Page 8 of Secrecy (The Chaplain’s Legacy #4)

T ess was astonished to have achieved her goal so easily. Her words to the suggestible Ulric had planted the idea of Myercroft and a wife in his head, and Mrs Jack had done the rest, simply telling him what to say to Tess when he next saw her. And he had done it!

Even if nothing came of this and she failed to recover her fortune, it was entirely worth the effort just to see the blind fury on Lord Tarvin’s face. He had wheeled his horse about, and taken off at speed, not to be seen again. Tess spent the rest of the morning riding with Ulric, visiting every inn within a ten mile radius, so it seemed, while Ulric shouted to everyone he saw that he was getting married.

When they returned to the Myercroft stables, there was a girl waiting there, a plump person of perhaps twenty-five, who greeted them unsmilingly.

“Is it true, Ulric? You are to be married?”

“Yes. A wife. Cousin Tess. Live at Myercroft.”

“Then… we shall have to leave?” She spoke too quietly for Ulric to hear, for he was already leading his horse into the stable building.

Tess slid from her horse. “You are one of the Petersons?”

“Fanny Peterson, yes. We’ve lived here for sixteen years, and will be very sad to leave Myercroft.”

“Then I am very sorry to turn you out, but Ulric is of age now. It is time he took back his own home.”

“Oh, yes, but we never thought he would! Lord Tarvin always assured us— But that cannot hold, naturally, if he is to marry. You will… take good care of Ulric?”

“Of course,” Tess said. “You may be easy on that head. I mean no harm to him.”

“No, but that’s not quite the same thing,” she said, looking Tess straight in the eye. “I don’t know what your reason is to wish to marry Ulric, but I don’t think his well-being is foremost in your thoughts. Forgive my bluntness, but I don’t know you, and have no reason to suspect that you have any great affection for Ulric.”

“I mean him no harm,” Tess said again, but Miss Peterson’s clear-eyed gaze was unnerving all the same. It was true that she was using Ulric for her own purposes, and even if he benefited in the end, that was not her principal concern, and she could not but be uncomfortable about that. She would not surrender her purpose, but her conscience prodded her rather.

That evening was difficult. Even the servants were jumpy, for the butler knocked over a glass of wine and a footman dropped a dish of vegetables. Amongst the diners, there was no conversation, and the older ladies retired early to bed. Tess would have gone, too, but Lord Tarvin peremptorily asked her to stay.

“We should talk about Ulric, Miss Nicholson.”

“What is there to say?”

“You should be aware that the Petersons have Myercroft on a repeating lease, renewable every Lady Day. They cannot be removed before next Lady Day, therefore.”

“That is no difficulty. I do not imagine that Ulric and I could be married before I come of age in the spring. My mother is very likely to take your side in the matter and refuse her permission.”

“You do not feel that your mother’s opinion should carry some weight in your mind? Your uncle, too, will no doubt disapprove of such a—” He stopped, slightly flushed.

“No, do speak your mind. You have already abused me soundly, so nothing you say could give me a worse opinion of you.”

“I beg your pardon. I should not have spoken so intemperately.”

He was breathing heavily, as he attempted to rein in his temper, then he rose and crossed the drawing room in quick steps. Pouring himself a brandy, he returned to the sofa where Tess sat, and pulled up a chair to sit a little closer to her.

“Miss Nicholson, I must speak openly with you, although I hope without insult. I can see that Ulric is a tempting prize, but you do not know him as I do. He may seem meekly biddable now, but as a boy he was not so calm. He was prone to outbursts of rage which could be violent at times. He was for a while somewhat difficult to control, until we realised his affinity for horses, and kept him occupied that way. For some years now he has been quite content, and such behaviour is a thing of the past. However, if he marries, the change in his circumstances… there is no predicting quite how it will take him, and if you, as a relative stranger, have inserted yourself into his life, living in close proximity to him… you can see how things might take a nasty turn. I should not wish you to be exposed to any danger of that sort.”

“I shall not be in danger, Lord Tarvin.”

The frown reappeared instantly. “You are over-confident, madam! You cannot know how Ulric will react, and he is a big man, a powerful man, and you are a such a dainty creature. I should not wish you to be hurt by him.”

“And I shall not be, sir. I am confident that this is so, for I shall not be living at Myercroft with Ulric.”

The frown changed to bewilderment. “Then what on earth is the point of this charade? If not Myercroft, what do you want? His money, is that it? A large settlement so that you can go off and live as you please? You will catch cold at that, for the lawyers and I will take the greatest care over the settlement, you may depend upon that.”

Tess could hardly believe he knew nothing of her situation. “I care nothing for Myercroft, or Ulric’s fortune!”

“Nonsense! You are not doing this out of the goodness of your heart. If it is not Myercroft you want, it must be money. How much?”

“What?”

“Let us get to the point, Miss Nicholson. How much will it take for you to relinquish your hold on Ulric? Ten thousand? I can do that if it will get rid of you.”

“How dare you! I do not want your money!”

“Twenty thousand, then.”

“Did you not say you would avoid further insult, sir? And yet you see fit to try to bribe me! Your money is nothing to me, nothing. I do not want so much as a penny piece from you or from Ulric. How should I, when I have a fortune of my own, if I can get my hands on it? Did your Mama not tell you about me — about the terms of my father’s will? No? My father left me his entire fortune, since I am an only child, but only on condition that I marry a gentleman. Ulric is a gentleman, is he not? He will serve my purposes admirably. In fact, I may not even need to marry him. A betrothal may be enough. Now do you understand?”

His eyes glittered for a moment, and she held her breath. Would he erupt again, or would he see the logic behind it? “I did not know that,” he said stiffly. “That does not improve my opinion of you. It was low when I believed you were merely in pursuit of Ulric’s wealth, but it is even lower now that I know you mean to use him for your own purposes and then discard him when he is no longer of use.”

“What do I care for your opinion of me?” she said impatiently. “And how is Ulric harmed by this? If we marry and take control of his estate, then he and his family will have a more pleasant home to live in and a more agreeable life, without you needing to dip into your pockets to rescue them from debt. So long as Ulric has his horses, he will be happy.”

“Do you know what will happen if his mother moves back to Myercroft?” he said tersely. “She will run through his fortune in two years or less, and then I shall be called upon to dip into my pockets, as you describe it, far more than at present. I do not begrudge the allowance that is paid them, nor the few pounds here and there when the children need new boots or the butcher’s bill becomes pressing, but I will not fund that woman to live like a great lady at Myercroft.”

Now it was Tess’s turn to frown. That was a problem! She had assumed that Mrs Jack lived in seeming poverty because her funds were too limited for her numerous family, and that with a larger income she would be comfortable. She had not taken her for a spendthrift. Yet now she thought about it, she had seen the trunks in the attic filled with bolts of cloth that had been determined after all to be unsuitable, the furniture still with years of use in it replaced, and the vast amount of waste in the kitchen. Mrs Jack looked eagerly forward to invitations to card parties, yet bemoaned her poor luck.

“I shall consider that,” she said. “There must be a way to ensure she has no way to overspend. If I were there… but I shall not be. Even if I could persuade Ulric to let you have the management of his finances, you are not always here, either, and his mother would be there every day, dropping hints in his ear.”

“Exactly so,” he said, with an unexpected smile. Oh, but he should smile more often! How handsome he was when he was not scowling.

“We will both consider the problem,” Tess said. “Of course, if I can get hold of my fortune without marrying Ulric, that would make the question moot, and everything could go on as before. That is what you want, is it not?”

“It would be for the best.”

“I shall write again to my uncle, and see if I can persuade him to— Well, never mind. My betrothal must carry some weight with him, so I will write and see what may be done.”

“Would it help if I write, too?” Lord Tarvin said. “He may listen to the urging of another peer.”

Tess sat up straighter. “Now that is better! We should not be enemies, should we? We both want the same thing, after all — for me to go away and leave Ulric in peace, which I shall be very happy to do once I have my fortune. If you write, be sure to mention the house in Pickering. I need access to that — will you tell him so?” She made no mention of safes or gold bars — he had no need to know about that.

“I shall be sure to do so,” he said. “Anything to be rid of you.”

They both laughed, and since Lord Tarvin wanted to know more about the terms of the will, they talked for some time in perfect amity, only retiring to bed when the clock struck midnight.

***

T ess was not trusting enough to leave Lord Tarvin to write his own letter to Lord Rennington, for who knew what he might say and what mischief might be caused as a result? So she rose early and loitered in the hall until he descended the stairs, and then supervised as he wrote the letter in the library.

It was rather cleverly done, she had to admit. Lord Tarvin appealed to the earl as one lord to another, and one trustee to another. Since he would be winding up his cousin’s trust fund and drawing up settlements for his marriage to Miss Nicholson, he wrote, it would be convenient for him to know the full extent of her fortune. In particular, there was a house in Pickering which had not yet been examined and valued, and might he send a trusted man of his to view the interior and assess the value? Then he franked his letter and Tess’s too, and dispatched a footman to get them at once to the post.

While they awaited replies from Corland, they went over to Myercroft every day, and rode with Ulric. Tess found these rides far more agreeable with Lord Tarvin’s presence. Unlike Ulric, he rode at an easy pace, stopping often to admire a particularly picturesque view, or to comment on the signs of burgeoning prosperity or incipient neglect in Ulric’s land, or simply to pass the time of day with a farmer or cottage wife or some boys painstakingly digging out a ditch beside the road. And in between, he chatted easily about this and that. If he was especially interested in Tess herself and her Corland life, that was not to be wondered at since she was betrothed to Ulric.

In the evenings, they made up a four for whist with Lady Tarvin and Mrs Edward Harfield, where Mrs Harfield apologised to Edward for every infelicitous play the other ladies made, and glared defiantly at him for her own mistakes. He uttered no reproof but wore his most disapproving expression.

If the ladies declined to play, or retired early to bed, Tess and Lord Tarvin played chess, and his frowns disappeared. Especially when his mother was not present, he was an agreeable and even amusing companion, as if he had forgotten that Tess was supposed to be his enemy. Only when Ulric was mentioned did his sour face return until he became absorbed in the game again. She discovered that they were evenly matched in the game, but she felt it expedient to allow him to win most of the time, since it kept him in humour.

“Did your father teach you to play?” he asked her one evening as they set up the board.

“No, he was a cards man. Piquet, principally, but he would play any card game, especially if there was money to be won. My cousin Kent taught me to play chess when his brothers showed no aptitude for the game.”

“It is a slow game that does not suit everyone. Most people prefer cards, I suppose.”

“Too slow for Walter, perhaps. He learnt all the moves, but he never bothered to apply himself to improving. But Eustace — he would have played well, for he has a clever mind, and the patience to let a strategy play out to its end, but board games are not his strength. He confuses left and right, and so he frequently goes wrong. He could never play backgammon at all, for he would keep moving his pieces the wrong way. He can only play cribbage if someone else moves the pegs.”

Lord Tarvin laughed. “Poor fellow! How does he manage? Does he lose himself when he rides, or perhaps he takes a groom with him every time he ventures out?”

“At the end of his drive, he has ‘Corland’ painted on one gatepost and ‘Stokesley’ on the other, so he knows which way to turn. After that, his horse knows the way.”

“Truly? That I should like to see.”

“Oh, it is very subtly done, with ivy all round so no one notices, but the signs are there, all the same. Are you going to move, or shall we just sit here indefinitely?”

He laughed again, and moved a pawn briskly. “So tell me, why did your father leave your inheritance in so odd a way? That whole business of marrying a gentleman is rather insulting, as if he did not trust you to marry suitably.”

“And he did not,” she said, moving her own pawn.

“Why should he think so? Have you given him reason to mistrust you?”

She hesitated. That was a perceptive question! But there was no secret about Tom, after all. “There was a man… a woodworker from the village near Corland. Tom Shapman. I have been friendly with him and last year he went to my father and asked for my hand. Papa refused, naturally, but it must have been after seeing Tom that he wrote this stupid will.”

Lord Tarvin reached for a knight, then lowered his hand. “One can see his point. A woodworker is hardly a suitable husband for the niece of an earl. But why did he do it? The woodworker, I mean. You must have given him some encouragement.”

“Of course I encouraged him,” she burst out indignantly. “He would never have done anything about it if I had not.”

“But you would never marry him — would you?”

“I would far rather marry Tom than anyone else. At least he is a real man doing real work, not an idle, selfish, overdressed clodpole, like most gentlemen. He is so clever with his hands! He makes some wonderful things, but he spends so much of his life turning chair legs and making coffins and doors. More than anything, I want him to be able to let his artistic nature have full rein, which he will be able to do if he marries me. But unless I can somehow get my hands on my fortune without marrying anyone else, Tom is out of the question.”

She could not quite keep the regret out of her voice, and perhaps he noticed it, for he said sharply, “Then your father has succeeded in his aim of protecting you from fortune hunters.”

“Tom is no fortune hunter!”

“But he is by no means your equal, in rank, education or wealth,” he said dismissively. “Are you going to defend your bishop?”

“Pah!” she said, in annoyance, and was so cross with him that for once she played to win, and trounced him handily. They parted in an atmosphere of mutual dislike.

***

T he replies from Lord Rennington, when they arrived, were not encouraging. To Tess he said only that the matter would be considered when she was suitably married, which thoroughly enraged her.

“Suitably married? Who is to be the arbiter of that if not myself? A gentleman, that is all that is required, and Ulric is a gentleman, is he not? And we are betrothed, and therefore as good as married, so why should I not have access to my own house? All I want is to see inside it. Is that so much to ask?”

Lord Tarvin wisely made no response to this diatribe. His own letter from the earl was longer, but no more helpful.

‘Lord Tarvin, While I appreciate your concerns, be aware that my niece will not be of age until May of next year, and therefore there is no urgency in the matter. My sister, while pleased that her daughter is inclined to comply with the terms of her father’s will, is by no means agreeable to granting permission for the match before then. In fact, given the volatile nature of my niece’s affections over the past year, it may well be that they will shift again before too long. For these reasons, I will not agree to any precipitate action. The house my niece has inherited is well tenanted by a respectable widow, and it has been agreed that she need not be disturbed unnecessarily. You will understand, therefore, that I must respectfully decline your proposal at this time. If my niece’s intentions remain fixed over the next six months, then I shall reconsider my decision. Yours in friendship, Rennington.’

That set Tess off again. “Volatile! He thinks my affections may shift again, indeed! Well! So that is what he thinks of me. I am glad to know of it, but I shall not sully your ears with my opinion of him.”

Lord Tarvin laughed. “No, better leave it to the imagination. I confess, I am disappointed. You are officially betrothed, after all, so some discussion of settlements ought to be undertaken. Apart from the house, how much is this fortune of yours?”

“Eleven thousand.”

“That is not insignificant, yet it is what one might expect a chaplain to leave. I suppose this house comprises the bulk of his fortune. Is it a large estate?”

“It is not an estate at all, just an ordinary house in a small town.”

“Oh. Then surely—?”

“You think there is nothing valuable there? It may be so, but it was bought years ago by the 10th Earl who was very free with his money. There is no knowing what treasures may be found within.” Especially in the safe, she must hope. But there was no need to mention that. Only Tom knew her innermost thoughts on that subject.

Another letter arrived, this time from her mother, congratulating her in stiff terms on her engagement, and inviting her to bring Ulric to Corland so that she could meet him.

“That would not be a good idea,” Lord Tarvin said sharply, when the letter was shown to him. “Ulric does best on familiar ground.”

“Although I could probably tempt him there,” Tess said, mischievously. “The Corland stables are magnificent, and stuffed to the rafters with excellent horseflesh. Ulric would love it. He could ride a different horse every day for a month.”

“Please!” Lord Tarvin said, wincing. “Do not even think it. Your plans will be quite sunk if your family actually meet Ulric.”

“Do you think so? And yet he is indisputably a gentleman, no one can argue otherwise. No, no, do not look so agonised. I shall not do it. But he would like it there.”

“You are a wicked girl to tease me so, Tess,” Lord Tarvin said. “But what are we to do about this house of yours? Shall I send someone to Pickering to have a look at it? As Ulric’s trustee, I do have a right to know what his future wife brings to the marriage.”

But while they were considering ways to accomplish this, news arrived from Corland that drove all thought of houses and fortunes out of Tess’s head altogether. She was in the drawing room with the ladies one afternoon, pretending to work on some tapestry, while Lord Tarvin read out snippets from last week’s London papers, when Jeffries came in bearing a silver salver.

“Your letters, my lady. Quite a few today, after the rain further south flooded so many roads, but the mail is finally getting through at last.”

“Oh, good,” Lady Tarvin said. “I wondered why everything has been local for the last few days. Alvira, several for you. And Tess, one for you, from Corland. Your uncle’s hand, I fancy.”

Tess could not have imagined as she broke the seal and unfolded the letter the dire news contained within.

‘My dearest niece, You must prepare for a very great shock, for the most unexpected event has occurred. Your friend Tom Shapman walked into the castle yesterday and confessed to killing your father. You may imagine how…’

Tess could read no more. She screamed, and then she screamed again.

Lord Tarvin crossed the room in a few swift strides, and caught her as she fell insensible from her chair.