The Captain's Mysterious Lady

‘Perhaps she was talking about something that had already happened. The death of that man on the coach, perhaps.’

‘Perhaps. Have you started to remember anything of him at all?’

‘No. And Aunt Harriet definitely did not know him. She has a strong stomach and peeked at him when he was laid out for burial. Aunt Matilda is the more squeamish of the two and would not look.’

‘You are very fond of your aunts, are you not?’

‘Indeed, yes. Since the accident I have come to know and love them all over again and am quite certain I always did. It is not Highbeck or Blackfen Manor that frightens me.’

‘But you are frightened?’

‘Yes, a little, but I think it is only of the unknown.’

‘That may be said of everyone. Perhaps that is why wise women are so much in demand,’ he commented drily.

‘Yes, I suppose I was very silly to go to her.’ She sighed.

They were clattering over the drawbridge into the courtyard. ‘Will you come in and take refreshment?’ she asked, as a groom hurried forwards to take her reins and help her dismount.

‘Thank you.’ He jumped down, threw his reins to the groom and followed her indoors.

They found the Misses Hardwick in a small parlour where one was sewing and the other reading. They rose to greet him, bade him take a seat and ordered refreshments to be brought.

‘Did you enjoy your ride, Captain?’ Matilda asked him.

‘Yes, indeed. We have explored the village, looked upon the fen, investigated the church and talked of how people about here make their living, including…’ He paused to turn to Amy. ‘What was the wise woman’s name?’

‘Widow Twitch,’ she said.

‘Oh, she is harmless enough,’ Harriet said as the refreshments arrived and she set about making tea and handing out little almond and cherry cakes. ‘There are some who believe every word she says, but it is my contention she fabricates most of it. Every young girl would like to believe a rich handsome man is coming to carry her away and every young man dreams of finding a pot of gold. It is nonsense, of course.’

He smiled and looked at Amy, who flushed a becoming pink. ‘We came to the same conclusion, did we not, Mrs Macdonald?’

‘Yes,’ she agreed, looking from Harriet to Matilda, who was shaking her head imperceptibly. It was Aunt Matilda who had suggested calling on the old lady and Amy supposed she did not want to be scolded for it.

‘I wonder if you can tell me if there is a house to let hereabouts,’ James said, addressing Miss Hardwick. ‘You see, I think my business may take longer than I thought and it would be more convenient to have my own establishment. It need not be very large, I do not intend to entertain on a grand scale and I have only one servant at present.’ How much of this idea was a conviction that the answer to the riddle lay in Highbeck and how much to a reluctance to go back to his own empty home, he was not prepared to speculate.

‘One cannot run a house with one servant,’ Miss Matilda put in.

He acknowledged this with a slight bow. ‘I shall take on more as necessary.’

Matilda looked at Harriet. ‘Harriet, what about the Lodge?’

Her sister looked thoughtful for a moment, then brightened. ‘Do you know, I think that is a capital notion. If it is occupied, it might keep Cousin Gerald off our backs.’ She turned to James. ‘Our cousin has been trying to persuade us to move out of here into the Lodge. He calls it the dower house.’

‘He may call it what he likes,’ Matilda said hotly. ‘We are not dowagers and he cannot treat us as if we were. He has no right to dictate to us. The Manor is ours unentailed, whatever he might think or say.’

‘Now, now, Tilly,’ her sister admonished. ‘The Captain does not want to hear of our troubles.’

That they had troubles was news to Amy. She had met Sir Gerald Hardwick once, soon after the accident. He called to see how she did, which she thought very civil of him, but he had had no patience with her loss of memory and thought browbeating her would restore it in no time. Aunt Harriet had sent him on his way, saying, ‘Amy will make a full recovery, no doubt of it, so you may take your rapacious self back to Ely.’ Amy had thought that was somewhat harsh, but her aunt said he deserved it, a statement she had been obliged to accept, knowing nothing of what had gone before.

James bowed. ‘I would not wish to cause dissent between you and your relation,’ he said. ‘I can look elsewhere.’

‘Indeed you will not,’ Harriet told him. ‘You will be doing us a good turn if you move into the house.’

‘Then I accept your kind offer. If there is anything I can do to be of assistance, then please tell me.’ He looked from one to the other, wondering if they might satisfy his curiosity, but all the reply he received was a chorused, ‘Thank you.’

‘You should see the house first,’ Matilda said. ‘It may not be to your liking. Amy will take you, it is but a stone’s throw away.’

‘Of course,’ Amy said. ‘Shall we go now? Your horse will be looked after until we return.’

He agreed and waited while she hurried up to her room to change out of her habit into something more suitable for walking.

‘I collect you have not told Amy the real reason for your visit?’ Harriet said, as soon as she was out of earshot.

‘No, she has accepted me as a friend of the family. I do not want to spoil that. If you think I should…’

‘No, no,’ Harriet said quickly. ‘You must work in your own way. I only asked so that we might know how to go on. It is important that we are in accord.’ She paused before going on. ‘Have you learned anything today?’

‘Very little. She is, I believe, coming to remember her childhood here and that is a start, but any questions about her life in London draw a blank. I think something must have happened there before she ever boarded that coach.’

‘Our view exactly,’ Matilda said. ‘But we are fearful of what might happen if she were to return there. We have discouraged her from attempting it.’

‘I think you are right. Until we know the truth of it ourselves, she is best here being looked after by your good selves.’

‘How are we to find out? We never travel to London.’

‘I shall send my man back to the capital to fetch things I need. We rode here, not expecting to stay above a day or two, and I have but one change of clothes. I shall instruct him, while he is there, to try and find out who this Mr Billings was and what happened at the house. And if there is any news of Mr Macdonald.’

‘He is trustworthy?’

‘I would trust him with my life, madam. And he knows how to keep his tongue between his teeth. You need have no fear.’

‘Good.’ She paused as footsteps sounded on the stairs. ‘Here comes Amy. I think we will not say anything about your man for the moment.’

‘Very well.’

He rose to his feet as Amy came into the room, dressed in a cool muslin gown with a light shawl thrown about her shoulders. Her cottager hat was tied on with a ribbon beneath her chin. ‘I am ready,’ she said.

They set off on foot, crossing the drawbridge and turning away from the drive and the main entrance to go across a green sward and taking a path through a small copse. ‘The trees were planted by one of my ancestors to protect the Manor from the prevailing east wind,’ she told him. ‘It can go right through you in the winter.’

‘That I can imagine,’ he said with a laugh. ‘There is very little between here and the Arctic to stop it.’

‘Perhaps that is why fen folk are so hardy,’ she said. ‘This path leads to a back entrance to the grounds, which is where the Lodge stands. See, there it is.’ They had come out of the trees and she pointed to a squat red-brick house, two storeys high, with a door in the centre of the façade and windows either side. It was neatly thatched. Beyond it were tall gates set in the wall surrounding the estate, on the other side of which was a lane. ‘It guards the Manor, just as the tower guards it on the other side. I am sure it was intended to withstand a siege.’

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