Chapter 9
9
‘I know you were unhappy to be moved from the tower,’ Olivia said, as Tanner weeded the flower borders that led down to the boathouse the very next day. ‘But I don’t think it’s very kind of you to pretend to be some mean-spirited ghost and scare me at night.’
It had been raining all morning and the air had the fresh vegetation and wet soil smell that was so wholesome in the summer. They were on a tree-lined sloping path to the lake, cast in shadow and not in view of the main house. In the silence that followed, she could still hear drops of the earlier rain falling from the canopies above and landing on the shiny, wide, dark-green leaves of the elephant ear below.
The irritated gardener looked up at her with a frown. ‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Miss Davenport.’
‘Coming up to my dressing room in the dark and getting cross with me through the wall.’
He sat back on his feet and the grooves of his frown deepened. ‘Now look here…’ His nostrils were flared and she could see a vein throbbing in his neck. He cast his eyes about to check there was no one else within earshot. ‘I’ve been nowhere near the tower since I was asked to move from the room, and you can’t go about accusing me of such things. It’s wrong of you to suggest that I’ve been near your bedroom at night. This is serious.’
He got to his feet and she felt intimidated by his height.
‘Look at me, miss.’
She tipped her head up to his, a curious, but not altogether unpleasant, feeling swirling inside her tummy. She’d been convinced he was the man she’d been talking to through the wall, but now, she wasn’t so sure. He was extremely annoyed by the suggestion.
‘I’ve already had Her Ladyship cross-questioning me about when you helped in the greenhouse. You may, or may not, be too young to understand the implications of her enquiries, and the unsavoury nature of what you are accusing me of, but I can assure you, I could lose my job .’
There was an even greater churning as she realised what he was saying. He was a nineteen-year-old lad, and she wasn’t quite fourteen. If it was thought that he had been encouraging her, people would question his motives. In her defence, all her silly, escapist imaginings of herself with Tanner had been about what might happen in the future, when she was a young woman. Girls her age had silly fancies about older men all the time – that was simply part of growing up – but accusing him of coming near her bedroom at night was a whole other matter. She felt an uncomfortable prickle creep across her skin. Tanner was in danger of being thought of as someone interested in young girls in a most unnatural and disturbing way.
She swallowed hard and decided to explain herself. ‘I’ve had a voice talking to me through the wall and I couldn’t understand how the person was getting in. If it’s not you then perhaps there is a ghost haunting the tower. Did you hear noises when you slept there?’
‘No, I certainly did not,’ he said with conviction. ‘But my money would be on Master Howard. He knotted up my boot laces when I gave him an earful for trampling through the strawberry patch. Although, I can’t prove it was him.’
‘He promised me he wasn’t behind it and, to be fair, the voice doesn’t sound like his.’
‘Then might I respectfully suggest one last option, Miss Davenport, and that’s that you’re imagining it all.’ He really was quite cross now and tugged off his gardening gloves to toss them into the barrow of weeds. ‘I’ve seen you chit-chatting to yourself on more than one occasion. We all know how much you like play-acting and dressing up.’
Olivia wriggled uncomfortably, realising that she’d probably been spotted by numerous members of staff as she played out her little dramas in the house and grounds. Were they all laughing about her in the servants’ hall?
‘Look,’ he continued, ‘my grandfather worked in these gardens years ago. He planted the orchard and every time I harvest the apples, I think of him, especially now that he’s passed on. I’m lucky to have a position here, and it’s only because he was so respected that I’ve been given the opportunity. Gardening is in my blood – and my grandfather’s blood, sweat and tears are in the very soil of Merriford.’
Olivia already knew how important this job was to him.
‘I realise that being in the employ of the Fairchilds, I’ve no right to demand anything from a member of the household, but I would ask you stop bothering me. I love my job, it’s what keeps me going, and I’m not prepared for you to put that in jeopardy.’
She nodded her understanding and bit at her lip to prevent herself from crying. In that moment, she felt every inch the child he clearly thought she was. She’d been so sure the voice was his that she hadn’t stopped to think through what such an accusation would mean for him. Embarrassed, Olivia excused herself and ran back up the path to the house.
* * *
Approaching the lawns, she was confronted by Howard. His arms were folded and his face was set in a frown.
‘Please don’t tell me you’ve been trying to befriend the staff,’ he said snootily, as Tanner walked past them both, pushing the wheelbarrow, and disappeared into the distance. ‘I know Benji still hangs about the kitchens talking to the scullery maids, but he’s a child. There comes a point when you must realise that there’s a them and an us. Some of us are born to lead and are given the education to do so. Others are born to follow. The undergardener went to the village school and I doubt he could even conjugate a Latin verb. Our worlds aren’t meant to overlap.’
‘Ernest isn’t an us,’ she pointed out. ‘He went to the same school as Tanner. You don’t seem to mind overlapping with him. In fact, you take great pains to impress him.’
Howard scowled, not liking her observation, which was obviously truer than she realised.
‘He’s more an us than a stupid servant. You have to admire a chap like Ernest, who has plans to better himself. That man—’ and he nodded in Tanner’s direction ‘—aspires to nothing.’
Cross with him for judging both her and Tanner, who despite his admonishing words, still made her heart skip about wildly every time she set eyes on him, Olivia told Howard an untruth.
‘Tanner has this very afternoon informed me that he thinks of me as a friend. Not everyone sees class as a barrier to friendship – not that it’s any of your business. In fact, he said I was always welcome to find him in the gardens and he complimented me on my dress. He added that I was extraordinarily pretty for my age and how it would not be long before I was as grown-up as him. So, stick that in your pipe, misery guts.’
Olivia strutted past her adolescent foe and headed back to the tower, leaving a red-faced Howard staring after her, and feeling her lies served him right for being such a total prig.
* * *
Over the next few days, however, Olivia made certain that any area of the grounds she frequented did not contain Tanner. She might have fabricated their conversation to annoy Howard, but she’d quickly realised it had not been wise to focus on a real person in her romantic fantasies, and she resolved to only dream of fictional characters from then on. The last thing she wanted was the gardener getting into trouble on her behalf.
A week later, and she was surprised she hadn’t encountered him in the grounds at all, even accidentally. It was over breakfast in the nursery that she overheard Benji moaning that he missed his friend.
‘Is he unwell?’ she asked, trying to keep her tone light. That would explain his absence.
‘He doesn’t work here any more. Father got him a job with his cousin, Uncle Jonty,’ Benji explained, as Howard looked up but immediately dropped his gaze when their eyes met.
Olivia felt her heart rate increase.
She tried to keep her voice light. ‘Did he do something wrong?’
Howard poked at his eggs with the fork. ‘Mother said the new job was more suitable, but I’m not sure your infatuation helped.’
‘You did spend quite a lot of time with him,’ Benji pointed out, who was usually on her side but obviously felt slighted in this instance. ‘Even after you told me you preferred to be alone.’
An uneasy feeling swirled around her chest. It wasn’t just the gardening Tanner loved, but Merriford Manor itself, as he had a sentimental connection through his grandfather. What had she done?
‘Is he still local?’ she asked.
‘Goodness me. Don’t tell me you intend to track him down? You can’t leave the poor fellow alone, can you? Such a ridiculous infatuation. You’re just a child and he’s staff.’ Howard scrunched up his fist and rose from the table as her face flushed. It appeared he would never forgive her for locking him in the gamekeeper’s privy and she’d made an enemy for life.
‘You’re so immature,’ she shot back at him. ‘He was an interesting person and was kind enough to teach me about plants. It was a simple friendship, which you wouldn’t understand because you don’t appear to have any. All your brothers bring chums to the house, except you. Is that it?’ she asked, tipping her head to one side. ‘Have I discovered the real reason for your annoying behaviour. You’re lonely?’
‘I say, that’s a bit mean, Livvy.’ Benji scrunched up his face and wrinkled his nose. ‘Howard has friends at school. I’m certain of it.’
But Howard ignored her jibe and took a step closer to her, his freckled face wide with a smug grin. ‘Well, he won’t be loitering down by the lake for you to accidentally stumble across any more. Uncle Jonty’s estate is in Cambridge.’
Olivia had heard enough. She pulled back her right arm and smacked Howard squarely in the face, before storming out the nursery.
She felt wretched then, not only for hitting out but also that Tanner had been sent far away from family and friends. The fact he’d been given other employment was of small comfort. If only she’d known, she could have spoken up for him or at least found him to apologise, but he was counties away now and she would likely never see him again.
The undergardener’s absence from Merriford did clear up one thing, however – he was absolutely not responsible for the voice through the wall because, later that night, Seth spoke to her again. Alone in her bedroom, as she lay tossing and turning, the moonlight glanced across the small clockface on her nightstand and told her they had already slipped into tomorrow. Everything from the day weighed down upon her and the most frustrated exclamation came from her lips, as she thumped the brick wall beside her bed with the heel of her hand. She was embarrassed by her foolishness, guilty that Tanner had been moved on, and almost certain that Howard had passed on her stupid lies to get the poor man into trouble.
‘Ghost girl?’ The voice was clear and questioning.
She sat bolt upright in bed and her head jerked towards the bricks.
‘Seth?’ With the undergardener dispatched to Cambridgeshire several days ago, and the Fairchild boys all denying they were behind the voice, she was left with very few options. He must be a ghost, but clearly one in denial.
‘Drat. It is you,’ he said. ‘I’d hoped you’d floated off to some heavenly plane and I’d be left in peace. But no, you’re growling like an angry bear and slamming things about in a room I happen to know’s completely empty.’
‘Look here, Mr Taciturn, I don’t know much about spirits, but I understand that some don’t know they’re even dead. I’m now certain that this applies to you.’
‘Ha! You should be saying that into the looking glass, young lady. Oh, I forget, that would be pointless because you’re a ghost .’
‘Let’s agree to disagree,’ she offered, hugging her knees to her chest and feeling perkier, despite herself.
‘Fine. I’m not of a selfish nature, and I can live alongside you, but I’d ask for no more noises at odd times in the night. Wail all you like in the daytime, but keep your nightly hauntings to a minimum.’
She couldn’t help but give a small laugh. What a ridiculous situation. She was being haunted by a grumpy spirit who thought she was the problem.
‘Deal.’ She nodded her head in affirmation. ‘Goodnight,’ she called cheerfully, as she slipped back down under the covers and closed her eyes. There was a muffled grunt in reply.
It was only as she drifted towards much-needed sleep that something occurred to her. If Seth was indeed a ghost, it meant there really was an afterlife, and she took comfort from the thought of her parents continuing to exist somewhere, on some other plane and, most importantly, together.