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Prologue
CHADWELL PARK, HERTFORDSHIRE
THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 19TH CENTURY; OCTOBER
Sir Owen Plummer had commanded his entire family to assemble in the library at Chadwell Park. Not that he would ever be so ill-mannered as to express himself so. He would be greatly obliged if they would attend him, or some such, but to James, the clipped, brisk tones of the former military man always sounded like commands. No more than ten years in the army and thirty out of it, but Sir Owen was still a soldier at heart.
They were all there, at any rate. Mother was weeping, of course. She wept constantly these days, trickles of tears flowing gently down her face to fall unheeded onto her bosom, perpetually replaced with more of the same. Where did all that water come from? It was a mystery to him. Michael looked ill, but then he always looked ill nowadays, a thin, pale shoot of a man. Letitia looked angry and her husband worried, but since those were their habitual expressions, James took no notice. To complete the array of his predictable relations, Patricia’s face was as blank as a slate, and Uncle Morgan was topping up his brandy glass already and it was only eleven o’clock. Lord, what a boring lot they were!
James wondered briefly what they thought of him. Nothing, probably. He doubted any of them thought about him at all, and certainly not now. He, after all, was the only one unaffected by their impending doom, with his snug rectory and his ample tithes and no one but himself to support or to please.
Precisely as the clock struck eleven, Sir Owen entered the room, his eye raking over the assembled Plummers, lingering only momentarily on his wife. He took his position in front of the fireplace, the fire still unlit despite the season. It was the rule now.
“All here, I see,” Sir Owen said. “Good. I have news from Simons. He has found a buyer for the Park.” Mother gave a convulsive gulp, but Father continued without so much as blinking. He was used to it by now. “It is a Mr Fletcher, from a place called Sagborough. Near York, seemingly. Simons went up there to talk to the fellow, but I chose not to mention it to you in case nothing came of it. Simons has now talked to Fletcher and they have agreed terms. Firstly, he is prepared to pay the full price for the Park, no quibbling or caveats. He has the money, too. Simons has talked to the bank. The other consideration is that he will take the Park exactly as it is, with the furniture and art work, and will retain all the servants, apart from the few we will take with us. That is a huge relief to all of us, I am sure. He will take over the village cottages, leaving us with all our tenant farmers, and he will very generously allow us to shoot and hunt and fish on Hall land for our own table. That will please you, James. All things considered, it is an excellent agreement for us.”
“What sort of a man is this Fletcher person?” Letitia said. “Please tell us that he is a gentleman.”
Sir Owen hesitated long enough for Mother to utter a low moan.
“He is — or was — a mercer, a highly respected man in his home town, who has now relinquished all his business ventures. He has recently remarried and his wife is a gentlewoman, so he wishes to keep her in a suitable manner. Simons tells me that Fletcher himself is only moderately educated, commensurate with his position in society, but his children have all been properly educated. His sons attended Harrow and Cambridge, and his daughters had governesses and masters of art, music, dancing and so forth. The usual things.”
“Hmpf! Not a Whig, is he?” Lord Charles said. “Never do to have a Whig in the house, sir. M’brother would be mortified.”
“Your brother has nothing whatsoever to do with this, Charles,” Sir Owen said tersely. “Mr Fletcher has no political allegiance, seemingly, and it would hardly matter to me if he were a screaming zealot. He has the money to buy the Park and get this family afloat again, so buy it he shall.”
“But amercer, Papa,” Letitia said. “The shame of it! You will not expect us to receive them, I trust.”
Mother uttered another moan of distress.
“I not only expect it, I shall insist upon it,” Sir Owen said. “We cannot take the man’s money and then snub him socially, and if you and your husband dislike it, Letitia, you are quite at liberty to find someone else to support you. Go and ask Charles’s brother to provide you with a house and put food on your table and educate your children. It is hardly unreasonable to expect a marquess to take care of his own brother’s family.”
Letitia bristled. “You know perfectly well why we cannot, Papa.”
Hoping to forestall a repetition of a very tired family argument, James said quickly, “When does Mr Fletcher want to take possession, Father?”
“Not before January, and the weather may delay him further, but we must be out of here by Christmas, I feel.”
“I do not know how we are all to squeeze into the Manor,” Letitia said fretfully. “It will be far too crowded. It was by no means over-large just for Charles and me, but with so many extra, and the disruption…”
Sir Owen’s tone became even more clipped. “Patricia has already contrived the disposition of the rooms to minimize the inconvenience to you, and to repeat, if you dislike the new circumstances, then you are perfectly free to make alternative arrangements at any time.”
“Are there young children, Papa?” Patricia’s soft voice was a striking contrast to Letitia’s shrillness and Sir Owen’s brusque tones.
“Hmm, let me see.” He leafed through the several pages of the attorney’s letter. “The eldest daughter is married… there are two sons, grown… ah, here we are. Four younger daughters… the youngest is fourteen.”
“Almost grown up,” Patricia said disappointedly.
“But the older girls are not without interest. Listen to this.‘All the daughters will have very good dowries of twenty thousand pounds apiece from their father, and the eldest, who is a rare beauty with the most charming manners, has an additional thirty from an aunt. I cannot understand why she has not been snatched up already, but dare I suggest that this presents a wonderful opportunity for Mr Michael Plummer? I do not scruple to say that the young lady will be a sensation in town, and since it is Fletcher’s intention to participate in the season next spring, it is highly recommended that your son move swiftly to secure the lady’s affections to himself.’”
Michael snorted in disgust. “A mercer’s daughter! I should hope I am not so desperate as all that!”
“I tell you now, Michael, and this applies to all of you who may be thinking upon similar lines,” Sir Owen said, his voice growing harsh, “I will not have this supercilious attitude from any of you. We are not so high in the instep as to refuse Fletcher’s coin, so we will treat him with every courtesy. Such men are the very backbone of England, sterling men of worth, honest and loyal and hard-working, helping to keep the country prosperous and thriving. They provide both goods and employment, and they frequently go on to become mayors and aldermen and justices of the peace and members of Parliament and even knights of the realm in time. So we will deal kindly with the Fletcher family, even if we do not choose to make intimate friends of them, and Michael, if you disdain a pretty and well-behaved young woman with fifty thousand pounds merely because her father was once in trade, then you are more foolish than I gave you credit for.”
“Father, I beg your pardon,” Michael said, his pale cheeks flaming up at this reproof. “I spoke intemperately. I will get to know Miss Fletcher, and if she should be all that she is described, then I will consider the prospect of matrimony seriously, you have my word on that. Beyond that, I cannot undertake to venture as yet.”
“I ask no more than that,” his father responded in genial tones. “You may find that she will do very well, and since James shows no inclination to secure the succession in your stead, and Morgan must be regarded as a confirmed bachelor at this point, I should be glad to see you settled. It would be a weight off my mind, to be sure.” He chuckled. “One of you had better make a push for the baronetcy that your great-grandfather worked so assiduously to obtain. No one wants Cousin Sydney to have it, after all this. Well now, that is all settled, and I shall write today to instruct Simons to draw up the papers. Michael, James, I should like you to stay, but the rest of you may go. Letitia, Charles, you will dine with us tonight?”
“Thank you, Papa,” Letitia said colourlessly.
