Page 4 of Secrecy (The Chaplain’s Legacy #4)

F or the rest of the day, Tess could think of little but the unexpected sight of Eustace’s carriage taking Miss Rochester away. She had never thought Eustace had anything to do with Pickering, but she supposed he might have friends in the town. He had friends all over the place, and rarely seemed to be at home. As a single man, he could not entertain ladies at his own house, and there would be no evening parties at Corland, not with the family in such disarray, so presumably Miss Rochester was being taken elsewhere as Eustace’s guest.

Betty was still wondering over it, too, as they climbed into bed that night. “Wherever she was goin’, she should have had a chaperon,” she said sourly.

“There was no one else in the carriage that I could see,” Tess said.

“Don’t matter,” Betty said. “Her aunt should have gone with her… if she is her aunt, that is.”

“Why should Mrs Mayberry say she is the girls’ aunt if she is not?”

“Aye, that’s the question, ain’t it? This is a strange house and no mistake, Miss Tess. Mrs Mayberry is the mistress here, supposedly, but she acts more like a housekeeper than a respectable widow. And four young ladies in the house, but they never go out callin’, nor no one calls here. Ten days we’ve been here and that’s the first time any of those so-called nieces has left the house.”

“We never even see them,” Tess said. “We do the bedrooms while they are at breakfast, and we are stuck in the kitchen all afternoon and evening.”

“Aye, well, I nipped out to the privy in the garden the other evenin’, when Margaret were upstairs,” Betty said. “I saw a man goin’ up the garden path and round to the side door, the one by the stairs. So they do have callers, gentleman callers, but only to the back door and only in the evenin’.”

“Well, there is nothing in that,” Tess said. “A man might be hesitant to make a formal morning call to an all-female household, but he might be invited to join the ladies for tea after dinner.”

“But not goin’ anywhere at all, and then that girl sets off all alone with an overnight bag in a fancy carriage like that. Someone rich sent that rig, you may be sure.”

“Did you not recognise it?” Tess said. “That was Eustace’s carriage.”

“Master Eustace?” Betty cried. “No! Was it? But—?”

“Precisely,” Tess said with a smile.

“Hmpf,” Betty grunted, pulling the thin blanket up to her chin. “This place is too strange by half, Miss Tess, and we’re no further forward findin’ any trace of your father here. We’ve been into every room in the house, even the attics, and found nothin'. The sooner we get out of here the better.”

“A few more days,” Tess said. “I should like to know how long Miss Rochester spends with Eustace first. That is an odd pairing. Very odd indeed.”

***

M iss Rochester returned the next day, late in the afternoon, again in Eustace’s carriage. Betty had discovered there had been a public assembly in Scarborough that evening, so she was satisfied that the lady had been dancing the night away. Tess said nothing, disbelieving, for the girl had worn an ordinary evening gown not the more elaborate ball gown. She determined that she would watch Eustace more closely when she returned home.

She was almost ready to abandon Apstead House and accept that her father had never been there when she made a discovery. Like many houses of a size suitable for a gentleman’s family, there was a small coach house at the bottom of the garden backing onto a quiet lane. It was from the lane, she presumed, that the gentleman caller had come, walking through the garden to the house. The garden itself was neat and tidy, for Mrs Mayberry was indefatigable with a trowel in her hand, and no weed dared to show its face. The coach house was less well cared for. It contained an ancient gig, but there was no horse and no groom, nothing but a few wisps of rotting hay and a great many cobwebs. Outside stairs at one side led to an upper floor, perhaps intended as accommodation for a groom. On the other side was the privy.

Tess had explored a little, while supposedly visiting the privy, and discovered that the door to the upper floor was firmly locked. She thought nothing of it until the day that, hidden behind the privy door, she had seen Mrs Mayberry go up the stairs. Creeping quickly around to a better vantage point, she watched Mrs Mayberry unlock the door, go inside and emerge a few minutes later with a heavy purse in her hand. She hastily tucked it away into a pocket of her old-fashioned skirts, but Tess had seen enough.

“There is money in there!” she hissed to Betty. “We have to get inside.”

“Lord, Miss Tess, you’re like a dog with a bone!” Betty said. “There’s nothing amiss with a lady keepin’ a little cash locked away safe like that. If your fortune were in there, d’you think she’d be livin’ in a little house like this, with not enough servants? And why don’t she have more servants, anyway? She’s got to be desperate, taking us on.”

“True, but if she has money of her own hidden away, why is the better food such a recent innovation? The furnishings are good — Turkish carpets, I would swear, porcelain everywhere and some fine paintings on the walls. And Miss Rochester’s clothes were not cheap. Have you looked through the young ladies’ wardrobes? Not in the first stare of fashion, but good quality fabrics.”

“Cut too low, and too flimsy, if you ask me,” Betty said darkly.

Tess only laughed. “You should see what Izzy wears sometimes. Very low cut, very flimsy.”

“She’s a married lady,” Betty said. “I don’t care what you say, Miss Tess, I don’t like this house. I don’t like it at all. There’s something not right about it.”

“I dislike it, too,” Tess said, “and as soon as I have seen inside that room above the coach house, we can leave.”

Betty sighed and rolled her eyes. “You’ll need the keys, and the mistress hangs them from her waist.”

“Only during the day. When she dresses for dinner, she leaves them in the housekeeper’s room. This evening, when Margaret is upstairs serving the tea, Mrs Harris is asleep in her chair and Phyllis is in the scullery — that will be my opportunity.”

The first part of this plan went remarkably well. Mrs Harris, the cook, did indeed nod off, Phyllis was occupied washing dishes in the scullery and Margaret was serving tea upstairs when Tess crept along the passage to the housekeeper’s room, slipped inside and took the large bunch of keys. Then she scuttled to the kitchen door and out into the garden, as if going to the privy. Instead, she ran light-footed up the stairs to the groom’s apartment and began to work her way through the keys on the ring, trying to find the one that opened the door.

Male voices from below caused her to freeze. Two men walked past the end of the coach house, passing directly below the stairs on which she crouched, trying to make herself as small as possible and fade into the shadows. The sun was not yet set, and if they had looked up they could not have failed to see Tess. They did not look up, passing on up the garden, absorbed in their own conversation — it sounded as if they were discussing a horse race. A burst of laughter, and then they were gone.

Tess turned quickly back to the locked door, and finally, with almost the last key she tried, the lock turned and the door opened.

The room was disappointing. It was, at first sight, just what one would have expected, sleeping quarters for a groom. There was a low bed, devoid of mattress or blankets, a washstand, a chest of drawers and wardrobe, and a battered wooden table set in front of a window, set with paper, ink and pens. There were some pegs in the wall for hanging coats, and a few nails where pictures might once have hung. Curiously for a disused room, it was clean and tidy, with none of the cobwebs so prevalent in the coach house below. Someone, then, cleaned regularly.

But where had the money come from? With light from the lowering sun pouring through the window, she began pulling open drawers. They were full. Some contained bills, mostly from Pickering businesses, some were letters or business documents that she would need to read carefully to understand. And finally — success! One drawer contained account books neatly annotated in her father’s hand. A metal cash box contained four hundred and twenty pounds in notes and guineas, and a quantity of smaller coins.

Triumphantly, she let the coins slide through her fingers. Her father had been to this house, had kept an office here, had kept records of his expenses. But there was no sign of her fortune, or a safe where it might be hidden, and no other cupboard, apart from the wardrobe. With a rush of excitement, she pulled open the wardrobe door, and there it was — a neat safe, undoubtedly containing a multitude of gold bars. Her gold bars.

She could see at a glance that none of the keys on the ring would fit the safe. Now, where would her father keep the key? On his person? No, the key to the safe at Corland had been hidden on the underside of the desk, and undoubtedly the same was true here. All she had to do was search carefully.

Just as she was about to crawl on the floor looking under the writing table, the door creaked open and a dark figure loomed in the doorway. Mrs Mayberry, resplendent in purple, with Margaret hovering behind.

“I told you I saw someone moving about,” Margaret said.

“Well?” Mrs Mayberry said. “What have you to say for yourself, you little thief?”

Tess jumped to her feet and rubbed her dusty hands on her skirt, and laughed in their faces. “Oh no, you have that wrong. You are the thief, not I. Did I not see you come in here and take money away?”

“That is my money,” Mrs Mayberry said. “All of this is mine.”

“On the contrary, all of this is mine ,” Tess hissed at her. “This house and everything in it was left to me by my father who owned it before me. Everyone said he never came here, but he did, this room proves that he did. That money you have been stealing was his and is now mine, and the contents of that safe were his and are now mine.”

The two women gazed at her, open-mouthed in astonishment. “You? You are Miss Nicholson?” Margaret whispered.

“I am.”

“Nonsense,” Mrs Mayberry said robustly. “We’ll see what the constables have to say about that. But whoever you are, you can pack your things and leave within the hour, you and that so-called sister of yours.”

“You cannot throw me out of my own house,” Tess said.

“I am the tenant here and I have the right to peaceful occupation, and no disruption by the owner until the tenancy expires. So you leave and you don’t come back, understood?”

Tess was quite prepared to argue the point, but she recalled something of the sort that the lawyers had mentioned. When she married, her husband could reclaim the house, but until then her trustees insisted on leaving the tenant in place.

“Very well, but there is four hundred and twenty pounds in the cash box, and I shall expect there still to be four hundred and twenty pounds when you leave, and the contents of the safe untouched, for I know what is inside it.” At least, she sincerely hoped she did. “If anything is missing, I shall see you hanged or transported. Understood?”

Mrs Mayberry did not deign to reply.

“Where is the key to the safe, do you know?”

Still no reply. There was nothing for it but to leave with as much dignity as she could manage. Within an hour, she and Betty were back at the inn, settling down in the common room to a second dinner, this time with wine.

“Now what, Miss Tess?” Betty said. “Back to Corland?”

“Heavens, no. That would be far too tame. I shall not give in so easily, you may be sure. At least now I know where my fortune is. All I have to do is get hold of it.”

“That’s just what you can’t do, Miss Tess. You’ll not get near it again, not with those women watching.”

“No, and they will change the lock on that room and hide the new key, so there will be no sneaking in.”

“If you tell the lawyers, maybe they—?”

“No,” Tess said quickly. “Not the lawyers. What I need, I think, is a husband.” She giggled suddenly. “And I have the very man in mind.”

“Now, Miss Tess, what are you up to?”

“You will see.” She giggled again. “I think it is time I paid a visit to my aunt’s sister.”

***

T he first priority was to return to Helmsley to collect her boxes from Susan. Tess had no desire to subject herself to the common stage again, so she hired a post chaise and four.

Susan grabbed her arm anxiously when she saw her. “Oh, Tess, there have been so many people looking for you! First, a groom from Corland, and then your cousin, Mr Kent, and finally a Scotsman who was sent by a Captain Somebody—”

“Edgerton,” Tess said with distaste. “Nasty, snooping man.”

“That’s the one, although the Scotsman was very pleasant, but Tess, I couldn’t pretend you were here. Well, I’ve never been any good at lying. Still, I wouldn’t tell them where you were. I swear, I never told them anything!”

“Not to worry,” Tess said easily. “It is of no consequence. My mother need not know everything I do.”

“She wrote to you just a few days after you left,” Susan said. “Here… but nothing after that. I suppose when you didn’t write back, she realised you weren’t here and sent people to find out where you were.”

“Well, this is excellent news,” Tess said, swiftly scanning it. “Aunt Caroline has gone to Harfield, which gives me even more of an excuse to go there myself.”

“Harfield Priory?” Betty said. “How are you goin’ to get a husband there? I thought you disliked the new Lord Tarvin.”

“Everyone dislikes Edward,” Tess said disdainfully. “A starchier, more disagreeable man would be hard to find, but he will still be in London, we must hope. But he is not the only man at Durham.”

“Well, I’m sure I don’t know of any others,” Betty muttered, but Tess only smiled at her. The more she considered her new plan, the more perfect she thought it.

Bidding Susan a fond farewell with a pretty little necklace and some expensive tea for her aunt, to thank them for their help, Tess made her way north. Their route passed by Corland Castle, but she chose not to stop there, even for one night. Even though her mother would perhaps not try to dissuade her from going to Harfield, it would be an unnecessary delay. She had written from Helmsley to tell Lady Alice her plans, and that, she felt, satisfied the proprieties.

She stopped at Birchall village, however, for she had not seen Tom for three weeks and who knew when she might be back at Corland? She had no great desire to see any of her family, but not seeing Tom would be insupportable.

He was busy at work, but he laid down his tools, turning to her with a wide smile.

“Miss Tess! Haven’t seen you for an age — gone off to Helmsley, so I heard. Or maybe not. There were some odd stories of you disappearing altogether.”

“I have been looking for my fortune. Oh, kiss me, Tom, or I shall run mad. I have missed you so much.”

“Well now, Miss Tess, we really shouldn’t. Not now you have to marry a gentleman.”

“Nonsense!” She pushed him onto the nearest chair and settled herself firmly on his lap. “I shall marry where I please, once I have my fortune in my hand.”

His arms crept round her waist, but he said, “It’ll be in your husband’s hand, not yours.”

“Not if I get to it before the lawyers do. Can you not see? All those gold bars are like coins — very expensive coins. Once a coin is in your pocket, no one knows where it came from or who owned it before. It belongs to whoever has it. Once I have those gold bars, which are mine , may I remind you, no one can take them away from me, and I shall be free to do whatever I like.”

She pressed her lips against his, and for a moment he allowed it, but then he drew back. “Do you know where they are, these gold bars of yours?”

She giggled. “I do! They are at my Pickering house. That widow, Mrs Mayberry, she told everyone my father had never been there, but she lied. He had an office there, well hidden, but I found it, with bills and account books — and a safe! I could not find the key to the safe, but the gold is inside it, I am certain.”

Again she leant towards him, but he held her away from him. “You’ve been there? Inside?”

“Yes! Betty and I worked there as housemaids.”

“Housemaids! You, a proper lady, working as a housemaid? That’s not right, not right at all.”

“No, and it was hard work, I can tell you. You cannot imagine how much needs to be done just to keep one small house clean. I am quite worn to the bone. But I found the office and the safe, although I was caught before I could get the safe open. So now I have to find a different plan to get my money.”

He picked her up and set her bodily on her feet, rising himself. “You and your schemes! You’re such a clever little thing, Miss Tess. But I might be able to help. I know how to get into a safe — some safes, that is. If there’s just the one key to it, I might be able to pick the lock.”

“How good you are, Tom, but there will be no need for lock-picking. I shall find the key, never fear, just as soon as I can take possession of the house. But until then, my fortune is quite safe. My trustees will not go there, and the lying Mrs Mayberry will keep thieves away from it. She is as good as a watchdog! But I must find a way to get her and her nieces out of the house, and get into it myself, without the trustees elbowing their way in.”

“Because they would take control of your fortune?”

“Exactly so! The only way for me to be free is to have those gold bars in my possession, and no one else knowing anything about them. If the trustees find them first, that is the end of that. They will be taken to the bank to await the pleasure of my gentleman husband, and I shall never see them again. But if I get to them first…”

“You’ll be free,” Tom parroted with a smile. “I’m sure you’re clever enough to do it, too, and I’ll help if I can, you know that. I want you to have whatever makes you happy.”

“And then we can be married, and no one can stop us,” she said with a beaming smile.