Lord Iverbrook's Heir (7 page)

“Lady Lavinia has palpitations at the thought of removing even to the Dower House. Her health is not strong, has never been strong, and her nerves are easily overset.”

“And you were brought up always to give in to her, lest she become seriously ill. I see how it is.”

“No, you do not, Miss Whitton! You cannot possibly guess at the depth of my aversion for pigs!”

Selena laughed and dropped the subject. They were approaching the fields she wanted to inspect, some barley, some wheat, and some clover for fodder. She decided in what order they should be cut, and they turned homeward.

“Do you really mean to oversee the rest of the harvest?” she asked anxiously. “I am sure there must be a hundred things you had rather be doing.”

Lord Iverbrook thought of Amabel Parcott and Brighton, but neither seemed as attractive as before. He consigned them to oblivion.

“Nothing,” he assured her. “Besides, I could not reconcile it with my conscience were I to allow you to make yourself ill again. What I do not understand is why you employ a bailiff like John Peabody, who is so ineffectual he cannot control your labourers.”

“John is extremely knowledgeable about farming. He and Mr. Russell taught me all I know, for Papa was never in the least interested. Papa hired him, not I. In fact, they were very alike in a way, knowledgeable but not practical. My father was a brilliant Classicist and an amateur astronomer of some renown. Hence our names.

“Names? Selena, Phoebe, Delia—ah, Greek names for the moon goddess! Artemis, Diana—you must consider yourself lucky not to be Hecate or Trivia, if I remember my mythology aright.”

“Yes, and also that Papa had no son. I could not bear with equanimity a brother called Apollo!”

“True,” be said, much struck. “Sir Apollo Whitton does not even bear contemplating! Selena suits you well, however, for one might suppose your hair spun from moonbeams."

Selena blushed. “That is the prettiest compliment I have ever received,” she said, then looked at him with laughing eyes. “But I think any compliment from a Bond Street beau must be taken with a pinch of salt.”

“Since we agreed that I am
not
a Bond Street beau, you may accept it as sincere, Miss Whitton. Fribble though I am, I do not offer Spanish coin.” His eyes laughed back at her. “At least, not to young ladies as accustomed to plain speaking as you are!”

Chapter 6

“My lady, my lady, come quick! Mrs. Tooting’s fallen into a fit and there’s a blackamoor in the kitchen asking for his lordship!” Polly, her pretty face scarlet with excitement, burst into the peaceful dining room.

Bannister surged forward.

“Now what is this, my girl? You just beg her ladyship’s pardon for interrupting dinner and I’ll have a word with you outside.”

“Nonsense, Bannister,” said Lady Whitton firmly. “Polly is quite right to tell me at once about Tooting, though her manner might be improved upon. I’m coming, child. Delia, pray go to the stillroom and fetch me the vervain. And Hugh, dear boy, you had best come and deal with this blackamoor. One of your Jamaicans, I expect?”

Selena jumped up. “Stay here, Delia, and entertain our cousin. I will fetch the vervain. I have been longing all week to meet one of Hugh’s blackamoors and I’d not miss it for the world.”

“It must be Joshua,” said Iverbrook, puzzled. “I wonder what brings him here.”

In the kitchen two housemaids clutched each other hysterically while the housekeeper lay on the floor drumming her heels, her eyes rolled back into her head. Cook, a tall, spare, phlegmatic woman, was standing at the stove, calmly stirring her sauces.

“I couldn’t let the custard burn, my lady,” she explained. “Mr. Arbuckle took the African outside, seeing as how he was causing such a commotion. That Polly’s the only one with a grain of sense, and she don’t have much.”

The viscount left Lady Whitton to deal with her staff and went to the back door. Outside, in the dusk, his servant was talking to a tired-looking young black man, watched from a safe distance by Jem and the gardener.

“Mr. Joshua’s come to see you urgent, m’lord,” said Tom. “He took the stage to Oxford but he’s walked all the way from there.”

Limping badly, the ex-slave approached his lordship.

“I must speak to you, my lord.” He spoke perfect English in a sonorous voice, with just the hint of an exotic accent. “But I do not wish to frighten the good people within.”

“Yokels!” snorted Tom Arbuckle, from the vantage point of a world traveller.

“A moment, Joshua. Let me consult the lady of the house.” Iverbrook turned back to the kitchen just as Selena entered it, carrying a brown glass jar.

“Mama, here is the vervain. What is the matter, Iverbrook? Is it Joshua?”

“Yes,” he said in an undertone. “He has some urgent news for me but will not come in lest your people take fright again.”

“Fools! Bring him in through the side door, to the library. I will go and light some candles there.”

She was just finishing this task when the viscount and his protégé came in.

“Have you eaten, Joshua?” she asked, turning from the candlestick on the mantelpiece. “Oh, you have hurt your leg! My mother will be able to help it, I am sure.”

“An old injury, ma’am. I thank you for your kindness.”

“Made worse by your walk from Oxford. And no, he has not dined, Miss Whitton.”

“I shall have a tray sent in. Should you like the rest of your dinner on a tray, Iverbrook? I doubt Mama will return to table.”

“I am very sorry, ma’am, to have caused such consternation.”

“Our local people are anything but cosmopolitan, I’m afraid. Few of them have ever been farther afield than Oxford and the next county seems like a foreign country though it is just the other side of the Thames. Iverbrook, a word with you and then I shall leave you to your business.”

“Sit down, Joshua,” said his lordship, following her out.

“I shall have a room prepared for him,” she said. “He looks to be tired and in pain. How very gentlemanly he is! I had thought he must be an ex-slave.”

“He belonged to that Arthur Hodge of whom I told you, but now he is articled to a solicitor in London. If you have a truckle bed that may be set up in my chamber, that will do very well. We shared a cabin from Jamaica and I know that, unlike Tom, he does not snore!”

“We have another room, though it is small. Persuade him, if you can, to let my mother look at his leg. You know her abilities.”

“Yes, and that she is as kind as her daughter. Thank you, Selena.” He took her hand and dropped a kiss on the palm, then went back into the library.

For a moment she stood there, her hand pressed to her hot cheek. In the past few days she had felt that they were becoming friends, but this was the first time she had heard such warmth in his voice. Why should it make her heart beat faster? If she welcomed his Joshua, it was small return for all he had done for her. All the barley was cut and stacked, and she had been able to catch up on her accounts for the first time in three months. For once she would have a free Sunday, and they planned to take a picnic on the river after church.

Smiling in happy anticipation, she went to see if she could find a servant capable of carrying out her orders.

Lord Iverbrook turned to Joshua, who gasped with pain as he tried to stand.

“Sit down, man! What’s the trouble? Are you at odds with Mr. Crowe? Or come to cuffs with the other clerks?”

“No, sir, they treat me very well. Mr. Crowe was good enough to allow me two days off to come here when I explained. It’s Mr. Hubble, my lord!”

“Hubble? What the devil have you to do with that old shyster?”

“He has a clerk, James Goodenough, with whom I have become friendly. When James heard your name from me, when I told him what you have done for me, he said he had been given the task of preparing papers to enter suit in your name against your brother’s will. Since you confided in me that you had not yet decided to go to law, I asked if this was usual when the suit might not be pressed. Sir, James told me the decision had been made and the papers were to be ready for Chancery by Monday!”

“The blackguard! I’ll wager he aims to make a pretty penny off me. You were quite right to come, Joshua, and I’ll make it all right with Crowe.”

“I asked James if he could delay the matter, and he said he might find some error that required recopying, but he dared not stretch it out beyond Tuesday.”

“I shall post up to London tomorrow and wait on Hubble’s doorstep on Monday morning. No, I’ll send for him to come to Dover Street. He will take me more seriously if I stand on my dignity. And what is more, I shall set things in motion to transfer my affairs to your old Crowe’s hands.”

Pondering ways and means, Iverbrook paced up and down the library. It was a long, narrow room, its walls lined with books ranging from rare editions of Horace’s
Odes
to a
Manual of Modern Methods of Raising Cattle.
The ceiling was painted dark blue, relieved by gilded stars arranged in their constellations as nearly as possible in a sky with the wrong dimensions. Orion’s belt caught his lordship’s eye and he swung round.

“Don’t tell Miss Whitton! It can only worry her. I’ll just say I am called away on urgent business. Shall you be fit to travel tomorrow?”

“Yes, sir, of course, if you do not mean to make me walk to Oxford again.” Joshua smiled at the viscount’s indignant denial. “Though it is not so very far if you do not lose your way.

“Ha! So you lost it too, did you? These damned country lanes with never a signpost had me going round in circles.”

There was a knock on the door and Polly peeked in. “I brung some dinner for Mr. Joshua, my lord,” she announced. “And her la'ship says she’ll take a look at his leg after, him being willing, that is. You oughta, sir, honest. My lady can cure anything.” She deposited a loaded tray on the huge mahogany desk that filled one end of the room. “Can I getcha anything, my lord? That Sir Aubrey, he’s at the port in the dining room.”

“A glass of brandy, please, Polly. I won’t join Sir Aubrey though.”

“He’s a naughty one that, and no mistake,” she giggled, and seemed ready to proceed to further revelations, but Bannister’s entrance sent her flying.

“A good girl, but chattersome, my lord,” apologised the butler. “A glass of brandy for your lordship? At once! Is everything as you like it, Mr. Joshua?”

“Perfect,” said Joshua, lifting the dish covers and releasing clouds of fragrant steam.

Later, on his lordship’s orders, he allowed Lady Whitton to examine his bad leg. She bustled into his chamber and closed the door firmly behind her.

“I can’t see you blushing, young man,” she said, “but judging by the look on your face you are embarrassed enough without half the world peering in as they pass by. I have seen legs before, dear boy, though not of this colour. I daresay they are all alike inside. Tell me when this hurts.”

She sat down on the edge of his bed and gently manipulated his knee. He said nothing, but looking up she saw his eyes closed, brow furrowed, and lower lip caught between his teeth. She took one of his clenched hands in both hers.

“You must tell me when it hurts, child. Otherwise I cannot find out what is amiss.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” he burst out. “Mr. Hodge, when he hurt you, he like hearing squeals. More you squeal, more he hurt, so I learn to be silent.”

She stroked his hand till it uncurled and he lay back on his pillows.

“Mr. Hodge did this to you?” she asked quietly. “He was your master?” With a lace handkerchief that smelled of rosemary she wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Yes, my lady. My owner. This was nothing. He killed many slaves. Too many in the end. He was arrested and brought to trial for murder.”

“How did you come to meet Hugh?”

His face lit. “I was a witness at the trial. Many people came, Lord Iverbrook among them. He talked to me and I told him how I admired the lawyers who were fighting for the rights of slaves against their owners. I remember his exact words. He said, ‘You seem to be a clever chap, how should you like to be one of them?’ Then he bought me, and freed me. On the way here from Jamaica he shared his cabin with me and taught me to speak properly. In London he found me lodgings, gave me money to live on, and paid for me to learn to be a lawyer. At first I thought he was a god, one of our African gods, but now I know he is a very good man, and my friend.”

“Your friend indeed! I am happy to hear that Hugh has so much practical compassion, for the one without the other is useless. And now, let us be practical and try if we can find what is the matter with your leg.”

While her mother was thus occupied, Selena was receiving Iverbrook’s apologies for his proposed abrupt departure on the morrow.

“I wish you success in your business,” she said. “And I hope you will not quite abandon us in future?”

“By no means! I shall return as soon as I can, no later than Tuesday if all goes well. There is still the wheat and clover to be cut.”

“You must not feel obliged to return for that! I cannot express my gratitude for your help, but I have done the harvest before and will do it again. It will not kill me, you know.”

“No, but it makes you excessively uncomfortable, and then you are cross as a bear at a stake.”

“How odious of you to put me to the blush! At least you need not be present to suffer my megrims.”

“Oh, but I must. There are certain matters between us that have not been settled, and I have not forgot if you have.”

“Peter!” The twinkle in her hazel eyes was extinguished. She bit her lip. “You are persistent, my lord. I assure you that I shall not give him up, and if you continue to press me, you will not be welcome here, harvest or no harvest."

“I shall rely for a welcome on your amiable mother, Miss Whitton. I mean to obtain custody by hook or by crook, and if you fight me it just makes it more difficult for both of us. Come, let us cry friends, and discuss the matter calmly for once."

Selena turned on her heel and walked out.

Going in search of her mother, to try to persuade her not to invite the viscount to return, she found her in the stillroom.