Chapter 13
Caroline woke for the final day of their journey with mixed feelings.
Today they would reach London, which filled her both with excitement and dread.
They had forty miles to cover and four stops and were predicted to reach London around late afternoon.
Would Gervaise’s uncle really be so amenable to taking an unknown woman into his employ?
she wondered uneasily. It seemed almost too good to be true.
Then again, presumably Gervaise knew him best. She would just have to thrust all doubts and worries from her mind and trust in Atherton.
He had shown himself remarkably deserving of her trust thus far, she reflected, drawing back her blankets and tiptoeing across the room to look out of the window onto the courtyard below.
Of course, there had been that business of a shared bed at the very first inn, but that hardly qualified as a seduction attempt.
He had even been forced to witness her being extremely unwell, for goodness’ sake!
It was true, a really high-minded gentleman would have given up his room for one so afflicted, but she simply could not imagine Lord Atherton sleeping on a hard wooden bench belowstairs for anyone’s sake, let alone hers.
No, she thought. He had stood a genuine friend to her these past three days, and she had nothing to complain of. Not only had he paid her passage and board without complaint, but he had also been a thoughtful traveling companion in his own way.
For one thing, he had not snubbed poor Canon Petrie, though she knew he must have been sorely tempted.
There had been that business with the cats for another.
First, he had taken a strong exception to her being scolded and then last night he had been touchingly considerate of her not having to take them out in the dark.
Yes, when you really thought about it, he had been genuinely kind.
Catching sight of a tall, dark figure out of the corner of her eye, she turned to see him stood next to a low wall, the two cats at his feet, while he breathed smoke into the morning air.
He could not already be dressed, she thought, though he wore his long dark coat.
Catching the direction of her thoughts, she blushed and prepared to take a step back from the window, lest he spotted her.
At that moment, he raised his hand, and she realized he had already seen her.
She lifted her own hand in acknowledgment, then let it fall as he turned to fully face her window squarely, gazing up at her.
Caroline’s feet felt frozen to the floorboards.
Why did he not turn away? She was not sure how long they stood like that, staring at one another, until she heard a tap at the door and a maid poked her head around it.
“Morning, miss,” she said cheerfully, and the spell was broken.
With a gasp, Caroline turned and walked across the room to take the steaming jug of hot water from her.
“Thank you so much.”
She spent the next ten minutes washing and tidily arranging her hair.
The next time she moved to the window to close the curtains before dressing, he was gone.
Once dressed, she hurried down to breakfast, which at The Royal Oak consisted of a dish of herring and eggs and another of sausage and tomatoes.
Caroline and Canon Petrie ignored both options and plumped instead for toast and jam and were just on their second slices when Gervaise sauntered in cradling both cats in his arms. “Good morning,” he greeted them, sliding into a seat.
Caroline lowered her slice of toast. “Good morning.”
“Good morning indeed. Our final breakfast together,” the canon said, smiling. “Before we go our separate ways.”
Gervaise’s eyes met Caroline’s over the top of the teapot, and she hurriedly poured herself a second cup while he started feeding herring to the cats. “Can I refill your cup, Father Petrie?”
“Thank you, no,” he answered, greeting Romulus, who was rubbing against his legs. “Good morning, Master Romulus, and you too, Master Remus.”
“Will anyone be meeting you off the mail coach, Father?” Caroline asked as Gervaise helped himself liberally to sausage and tomatoes.
“Oh, dear me, no, I know my way to St. Catherine’s very well by this point. I have lived there some fifteen years all told.”
“You have a housekeeper?”
“Of a sort,” he answered vaguely. “Mrs. Chelmsley ‘does’ for all of us clergy. Laundry, you know, and meals. I dare say she will set aside some supper for my return. If she recalls I am due back today, of course. If not, I am sure there will be bread and cheese in the cupboard,” he concluded optimistically.
“And you young people? You must have family waiting for you.”
“We are bound for Melbury Square,” Gervaise answered. “The house of my uncle.”
“Ah,” the canon said, nodding. “Very good. Excellent.”
“Perhaps we should exchange cards,” Gervaise suggested, surprising Caroline considerably.
“Cards?” The canon peered at him across the table.
“Ah yes, of course, cards.” He patted his pockets until he found a thin leather wallet from which he extracted a yellowed card, curling at the corners.
“Now, you must ignore that first address,” he said, “the one that is crossed out. My current address is the one penciled in below it.”
Gervaise took the card from him and then passed one of his own in return. The canon peered at it shortsightedly. “The Earl of Atherton,” he read out loud. “Good gracious,” he said, looking startled. “Did I know that?”
“Introductions were made,” Gervaise answered smoothly.
“Perhaps you should write ‘Remus and Romulus’ on the back to remind you who he is,” Caroline suggested, for she had little doubt he would have forgotten by the time he came across it again.
“Do you know, that’s a good notion,” Canon Petrie answered. “Would you mind doing the honors, my dear?” He passed her the card and a stubby pencil he retrieved from the depths of his breast pocket.
She noted the crisp white card and its elegant copperplate print before turning it over, writing the cats’ names on the back along with a quick drawing of two cats twined about each other, one with spots and one with stripes.
“How kind, most kind.” Canon Petrie beamed when she passed it back to him, tucking it safely away.
An hour later they were bowling along the road, London bound with blue skies and clear road.
“I wonder what your uncle will make of the twins,” Caroline speculated. “Do you live with him when you are in town?”
“I used to,” Gervaise admitted, “but in answer to your question, I do not know how he feels about cats. When I was a child, I had a spaniel named Flossie and Uncle barely seemed aware of her presence under his roof.”
“Miss Delia Pebmarsh keeps spaniels,” Caroline replied. “She has three of them. The squire says they are a disobedient rabble, but Miss Delia says her father feeds them from his plate, so it is his own fault they beg and clamor at mealtimes for they never do it to her.”
“What about the Rylands?” Gervaise asked lazily. “Do they keep any pets?”
“A kitchen cat only,” Caroline replied. “And their sons Master Clarence and Master Frederick were caught throwing stones at it one Sunday. Their cook wanted them soundly whipped for it, but Mrs. Ryland refused so she up and quit their service and went to work for the Tavistocks at Vance House.”
“Yes, that rather sounds like something Mrs. Ryland might do,” Gervaise said through half-closed lids. “Lost her cook, did she?”
“And, ahem, pardon me, but what happened to the cat?” Canon Petrie piped up, looking concerned.
“Oh, the cook took him with her,” Caroline assured him.
“He’s a very fine beast and quite the mouser.
A large black and white tomcat. By all accounts he had his revenge a couple of months later by leaning down from the Tavistocks’ apple tree and biting young Clarence on the top of his head.
Clarence is the elder of the two boys, and Frederick the follower, so no doubt he was the ringleader. ”
“Apparently, Clarence howled so loudly the cook came running from the kitchen and when she heard what had happened, she told him it was ‘nothing but what he deserved.’ His mother was most indignant, for he went home with blood in his hair, but when she appealed to the Tavistocks, old Amos said the boys were likely scrumping in his garden and deserved whatever punishment Tom meted out to them.”
Gervaise laughed and Canon Petrie hid his smile. “Dear me, I expect he was right,” he murmured. “Boys seem attracted to fruit trees like flies to honey.”
“I see the Ryland boys have never endeared themselves to you as my godson has,” Gervaise said.
“Most certainly not. Teddy Vance is my absolute hero,” she answered unthinkingly, then turned awkwardly tongue-tied.
After all, had not he too recently saved her skin and done her a great service?
He was now proposing to find her a job too!
“I—that is, I have been most fortunate of late—” She faltered hopelessly, turning red.
“You need not try to appease me at this point,” he interrupted her. “I already know how things stand between you and Master Teddy. He told his stepmama he would marry you himself if he was of age.”
Caroline gave a startled laugh. Bless the boy. “Can you really blame me for making a favorite of him?” she asked. He shook his head but made no answer, and by this point they had reached their first stop.
The weather continued fair all morning, and they made good progress, reaching their lunchtime destination in good time.
While they sat eating a lunch of cold boiled beef and mustard, the rain clouds started to gather outside, and by the time they were back in the coach, the rain was coming down steadily.
“Oh dear,” Canon Petrie quavered. “I fear our run of favorable weather has ended.”