‘I know that you do.’ He nodded.
‘Breakfast is ready,’ Nancy called from the stove, filling plates with bacon, eggs and potatoes. My stomach rumbled again.
‘Thank you, Miss Willcock,’ William said, formally.
‘Oh, you’ll make me curtsey if you’re not careful, milord.’ She clucked. ‘Call me Nancy, please.’
‘Nancy, then. And you must call me William, then. You are most kind.’
Despite his difficulty with taking everything on board – and I didn’t blame him, not at all – I smiled to myself, noting that William would always be polite to a lady, even in the most trying of circumstances.
We sat down at the wooden table and began to eat. I tried not to wolf everything down, but I was ravenous. For a while, no one spoke, but as I ate, my mind was working at a hundred miles per hour.
‘Nancy? Did Nettie say that there was a party happening at Trevarron House soon?’ I remembered them mentioning it, in theirlocal gossip.I do ’ope ’ee don’t lose ’is temper at poor Miss Violet’s birthday party.That’s what she’d said.
A plan was forming in my mind.It’s like you were born to sing together,Nancy had said.
‘Aye. Miss Violet’s birthday. Twelve, she is.’ Nancy tutted. ‘I remember when she was born. I ’elped at the birth. Poor Lady ’Ermione had such a time of it.’
‘Oh. I didn’t know you were a midwife, too.’ I was surprised, but I was coming to realise there wasn’t much that Nancy couldn’t do when she set her mind to something.
‘Ah, well. A pellar ’elps in the ways that she can, an’ my mother showed me ’ow to do it. Childbirth should be with the women, not those male doctors what wants to chuck us in asylums just for bleedin’ or darin’ to suggest we might be in a bit o’ pain,’ Nancy said, disapprovingly.
She reminded me a lot of Aunt Bill in the way she was strident, protective of women, no-nonsense but with a sense of humour. Perhaps the cottage did have an effect on the people that lived in it.
‘Hm. I want to go to Trevarron. I want to take William to the rose garden with me, and see if we can make the time slippage happen. Evelyn said in her book that she thought it might be possible at any time, with two people. I don’t think it’s ever been tried before.’
‘All right, maid. You’ll need a reason for both of you to go.’
‘Well, that’s what I’m thinking. Could you get us in as entertainers, perhaps? Could we pretend that William is my husband and he’s come to visit… and we both sing and play instruments? That way, we could get access to Trevarron and sneak away to the rose garden while the party’s still on.’ I bit my lip, working it all out in my mind. I turned to William. ‘I know you want to get back to Edith. That’s how we do it. That’s the only thing I can think of to do.’
‘The time portal? But there’s no way of knowing where we will end up.’ William looked doubtful. ‘I was lucky that I came here with you. Is there a chance that we might not go back to 1755? Orthat we might get separated? Or end up in ancient times? Or dead?’ he shook his head. ‘I don’t know, Tegan.’
‘All those possibilities are real. I can’t pretend that they’re not…’ I wondered what else to say. ‘We are in a dangerous situation, William. I can’t change that. But we can at least try this.’
William stared at me for a long moment, then nodded.
‘All right. I said I would do anything to help Edith, and I meant it. I will sing at a party if that helps us. Even though…’ He exhaled, looking chagrined. ‘I really do not like the prospect of returning to Trevarron House unless it’s as master. In fact, some of the butlers and footmen that work there now might recognise me, since they expelled me from the premises so ignominiously the other day.’ He ate his food moodily.
‘Hm. That’s a good point.’ I looked over at the pellar. ‘Nancy, what do you think? Could we disguise William?’
‘I s’pose, maid. We can find ‘im new clothes and barber ‘im a little. A change from a bearded gentleman to a clean-shaven one might be enough, and…’ She held up a finger, got up and went to her sideboard. She returned with some wire-rimmed glasses. ‘He could wear these. Spectacles do change the face.’
I thought wryly to myself about the famous superhero whose ingenious wearing of glasses had apparently rendered him unrecognisable.
‘Perfect. Thank you, Nancy. And, you know, I think there’s a lot to be said for no one expecting to see you again.’ I turned to William. ‘The point is that those butlers will remember a bedraggled, injured man who was rude to them, and who they thought was a mad tramp. They won’t look at you, a piano-playing singer, who is neat and clean and has a different beard, and think you’re the same person. Because they aren’t expecting to see the tramp. So, they won’t. And, if anyone does stumble upon us in the rose garden, we can say we’re taking a stroll after the show. It gives us a reason to be there on the day of the party.’
‘I see.’ William blinked a few times. ‘Yes. An event like a ball or a party means that all the staff are busy. The lord andlady and their family will be otherwise engaged. It is a good plan. And I hope Nancy is right; that they will not recognise me.’
‘If they do say something, we just deny it. It’s simple.’ I shrugged. ‘You’re my husband, and I’m Nancy’s cousin from Penzance. We’re visiting, and Nancy has offered our services for free, because she is the good and kind-hearted local pellar.’
‘What if someone’s there who knows that we rescued William from the gaol, as your ’usband?’ Nancy asked. ‘I mean, that’s our story. We ’ave to stick to that. If they know about ’im rantin’ ’ee’s lord of the manor, they might put two and two together an’ work out ’ee was the same fella that was found in the grounds at Trevarron.’
‘Hm. Well, I suppose we just hope there isn’t anyone there that knows that. It would really only be a policeman that was at the gaol, or anyone that was in the tavern that day. It seems relatively unlikely that either one would be invited to the birthday party of Lord Trevarron’s daughter.’ I shrugged. ‘We’ll just have to take that risk.’
William looked down at his hands, and nodded.
‘But, if you don’t want to go, we won’t go. We’ll find another way,’ I said. ‘We both have to be in this for it to work, William.’
