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Thomas yelped. “You cannot mean… thatMrs Reynellwas his mistress?”
Mrs Pound blushed fiercely, an improbable sight on a woman of her mature years and as round as a dumpling. “I don’t like to put labels like that on people, Master Thomas. Tisn’t kind. She was his lady love, anyway, for about five years, so my cousin said. Early on she went away and when she came back, she called herself Mrs Reynell. There were two babes came along, but never a sight nor sign of any Mr Reynell. She never wanted no dealings with the babes, so her gen’leman sent them away somewhere. When he tired of her, and they always do, don’t they? Well, he bought this house for her and here she is, giving herself airs as if she was somebody.”
“Oh, but that is wonderful, Mrs Pound,” Thomas said. “What a tale! But you need not worry that we shall reveal it to a soul. Our lips are sealed.”
“Yours might be, but mine are not necessarily so,” James said, with a grin.
“James! As a clergyman, surely you would not take advantage of such information.”
“That witch has tried her very best to damage Julia’s reputation. Is it right that she should get away with it?”
“As Christians, we should turn the other cheek.”
“I am sorry to fall short of your high standards, my friend, but I have never been a very good clergyman, and clearly I am not a very good Christian either, for I feel only the Old Testament will do for this occasion. An eye for an eye, Thomas, and a tooth for a tooth. I intend to have a friendly word with Mrs Reynell. Would you like to come and watch? You can defend me if she sets about me with a candelabrum.”
Thomas chuckled. “That I should like to see. Let me get my coat.”
~~~~~
APRIL
“Have you heard? Mrs Reynell has left the village,” Angie said, bouncing into the breakfast parlour one morning. “Her carriage passed through the village not long after seven this morning.”
“You were up early, flower,” Pa said, eyes teasing over the rim of his coffee cup.
“I did not see it myself, naturally, but a great many people did, including Janet Pound on her way to the rectory, and she told the butcher’s boy when he called, and he told Sarah, and Sarah told me. So it must be true,” she ended triumphantly.
“You should not repeat servants’ gossip, Angie,” Mama said. “I suppose it is not known where she may be going?”
“Camberwell. Campbeltown. Camberley. Something of the sort.”
"Camelford,” Mama said. “She has a cousin there, I understand. Well, that is a relief. We shall not be plagued with any more nonsense fromthatdirection.”
“I expect she heard that Jules was to stay on here and not go to town, and she was so horrified she upped and fled,” Will said cheerfully.
“Am I so terrifying?” Julia said.
“Beyond compare, little sister. The way you stood up to her at supper that night was —”
“Thank you, Will, but none of us wish to be reminded of that night,” Mama said briskly. “One may admire Julia’s bravery without constantly speaking of it. Rosie, will you pass the apricot jam to your father, if you please. Mr Fletcher, what are your plans for the day?”
“Plans? We gentlemen of leisure don’t have plans. Kelshaw might drop by later to show me his sketches for the new cow house.”
Mama’s eyebrows rose, but she said mildly, “And will you write to Brassington about the linens?”
“I will indeed, if you tell me precisely what I’m to say, or you could write to him yourself.”
“A lady cannot write to a man of business so effectively as a man, my dear, and if you do not remind Brassington, I am certain that Mary and Anthony will forget, and the agency servants will not care about such details. I do not want to spend our first days in town chasing around draper’s shops. Will, are you in for dinner tonight, not going into Ware for the evening?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“And is your packing in hand?”
“Lester will do all that sort of thing you know. It is what I pay him for, after all.”
Pa placed a hand on Mama’s. “Lizzie, my dear, stop fretting. It will all work out, you may be sure. The London house is chosen, thanks to Will’s efforts, the lease is drawn up, the servants are in place, Mrs Graham leaves tomorrow to arrange everything. Trust them to do their work properly.”
“But I so want everything to be perfect. Our first proper season in town, and nothing must be allowed to go wrong, nothing!”
