AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘That’s good,’ Ben sighed. ‘My dad was a difficult man. I never knew my grandfather or anyone else before him, obviously, but there were stories about the Douglas men. Not about things like that, but some of them were cruel. My dad told me once that his father beat a maid in front of everyone with his riding crop for spilling his cup of tea by accident. He broke her arm.’
‘Oh, my goodness. That’s terrible.’ Liz was honestly shocked.
‘Yeah. But the thing was, my dad told me that story as a kind of amusing anecdote. He wasn’t that horrified by it. He just said, that’s how you teach the lower orders respect. He even laughed about it.’ Ben shook his head in shame. ‘That’s what I come from. Someone who uses the phrase “the lower orders”. Someone who genuinely believed he was better than other people, just because he had the luck to be born into having money and a nice house. And I hate it. I hated him.’
Liz didn’t know what to say.
‘I’m sorry, Ben. That must have been awful,’ she said, levelly. She was wondering, though, if Evelyn’s story was making Ben reflect on his own experience with Alice. What did he think, hearing this? Was he making some kind of connection to his own actions? Liz couldn’t imagine that it didn’t make him think of Alice, and she wondered if he was reflecting on his connection to that strain of cruelty that seemed to run through the Douglas family.
‘It was not great, no,’ Ben said, shortly. ‘But it means that, sadly, I believe Evelyn’s story.’
‘Yeah.’ Liz nodded. ‘Me too.’
‘So, what does this mean for Old Maids?’ Ben asked.
‘Nothing, really. I mean, I think we should still feature Evelyn. It would be awful not to. But we don’t have to share this piece of her story, in terms of your family, anyway. That’s personal, to you and Grenville and Evelyn.’
‘Agreed. I’d prefer not to do that.’
‘Right. But Evelyn’s story is still important.’
‘Yes. It is.’ Ben tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling, letting out a long sigh. ‘Ugh. This morning is not a great one, so far. I feel like I need another whisky.’
‘Don’t stop on my account.’ Liz met his eyes without a smile. She was still unsure how to be around him, knowing what she knew about his past. Yet, when they were together, Ben was nothing but good company. ‘What’s up?’
‘Oh. Nothing. Personal stuff.’ He shook his head.
‘Coffee, instead? Let’s go and get one from the kitchen.’
‘All right.’
What personal stuff?Liz wondered. As far as she was aware, Ben wasn’t seeing anyone – not that it was any of her business.
Perhaps Ben’s got someone squirrelled away somewhere. A secret relationship. Maybe a married woman,she thought, following him out of the office and into reception, where Carol was on the phone at her desk. Maybe he did have a dark side that was just very well hidden. That would explain how he could be so charming and nice to her, but also have done such terrible things in the past.
Hmm.
It wasn’t something she should be thinking about now, at work. It was pure conjecture on her part, but Liz wondered, just the same. What was it that made Ben disappear all the time in the working day?
‘Listen, as another thing, I had another thought about the Old Maids,’ she said, waving at Carol, and watching as Ben went to the cupboard to get two mugs, and then started the gleaming coffee machine.
‘What thought?’ he said over his shoulder as he poured coffee beans into the grinder and flicked a switch.
‘Well, you know that we had trouble coming up with much history for Felicity Black,’ Liz began. Felicity had been the hardest Old Maid to research, and most of what Liz had for her was based on generic information about female weavers of their time and not Felicity herself. ‘I’ve been worried about presenting inauthentic information for her. The other women, we have those comprehensive, personal stories for. You know? She doesn’t quite fit.’
‘Hmm. I see what you mean, yes.’ Ben got some milk from the fridge and poured it into the milk frother. ‘I have to say, by the way, that I’ve been a bit worried about Evelyn McCallister, too. I had a chat with Grenville about it. He seems very sure that my great-grandfather… or my great-great grandfather – I can’t remember which one it was – forced himself on her.’
‘Hmm. That’s what he said to me, too.’ Liz watched Ben’s face, trying to read his emotions, but he was obviously keeping his feelings purposefully under control.
‘It’s… difficult.’ Ben frothed the milk, keeping his gaze studiously away from hers. ‘Awkward, you know? I want to commemorate Evelyn as much as you do. More, in a way, because I know that it’s my relative that treated her so badly. But… if the information got out, it wouldn’t look good for the distillery. That’s my worry.’
‘I can understand that.’ Liz thought about it for a moment. ‘But I don’t think Grenville would want that part of Evelyn’s history shared, either. He told us because he trusts us. So I think we keep it between ourselves, and we celebrate Evelyn’s achievements as Master Distiller. That’s the best thing we can do for her.’
‘Hmm. You’re right, I know. I just feel terrible about it. As if my ancestors weren’t crappy enough, you know? Now I know that one of them was a rapist.’
‘It’s not great,’ Liz admitted. ‘But it’s not your fault. We can’t control what our ancestors did. All we can do is try and make the best of it from where we stand.’
‘Hmm.’ Ben flicked the dials on the coffee maker; it hissed. ‘So, what’s your solution about Felicity?’
