Page 15 of The Book of Lost Stories

Changed Relations

After such joyful anticipation it was too much: Cicely fainted away. By the time her senses were restored, the castle was in the hands of strangers – and it was all too soon made clear to her that the old order had changed and nothing would ever be the same again.

Ravish’d by Cruel Fate by ORLANDO brOWNE

Dear Nell,

You will have received my hasty note telling you of my cousin James’s return, and I must now describe to you the dismal tea party we had with the new Lady Basset.

It lasted for barely half an hour (though it seemed longer!) during which time she interrogated me in the most vulgar and prying way imaginable as to my resources.

Charlotte is a large, fair, Roman-nosed woman of about my own age, with a brusque manner, a loud voice and a shape that leads me to conclude that she is already well on the way to providing my cousin with an heir.

I can now read between the lines of what James told us yesterday of her immediate history, and perceive that she was so well and truly on the shelf that her widowed mother saw nothing for it but to take her to a different market: that of Antigua, where a fresh complexion and flaxen hair might be enough to procure her a husband.

She must have laid siege to poor James the moment she set eyes on such a prize, seized him, and now means to rule the roost. She was not at all grateful for my attempts to keep the Hall in good state for her arrival, but rather critical of anything that smacked to her of a lack of economy, by which I deduce that her mama’s finances are even more straitened than ours.

Mrs Young and two unmarried sisters are to arrive at the Hall in due course, and there was a distinct gleam in her ladyship’s eye when she asked me what families of consequence there were locally who could be asked to dine, and whether there were unmarried sons among them.

She seems full of energy despite her condition and means to pay a call on us tomorrow, being curious to see the Dower House, although I told her it was little but an extended cottage rather than the small mansion she might imagine.

I will tell you more of her visit later, but clear it is to see that we are not about to become bosom bows!

Your affectionate friend,

Alys

‘Well!’ said Lady Basset, walking into the small and rather shabby parlour next day, shadowed somewhat apologetically by her husband.

She cast a hawk-like and proprietary gaze around the room. ‘This is quite cosy, and could be made exceedingly pleasant. It is certainly not a mansion , but neither is it merely a cottage .’

‘It was extended for my great-grandmother, years ago,’ James explained. ‘That is how it became known as the Dower House.’

‘And the furniture?’

‘Most of the furnishings came originally from the Hall, I believe,’ Alys said, ‘as did the china and linen.’ The latter, she reflected, being so worn it had been twice turned and was now more patchwork coverlet than sheet.

‘Perhaps you would do me the kindness of showing me over the house, Miss Weston?’

It was more a command than a request, but not an unexpected one, for Alys by now had her ladyship’s measure; nor was she surprised by the way she so rudely and inquisitively poked and pried about.

Alys had already taken the precaution of locking into one of the presses her little desk and any novels – such as her own – that might cause an eyebrow to be raised.

Their tour took in the kitchen, where Mary regarded the lady in a steely manner that might have disconcerted a more sensitive woman.

‘I am astonished that you have not installed a closed stove,’ Lady Basset said, ‘for you would find it a great saving in coals and much more efficient.’

‘Nay, I’ve never needed nowt but what I have,’ Mary said belligerently, but luckily her accent was too thick to be entirely comprehensible to Lady Basset, who favoured her with a cold stare, then turned and stalked back to the parlour.

‘Fetch tea, Mary, would you?’ asked Alys. ‘And perhaps some of those little honey cakes?’

‘Tek more than honey to sweeten that one,’ Mary said, ‘though ’tis clear what honeypot she used to snare Mr James! But there, that’s like a man.’

Lady Basset’s noisy advance across the uncarpeted floor of the parlour finally woke Pug, who had been asleep on his cushion dreaming, with twitching legs and small whimpers, of catching a rabbit. A small, very slow, defenceless rabbit … Jolted awake, he sat up and issued a series of wheezy barks.

‘I see you still have Pug, Cousin,’ James said, then explained to his wife: ‘When my stepmother died, Pug attached himself to Alys.’

‘Indeed?’ Lady Basset contemplated the creature. ‘My youngest sister, Honoria, is fond of dogs. It would make a pleasant gift to welcome her to her new home.’

‘But you could not separate him from Alys now!’ Letty gasped. ‘Oh, pray excuse me if I sounded rude, Lady Basset, but you do not know how the poor creature pined for his mistress.’

James looked discomfited as his wife, ignoring Letty’s outburst, bent down intending to lift the little dog up by the scruff and examine him further. Pug, eyes bulging indignantly at such lese-majesty, lunged at her, snapping.

‘The evil creature bit me!’ Charlotte exclaimed incredulously, snatching back her hand.

‘No, no, I dare say he was just surprised and alarmed when you bent over him,’ Letty said, hurrying over and examining the injured member. ‘See, the skin is not broken, for he does not have two teeth left in his head that meet!’

‘So sorry,’ Alys said sweetly, returning from confining Pug to the kitchen. ‘I should have warned you that he is not quite at ease with strangers.’

‘It is no matter,’ Lady Basset said shortly. ‘The creature is clearly too old and unstable to adapt to a new owner and should probably be destroyed.’

‘We will purchase a little dog for your sister instead, how is that?’ James suggested.

‘You are very kind.’ She drew on her gloves.

‘Mary is just bringing tea: will you not stay for it?’ enquired Alys.

‘No indeed, I have much to do.’ Lady Basset looked about her again and then said, with a sly, sharp sideways glance at Alys, ‘Yes, I believe Mama and the girls will be extremely comfortable here at the Dower House – but that we can discuss once they are safely with me.’

Out she sailed. James, crimsoning, ran after her, leaving a stunned silence behind him.

‘Well, Letty,’ Alys said, ‘you see we are shortly to receive our marching orders, so it is well that we have some means of supporting ourselves elsewhere. Still, it would certainly suit us if we need not remove until April when the tenants are out of our house in London. How surprised James will be when he learns we own such a property.’

*

‘I am glad Ravish’d is coming along so well now, for I do not like to leave such a long gap between new novels. But I suppose after three of them it is unlikely I will be entirely forgotten, for people will always like to be horrified and frightened.’

‘It still seems very odd to me that you should be an infamous novelist, talked about by all the ton in London,’ Letty confessed.

‘Only, of course, they think you are a man. Why, even Mrs Franby warned me against Orlando Browne’s novels, particularly The Captive Bride of Castle Grismort , which she said was a distasteful volume of no possible interest to any lady of delicate sensibilities! ’

‘She said much the same about that book by Mr Lewis, but Lady Basset bought it just the same … Although, come to think of it, it was rather shocking,’ Alys said, with a twinkle in her grey eyes.

She went back to her manuscript, making a few corrections to the last page, and thinking how quiet it was without Papa raging in his bedchamber or shooting off his pistol in the garden.

She felt she had had enough of Little Stidding and was quite ready to live in a place where she could see faces other than those of sheep, visit lending libraries, museums and concerts, and generally amuse herself when she was not at work.

She wondered if a short visit to London in the spring would be a good idea, before they sold the Hans Town house and settled on somewhere to live permanently. She would like to see all the sights she had heard about, and was sure Letty would be glad to visit her relatives.

*

Lady Basset lost no time in paying another call at the Dower House, and had barely sat down before beginning, ‘Miss Weston, you must excuse my plain speaking, but you now have your way to make in the world and need to cut your coat according to your cloth. First, you must instantly dismiss Miss Grimshaw, which will be an immediate economy. I cannot understand why you have not already done it. Then you should advertise for a position for yourself as a governess or companion.’

‘I thank you for your concern, Lady Basset,’ Alys said, feeling deeply grateful that her future was not in the hands of so cold and ungenerous a woman.

‘You will be delighted to learn that I am not quite the destitute orphan you think me, and in fact own a small house in a respectable part of London, to which I intend removing myself and my companion as soon as the present tenant’s lease expires in the spring. ’

The effect of this announcement gave her great satisfaction, for Lady Basset’s jaw dropped with astonishment.

‘A house ! How is this? James did not tell me your father had property of any kind. In fact, he gave me to understand that you would be very lucky if your income came to more than a hundred and fifty pounds a year.’

‘I dare say James did not know all of my father’s business.’

‘Pray, in what part of London is this house?’

‘Hans Town.’

Lady Basset looked down her Roman nose. ‘I do not believe that is where the ton live.’

‘No, but neither is it a back-slum. In any case, I mean to sell it and move to some small, quiet town.’

‘Major Weston cannot have been open and honest in his dealings with Sir Ralph, when he came to live here at his expense,’ said Lady Basset, looking very much put out.