Seven for a Secret (19 page)

“Wild-cat scheme! Being a governess!”

“He thinks it is and he did save you, remember. People feel these things quite strongly after something like that happens.”

“It’s hard to imagine he could feel very strongly about anything except the estate.”

“He’s thinking of the estate now. His precious Elizabethan cottages and all that.”

We were thoughtful for a while.

I said: “I must say, I feel rather interested in all this.”

“So do I,” said Aunt Sophie.

The next day I went over to the St. Aubyn’s estate office to see Tom Masson. He was a tall, middleaged man with rather a brisk manner.

“Mr. St. Aubyn told me you would be coming,” he said.

“He thinks Mrs. Merret was a great asset in her husband’s work, which she undoubtedly was, and we shall miss her. You’ll be working with James Perrin as a sort of assistant. Mrs. Merret will be here shortly. It is better for you to talk to her about what your duties will be.”

“I shall like that,” I said.

“At the moment 1 feel a little vague about what is expected of me.”

“I do not think you will find it over-arduous. We found things ran more smoothly with her around. It’s better for you to talk direct to her. Meanwhile, we’ll settle other details.”

He told me about the rules of the estate. Hours of duty would be flexible. Someone might want to see me at any hour of the day and I would be expected to be available for emergencies. There would be a horse at my disposal and if I needed it, a pony and trap. We discussed salary and he asked me if I had any questions. I had not. I felt there was so much for me to discover.

Mrs. Merret arrived.

“Oh hello. Miss Hammond,” she said.

“I hear you are going to take over my job.”

“Yes, and I am eager to know what is expected of me. I’m not altogether sure.”

She had a very pleasant face and an easy manner. I could see why people liked her.

She said: “It began like this. I started helping my husband and I found certain things which I thought weren’t quite right with the tenants. I got more and more interested. There are several tied cottages on the estate and we have to make sure the tenants keep them in order. I suppose some feel they are only theirs while the job lasts and that makes them careless. You have to see that they report what is wrong so that things don’t get beyond repair. Then you get the complaints and quibbles. You have to sort them out, of course. You have to get to know the people … those who have a real grievance and those who have a habit of complaining and grumbling. I always tried to keep them happy. I’d make them proud of their places. There’s a lot in that. One of my jobs was to make sure they got a hamper for Christmas with the things they needed. I found people with a cupboard full of blankets which they’d been getting year after year when they were short of coal. People are proud, some of them. Then, of course, there are the cadgers. You want the worthy ones to get what they want is5

and for which they are too proud to ask. Am 1 giving you some idea?

”

“Oh yes indeed.”

“You get to know them in time. We aim to have a happy estate. That’s the best way to keep things working well. I’ll give you my notebooks.

There are little snippets about people in them. “

“Thank you.”

“Don’t worry. There’ll be plenty for you to do. I dare say Mr. Perrin will find lots. My husband did for me. He really does need an assistant and I am sure you will find yourself fully occupied.”

“It seems a rather unusual sort of job.”

“To employ a woman, you mean? The men sometimes think we’re not up to it. Mr. St. Aubyn isn’t like that. He said I understood people and it was something to do with the feminine instinct. You’ll be a success, I’m sure.”

She handed me the notebooks. I glanced through them and saw there was a brief reference to Mulberry Cottage.

That’s the Lanes’ place,” I said.

“Poor Flora. I didn’t have much to do with them. Mr. St. Aubyn himself keeps an eye on them. That is his wish.”

“I know he looks after them very well.”

“Miss Lucy was his nurse at one time and Miss Flora before that.

It’s a very sad affair. “

“You must have known them for a long time.”

“Since I married and came here.”

“So you’ve always known Miss Flora as she is now?”

“Oh yes, she went like that when Mr. St. Aubyn was a baby.”

“I often wonder whether something couldn’t be done for Miss Flora.”

“What do you think could be done?”

“I wonder if it could be brought home to her that the doll she treasures is not a baby only a doll.”

“I don’t know. Surely her sister would have done it if she thought it was any good. She looks after her very well.”

I asked her how she felt about leaving.

“Mixed feelings. My husband is keen to go. He thinks there are great opportunities out there. His brother went and he has a flourishing property now. Land is cheap and if you work hard they say you can do well.”

“It’s a great challenge, I suppose,” I said.

She agreed.

Mr. Perrin arrived and I had a long talk with him.

He was young, in his early twenties, I imagined. He had a friendly happy smile and I knew at once that I should have no qualms about working with him.

He said: “You can help with the accounts. Not that there is much of that in our department, but they come along now and then and figures are not my strong point. And there are letters. Merret tells me that there will be plenty to do and I’ll need all the help I can get.”

“I fear I have no experience.”

“Well, we shall get along, I am sure.”

When I went home Aunt Sophie was eagerly waiting to hear the outcome.

I told her that there really did seem to be a job to be done and that her notion that Crispin wanted to keep me here was just another flight of fancy.

“It is no sinecure,” I told her firmly.

“I think I am going to be very busy.”

“Well, I’m glad,” she replied.

“I certainly did not want you to go away. And I didn’t think that governessing would have suited you very well.”

is7

Danielle

So I was working for the St. Aubyn estate.

On the first morning James Perrin was very helpful. I was given certain papers to read, looked at some of the account books and wrote a few letters under his direction. He showed me a map of the estate which was larger than I had thought it to be.

“Why don’t you ride over to the cottages?” he suggested.

“You know, the row of Tudor ones on the edge of the estate. You can tell people you are taking over from Mrs. Merret. They were all very fond of her.

She had a sympathetic nature and I can see you have the same, which is of course why Mr. St. Aubyn chose you for the job. I tell you what. I’ll come over with you and introduce you. “

I thought that was an excellent idea.

“What sort of horse do you like?” he asked as we walked over to the stables.

“Nothing too sprightly. I have only ridden since I came to Harper’s Green. That’s just over five years ago.”

“Oh, I see. Well, we’ll find the right mount. He or she will soon get to know you. I’ll talk to Dick or Charlie. You can trust them to know what’s best.”

He did and we were soon riding through the estate. He showed me several places of interest which he thought I should know about.

“There’s a great deal of work involved in a place like this,” he said.

“I haven’t been here long but I can see it is well looked after by Mr. St. Aubyn. I gather his father let it go rather badly.”

“Yes, I have heard that.”

“So it is a jolly good thing for the estate that he didn’t take after his father. Most of the houses on the estate are St. Aubyn property.

But Mr. St. Aubyn’s father sold some of the farms. Grindle’s, for instance. They bought their place and Archie Grindle made a good thing of it, too. “

“He recently married the aunt of a friend of mine,” 1 told him.

“Oh yes. He’s gone to live at the Bell House, but the sons run the place well. We’re coming up to the Tudor cottages which I thought we would concern ourselves with this morning.”

The cottages looked very beautiful in the sunshine, with their ancient red bricks, latticed windows and overhanging gables. I could believe that the interiors would be dark. There were six of the cottages, each surrounded by a little ground. I had seen them many times. They were known as the Old Cottages.

“They are beautiful,” I said.

“They knew how to build in those days. Think how they have stood up to the elements all these years … just little places like that. They are marvelous. Of course, some people complain that they get little light.”

“You couldn’t possibly change those windows.”

“It would be criminal, don’t you agree?”

“I certainly do. Of course, it’s so pleasant to have the light, but in places like that you would have to put up with the inconvenience for the sake of beauty.”

“You’ll soon get to know the tenants. Mr. St. Aubyn likes a contented community. He says that’s the way to get them to work well. Lots of these people work on the farms … tied places, most of them

..

except the old faithful servants who will be sure of their homes until they die. First we’ll call on Mrs. Penn. We know she’ll be in. Poor old soul, she’s bedridden now. Her husband worked for the estate and she was cook up at the house. Visitors mean a is9

lot to her. The door’s on the latch most of the day and her daughter-in-law pops in with a hot meal at midday. She’s a bit of a whiner, but who wouldn’t be? ” He lifted the latch of the door and called: ” Mrs. Penni James Perrin here with Miss Hammond. May we come in? “

“Seems you are in,” said a high-pitched voice.

He grinned.

“Well, say you’re glad to see us.” j “Come on in,” she said, ‘and shut the door. “

The bed was close to the window so that she could look out. She was old and wrinkled; her white hair was in two ;

plaits and she was propped up by pillows.

“So Mrs. Merret’s off to Australia,” she said.

“Outlandish sort of place. Used to call it Botany Bay. Prisoners went there.”

“That’s in the past, Mrs. Penn,” said James Perrin cheer fully.

“It’s quite different now. Very civilized. After all, we’, were running about in caves at one time … little more than monkeys.”

“You get along with you,” she said and peered at me.

“I liked Mrs. Merret,” she added.

“She listened to what you had to say.”

“I promise to listen,” I said.

“It’s a pity she’s gone.”

“I’m here to take her place. I shall be the one to come and see you now.”

James had brought two chairs from the other side of the room and we sat down.

“You’ll tell all your little grievances to Miss Hammond now,” he said.

“Well,” Mrs. Penn announced, ‘you tell that Mrs. Potteri that I don’t like seed cake. I like a nice jam sandwich . and not jam with pips in it. They get under your teeth. “

1 wrote this information down in a notebook which I had brought for the purpose.

“What’s the local news, Mrs. Penn?” asked James and, < turning to me:

“Mrs. Penn is a fount of knowledge. People i come in here and talk to her, don’t they, Mrs. Penn?”

“That’s right. I like to hear what’s going on. There was trouble here last Saturday night. That Sheila …”

“Oh, Sheila?” Once more James turned to me with an explanation.

“That’s Sheila Gentry, in the last of the cottages the one right at the end of the row, I mean. Mrs. Gentry died about nine months ago and Harry Gentry hasn’t got over it yet.”

“He worries too much about that Sheila,” explained Mrs. Penn.

“Mind you, he’s got something to worry about there. She’s got a flighty look about her, that one. And not fifteen yet. I reckon he’ll have a rare to-do with her one day and that day not far distant.”

“Poor Harry Gentry,” said James.

“He’s one of the grooms. Quarters over the stables are full just now, that’s why he’s in one of the cottages. We’ll call, but I hardly think he’ll be there just now.

Well, Mrs. Penn, you’ve met our young lady. “

“She’s a bit young,” said Mrs. Penn, as though I were not there.

“Her youth is not going to affect her ability to do the job, Mrs. Penn.”

Mrs. Penn grunted.

“All right then,” she said.

“Remember, dear, I’ve got my birthday coming along soon and they’ll be sending the cake like they always do from the house. Tell them, no seed. Jam sandwich and no pips in the jam!”

“I will,” I promised.

The door opened and a woman looked in.

“How are you, Mrs. Grace?” asked James.

“Fine, sir. I don’t want to interrupt.”

“It’s perfectly all right. We were just going. Lots to do just now.”

Mrs. Grace came in and was introduced.

“The head gardener’s wife and Mrs. Penn’s daughter-in-law.”

“And you’re Miss Cardingham’s niece. I remember when you came here.”

“I was about thirteen then.”

“And you’re one of us now.”

“I feel that I am.”

“We must be going,” said James, so 1 shook hands with Mrs. Grace and we left.

I said: “Poor old lady. It must be sad to be bedridden.”

The daughter-in-law looks after her and I think she enjoys being waited on. That’s the Wilburs’ cottage. Dick does carp entering jobs and Mary works in the kitchens so I doubt either of them will be around now. We’ll knock and see. “

We did and he was right.

“That’s old John Greg’s place. He’ll be in his garden, I reckon. He used to work in the gardens until a few years back. He spends all his time now in his own.”

We called and were shown prize roses and vegetables. We were both presented with a cabbage and I was told that the old oak tree in the garden was keeping the sun off some of his herbs. He’d like it trimmed but it was a ladder job and his rheumatics weren’t up to it.

I made a note of this and said I would ask one of the gardeners to look at it.