“Are you going to advise her to sell it?” Balders asked. He knew it wasn’t his place to ask such a personal question of his boss, but the words were out because his curiosity got the better of him before wisdom could caution him to stay quiet.
“It is the best thing she can do,” Isaac replied. “It isn’t safe for her to be here alone anymore.”
“From what I can see, she hasn’t done a bad job of running this place. Everything is well stocked, clean, and tidy. The animals are all healthy and well looked after. It is just a lot of work for a woman to do, sir,” Balders muttered with reluctant admiration in his voice.
Murmurs of agreement rippled around the rest of the men in the house.
“Right, well, let’s get to work. Someone needs to make an inventory of the feed we remove from the stockroom, together with the hay and straw. We will use it to feed all of the animals until the stock runs out, then we will use our own,” Isaac murmured as he studied the nearly empty sitting room they were in. “We need to get Tuppence to return here at some point to tell us if anything has been stolen. We don’t know if the burglar has taken money or the family jewels or something.”
“What would he be looking for if he hasn’t?” Martin, another of his workers, asked from the hallway.
“I don’t know,” Isaac sighed. “Paperwork? Deeds to the farm? I have no idea. It might be a petty thief who has stolen jewellery or valuables and was challenged by Mr Lewis when he caught the man lurking on the land the other night. We just don’t know.”
“Where would the deeds be kept?” Balders asked.
“There is an office in here,” Martin offered, pointing to the room behind him that was just off the main entrance hall.
Isaac entered the study and immediately searched the desk. There were several recent bills, all paid, resting on the desk and an accounts ledger, which Isaac handed to Balders. “We are taking that with us. See if you can find a money box, and the housekeeping tin or something. I am going to check upstairs.”
While upstairs, Isaac quickly packed a bag for Tuppence and took one last look at the room before he left. The scent that lingered in the air was decidedly Tuppence; honeysuckle and roses; a distinct fragrance that reminded him so much of her that Isaac had a sudden yearning to be with her. Before he left the room, Isaac studied the dresser, and noticed a hairbrush and mirror resting on the top of the highly polished surface. He swept those into the bag he carried too before sweeping the room with one final look. Having found nothing of note in the other upstairs rooms, Isaac then hurried back downstairs.
“Everything is neat and tidy,” he announced to Balders and Martin when he found them in the kitchen.
“There is a housekeeping tin,” Martin announced, pointing to a battered tin on the kitchen table. “It has some money in it.”
“That’s it,” Balders announced a few minutes later. “Unless there is something we have missed, that is all the woman has to her name, in coins anyway.”
Isaac opened the tin when he saw the concern on Balders face and scowled at the paltry amount he spilt onto the table when he upended the contents so he could count it. “Jesus,” he hissed.
“The cupboards are full, though,” Martin offered.
“Tuppence said she had gone to town to fetch enough provisions to get her through winter.” Isaac looked at the cupboard Martin was pointing to. It was indeed stocked. However, it was shocking how little the cupboard contained. “She doesn’t intend to eat much then,” he growled in disgust.
“Not unless she plans to graze with the cattle, no. I doubt this would keep a sparrow alive through winter much less a hard-working farmhand,” Martin muttered, closing the door with a disgusted huff.
“She doesn’t have much money, or valuables, and hardly eats anything while looking after a fifty-acre farm by herself.” Balders scratched his head as if unable to fathom how a woman could get herself into such a situation. “And she rejected Richmond’s offer.”
“The bastard didn’t want to pay her what this farm is worth,” Isaac snapped. “She would be a fool to sell it for a thousand pounds.”
Both Balders and Martin looked shocked. “That’s all he offered?”
“Yes, so he can go to Hades. I wouldn’t let him get his hands on it for that, which is why Tuppence told him to leave,” Isaac murmured, seeing no reason not to tell the staff he knew he could trust with the truth. “Come on. I think we have seen enough.”
Isaac swept the money back into the tin, not that Tuppence would need it, which he carried out to the waiting horses. He secured Tuppence’s belongings onto his horse before ordering his men to get the food out of the house as well. While it wasn’t much, he didn’t see the point of it sitting and rotting in Tuppence’s cupboards. She wasn’t going to need it now.
The rest of his men had already started to move the sheep and cows across the fields and were already on the horizon thanks to the enthusiastic help of a very efficient Baxter.
“He is a good one, that one,” Balders murmured with a nod at the dog.
“We will make good use of him now that we have him,” Isaac grinned.
Balders, looking more than pleased, nodded. “I will lock everywhere up. We can come back later to fetch the feed and the like once the cattle are home.”
“Get the cart, and anything else that is of use or value, and bring those too,” Isaac ordered as he mounted his horse. “We can’t leave anything behind that a thief can make use of.”
Now that he had seen the truth about Tuppence’s current situation, Isaac was desperate to see her in person. He had warned his mother to be nice to her because Tuppence had been through enough of an ordeal without having to deal with Gertrude’s annoyance as well. Now, he wanted to see if his mother had heeded his warning.
Later that night, Tuppence descended the stairs on legs that shook alarmingly. She couldn’t be sure if it was because she was nervous or hungry. It was difficult to remember the last time she had eaten. While Molly had brought her tea and cake, Tuppence had fallen sound asleep straight after her bath. By the time she had woken up the tea was cold and the cake hard, and the dinner gong was about to be sounded. Molly had barely had the time to pin Tuppence’s hair up before Tuppence was forced to hurry downstairs to dine with strangers.