Sons and Daughters (30 page)

‘I’ve talked to Philip about Lily. But he flatly refuses to marry her. He says she was only a bit of fun to him. Nothing more. Charlotte, I’m so ashamed of my own son.’

‘I’m sure the Warrens hadn’t expected you to suggest such a thing. Servant girls don’t expect their masters to marry them. I’m sorry to say it, but Lily, being four years older than Philip, should have known the score.’

Miles sighed. ‘I don’t blame the girl. My son’ – a note of bitterness crept into his tone – ‘can be very charming and very persuasive when he wants to be.’

Miles was right, Charlotte thought, the young man had certainly charmed her own father.

When she returned to Buckthorn Farm, an agitated Edward met her at the door.

‘Your father wants to see you in the sitting room, miss. He’s in a high old dudgeon.’

Charlotte pulled a face. ‘Now what?’

‘He’s found out about Master Philip being injured. Evidently, the boy was due to visit here before returning to school tomorrow and when he didn’t arrive, the master made enquiries.’

‘Who told him?’ Charlotte asked sharply. She knew it wouldn’t have been Edward.

‘I believe he sent a note to the manor and word came back saying the boy was in hospital. That sent him into a panic, I can tell you. He had the pony and trap harnessed and he rode over to the manor. Mr Thornton was out, it seems – ’

Charlotte nodded.

‘One of the servants – Wilkins, I believe – told your father that the Jackson brothers had set upon Master Philip and injured him so badly that he’d been taken to hospital.’ He paused, then added, ‘But from what I can make out, miss, the man didn’t tell the master the reason behind the lads’ attack.’

‘No,’ Charlotte said grimly. ‘I don’t suppose he did. And even if he had, I doubt my father would have believed it. Not about Philip.’

She took off her riding jacket and hat, smoothed her hair back, and went towards the sitting room. Edward hovered in the hallway, and Charlotte was glad to know he was close by.

‘What’s this I hear?’ Osbert demanded almost before she had stepped into the room.

There was no point in prevaricating, so Charlotte said, ‘Lily Warren is pregnant with Philip’s child, that’s what. And her brothers – well, they gave him a good hiding because of it. They didn’t intend to cause such serious injury, but sadly, they have.’

Osbert stared at her. ‘Don’t talk ridiculous, girl. Philip’s only a boy. No – no, I won’t believe it. The little slut’s laying it at his door to get money out of the family.’

‘I’ve seen them together, Father, holding hands, and Philip had admitted it to his father. Mr Thornton is trying to persuade Philip to marry her, but he’s refusing.’

‘I should think so too. The very idea. My boy being forced to marry that little trollop.’

Charlotte stared at him. My boy, he’d said. My boy, as if he’d taken ownership of someone else’s son. His disappointment and bitterness had coloured the whole of his life and now was turning his mind. Osbert thumped his stick on the floor, frowning angrily. ‘The very idea,’ he muttered again. And then he seemed lost in thought.

Quietly, Charlotte left the room.

‘All right?’ Edward whispered as she emerged.

She shrugged. ‘I’m not sure, Edward. He refuses to believe that Philip is the father of Lily’s child.’ She smiled wryly as she added with heavy sarcasm, ‘He can’t believe such a thing of “his boy”, as he called him.’

Edward made a noise in his throat that sounded suspiciously like a growl, before saying, ‘Jackson’s in the kitchen, miss, asking to see you.’

Charlotte sighed and followed him along the passageway.

Jackson was standing nervously by the table, turning his cap through agitated fingers. ‘We’re back at work, Miss Charlotte. All of us. That’s if – that’s if – you want us.’

‘Of course I do, Jackson. This trouble has nothing to do with your work on Buckthorn Farm.’

Relief flooded across his face. He pulled on his cap, gave her a quick grin and almost ran from the house to prove his eagerness to resume his work. Charlotte watched him go, a heavy feeling in her heart.

She had no wish to dismiss any of the Warren family. But she wasn’t so sure what was in her father’s devious mind.

She didn’t have long to wait to find out. The following morning, she rose to find that her father had already left to catch the train to the city where Philip was hospitalized. For the rest of the day, Charlotte was on edge and her anxiety was only lifted slightly by a letter addressed to her from her aunt:

Now Charlotte did not feel so alone.

Her father returned late that night, tired but jubilant. Even as Edward helped him remove his coat, he was saying, ‘He’s standing firm. He’s not going to agree to marry the little slut.’ And then he added the words that Charlotte had been dreading. ‘And as for those Warrens, they’re to be dismissed and turned out of their cottage. Do you hear me, girl? They’re to be given notice.’ His pronouncement delivered, he glanced at Edward. ‘You may serve my dinner now.’

Charlotte sat in the kitchen, her elbows resting on the table, her head in her hands.

‘What am I to do, Mary? What
am
I to do?’

‘Nothing – for the moment, love.’ Mary placed her dinner in front of her. ‘Now eat up.’

Charlotte pushed the plate away. ‘I can’t eat a thing.’

Edward and Mary sat down to their own meal.

‘He’ll not want to lose Joe Warren. Where would the farm be without him and his sons? That’d only leave old Matty and you’d be in a pretty pickle, miss.’

Charlotte sighed. ‘He’ll only say there’s plenty of folks looking for work to take their place.’

‘Aye, mebbe so, but not half as good.’

‘But he’ll do it. I know he will.’

For the first time in her life Charlotte stood up to her dictatorial father. She refused to issue the notices to the Warren family.

At church on the following Sunday morning, there was tension in the air. Everyone felt it. Miles and Ben were subdued. Even little Georgie’s merry smile was gone. He walked down the aisle behind his father and brother without even glancing to left or right as he usually did, greeting everyone in his cheery, high-pitched voice. Instead, he ignored everyone and especially Tommy Warren. Only when he reached the front of the church and was about to step into his family’s pew, did he glance up to his left and give Charlotte a watery smile. She smiled down at him and touched his shoulder.

Cuthbert Iveson seemed even more nervous than usual. When it came to the part in the service where he made special prayers for any parishioner who was ill, he said in a halting voice, ‘We pray for the recovery of Philip Thornton and for his family in their time of trouble. And we ask you to forgive those who perpetrated the – the attack upon his person. Lead them to repentance, Lord . . .’ Cuthbert mumbled on but his words were lost to Charlotte. She glanced up to see that Miles had raised his head and was staring angrily at the vicar. Then suddenly, he stood up. ‘Come,’ he said to his sons. ‘We’re leaving. This is a mockery.’

A shocked gasp rippled through the congregation as, prayers forgotten, they watched Miles lead his two sons out. The door banged behind them and, as Charlotte turned back to face the front, she saw Cuthbert glance down at her father. Osbert was smiling and nodding.

He’d arranged that, she thought. Not Miles. Miles wouldn’t do something like that.

But her father would. And his reaction to the vicar’s words proved it.

When the service ended, the members of the congregation trooped out, their faces solemn or puzzled. They stood in small groups, those who knew what had happened whispering the tale to those who did not.

Charlotte glanced around for Miles. He was pacing up and down the narrow path leading round the side of the church. Ben was standing close by amongst the gravestones, his hands pushed deep into his pockets. Georgie stood beside him, watching his father’s agitated pacing with anxious eyes.

The Warren family, without Lily, stood together but a little apart from their neighbours and friends. No one, it seemed, knew quite how to deal with the news they were hearing. They didn’t know what to say.

Charlotte plastered a smile on her face and walked across the long grass between the gravestones towards Peggy and her family. She stretched out her hands and took Peggy’s.

‘How are you? And how’s Lily?’

‘Oh you know, miss. Still crying. Still heartbroken. You know the young master has refused to marry her?’

Charlotte nodded.

Peggy went on in a flat, emotionless voice. ‘We didn’t expect it, but it was good of Mr Thornton to try. We – we appreciate that.’

‘He’s a good man,’ Charlotte said softly. ‘I’m sure—’

Charlotte was interrupted by her father’s strident voice. ‘Warren. You there, Warren.’

Charlotte turned to see him a few yards away, leaning on his stick and shouting so that all the world might hear. ‘You’re fired. The lot of you. And you’re to leave the cottage at once, d’you hear me? At once. You’ll be packed and gone by daybreak tomorrow.’

Charlotte turned and ran towards her father. ‘No, Father, no. You can’t do this. I won’t let you.’

As she met his glare, she stopped, shocked by the vehement hatred in his eyes.

‘You’ll hold your tongue, girl, if you know what’s good for you. Else you’ll be gone an’ all . . .’ In a swift movement, he raised his stick and brought it down against her shoulder in a vicious blow. Charlotte reeled and fell to the ground. She heard everyone’s cries of shock and alarm, but before anyone could reach her, Miles’s strong arms were round her and he was lifting her up. Before he carried her away, he glanced just once at her father.

‘You’ll rue this day, Crawford. Mark you well. You’ll rue this day.’

‘You’re coming home with us,’ Miles said. ‘And I won’t hear any arguments. You’re not staying with him a moment longer.’

Charlotte was too shocked to argue. She felt foolish, but her shoulder was hurting so much, and her legs felt so weak, that she had no choice but to allow him to carry her to his motor car and place her gently inside.

He straightened up and looked around for his sons. ‘Ben,’ he called. ‘Come along. We’re going home. Where’s Georgie?’

Ben came running up. ‘He’s with the Warren family. I think he and Tommy are making up.’ He climbed into the front seat. ‘They’re all smiles, anyway. He didn’t see what happened. How are you, Miss Charlotte?’

She touched her shoulder and winced. ‘I’ll be all right, I think. I don’t think it’s broken.’ She glanced out of the window to see Edward wrenching her father’s stick out of his hand and flinging it as far away as he could. Then he grasped the older man by the arm and hustled him towards the pony and trap. She didn’t think she had ever seen Edward look so angry or stand up so defiantly to his master.

‘Now he’ll sack Edward and Mary for real. It won’t be just one of his threats this time.’ She leaned her head back against the leather seat and closed her eyes. ‘Oh dear!’

Georgie came running across the grass to the car. He made no attempt to get in but, instead, stood near the driver’s door, his face upturned towards his father. ‘Me’n Tommy is friends again, Papa,’ he said, the wide beam back on his face. ‘Can I stay to Sunday school?’

‘I don’t think there’ll be Sunday school today, Georgie. Come along, climb in.’

As he clambered in, he saw Charlotte. ‘Oh! You’re here! Are you coming to luncheon?’

‘I—’

Ben turned round in the front seat. ‘Didn’t you see? Mr Crawford hit her and Father rescued her. We’re taking her home with us, aren’t we, Father?’

‘Indeed we are, Ben.’

As Miles got out of the car again to crank the starting handle, Georgie slipped his hand into Charlotte’s.

‘Wilkins, show Miss Charlotte to one of the spare bedrooms. See she has everything she needs. Then I need to see you and Mrs Beddows in my study. Boys, amuse yourselves until luncheon.’

A short while later, a rather nervous Wilkins and Mrs Beddows tapped on the study door.

‘Wilkins – Mrs Beddows – please sit down.’

The servants glanced anxiously at each other. They were not used to being treated with such courtesy by an employer. But then Mr Thornton had already proved himself to be an unusual master. They sat down nervously on the edge of their seats.

‘There may have to be some changes here and I want to – well – consult and include you in any decision I make. But let me make it quite clear from the outset that, although it might affect you, your employment with me is quite safe and your home is here for as long as you want it. Now, I’m not sure yet what is going to happen, but it may mean that Miss Charlotte and Mr and Mrs Morgan, too, will be coming to live at the manor . . .’

For the next half an hour, the two servants listened in amazement, nodding their ready agreement when Miles finished by saying, ‘Can I rely on you both to keep everything I’ve said confidential for the moment?’