LITMIR.BIZ

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never have happened in my young day,’ her grandfather had grumbled. ‘The people knew their place and they kept to it, just as the landowners knew their responsibilities towards their tenants. Cobbett’s right there—the new breed of landowners with money made from industry are only interested in the status their new possessions give them. They have no idea how to go on.’

      Bella stopped to listen.

      ‘You may shrug your shoulders and say, “This is nothing to do with me’,” the man was saying. ‘But we are all brethren together. If the labourer in the country goes down, then the town labourer will be next, the workers in the manufactories, the dockers and heavers of coal, all those who do not have a voice because Parliament denies it to them.’

      The crowd was silent, listening intently as he went on, ‘When the time comes, all men must rally to the cause against the despots who think property gives them rights over those whose only asset is the sweat of their brow and their strong right arm.’ He paused as a rumble of assent went through his listeners. ‘But those assets are of inestimable value, my friends. The country cannot exist without them. Are you ready to insist on your voice being heard?’

      ‘Yes.’ A roar went up and they looked from one to another, their eyes gleaming. ‘Fair wages! Votes for the workers! Bread or blood!’

      Bella knew she ought to leave, but she was fascinated and edged forward to hear more. And she wasn’t the only outsider in the crowd. Not a dozen paces from her was a tall young man who was obviously not a labourer. He was wearing a riding coat of Bath cloth and fine leather breeches tucked into shining riding boots. His hair beneath his tall hat was dark and curled about his ears in the latest Windswept style. There was no doubt he was a gentleman, one of the hated upper classes. Almost as if he sensed her scrutiny, he turned towards her, shocking her into putting her gloved hand to her open mouth. It was her cousin Robert.

      His dark brow lifted in surprise. ‘Bella, what are you doing here?’

      He was even taller and broader than she remembered him, more ruggedly handsome, though his expression, as he pushed his way through to her and stood looking down into her upturned face, was difficult to fathom. She thought it might be annoyance. But what right had he to be annoyed with her? And two could play at that game. ‘I might ask you the same thing,’ she retorted, refusing to acknowledge the swift beating of her heart and the flutter in the pit of her stomach as anything more than surprise at seeing him.

      ‘You may ask, but that’s not to say I will answer.’

      She looked beyond him to the other men, some of whom had turned to watch the encounter with deep interest. Did they know who she was? Did they know who Robert was? ‘No, because you should not be listening to sedition—that’s as good as condoning it. What do you think Grandfather would say to that?’

      ‘He may say whatever he wishes.’

      ‘You are supposed to be on your way to Westmere.’

      He grinned suddenly. ‘Am I? I wonder why?’

      She could tell him, she could tell him her grandfather’s plan, warn him what to expect, but decided against it. His lordship wanted all the men to hear it together and he would be angry if she pre-empted that. ‘If you want to know, you’ll have to come, won’t you?’

      ‘No doubt it has something to do with the inheritance, and as I have no expectations in that direction I see no point to my presence.’

      ‘It would be very discourteous of you to refuse…’

      ‘Discourteous!’ He laughed. ‘And I suppose “requested and required” are terms of the utmost courtesy.’

      ‘Oh, that’s just Grandpapa’s way, you should know that.’ She paused. ‘Why are you in Ely if not to see him?’

      ‘I could say I came to see you.’

      She was taken aback. ‘Why?’

      ‘Do I have to have a reason to visit a pretty young cousin?’

      Bella laughed shakily at the compliment. ‘Now you are bamming me.’

      ‘Not at all. I was curious about that letter. The handwriting was not up to your usual standard and the paper was blotched. I detected a tear or two and was afraid his lordship must be about to hand in his accounts. Is he?’

      She was slightly mollified to know that his concern had been for her and not the inheritance. ‘Not at all. His gout troubles him, but that is all…’

      ‘Then why?’

      ‘He will tell you.’

      ‘If I come,’ Robert said curtly. ‘Does he know you are out without a chaperone?’

      ‘I do not need a chaperone. I have lived here all my life, everyone knows me. I am in no danger.’

      ‘No?’ He turned back to look at the crowd of men behind him. All were watching them warily, including the tall man with the white hair who had stopped speaking until he could regain his audience’s attention. There was a murmur of anger. They were breaking the law by even congregating, and if they recognised Bella as the granddaughter of the biggest landowner in the neighbourhood, they would feel threatened. In their present mood they might even offer violence. He stepped in front of her to protect her, but there were far too many of them for that to be any more than a gesture. ‘Go home, Bella,’ he said. ‘Forget you ever saw these people.’

      ‘Why?’ she demanded angrily. ‘I heard what that man said and so did you. What do you think they mean to do?’

      ‘I do not know.’ He had been about to find out when Bella had arrived and now he doubted whether he would learn anything. And she was in danger. He grabbed Misty’s bridle with one hand and, putting his other hand under her bottom, heaved her into the saddle. It was a most inelegant way to mount and she would have had something to say to him for taking such liberties with her person if she had not been so aware of the menace of the crowd.

      ‘What about you? Are you coming, too?’ she asked, as she settled her foot into the stirrup and picked up the reins.

      ‘No.’ Then he slapped the mare’s rump hard.

      Robert watched her cantering down the road until she was out of sight but by then the men had surrounded him.

      Bella did not go back through the crowds to the main road but turned down the hill to the towpath and rode northwards along it, hardly noticing the barges which brought their goods up from the ports at King’s Lynn and Wisbech to Ely, where they would add to the accumulation in the warehouses. Now and again she had to rein in and walk her mount round the horses which towed them but she did it automatically, her mind on her encounter with Robert. She had quite forgotten her original errand.

      He had infuriated her. As if any of the local people would harm her! But that man on the cart hadn’t been local and perhaps he was out to stir up trouble. Would Robert try and do anything about it? He undoubtedly thought listening to a man like that was more entertaining than obeying her grandfather’s summons. Would any of them obey it? Whatever would Grandfather do if none of them came?

      After two or three miles the towpath continued on the other side of the river and she turned away from it towards the village of Westmere where a few minutes later, she entered the gates of Westmere Hall. She reined in when she came within sight of it. It was a huge house, built a hundred and fifty years before, using a mixture of stone from a local abbey, destroyed during Cromwell’s time, and Peterborough brick. Built on three sides of a rectangle, with steps up to a huge, very ancient oak door, also taken from the abbey, it stood four-square to the prevailing east wind, surrounded by mown lawns and flower-beds, its many windows gleaming in the sunlight.

      Bella sighed, wondering how much longer it would remain her home if she refused to obey her grandfather, then spurred Misty round to the stable yard and left her in the care of a stable boy, before entering the house by a back door. In answer to her grandfather’s enquiry, she said she had been unable to find any extra help in Ely.

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