Chapter Two
The following morning, Reuben listened to Ezra with a sinking heart as he reported his findings from a night spent in the Black Sheep’s taproom diligently seeking information about Dalton’s situation.
‘The long and short of it is that Dalton has debts scattered all over the district,’ Ezra said, confirming what Reuben had suspected, ‘and no one in the taproom had a good word to say about him. Most of the servants have found other positions, and those who’ve stayed on have only done so because they have nowhere else to go – or because they have been there forever and their loyalty runs deep.
The tenants have hung on but they’re fighting a losing battle to keep themselves fed. ’
‘The steward?’
‘Funny you should mention him. I gather he’s still in place and the general consensus appears to be that he’s running a fiddle and lining his own pockets now that he’s been left with nobody to answer to.’
Reuben grunted. ‘That’s hardly to be wondered at.’
‘Not sure what he’s up to though. Those I spoke to were quick to express their opinions but short on fact.’ Lolling in a comfortable chair, Ezra indulged in an extravagant yawn. ‘Dashed exhausting, all this sleuthing.’
‘Your dedication to duty does you credit,’ Reuben replied, grinning.
‘Glad someone appreciates my efforts.’
‘I don’t suppose the arrival of the ladies will put paid to the steward’s undertaking, whatever it is.
’ Reuben fiddled with a paperknife, flipping it between his fingers as he considered the matter.
‘They won’t know anything about estate management, and their priority will be to put the house back into some sort of habitable order.
They will assume that the steward knows his business and that he is doing his heroic best to keep the ship afloat, especially since he’s held the position for a long time and proven his loyalty by remaining in place. ’
‘I’d be surprised if the ladies don’t throw up their hands and scurry back to London,’ Ezra remarked. ‘The place is barely habitable by all accounts.’
‘If Dalton has debts all over the place down here, I dare say his situation is the same or worse up in town. That’s probably why they left before the end of the season, assuming Dalton would be here to take control.’
‘Well, that’s women for you,’ Ezra remarked languidly.
‘Not a lick of sense between the lot of them. Shame, though. If Dalton hasn’t honoured his obligations and word has spread, it will scupper the younger girl’s hopes of making a good match.
No man of fortune will be permitted to throw in his lot with such a family and take responsibility for their debts. ’
‘Is the younger girl really such a vision?’ Reuben asked idly. ‘You briefly showed your face in town, having more courage than me ?’
‘I am not the brother they most want to see.’
‘That’s understandable,’ Reuben joked.
‘To answer your question, the chit is adorable. And she loved all the attention. It will have given her expectations, I’m sure, but I can’t tell you anything more since I didn’t address her directly.
Nor did I feel any compelling need to remind her that we are neighbours.
She came across as demure and yet … well, I got the impression that she fully intended to throw her cap at the wealthiest bucks, and I didn’t want to become one of them. ’
‘Come on.’ Reuben, bored with the turn the conversation had taken, stood up and whistled to Percival.
With his rangy body stretched out in front of the library fire, snoring softly, Percival was probably chasing the rabbits in his dreams that he was never able to catch in his waking moments.
He got up and shook himself with a flap of his ears, instantly alert and ready to follow wherever Reuben led, his tail wagging expectantly.
‘You too, Ezra, you lazy oaf. Let’s ride over to take a look at the Dalton estate.
I want to see for myself just how dire the situation actually is. ’
‘Can’t do any harm,’ Ezra agreed with a shrug.
‘It might even clear your head.’ Reuben grinned. ‘Anything’s possible.’
A short time later the brothers sat astride lively mounts as they covered the several miles from Alton Hall to the Dalton property at breakneck speed. Percival stretched his long legs and kept pace easily with the galloping horses.
‘Over yonder.’
Reuben drew rein on a high mound and pointed.
Not that Ezra would need to be told where the Dalton estate began.
The signs of neglect between the border that separated the two properties were obvious.
Dalton’s fields had not been ploughed after the previous year’s harvest and there was little sign of any livestock in the paddocks that were stretched out below their vantage point.
Reuben patted Brandon’s sweaty neck as the stallion pawed at the ground restlessly, no doubt wondering why he’d been made to stand still.
‘Looks pretty dire,’ Ezra said, sniffing.
Reuben nodded. ‘I ought to have taken more notice and called Dalton out on it.’
‘Not your concern, big brother. You can’t be all things to all people.’
‘I agree, but I do have a certain responsibility for the prosperity of this part of the world, whether I like it or not. Neglect, tenants not being supported and debts going unpaid will eventually lead to an uprising. At the very least, a deputation of local tradespeople will eventually present themselves at my door and demand to know what I intend to do about it. And if that happens, there is every likelihood that the discontent will quickly spread out of control. You know as well as I do that agitators who are keen to destabilise the government roam the country and are quick to light a fire beneath any smouldering local discontent they pick up on.’
‘True enough, but … Who is that?’
Ezra pointed to a woman who had appeared out of nowhere, turning up his collar against a strong wind and persistent drizzle as he did so.
Reuben squinted and made out the form of a lone female in animated conversation with a couple of the tenants’ wives.
He couldn’t see her features, but the bright blue cloak that enveloped her slender form set her apart from the tenants.
‘I have absolutely no idea.’
Reuben continued to watch her as the tenants’ children emerged, shy at first. When the lady produced something edible and handed it to them, their shyness fell away, and they crowded round her.
Their laughter reached Reuben’s ears even though he was a good distance away as they jostled one another in their pursuit of rewards.
The wind grew stronger, tugging the lady’s hair free of its pins and causing a russet curtain to billow.
She pulled her hood over the resulting disarray and turned to walk away from the tenants.
As she did so, she glanced up at Reuben’s vantage point.
Sitting stock still in his saddle, Reuben held her gaze for a protracted moment.
‘Come on,’ he said eventually, turning his head away only after she had. ‘I’ve seen more than enough.’ He looked up at dark clouds being pushed across the sky on a brisk wind, rapidly closing in on them. ‘Let’s get home before we’re soaked to the skin.’
Farrah had been horrified by the neglected state of the house.
Papa had long since sold their residence in town and they had rented a London house for the purpose of Sophia’s presentation.
Farrah assumed that Papa had rid himself of the London abode in order to plough the funds into the country estate and maintain profitability, but she could see nothing but abandonment in every direction she turned.
How could he be so neglectful of his inheritance?
Where was he now? Why had he abandoned his wife and daughters, leaving them to face his creditors and struggle to make some kind of sense out of this farrago?
It seemed cowardly and unworthy of an aloof, distant man with whom she had never enjoyed a close relationship but who she had always thought was aware of his responsibilities.
Once again, she was reminded of the manner in which he set great stock by his status as a belted earl, but his deliberate neglect of a working estate, the profits from which were supposed to keep his family in luxury, told a very different story.
‘I know it looks bad, Lady Farrah, but I’ve done the best that I could,’ Mrs Simpson told her, a defensive edge to her voice.
‘You have worked wonders, Mrs Simpson, and I thank God that you remained loyal. It could not have been easy for you and that loyalty will not go unrewarded,’ Farrah assured the older woman.
‘Where else would I go? I’m too old to start again and I’m right attached to you and your sister. After all, I have known you both all your lives.’
Farrah hugged the housekeeper, touched by her dedication but not blind to the fact that she’d expressed no loyalty to her mother and father. Since they both treated their servants with blithe disregard for their feelings, Farrah quite understood why.
‘How bad are things?’ she asked. ‘Tell me honestly.’
‘Just about as bad as they could possibly be.’ Mrs Simpson let out a long breath. ‘The majority of the tradespeople in the village will no longer extend credit since they have not been paid for an age.’
‘At least I can set that much to rights,’ Farrah said, thanking whatever deity looked over her for giving her the courage to pursue her secret hobby.
A hobby that had proven to be surprisingly lucrative and about which her family had absolutely no knowledge.
She fully intended for it to remain that way.
Their mother still refused to acknowledge their severe financial straits, even when obliged to confront the obvious truth here in their country house.
She was dismayed by the state of the place but absolutely convinced that Papa would return with a solution.
‘He is a gentleman,’ she insisted. ‘And gentlemen always find a way. Besides, he would never abandon us.’
Farrah had been lost for words.