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He strode off again, but as soon as he passed the glebe he saw three people in the rectory garden — Thomas, Miss Crabtree and Isabella. They saw him, hailed him and Bella ran to open the gate for him.
“Good day again, Mr Plummer,” she said. “Mr Leadbetter is showing us around your gardens, and then we are to go inside for tea and cake.”
“That sounds a splendid idea, and Mrs Pound will have made a cherry cake today, I believe. But where is your father?”
“He has gone to talk to Mr Kelshaw about chimneys,” she said, as if this were the most normal thing in the world, and perhaps in the Fletcher family it was.
James was wild to see Julia again, but this was too good an opportunity to find out more about Bella. He joined them, therefore, for the tour of the gardens, and then the rectory itself, for Bella was curious to see Julia’s future home. When they had seen the principal rooms, Thomas and Bella went off to the kitchens to secure the promised cherry cake, and James took Miss Crabtree into the drawing room and lit the fire.
“It is a fine thing that your charge did today, Miss Crabtree,” he said. “Was it her own idea, or yours?”
“Oh, entirely hers. She was horrified to think that her own actions might lead to such adverse consequences, and she determined at once to do whatever she might to alleviate matters. Was she successful in that regard?”
James laughed. “In one sense, she was. Her words did nothing to shift the opinions of either of my parents, but they served to convince me that no evidence would ever do so. My mother is adamantly opposed to any connection with a family so recently in trade, and my father is too concerned with the purity of the line. The end result was that I shouted a great deal and stormed out with the intention of marrying Julia as soon as the banns can be called.”
“Oh dear,” Miss Crabtree said. “Such a pity… to quarrel with your esteemed parents. I do hope the consequences of that will not be too dire.”
“What is the worst that can happen?” James said cheerfully. “Only that they might never speak to me again, and I am not at all sure that I would not count that as a benefit.”
“Oh, Mr Plummer!” Her voice was soft, for governesses tended not to have strident voices, but she was clearly shocked. “You will not be… disinherited? Cut out, somehow?”
“Heavens, no. Everything is for my brother anyway. I have no expectations. Well… a little money from Mother after her death, and the living of St Agnes, whenever Mr Hasswell should quit this earth, but even without those I have the living of St Hilary’s, which provides an income more than sufficient to my needs.”
“You will have Miss Julia’s dowry, too,” she said.
“So I will. I had forgotten that.”
She smiled a little sadly. “Ah, how pleasant it must be to be so well provided for that the addition of twenty thousand pounds slips one’s mind.”
“A governess’s lot is a hard one, is it not?” he said sympathetically. “Although I am sure Mr and Mrs Fletcher are generous employers.”
“Oh,yes!I have no complaint whatsoever to make against either of them.”
“And your charge? Is she troublesome?” he said lightly.
“Not in the least. She is a joy to teach, if you wish to know. I had the education of Julia and Angie too, for a little while, but Bella is the most rewarding of them. The older girls were already well-formed, their characters established, and needed no more than the lightest nudge from me, but Bella— She was like a little hedgehog, curled up around herself and hard to reach. But I had the very great privilege of helping her to uncurl herself and face the world. I understood her better than most.”
“About Dorothea?”
She nodded. “Bella was a twin, you see. It was a difficult pregnancy, seemingly, and Mrs Fletcher was confined early. Bella was born quickly, but the second baby was not, and so he never drew a breath, poor little mite, and Bella was left alone. It is a strange thing, to be a twin, Mr Plummer. I had a twin sister who died when I was only three. I have no memory of her at all, but Iknowthat she is gone. There is a yawning void in my heart where she used to live. In just that way, Bellaknowsthat there is something missing from her life. So she invented Dorothea to fill the emptiness. Her mother understood, too, and together we managed to persuade the rest of the family to accept Bella just as she is. But now, perhaps, she is old enough to set aside that childish state and behave a little differently. Ah, this sounds like the tea arriving.”
Janet Pound brought in the tea things, as Bella carefully carried the cake, and was allowed to cut it, while Miss Crabtree presided over the teapot. Thus passed a pleasant half hour, but James was becoming restless again to see Julia.
“May I escort you ladies back to the Park?” he said politely.
“Allow me to do so, James,” Thomas said. “You will have other urgent matters to attend to, I am sure, now that you are betrothed.”
“Nothing is more urgent than seeing my future wife,” James said. “But there is no reason why we should not both accompany the ladies.”
This happy plan was at once settled upon, and the four had not taken more than twenty paces from the rectory before they separated into two groups, Thomas keeping close attendance on Miss Crabtree while James had Bella on his arm. When they reached the house, he paused on the steps. A light rain was beginning to fall, but he could not let her go without expressing his gratitude. Her words had not achieved their intended objective, but indirectly they had set James free.
“I must thank you, Miss Fletcher, for speaking out so bravely today,” he said.
“How could I do less, for Julia’s sake?”
“Even so, it must have taken great courage to admit that your friend does not exist, and it was your own idea, I understand.”
“Oh no,” she said, turning guileless eyes on him. “It was Dorothea’s idea. She does not want to cause any trouble for my sisters, so she told me what to say. From now on she will stay in my room, and I shall only talk to her at night, when we are alone. Good day, Mr Plummer. Thank you for walking home with me.”
