Battles Lost and Won (13 page)

‘Speak,’ the captain’s mother demanded. ‘Your silence only confirms your guilt.’

‘I’m not a thief,’ Ruth managed to whisper.

‘All the evidence says otherwise.’ She sat next to her daughter-in-law again. ‘Emma, we don’t need to pursue this any further. We should call in the police.’

‘I’d rather not do that. It would be better to wait for Benjamin and he will settle this matter in the right way.’

‘Don’t be foolish, Emma! You are responsible for the running of this household, and it is up to you to deal with this now! You cannot have a thief in the house. The girl must be sent away at once.’

The captain’s wife sighed deeply and then looked up at Ruth. ‘You will leave this house immediately and forfeit any pay due to you. I shall, of course, give you enough money for your train fare home.’ She placed some coins on the desk.

Ruth had to get out of here – she would be sick any moment. Gathering up the money for her fare, she turned and ran out of the room. She just made it to the bathroom, and when she staggered out the butler was waiting for her and caught her arm.

‘Steady.’ He helped her back to her room and stood just inside the door while she began to gather together her few belongings.

‘Will you wait outside, please?’

‘I’ve been told to stay with you and see you off the premises.’

Tears were streaming down her face and she was shaking badly. ‘I need to change out of the clothes they gave me. I’ll leave with only the things I brought with me. I’m not a thief?! I didn’t take the brooch. I never saw it when I was in the sitting room. How can they believe I would do such a terrible thing? If you don’t trust me you can search my bag before I leave.’

Without a word, Green left and shut the door behind him.

It didn’t take her more than five minutes. The fact that the captain’s mother had wanted to call the police terrified her, and all she could think about was getting out of here. Opening the door she thrust her bag at the butler. ‘You’d better check this.’

‘That won’t be necessary.’

‘I demand that you search my bag. I will not risk being accused of taking anything else from this house.’

He opened the bag, quickly looked inside, and then handed it back, shaking his head sadly. ‘I don’t like what is happening here, but I have to follow orders. Do you understand?’

She nodded and wiped away the tears that were clouding her vision. ‘You have a member of your staff who can’t be trusted, but it isn’t me, and you would be wise to find out who it is.’

‘Will you tell me who you think it is?’

‘No, because I have no proof, and I will not be the cause of another person being accused of a crime they haven’t committed.’ Without another word she began to make her way down the servants’ stairs, holding on tightly to stop herself from falling. Her legs didn’t seem to belong to her.

The butler escorted her to the gate and Ruth walked away without looking back. It was a long way to the station, and she hoped she could make it. If her legs gave out she would have to sit beside the road until she felt strong enough to carry on walking, but she wouldn’t allow her weakness to show until she was well away from the house.

As she gritted her teeth and put one foot in front of the other, she cried for Bob. This would never have happened if he’d been here. He would have sorted it out, as he had always done when she’d had any problems. But he wasn’t here; she was on her own and so frightened.

The sound of a horse coming up behind her made her heart race in panic, and she began to run. They’d sent the police after her! She would be put in prison . . .

‘Ruth! Please stop.’ The buggy kept pace with her.

Recognizing the voice, she looked up, gasping for breath, and her terror plain to see. She stopped and stood there trembling.

Jim cursed under his breath. ‘I’ve just heard about this and came to give you a lift to the station. It’s more than two miles, and they should never have left you to walk this far. It’s a bloody shame the captain is away; he would never have allowed this to happen. Let me see you to the train. You’re in no fit state to look after yourself at the moment.’

She doubled over to catch her breath, and Jim was immediately holding her up. ‘Easy, Ruth, I’ll take you to a kind woman, Mrs Trent, who will put you up for the night, and then you can go home tomorrow when you’re feeling stronger.’

‘No, no, I must get home now! I didn’t do it, Jim,’ she sobbed as she tried to get into the buggy. ‘I’m so frightened.’

‘Of course you didn’t.’ Jim lifted her into the seat. ‘Let’s get you home to your family.’

The journey home seemed endless, and it was getting dark as she walked in the back door of their house. She cried out with relief as she reached the safety of her home and family.

‘Ruth!’ Steve rushed to catch his daughter before she collapsed, and lifted her to a chair.

Daisy was also there, pushing the hair away from her ravaged face. ‘Dear God, what’s happened?’

A glass of water was put in her trembling hand. ‘Tell us what’s happened, sweetheart.’

After taking a couple of gulps of water, she stammered, ‘They turned me out. They said I was a thief. I’m not . . . I’m not. I didn’t take the brooch. They’ll send the police after me . . . I’ll go to prison . . .’

‘Oh, no you won’t!’ Steve swore furiously. ‘I’ll sort this out, Ruthie. Only a fool would believe you’d steal from anyone.’

‘Don’t you worry, darling. You’re home now and we won’t let anything happen to you. Dad will clear this up. Do you feel up to telling us exactly what happened, or would you prefer to leave it until the morning?’

Ruth caught her breath and began to talk, and by the time she had finished, Steve and Daisy were grim-faced with anger. They were not going to have anyone call their gentle daughter a thief?!

‘Is she asleep?’

Daisy sat next to her husband at the scullery table and reached for the teapot. ‘Yes, at last. She cried so much Sally woke up. She rushed across the room and clambered into Ruth’s bed, snuggling up to her, and that quietened her down until she fell asleep. I’m so angry, Steve! Those women have treated her cruelly, and I don’t care if they are upper class, they should be ashamed of themselves. We can’t leave it like this, darling.’

‘I don’t intend to. I’m going to Kent tomorrow to see that our daughter’s name is cleared. And I’m not leaving there until the real culprit is found!

‘Do you think the maid Ruth mentioned is the one who took the brooch?’

‘It seems likely, and I shall demand she be questioned, along with the rest of the staff. Ruth should have told them about her, but you know our daughter, she would never harm anyone if she could avoid it. I know how she feels, but her reputation is at stake, Daisy, and I’ll do whatever it takes to put this right.’

The next morning Steve sent a message to say he would have to take the day off because of a family crisis, and then he caught an early train to Kent.

The house was just as Ruth had described it, but he didn’t care how impressive it was, he was here to sort out this mess. No one was going to accuse his daughter of being dishonest. It had torn him apart to see her so frightened.

Steve banged on the front door, and the man he guessed was the butler immediately opened it. ‘I’ve come to see Captain Russell, or his wife if he isn’t here.’

‘The captain is still away, and Mrs Russell isn’t seeing visitors.’

‘This isn’t a social call. I’m Ruth’s father and I’m not leaving here until someone talks to me!’

Green stood aside. ‘Come in, Mr Cooper. I’ll tell Mrs Russell you are here.’

He waited in the hallway for ten frustrating minutes before the butler returned.

‘Mrs Russell will see you, Mr Cooper.’ He hesitated, and then said quietly, ‘How is Ruth, sir?’

‘Devastated! I’m not usually a violent man, but the treatment of my gentle daughter has been disgraceful. She is the kindest girl you could ever meet, always caring about other people, and she most certainly would not steal anything! I will not leave this house until the true culprit has been found.’

The butler nodded. ‘Follow me, please.’

He was shown to a comfortable sitting room where two women were waiting for him. Steve knew the older woman was the captain’s mother, and the younger one his wife, who was pale and clearly ill at ease. He also noted that the butler had remained in the room.

The older woman spoke first. ‘We deeply regret that Ruth had to be dismissed—’

‘
Regret?
’ Steve had promised himself that he would contain his anger, but this haughty attitude was too much. ‘Is that all you can say? When Ruth told you she hadn’t stolen the brooch, you didn’t even bother to find out who might have put it in her room. You threw her out! How dare you? I demand this be cleared up at once!’

‘What is going on here?’ At that moment the captain strode into the room and went straight to his wife’s side. ‘Why are you here shouting at my wife and mother, Mr Cooper?’

‘They accused Ruth of stealing, and they threw her out without bothering to look into the matter properly. My
innocent
daughter is terrified the police are going to come and put her in prison. No one treats my child like that! I don’t care who the bloody hell they are!’

The captain’s expression darkened as he faced his wife and mother. ‘Is this true?’

‘One of my brooches was missing,’ his mother said. ‘I had left it in Emma’s private sitting room, and the girl had been working in there. When I went in there to collect it later, I couldn’t find it. A search was made and it was found in the girl’s room. We dismissed her at once without pay. You cannot have a thief in the house, Benjamin.’

‘My daughter is not a thief?!’

Alarmed by Steve’s angry tone, the butler stepped forward and caught his arm. He shook it off. ‘Don’t you dare touch me!’

‘Let’s all calm down,’ the captain ordered.

‘I’ll calm down when we find out who put that damned brooch in my daughter’s room.’

‘And how are we to do that?’ the captain’s mother asked. ‘All your daughter would say was that she didn’t take it. She made no attempt to defend herself.’

‘She couldn’t speak because she was terrified!’ Steve fought to rein in his anger. ‘Let me tell you something about my daughter. She sees the best in people, no matter their faults, and she will go out of her way to help anyone. If you had taken the trouble to ask the rest of the staff you would have found out that there is someone here who has been nasty to Ruth, accusing her of taking the job she should have had. It is possible she would do something like this to get her out of the way, but Ruth would not tell you who it was, even to save herself. To hurt anyone is not a part of my daughter’s character, and she certainly would not take anything belonging to someone else. We may be poor, but we have brought our children up to be honest. You judged too quickly and acted too harshly!’

The captain was now clearly furious. ‘Who is this girl?’

‘I believe you have a maid by the name of Betty.’

‘But she has been with us for five years.’ Mrs Russell was shaking her head. ‘And she does not clean my private sitting room.’

‘Nevertheless, we must look into this.’ The captain signalled to the butler. ‘Summon all the servants at once, Green.’

The butler left the room and the captain’s mother said, ‘Benjamin, Ruth was the only one who could have taken the jewel.’

Emma was now looking very distressed. ‘You could be wrong, Mother. The sitting room is never locked and anyone could have gone in there. At first I believed it was Ruth, but after seeing how shocked she was I began to have doubts. I was so upset that this should have happened in our house, and when you were so certain she had taken your brooch and told me to dismiss her, I did so without question. I was wrong.’ She looked up at her husband. ‘I’m sorry, my dear, I acted without proper thought.’

Ben spun round to face his mother. ‘You are a guest in this house, Mother, and have no right to have staff dismissed. I make the decisions here, and when I’m away Emma is in charge. You appear to have forgotten that.’

‘I agree that Emma was reluctant, but in this case I overruled her. It was my brooch, Benjamin, the last present your father ever gave me, and I considered I had every right to take immediate action.’

‘You did not! In a matter as serious as this you should have waited for me to return! There is no telling what harm you have done to Ruth.’

‘You are talking as if the girl is innocent.’

‘She is innocent until proven guilty, Mother. You pronounced her guilty without proof.’

Steve watched the captain handle his strong-willed mother, and approved. He guessed that he would deal with her very firmly in private, but for the moment he was happy about the way this was going.

The butler returned. ‘The staff will all be here within five minutes, sir.’

‘Thank you, Green.’

No one said anything else as the servants began to file into the room, and from what he’d seen so far, Steve was sure that the captain was a man who would handle this crisis fairly. It was a blessing he had arrived home at this time because dealing with the captain’s mother would have been difficult, to say the least.

Ben came and stood next to Steve, showing that he was included in this discussion. Together they faced the servants. ‘You all know that Ruth was dismissed for stealing. There is considerable doubt that she was the culprit. Do any of you have an opinion about this matter?’

‘I’m certain she didn’t do it, sir.’ Jim stepped forward. ‘When I caught her up to give her a lift to the station—’

‘She was walking?’ Ben cut Jim off sharply.

‘Yes, sir, and she was in such a distressed state she could hardly stand. I wanted to take her to Mrs Trent’s for the night to recover, but she insisted on going home at once. I put her on the train myself.’

‘This is disgraceful!’ Ben glared at his mother, but said nothing else.

‘Who is that?’ Steve asked quietly.

‘Jim, my head groom.’

Steve nodded. ‘Thank you, Jim. I’m grateful that someone had the decency to look after my daughter.’

‘She’s a nice girl, Mr Cooper, and I can’t believe she would steal anything. Begging your pardon, Captain Russell, but I can’t help how I feel, and I’m glad you’re now trying to find out the truth.’