LITMIR.BIZ

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      He flushed.

      ‘Aye. Maria says that sometimes a woman’s sympathy for an injured man can stir her—that she can find him far too … attractive.’

      Zelah laughed.

      ‘Then you may set Maria’s mind at rest. The only stirring I have when I think of Major Coale is to comb his hair!’

      Reginald stayed for an hour or more and after that Hannah, the chambermaid appointed to help Zelah look after Nicky, came up to introduce herself. By the time dinner was brought up it was clear that she was more than capable of nursing Nicky and keeping him amused, and Zelah realised a trifle ruefully that it was not Nicky’s boredom but her own that might be a problem.

      Zelah and Hannah had taken it in turns to sit up with Nicky through the night, but there was no recurrence of the fever and when Dr Pannell called the following morning he declared himself satisfied that the boy would be able to go home at the end of the week.

      ‘I will call again on Friday, Miss Pentewan, and providing there has been no more bleeding we will make arrangements to return you both to West Barton. You will be the first to use the major’s new carriageway.’

      ‘Oh, is it finished?’ asked Zelah. ‘I have been watching them repair the drive, but I cannot see what is going on beyond the gates.’

      ‘I spoke to the workmen on the way here and they told me the road will be passable by tomorrow. The road-building has been a godsend for Lesserton, providing work for so many of the men. The problems with grazing rights is making it difficult for some of them to feed their families.’

      ‘Is this the dispute with the new owner of Lydcombe Park? My brother-in-law mentioned something about this before I came away.’

      ‘Aye, Sir Oswald Evanshaw moved in on Lady Day and he is claiming land that the villagers believe belongs to them.’ The doctor shook his head. ‘Of course, he has a point: the house has changed hands several times in recent years, but no one has actually lived there, so the villagers have been in the habit of treating everything round about as their own. The boundaries between Lydcombe land and that belonging to the villagers have become confused. He’s stopped them going into Prickett Wood, too, so they cannot collect the firewood as they were used to do and Sir Oswald’s bailiff is prepared to use violence against anyone who tries to enter the wood. He’s driven out all the deer, so that they are now competing with the villagers’ stock for fodder.’ He was silent for a moment, frowning over the predicament, then he shook off his melancholy thoughts and gave her a smile. ‘Thankfully Major Coale is of a completely different stamp. He is happy for the local people to gather firewood from his forest. It is good fortune that Nicky chose to injure himself on the major’s land rather that at Lydcombe.’

      Zelah had agreed, but as the day wore on she began to wonder if she would have the opportunity to thank her host for his hospitality. With Hannah to share the nursing Zelah was growing heartily bored with being confined to the sickroom.

      When the maid came up the following morning she asked her casually if the major was in the house.

      ‘Oh, no, miss. He left early. Mr Graddon said not to expect him back much before dinner.’

      She bobbed a curtsy and settled down to a game of spillikins with Nicky. Left to amuse herself, Zelah carried her work basket to the cushioned window seat and took out her embroidery. It was a beautiful spring day and she could hear the faint call of the cuckoo in the woods.

      The sun climbed higher. Zelah put away her sewing and read to Nicky while Hannah quietly tidied the room around them. The book was one of Nicky’s favourites, Robinson Crusoe, but as the afternoon wore on his eyelids began to droop, and soon he was sleeping peacefully.

      ‘Best thing for’n. Little mite.’ Hannah looked down fondly at the sleeping boy. ‘Why don’t you go and get yourself some rest, too, miss? I’ll sit here and watch’n for ‘ee.’

      Zelah sighed, her eyes on the open window.

      ‘What I would really like to do is to go outside.’

      ‘Then why don’t ‘ee? No one’ll bother you. You could walk in the gardens. I can always call you from the window, if the boy wakes up.’

      Zelah hesitated, but only for a moment. The spring day was just too beautiful to miss. With a final word to Hannah to be sure to call her if she was needed, she slipped down the stairs and out of the house.

      The lawns had been scythed, but weeds now inhabited the flowerbeds and the shrubs were straggling and overgrown. After planning how she would restock the borders and perhaps add a statue or two, she moved on and discovered the kitchen garden, where some attempt was being made to improve it.

      The hedge separating the grounds from the track that led to the stables had been hacked down to waist height, beds had been dug and cold frames repaired. Heartened by these signs of industry, Zelah was about to retrace her steps when she heard the clip-clop of an approaching horse. Major Coale was riding towards the stables on a huge grey horse. She picked up her skirts and flew across to the hedge, calling out to him.

      He stopped, looking around in surprise.

      ‘Should you not be with the boy?’

      She stared up at him.

      ‘You have shaved off your beard.’

      ‘Very observant. But you have not answered my question.’

      ‘Hannah is sitting with him. It was such a beautiful day I had to come out of doors.’

      She answered calmly, refusing to be offended by his curt tone and was rewarded when he asked in a much milder way how the boy went on.

      ‘He is doing very well, thank you. Dr Pannell is coming in the morning to examine Nicky. All being well, I hope to take him back to West Barton tomorrow.’ He inclined his head and made to move on. She put up her hand. ‘Please, don’t go yet! I wanted to thank you for all you have done for us.’

      ‘That is not necessary.’

      ‘I think it is.’ She smiled. ‘I believe if I had not caught you now I should not have seen you again before we left.’

      He looked down at her, unsmiling. His grey eyes were as hard as granite.

      ‘My staff have orders to look after you. You have no need to see me.’

      ‘But I want to.’ She glanced away, suddenly feeling a little shy. ‘You have been very kind to us. I wanted to thank you.’

      She could feel his eyes boring into her and kept her own fixed on the toe of his muddy boot.

      ‘Very well,’ he said at last. ‘You have thanked me. That is an end to it.’

      He touched his heels to the horse’s flanks and moved on.

      ‘I wish I had said nothing,’ she muttered, embarrassment making her irritable. ‘Did I expect him to thaw a little, merely because I expressed my gratitude? The man is nothing but a boor.’

      Even as she spoke the words she came to a halt as another, more uncomfortable thought occurred. Perhaps Major Coale was lonely.

      What was it Mrs Graddon had said? He was a great one for society. That did not sit well with his assertion that he had no wish for company. His curt manner, the long hair and the shaggy beard that had covered his face until today—perhaps it was all designed to keep the world at bay.

      ‘Well, if that is so, it is no concern of mine,’ she addressed the rosemary bush beside her. ‘We all have our crosses to bear and some of us do not have the means to shut ourselves away and wallow in our misery!’

      When Dr Pannell called the next day he gave Nicky a thorough examination, at the end of which Zelah asked him anxiously if he might go home now.

      ‘I think not, my dear.’

      ‘But his mama is so anxious for him,’ said Zelah,

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