Every Mother's Son (13 page)

‘Oh, it’s no secret. Daniel Tuke and I are to be travelling companions. It’s not that he is tagging along with me or that I am joining him, but that we are travelling together.’

He had, as he often did with Nanny, reverted to the younger self who had felt a compulsion to explain each situation, knowing that she would listen patiently to every word.

‘Very sensible,’ she said, offering him a slice of cake. ‘You’ll be able to tek care of each other, and Daniel is a level-headed young man as well as a merry one.’

‘He is, isn’t he?’ Charles agreed, licking his fingers free of crumbs. ‘Oh, I can’t wait. We’re going to have such great fun. I suppose you know him really well, don’t you, seeing as you know his mother?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Mary settled herself into the other chair by the fireside. ‘I’ve known him since he was a babby. I delivered him, just as I did all of you.’

‘So did you know his father? I don’t mean Fletcher Tuke, but—’

‘Noah,’ Mary said. ‘Yes. The Tuke boys played wi’ my nephew Tom Bolton. I knew most of ’bairns in ’district – and delivered ’em.’ She chuckled.

‘Did you?’ he said, sounding impressed. ‘
All
the Tuke boys?’

‘Have another slice of cake,’ she said, successfully changing the subject. ‘Or will it spoil your lunch?’

‘It won’t,’ he said, taking another slice. ‘But not my father?’ he said cheekily. ‘You won’t have delivered him?’

‘Get away wi’ you,’ she admonished him. ‘I’m not so old! But I remember your father when he was a youngster, about your age I suppose, and wanting to finish school, just like you.’ She gazed into the fire. ‘I worked in ’laundry room at ’manor; I knew everybody. We were a very close community, and I was allus called upon to deliver ’babbies.’

And then she realized that she had been channelled back to the same subject and said deftly, ‘So tell me where you and Daniel are off to on this travelling malarkey.’

When Beatrice came to see Mary she had sighed dramatically and asked her if she thought anyone would want to marry her and would it matter if she chose someone who might be considered unsuitable.

‘Well, I’ve never been married, Miss Beatrice, so I’m not sure if I’m ’right person to ask. Your mama would be ’best person for that, but in my opinion you should enjoy your freedom while you can. Once you’re married and tied to someone for life you might wish you hadn’t been in such a hurry to tie ’knot.’

‘I’m not in a hurry,’ Beatrice said. ‘But I know that once I’ve been
finished
, word will get out that I’m available and I hate the thought of that. I want to marry for love, not money or prestige.’

Stephen and George had no such worries, Mary reflected. George was still too young and not yet considering females and was assured, in his own mind, that he was destined for higher things. Stephen, Mary was quite sure, would decide his own destiny. He was different from Charles, and not only in his features, which favoured his paternal grandfather, whom she remembered. He was broad-shouldered and square-jawed like him, and had a manner that proclaimed he would make his own decisions.

He did, however, come to her during that Christmas holiday to communicate to an ear that would listen to his thoughts on his future.

‘What I’ve decided, Nanny, is that I’d like to go to an agricultural college and learn about what’s happening in farming not only in this country but also abroad. You see,’ he went on thoughtfully, ‘I need to do that in order to survive in farming – because you might not be aware that agriculture has seen some very dark days.’ He didn’t notice her sighs as he told her of the things that had come to his attention, convinced with the surety of youth that she must benefit from his insight.

‘But how to convince my father,’ he ended, a trifle despondently. ‘Because I would like to go this coming year.’

When he put the proposal to his father he was told that he was too young; but Christopher’s growing realization that his children had minds and ideas of their own was strengthened when Beatrice and Charles told him that they didn’t want a birthday party this year.

‘I don’t understand our children,’ he complained to Melissa. ‘They don’t want to follow our advice, but only to do what they want. My goodness,’ he said, exasperated. ‘My father would be turning in his grave if he knew.’

‘Then it’s as well that he doesn’t know,’ Melissa said mildly. ‘And isn’t it good that they all have some idea of what they want to do with their lives? I didn’t; I only knew that I was expected to marry well. So we should be glad for them, and admit that the reason why Charles and Beatrice don’t want a party is that they think we will only invite suitable people that
we
have chosen rather than those they would like to come.’

Christopher harrumphed. ‘Which of course we will.’

A thick fall of snow at the beginning of January stopped the meeting of the two families and it was just a few days before Beatrice was due to depart for Switzerland and her brothers for school that a meeting was hastily arranged.

‘I’d like to listen in, Charles, if I may,’ George said. ‘I’ve written an itinerary for you.’ He handed Charles two sheets of paper with suggestions of countries they might like to visit and the proposed length of time they would spend there.

Charles was astonished that his young brother would take so much trouble. ‘That’s very kind of you, George, but Daniel and I have yet to decide on where we are going and how we will get there.’

‘I know,’ George nodded. ‘But this is a starting point. You can add to it or subtract as you wish. I propose that you start from a southern port rather than a northern one.’

‘Thank you,’ Charles said wryly. ‘I’ll discuss it with Daniel.’

Harriet came with Daniel. As she had rightly predicted, Fletcher had some very urgent business on the farm that couldn’t possibly be left. ‘They’ll understand,’ he told her, ‘and I don’t see that I’ll be needed in any case. Daniel is able to make his own decisions. He knows how much money he’ll have to manage on, and we can give him a bit extra for emergencies, can’t we? I’d hate to think he’d be stranded in a foreign country.’ He’d kissed her cheek. ‘Don’t worry about him. He’ll have a tremendous time, something to look back on when he’s older.’

‘So,’ Harriet had had to ask, ‘you’re sure that he’ll come back?’

‘Course he’ll come back,’ he said, heading for the door, and then turned and grinned. ‘Even if it’s to tell you that he’s going away again.’

They were shown into the manor’s downstairs sitting room, where Beatrice, Charles and their mother were waiting. Melissa greeted them warmly and coffee and biscuits were served. Harriet apologized that Fletcher wasn’t able to come as some of the sheep were lambing and he needed to be there. She thought that Melissa seemed relieved by his absence, but she simply answered that she quite understood and that her husband had also been held up but would be along very shortly.

‘As will George,’ Charles told them. ‘I hope you don’t mind, Daniel, but he asked if he could come in to listen. He’s written us an itinerary.’

‘Really? That’s decent of him.’ Daniel was impressed. ‘Where does he suggest we travel to? I haven’t discussed it with Granny Rosie yet. Every time I start to ask her she changes ’subject. I think she’s putting off talking about it.’

Melissa caught Harriet’s glance, and smiled. ‘Maybe it’s difficult for her to dredge up old memories,’ she said. ‘You have your grandfather’s name, Daniel; perhaps that will be enough. Orsini might be a regional name.’

‘It’s Italian.’ George had come in without their noticing and had seated himself on the wide windowsill. ‘I looked it up,’ he said, giving a secret and satisfied smile. ‘You need to visit Rome.’

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

‘Why Rome?’ Daniel asked.

‘Because it’s the capital,’ George said.

‘We know that,’ Charles butted in.

George looked at his notes. ‘Since 1871,’ he continued, as if his brother hadn’t spoken. ‘It’s a very poor country. Oh, and another thing. The person you’re looking for might not be there; he might have left Italy and gone to live somewhere else, like America, because there’s been mass emigration in the last few years.’

‘Well, thank you for the history lesson, George,’ his mother said, pleased with her clever son, but knowing that he loved to impart his knowledge and if he were allowed to continue no one else would get a word into the conversation.

‘It won’t matter, will it?’ Charles said sotto voce to Daniel. ‘We can still travel there.’

‘I don’t think ’person I’m looking for will have emigrated,’ Daniel said. ‘He’ll be Granny Rosie’s age.’ Then he frowned. ‘But I suppose a seaman could have landed up anywhere. I might not ever find him.’

‘But if you start in Rome, the authorities will be sure to know which district the Orsinis come from,’ George said.

Charles conceded that he might be right. ‘But we need to talk about how we’ll get there.’ He wagged a finger at George to shut him up. ‘We’ll wait for Father to come in and see what he thinks.’

Daniel thought that this meeting wasn’t turning out to be such a good idea. It would be better if Charles and I discussed it on our own rather than having to listen to everybody else’s opinion.

Christopher Hart came in at that moment, murmuring his apologies. He bowed and said, ‘How do you do,’ to Harriet, and shook Daniel’s hand when he stood up to greet him.

‘So how are you getting on with the travel arrangements? Ah,’ he said, looking around. ‘Mr Tuke not here?’

‘Fletcher sends his apologies, sir,’ Harriet said. ‘He couldn’t get away.’

‘There’s always a job to be done in farming,’ Christopher commented, ‘but I expect that these two young men would rather make their own decisions in any case?’ He raised his eyebrows in query, and first Charles and then Daniel nodded.

‘What I was going to suggest, however, if I may,’ he went on, ‘is that perhaps you would allow me to drive you to whichever port you decide to leave from. It might be quicker travelling by road rather than having to change trains several times.’

‘Unless we sail from Hull, sir,’ Daniel said, ‘and across ’German Sea to ’Netherlands.’

There was then a discussion of the various options for getting across from England to the Continent, and Beatrice put in her opinion that travelling by road wasn’t all that pleasant when the weather was bad. By the time they’d reached stalemate it was nearing midday and Harriet had to get home to attend to the men’s food, so the meeting was abandoned.

‘Let’s both make an itinerary,’ Charles suggested to Daniel before they parted, ‘and swap notes. You put down your ideas and I’ll put down mine. That way we’ll know what the other wants.’

‘Yes,’ Daniel agreed. ‘But I’ll discuss it wi’ Fletcher and Ma first. I haven’t travelled before, so I’ll need advice.’

His mother hadn’t travelled either, but Fletcher said he considered that a Kentish port would be the best option as it was a mere hop across the English Channel, and if they intended to aim for Italy it would be a shorter journey than going from Hull and across the Netherlands.

‘Although,’ he mused, ‘looking at the dykes that the Dutch built would be interesting.’

Charles dropped in to see Daniel a few days later, bringing an atlas. ‘I’ve made notes of where we might disembark if we go from the south, and to some extent I’ve followed Mr Thomas Cook’s footsteps when he takes his travellers to Switzerland. We could go via Le Havre.’

Later that evening, Daniel traced the journey from Le Havre across France, Switzerland and Italy and felt sick with excitement and trepidation. ‘It’s such a long way,’ he said to his mother. ‘Look at ’size of France!’

‘I’m looking.’ She was peering over his shoulder at the map. ‘Would you go through Paris? There was a lot of trouble some years ago. News even came through to England.’

‘There’s always trouble somewhere, Ma.’ Daniel continued tracing his finger across the Continent. ‘It was a revolution of ’workers. It’s all quiet now. Well, fairly quiet,’ he added. ‘I’d like to go there. I’d like to see Napoleon’s Triumphal Arch. We had to draw it when I was at school.’

He looked at her. ‘You’re not to worry, Ma. We’ll keep out of trouble; keep our heads down as much as possible. You don’t mind me going, do you? You don’t think I’m letting everybody down by going off on this jaunt? It’s not just about finding my grandfather – I think ’chances of that are fairly slim – but it’s a good excuse for going travelling.’

‘I don’t mind.’ She stroked the back of his head. ‘I think it’s exciting. Such an adventure for you. I’m just anxious that you won’t come back.’

‘Like your brother, you mean?’ He shook his head and smiled. ‘I’ll come back, Ma. I promise.’

‘No,’ she said urgently. ‘Don’t promise. I don’t want to be ’sort of mother who’d hold her bairns back from what they wanted to do. But write and tell me where you are. Not knowing would be ’worst of all.’

Later, Daniel told Fletcher that he’d rather travel by train to the port of departure. ‘We’ll have to stop over somewhere on ’way down if Mr Hart takes us, and there’s no need. We’re not bairns. We’re going travelling abroad; we can manage between here and Dover!’

‘Then say so,’ Fletcher told him. ‘Tell Charles that’s what you want to do. This is your journey as much as his.’

Charles was sorting through his books, deciding which he would need for his final term, when his mother knocked and came in. ‘Getting ready?’ she asked wistfully.

Charles nodded. ‘Yes.’ He sat on his bed. ‘Just think – I won’t be needing these any more after this term.’ He hesitated. ‘Mama?’

Melissa raised her eyebrows; she always knew when something was bothering her eldest son. ‘Yes?’

Charles bit on his lip. It was time, he thought, to assert himself. ‘When Daniel and I set off in the spring, I don’t want Father to take us. I want to travel by rail and Daniel does too, but he’s too polite to say so. The journey by road is too long to do in a day, but if we travel by train we’d be at the port by evening.’

‘And I would rather you did.’ She smiled. ‘It’s just that your father has never trusted trains. He’s always said they are dangerous.’

‘He’s stuck in the past, Mama. Trains have been running for forty years! They’re quicker and safer than travelling by potholed roads, and Father would want to break the journey somewhere.’