AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not quite the same,” Julia said thoughtfully. “And poor Ricky!”
“Ricky Jupp? Ricky the apothecary?”
“He’s been in love with Rosie for years,” Julia said. “You must have noticed it.”
That brought another shrug of Will’s elegantly clad shoulders. “Half the young men of Sagborough have been in love with Rosie for years. The Star of the North, they called her in York, remember? She is by far too beautiful to be constrained by Yorkshire, and especially she should not throw herself away on an apothecary. She will be a huge success in London, and have the eligible men of theBeau Mondeat her feet, you may be sure. Rosie will marry very well indeed, or I am a Chinaman.”
“What about you, Will?” Julia said slyly. “Are you going to marry very well indeed, too?”
“Certainly I am… but not yet. I am only six and twenty, Jules, and I want to enjoy myself before getting leg-shackled. I shall not even consider matrimony until I am thirty. At least!”
“Well, I don’t plan to marry at all,” she said robustly. “After all, who would have me? I have no accomplishments, I trip over things and always have a tear in my gown. Oh, and I speak my mind. What man of sense would want a wife like that?”
“Plenty of men want a wife with some spirit in her, little sister,” Will said, affectionately flicking one cheek. “You may be surprised.”
“Perhaps, but not these high-born southern men. They won’t want a mouthy Yorkshire lass.”
She laughed, and Will laughed too, although he shook his head at her. “We shall see. Marriage comes to all of us in the end, it seems to me.”
~~~~~
The road south was not as dire as Julia had imagined. Will and the new Mama had managed it all between them, planning the route, sending most of their luggage on ahead, so that they travelled in easy stages, with horses and meals and overnight stays all arranged in advance. There were three carriages, all of them excessively comfortable, and there were hot bricks for their feet, fur-lined wraps to snuggle into and baskets of dainty comestibles to cater for the slightest pangs of hunger.
Only the weather was a concern, but they were fortunate that the week they had chosen turned out to be the mildest January anyone could remember. Every time they changed horses, the head ostler or the innkeeper or the cook would wander over to them to express astonishment at their travelling at all so early in the year, but wasn’t it remarkable how benign the weather was? Apart from an occasional shower of icy rain, they completed the journey to Hertfordshire with nothing at all to trouble them.
The only element of travelling that drove Julia to distraction was sitting still for hours on end. She shared the smaller carriage with the new Mama, Pa and Rosie, and although it was beautifully appointed and could not be more comfortable, it was still the greatest trial to a taller-than-average girl who was not accustomed to sitting in one attitude for more than five minutes at a time. If Julia sat at all, she liked to stretch her long legs out and be easy, but there was no stretching anything in the carriage without bumping into a leg or a brick or the hamper.
As if that were not enough of a trial, there was the talking. Rosie was no bother at all, for she said nothing, merely gazing wide-eyed out of the window as the miles rolled past, and Mama said very little. But Pa had Carey’s Itinerary with him, and he insisted on reading pieces from it for every place they passed through. No hamlet was beneath notice, for often there was a Norman bell tower or unusual spire to the church, and if that failed, there was bound to be a manor house or a court or an abbey nearby to be described and wondered at. And all the while, Julia was trying not to fidget and wishing she could leave the carriage behind, no matter how comfortable, and stride out across the winter-bare fields and under the leafless trees and stretch her legs. The only relief she obtained was the short period after they halted for the night, when there would be an hour, perhaps, before dinner and she could rush away into the dusk, with Will and Johnny to bear her company, and make sure she never got lost.
On the fifth and final day of their journey, they were permitted to sleep late and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. They were now only an hour or so away from Chadwell Park, and had notified the servants that they would be there at noon, so there was no great need for a swift departure. As if to bless their arrival in Hertfordshire, the sun shone from a cloudless sky as they turned out of the inn yard. Julia gazed about her with satisfaction. The countryside was not, to her eyes, particularly interesting at this season, and the flat terrain was not enticing, but surely there would be good walking to be had, even within the grounds of their own estate?
They passed through the modest village of Danes Green, which boasted a handful of nondescript cottages and a rather fine church, and then there was a great stone arch and ironwork gates thrown wide, and a little line of people bobbing up and down outside the lodge as they turned in, and a long curving drive.
Mama was all a-flutter, for this washerlodge andherdrive andheravenue of stately beeches, and when glimpses could be seen through the trees,herhouse, too, and a lake and a wide vista of empty grounds just begging to be explored. Pa was his usual smiling self, pleased that Mama was excited, but not himself overwhelmed. Rosie’s eyes were huge. Poor Rosie! Julia sincerely pitied her, for everyone expected her to marry well, and hoist the whole family a notch or two up the ladder of societal success. What a burden to lay on so gentle a person. Julia was grateful that there could be no possibility of such expectations as far as she was concerned. If she were to marry at all, it would be to the vast astonishment of all who knew her.
The carriage rumbled through more formal gardens and then to the house itself. It was huge, that was Julia’s first thought. Even though she had seen the plans and the sketches of the front elevation, yet the edifice rose majestically above them, strong and solid and overpoweringly massive, with two wings to either side making it enormously wide.
As they drew up at the foot of the twin sets of steps that led up to the front door, a number of servants streamed out of the house to take up station there. On the steps to the left were the indoor servants, bewigged manservants in livery and maids in neat, plain gowns and aprons, and on the right, the grooms and gardeners, she presumed. Two servants came down to the carriage door, a superior looking manservant who was presumably the butler and a woman wearing the chatelaine of a housekeeper.
Julia was about to descend as soon as the carriage door opened, but Mama’s hand on her arm held her back.
“In the proper order, dear,” she said, smiling.
Oh, yes, everything must be done in the proper order now. Julia had almost forgotten that the change in their circumstances changed everything else. They were landed gentry now, and all must be done in the appropriate manner. Whatever that was.
Pa descended first, and then gave his hand to Mama. Then Rosie, and then Julia. Last, as befitted her lowly status. Of course, the second carriage had disgorged its occupants at once, all higgledy-piggledy, Angie exclaiming at the size of the house, the boys pretending they were not in the least overawed by it, Bella huddled against Miss Crabtree, Aunt Madge sour-faced, as usual. One would imagine that a mansion would at least be something she could not complain about, for it could hardly be too small or too ill-appointed or too inconvenient, being so modern. But no, she could always find something about it to despise, no doubt.
Pa and Mama went past the line of indoor servants slowly, so that each could be named and respond with an appropriately servile curtsy or bow. Then nothing would do for Mama but she must be introduced to all the outdoor servants, too. As if she would remember the names of the third under-gardener, or the boy who swept out the stables! It was ridiculous. But she seemed to think it necessary, and Pa watched her in affectionate complacency.
Bored, Julia turned away from the house to look at the grounds. The remains of a fine frost lay on shaded parts still, and icy cobwebs on the shrubbery shimmered like diamonds in the still air. Beyond the formal grounds, all dismal dark greenery, trimmed to rigid shapes, there was the open park she had been promised, the grass sloping gently up to a line of trees, interrupted by a short stretch of wall and what looked like a gate set into it.
That gate called powerfully to Julia. A gate was a promise of something beyond, something unknown but enticing.
“May I go for a walk?” she cried out. Everyone turned to look at her. “Please? Just to stretch my legs.”
“But you will want to see the house and choose your own room,” Mama said with a small frown creasing her smooth brow. “Surely tomorrow—”
“I don’t care about the room! Rosie may choose for me… or you, if you wish. I’ve been confined to the carriage for days now, and I shall run mad if I don’t walk somewhere.”
