‘And so good looking, and rich and unmarried,’ Annabelle uttered reverently.
‘He may well have an attachment we know nothing of,’ Hester said firmly, as much to herself as to her companion.
‘Oh.’ Annabelle subsided, momentarily deflated, then rallied. ‘Well, if he has not, do not forget that you and I are the only eligible young ladies in the village.’
‘I am certainly not looking for a husband,’ Hester stated flatly. ‘And perhaps your mama would wish you to have done your London Season before you do so.’
‘I am sure I would meet no one so handsome or eligible.’
Hester was inclined to agree, but felt it more than time to change the topic of conversation to something less painful. ‘I understand that Miss Nugent is betrothed. What a pity that her fiancé should be out of the country and not here to support her after the death of her father.’
‘Hmm,’ Miss Redland observed cryptically, then, the urge to gossip overcoming her discretion, added, ‘If he still is her fiancé, of course.’
‘Really?’ If it had been anyone else but Sarah Nugent, Hester would have turned the conversation, but anything about the family was of interest now. ‘I was given to understand by Sir Lewis only recently that she was betrothed.’
‘Well, where is he, then?’ Annabelle demanded rhetorically. ‘In the West Indies on his big plantation, that’s where- and showing no sign of coming back to England to marry her. I heard that she put herself into a position where he compromised her and had to offer for her. But now he’s all that way away, why should he bother?’
Why indeed? Hester knew perfectly well that she should not be having this conversation with another unmarried girl, but the gossip was too intriguing to ignore. ‘Whatever did she do to compromise herself?’ she asked.
‘I overheard Mrs Piper telling Mama. She heard it from her second cousin who was at this ball in London and she said that Sarah was found in the conservatory with this Mr Bedford, in his arms, with her bodice all disarrayed and her hair half down. Mama was very much shocked, but as he promptly proposed, and local society is so restricted, she thought that everyone should just pretend they hadn’t heard the story.’
‘Perhaps it is just a story.’ Hester guided the cob into the crowded High Street. ‘Do you know which is the best inn to leave the gig?’
‘The Rose and Crown is where Mama always stops.’ Annabelle pointed down the road. ‘See, on the left. I don’t believe it is a story, you know, it is just the sort of thing Sarah would do, she was always scheming and plotting to get her own way, even when we were little. I used to try not to have to play with her: she always wanted to win.’
That was an interesting glimpse of Sarah Nugent’s character. Hester stowed it away to tell Guy and concentrated on turning into the inn yard without mishap.
The ladies spent a pleasant afternoon, even though most of Hester’s shopping consisted of such dull items as darning wool, grate cleaner, two mousetraps and a length of white cotton to replace the petticoat she had sacrificed to swab Guy’s scratched face.
Annabelle pressed her nose to the window of the milliner’s in the High Street and was only persuaded away by Hester denying all intention of going in to try on a hat and her own lack of funds. They did, however, both succumb to the lure of a new consignment of lace trimmings in the draper’s while Hester was buying her length of cotton.
‘I will pay you back tomorrow,’ Miss Redland promised as they loaded their parcels into the gig and went off in search of the confectioner’s shop and ices. ‘I did not think when I went out for my walk that I would need any money.’
They had the refreshment area of the emporium almost to themselves; once their chocolate and vanilla ices were served, Hester observed, ‘You know the Nugents very well, then?’
‘Oh, yes, we all grew up together.’
‘And what is Sir Lewis like?’
Annabelle wrinkled her nose. ‘Very good looking, of course, but I do not know… if I am to be sensible he has not the character I would look for in a husband. He was always too much influenced by Sarah, in my opinion, which is odd, because she is younger than he is. Mind you, their father was a horrid old man.’ She broke off, seeing Hester’s raised eyebrows. ‘I am sorry, Miss Lattimer, but he was. Always cross and all starched up. Poor Lewis never could do anything right, and I overheard Mama saying that he is not making much of a fist of it now.’
It occurred to Hester that Miss Redland had rather sharp ears altogether
and that she should not encourage her predilection for gossip. ‘I thought the Hall looked somewhat shabby when I called the other day,’ she remarked, ignoring her conscience.
‘Exactly, although that is not Lewis’s fault. Mama says that his paternal grandfather was a wealthy man, but all the money just seemed to vanish and Lewis’s father never recovered either it or his spirits.’
Altogether a full basket of interesting facts to recount to Guy, Hester decided as they drove home. She just hoped he would make more sense of them than she could.
She refused Annabelle’s pressing invitation to come in to take tea, reflecting that Mrs Redland would prefer not to have guests if the drama of the unfortunate maid had not resolved itself, and was just in time to wave to Mrs Dalling as she took herself off, apron bundled into her basket, coal-scuttle bonnet tied firmly on her head.
Her household had little to report. Jethro had sensibly retired to bed for a nap after luncheon; Susan was pleased with Mrs Dalling’s work; Sir Lewis’s estate manager had been down and looked at the damp cupboard, promising to return with a plumber to divert the leaky guttering, which he considered the source of the problem, and Maria had spent a profitable afternoon, helping fill the church vases with evergreens from the garden and listening to parish news.
Hester unloaded her purchases on to the kitchen table, scrubbed white at last as a result of Mrs Dalling’s efforts, and observed, ‘Do you think it is right of us to accept the help of Sir Lewis with our damp problem as we suspect him of being our intruder?’
‘If he is, then he owes you at least that, and if we are wrong, then he will never know we suspected him,’ Susan said comfortably. ‘I like this lace, and the cotton is good quality. That’s a relief, I thought we were going to have to go into Aylesbury for all our shopping.’
Hester decided she was refining too much upon the possibility of misjudging Sir Lewis, firmly told herself that there was no excuse to write Guy a note and ask him to come over and hear what Annabelle Redland had told her and settled instead to cutting out her new petticoat and whipping the seams. It was an occupation that kept her hands busy and allowed her all too much time to think.