Chapter 2
“Caroline, stay still, as still as can be,” Sebastian spoke quietly, somehow convinced that if he spoke any more loudly the floor beneath them might collapse.
“Uncle Sebastian, I’m frightened,” came the reply.
Sebastian Hemsworth, Duke of Herndale, breathed that sigh of relief that Caroline spoke with him and didn’t retreat further back into the ruined room.
“You are the bravest girl I know Caroline. We can be brave together.”
“Mama will be cross,” she continued, turning to look into the room, as if planning to move.
Keep calm, he told himself.
“Not at all,” he said, in what he hoped sounded a light tone of voice.
“Your Mama sent me here to find you. She didn’t seem at all angry to me.”
“She said there would be teacakes for tea, and I told her I didn’t want them. I just wanted Papa back.”
“Your Mama understands that, Caroline, she feels the same. We all miss your Papa very much.”
Caroline sniffed, and he hoped she wouldn’t start sobbing, as he needed her to keep listening to him.
“Nothing has been right since Papa passed on. Go away, Uncle Sebastian. I need to think, and I can do that here in our old house.”
“I’ll be quiet and you can forget I am here,” he suggested quietly.
“I’m as quiet as that mouse in the story you like to read.”
“Jasper,” she whispered, almost smiling.
“I like it when you draw the mice Uncle Sebastian. They are all very brave.”
“Well. They try to be brave, and you are like them. You are a very brave girl, Caroline. When we get home you shall have teacakes and you can sit in my library near the fire and we shall make a story about the mouse family.”
“Can I sit in your library? Really?” Caroline’s face lit up.
“Yes, you can even use the toasting fork in the library if you like. Can I move towards you? To help you across to the safe part. You know it isn’t safe at the Elms anymore.”
“I know. I just feel close to Papa here.”
“Your Papa can be everywhere with you, and we need to remember him every day.”
“I know Uncle Sebastian. I don’t want to forget him. Sometimes I almost can’t remember his face.”
“I can sketch him for you. We could draw story books with your Papa and you can help me,” Sebastian assured her.
Caroline nodded, and Sebastian felt a surge of relief. He needed to make sure his tiny niece was returned to his widowed sister safely.
“There’s something else,” Caroline whispered.
“Tell me, Caroline. It’s always easier to share our worries.”
“I don’t want a new governess,” Caroline confessed.
“Everything is always changing. I don’t want lessons in the schoolroom, and everyone pretending life is normal when Papa has gone.”
Her voice grew louder, and Sebastian turned to Miss Aston who had joined them and was his only support. He tried to tell her with his eyes to come closer and breathed an inward sigh of relief that she had understood immediately, and inched herself slowly across the precarious floor towards him.
“Papa would want us to remember him,” Caroline cried, becoming more agitated.
“Caroline, listen to me. Your Papa was my best friend, and I miss him every day. He cherished both you and your brother very much and Amelia, your dear Mama more than anything in the whole world. He would want you to enjoy life, and that means birthdays, and Christmas, and more than anything, learning about the world. Remember how he treasured teaching you about those Greek Gods and Goddesses, and the magic of Merlin and bravery of King Arthur?”
Caroline nodded.
“He adored pretending to be the Green Knight.”
“And you must learn and find out all about the things he cared about, as it is an important way of remembering your Papa. It’s always going to be sad because we miss him so much.”
Caroline moved forward, just a little, then stopped. Sebastian could see her chin trembling, and knew he needed to get her out of that dangerous pile of rubble before their weight made the floor collapse. Caroline was small, but the extra weight of her body made it even more dangerous.
“What if I forget his voice, or how he looked when he smiled?”
“You won’t,” said Sebastian with assurance.
“We will all remember your Papa. He is too important to ever forget. We have your keepsake box, and we can add lots more to it. Everything in your special chest is a memory of Papa. We keep people we hold in our hearts alive with memories.”
And I don’t want you plunging through the floor into the cellars below.
Oh please Caroline just let me help you move forward to safety, he thought as he watched her trying to decide whether to leave the safe space she had found.
The irony being, it was one of the most unsafe places which she could have sought out.
He gestured to Miss Aston who was now behind him to join him. She moved deftly to his side, silently waiting for instructions.
Caroline nodded again.
“I just miss him so much,” she whispered, and began to move towards him.
“Move very slowly, Caroline,” he told her.
“I’m worried that the floorboards are dangerous. He saw her following his instructions. Just a few seconds and she’ll be safe, he told himself, smiling encouragingly.
He moved into a half crouching position, ready to hold her as she reached him.
The floor cracked, the wood strained beyond endurance.
“Caroline,” he called urgently.
“Stay still. Don’t move.” He saw the look of fear on her face. This couldn’t happen. His sister couldn’t lose her beloved daughter as well as her husband Thomas.
Then, with a sudden deafening cracking sound, the ancient timbers collapsed, and the floor gave way under Caroline’s feet, and she began to plunge downward screaming. Her skirt caught on a broken joist, and she grabbed hold of it, stifling her fears as she gripped the wood.
Sebastian lunged and caught hold of her wrist, his shoulder wrenched and he felt shooting pains of agony in his arm. He would be strong…he would save his niece.
The floor groaned around them, and he wondered if they might both fall into the stone floor fifteen feet below.
Sebastian heard a calm voice urging them to stay still, like Jasper the little mouse in the story.
“I’m going to make my way across that joist, which looks stronger,” Miss Aston told him.
“It won’t hold extra weight. You need to stay safe yourself,” Sebastian told her.
“Nonsense,” Miss Aston retorted.
“I believe it will hold while I edge towards you from the other direction. I’m almost there and will distribute my weight carefully.”
“Keep holding on tight to your uncle, Caroline. We’ll soon have you pulled out of that hole.” Miss Aston spoke in a voice which exuded calm confidence.
“Caroline, in a few seconds when I tell you, I want you to imagine you are a rabbit jumping high in the sky.” Sebastian saw the look of fear on the Miss Aston’s face, but she continued in her calm way.
“Ready, when I say ‘Jump’, you jump like a rabbit into your uncle’s arms. You can do that. I’m going to hold your shoulders to help.”
“Ready?” Miss Aston whispered to him, and he nodded grimly.
“Caroline jump up,” she instructed his niece, who immediately put effort into pushing herself upwards while they pulled her out of the void.
They encouraged Caroline across the joist where Miss Aston was proved right. It was much stronger.
As soon as they reached safety Caroline began to sob hysterically, and Miss Aston took her in her arms and held her close.
Sebastian’s eyes met Miss Aston’s, that clear, steady gaze with an acknowledgement in them that tragedy had been so close.
Even in that moment of relief, he realised this young woman looked at him directly, recognition of a shared moment without revulsion, a connection forged in fear for a child so close to falling to her death. There had been no sign of shock or pity in that expression.
“Come along,” Sebastian said to them both.
“I think we all deserve some of Cook’s special teacakes and lemonade.”
As they walked back to the house along the path, he felt a dull ache in his shoulder and wondered if his companion had hurt herself as they hauled Caroline to safety.
Caroline seemed to recover after a few minutes and asked if she could run ahead of them.
Sebastian looked at the woman walking beside him, and had a vague memory of seeing her standing next to a carriage as he raced to the Dower House.
“My apologies, ma’am as we haven’t been introduced, and I am incredibly grateful for your help. I believe without you …” he shuddered.
She smiled, a quiet, gentle smile, which lit up her whole face.
“I am greatly pleased that I was of some assistance. I’m afraid I’m the person whom Caroline didn’t want to see. I’m the new governess.”
“Of course! Welcome to Herndale Hall, Miss.”
“Aston, Miss Eleanor Aston, but it really is of no importance. I’m just so comforted Caroline is safe.
I spoke with her mother briefly, and all the staff had already spread out across the estate.
There was no one to follow you except me.
I kept hoping I would meet a footman or grounds man while following you, but it didn’t happen. ”
“You need not explain…” Sebastian started to say.
“All I need is to know that everyone is safe. I have a fair idea what happened today, and the rest can wait.” Miss Aston paused and looked around her.
“When I have settled in, I believe I shall enjoy walking in these woods. I didn’t expect a forest so close to the high moors.”
“We have the shelter of the fell, the hill, and there has been woodland here since ancient times. You’re right though, we are close to the moors, and you can easily follow the fell path in the other direction and walk on the moors. The views are quite breathtaking.”
“And a fell is a hill?” she asked, intrigued at these words which she had never heard before.
“Indeed, and a valley is a dale. You will find we have our own local dialect hereabouts.”
They walked together, still keeping an eye on Caroline, whose blonde ringlets bobbed in the distance.
“I hear voices,” said Miss Aston.