.’

He walked off to speak to the workmen. When he had
gone Jemima said, 'He doesn't mean to hurt you.’

‘
I know, Mama. It's quite all right.'

‘I wish you weren't unhappy,' she said.

‘
Unhappy? I don't know. It's more like having lost a
limb, I think. Does a man with one arm feel unhappy, or
only that he's missing something? But I'm well enough as
long as I keep busy. It's only when I have time on my hands
that I begin to think.'

‘
You have worked very hard since you came back,'
Jemima said. 'I'm very proud of you.’

He gave a tight smile. 'It's accepting that it's for ever
that's hard. Everything else follows easily enough.’

A servant came out from the house. 'Mr Pobgee's here, my lady. He says you sent for him.'

‘
Yes. Shew him into the steward's room. I'll come at
once.'

‘Pobgee?' James quizzed. 'Now what, Mama? Are you changing your will?'

‘As a matter of fact, yes,' Jemima said. She gave him a searching look. 'It seems to me that you don't intend having any more children.' James looked away, and said nothing. ‘So circumstances have changed a little since I last saw Mr Pobgee. Certain provisions must be altered.'

‘Suppose — ' Jemima turned back inquiringly. 'Suppose Mary Ann were to have another child?’

She shrugged. 'I can always send for the lawyer again.’

*

In March an alarming report reached them that there were violent disturbances in Manchester. Cotton spinners were
said to have rioted, marching on the mills, breaking
windows and attempting to set fire to the buildings, in a protest over wages.

Mary Ann was naturally alarmed for the safety of her father, and angered that the actions of his own employees
should endanger him. 'They are so ungrateful!' she cried.
‘My father gives them employment, without which they would starve.'

‘They say that their wages aren't enough to live on,' Edward read from the paper.

‘The rates are fixed. Everyone pays the same,' she said
indignantly. 'But some people are always discontented. The
more you give them, the more they want.’

She was particularly worried that no message had come
from her father to assure her of his safety, and tended to
think the worst. 'He would know I would be worried. He would be sure to write, if he were all right.’

James, intrigued by this new side to his wife, who had
quite lost her customary serenity, entered into the discussion
with interest. 'But consider, ma'am, at a time like this he would hardly have leisure to write. And besides, the mails may have been delayed or even prevented from leaving. It may be impossible to get a message to you.'

‘
Then the news that he had been harmed would not reach
us either!’

She was so obviously not to be comforted, that James
said, 'Very well, I'll go there myself and see what's happening. It's not so very far. I can be there in a day, even at this time of year.’

She looked surprised and pleased, but Edward inter
vened hastily. 'No, Jamie, I think it best, if anyone's to go, that it should not be you. Remember you are not exactly in favour with your father-in-law.'

‘The more reason, surely, to shew I'm concerned for his welfare.'

‘He might not take it that way,' Edward said. 'Better you
stay here with your wife. I'll go, and report back. I've a great
curiosity to see the mills, anyway.’

James shrugged and argued no further. He had no great desire to go on a long uncomfortable journey with nothing but his father-in-law at the other end, and if Edward went, he would still get the credit of having offered, but without the pains of performance.

*

There was plenty of evidence of the rioting to be seen.
Troops had been called in to control the marchers, and
everywhere there were smashed windows and the smoulder
ing remains of fires while the streets were littered with
stones and bricks, and broken pieces of fencing and lengths of iron which had been used as weapons. Soldiers were in evidence on guard at various gateways and vantage points,
and such civilians as were to be seen had a nervous, subdued
air about them as they hurried along.

Edward had no idea where the Hobsbawn mills were, so he went straight to Hobsbawn House, where he found a trooper on guard at the gate, though the house appeared not to have been damaged. He stated his business and was
admitted, and the butler let
_,
him into the house with a
nervous blink to either side, and took him into the drawing-room.

‘
Master's with his agent, in the business room, sir. I'll tell
him you're here, and he'll come to you shortly, I'm sure.'

‘
Is he all right?' Edward asked. 'He was not harmed by
the rioters, I trust?'

‘
Oh no, sir, he's quite sound, only amazing vexed about it
all. Well sir, if you'll excuse me –’

Edward was left alone for some time, and wandered
about the drawing room, renewing his acquaintance with the
exotic, elaborately decorated and oppressively luxurious furnishings. There was a faintly neglected air to the room –
the mirrors were not bright, and there was a fine film of dust
over everything – which revealed that Hobsbawn House
lacked a mistress. In March it was not wonderful to find
vases empty, but the Chinese bowl on the marble-topped commode contained brown and mummified roses which at the kindest estimate must have been there since October.

‘Aye, well, Mr Morland.' Hobsbawn entered the room abruptly and Edward turned to greet him. 'And to what do I owe this pleasure?' He looked past Edward at the bowl of
dead roses and frowned. 'We're at sixes and sevens, you see.
I don't use this room much, since my daughter went. Don't
have time to entertain, nor reason to, without her to show
off; and my business friends I take to the library, where they
can smoke. How is Mary Ann?'

‘She's well, sir, but very worried about you. Indeed, we
all were. We heard such uncomfortable reports of how
things went on in Manchester, that we couldn't be easy until
we had made sure that you were all right.'

‘All right?' Hobsbawn frowned.

‘
Not harmed by the rioters,' Edward amplified. The brow
cleared.

‘Oh, it was my safety as exercised you, not my financial standing? You did not want to know if I was wiped out?'

‘Of course not, sir,' Edward said, expressing hurt and surprise, and inwardly blessing his good sense in not allowing James to come. 'We had heard nothing from you, and
your daughter felt sure that you would have written to
reassure her about your safety.'

‘Aye, well, I suppose I would eventually, but I have had
too much to do. These damned spinners, ungrateful dogs
that they are! Glass everywhere - well, by God, I wish I
were a glazer in Manchester this day, for they're the only
gainers by this week's work! Mind, I've not suffered the
worst, I will say, for there are acquaintances of mine whose
mills have been burnt down to the ground, and others
who've lost near all their machines. I'm not so bad off as some - but all the same, there's thousands of pounds worth
of damage done - machines smashed - walls and gates
broken down. And all for what?’

Edward made a polite noise of enquiry.

‘
All to give them more money for the same day's work! I
told them, if you don't want the work, there's others will do
it! Aye, and cheaper, too! I can get women and children and
train them up in a couple of weeks to do the same job.
Young girls - they've nimble fingers, and they don't eat so much, and they're docile. By God, if I could get my hands on their leaders - !'

‘The apprentices, sir - the children we sent you - I hope they were not involved in this unfortunate business?'

‘Well, no, not directly. They didn't rise up, at all events, though one or two were hurt when the rioters smashed the
windows of the 'prentice-house - it's hard against the
number one mill, you see, a sort of lean-to. Cut by flying glass, some of them, and some others with burns, but we've had the surgeon to 'em, and they'll be back to work as soon as the mills open again.’

They were interrupted by the butler bringing in a tray of wine and biscuits. 'Just a minute, Bowles - you'll stay the night, of course?' Hobsbawn said to Edward.

‘Indeed, yes, thank you.'

‘Right - then it's one more for dinner, Bowles.'

‘Very good, sir.’

Hobsbawn poured two glasses of wine. 'Claret,' he said proudly. 'I don't want for French wines.'

‘How do you come by them, sir?' Edward asked.

‘Oh, there are ways, my boy,' Hobsbawn said, pleased with himself. 'The trade winds blow, you know, war or no
war. I had several dozen come to me through America. I
trade in cotton with New England; they trade in tobacco
with the islands; and some of the islands are owned by the
French. The great folk of Martinique like to drink their
claret, same as us, and they're not averse to selling some if the profit's large enough.'

‘Well, however it comes, it's a welcome change. Your health, Mr Hobsbawn.'

‘And yours, Mr Morland.’

They drank and Edward put down his glass and said, 'It would very much interest me to see your mills, sir, if you
would allow me? Perhaps if you are going there tomorrow, I
might accompany you?'

‘
Aye, lad, and welcome, if it interests you, though they're
a sorry sight at the moment. Thank God the rioters had no cannon, hey?'