Chapter Ten
A knight…Adam rather liked the sound of that.
Not a modern knighthood – where they seemed to award such things to every Tom, Dick, or Harry who wrote a pleasing poem or pranced on a stage – but rather a prize won on the field of honor.
He also rather liked the look Olivia gave him although he was hard pressed to describe it.
She smiled and laughed with him, at ease in his company although he could give her a hundred reasons why she should not be. Moreover, she treated him as an equal, not a glorified servant.
And she was considerate. Adam was beginning to feel like a bit of a cad to have ever suspected her motives.
Due to the inclement weather, the coach made a slow pace but steady. No one waited at the exposed byways and the next stop before Truro was Devoran. They had the coach to themselves for more than an hour.
To his surprise, the conversation flowed freely. He struggled to recall a time he’d ever felt so at ease in the company of a woman. He learned about Olivia’s childhood as the youngest child and only daughter of a merchant in Yorkshire and her earliest memories of the dales. She painted a beautiful picture of the moors, the windswept hills, and the stone cottages; she spoke of the lines of low stone walls crisscrossing a verdant landscape, the stark ruins of nearby Bolton Abbey.
He could not match her prowess for imagery but he did his best, describing life aboard the Andromeda, the feeling of exhilaration as a mighty ship with nearly a thousand souls aboard rode the monstrous swell of a storm-tossed sea; the bond and camaraderie of men who sailed into battle together in the full knowledge they might be killed on the morrow.
And damn if she didn’t still pretend to be interested when he described how he and the other ship’s carpenters managed to repair a major break to a mizzenmast while in the heat of battle. Olivia had asked ever more detailed questions, as though she were trying to create the experience in her own mind.
Why on earth would a woman be interested in such a thing?
Doubt nagged at him again, but Adam tamped it down as the coach pulled into Truro. The rain was clearing and they disembarked under the portico.
Olivia was finishing an amusing story about her misadventure on horseback while accompanying her charge, when he heard a call.
“Miss Collins!”
Adam turned to see a distinguished man raise his hat in greeting. It was Olivia’s previous visitor, likely the Denton’s solicitor – yes, he’d confirmed the man’s identify from Polly who knew everything about everyone.
Perhaps Ridgeway ought to approach her for his espionage games.
“Mr. Fitzgerald,” said Olivia. “What an unexpected surprise. I had thought to stop by your office in the afternoon.”
“Then I’m glad to have saved you the trouble and met you here.”
Adam watched the man, observed him closely, but most of all waiting for the solicitor to acknowledge his presence. He did not.
Fitzgerald took another step forward, in fact; a not-so subtle attempt to cut him out. And since Olivia hadn’t dismissed his presence, Adam planned to stay right where he was. Right where was.
Olivia glanced his way and took a step to the side to include him in their little circle.
“Mr. Fitzgerald, I don’t believe you’re acquainted with Petty Officer Hardacre. Mr. Hardacre, this is Mr. Fitzgerald, the Denton family solicitor.”
He felt the older man’s evaluation.
“Mr. Hardacre recently retired and has returned to Ponsnowyth,” Olivia added.
Adam took up the conversation. “Family connections bring me home. I’m looking to purchase in the area. Miss Collins was kind enough to recommend you.”
Adam had the advantage of seeing the faces of both Olivia and Fitzgerald as he spoke. His fabricated story of Olivia’s recommendation for business seemed to have the desired effect. The solicitor seemed mollified by the explanation; he visibly relaxed. That was interesting in itself. Whether it was acknowledged or not, the middle-aged man felt some proprietorial claim over the governess.
Olivia, on the other hand, had covered her surprise well.
Fitzgerald pulled out a card.
“I’d be happy to advise you, sir. Just make an appointment with my clerk, but not today,” he said with a nod of his head toward Olivia. “My day is fully occupied.”
Adam didn’t miss the set of Olivia’s mouth change for a moment, as if to suggest that her monopoly of Fitzgerald’s time was news to her.
“I shouldn’t want to intrude on business, Mr. Fitzgerald,” she said.
“Your visit is the highlight of the day, my dear,” he said. “Did you bring the copies of the household receipts we worked through together yesterday?”
Adam heard the slight emphasis the man placed on the word “together.”
Olivia retrieved a sheaf of documents from her leather bag and presented them to him.
“I shouldn’t like to detain such an important man,” she said sweetly. “I have plenty to occupy my morning. Perhaps Mr. Hardacre would like to join us at the White Hart to dine at two?”
Adam was tempted to accept, just to see whether Fitzgerald would lose his well-disguised temper, but that would hardly be fair to Olivia. So he paused just long enough to make the man believe he was considering it before shaking his head.
“Thank you for the kind offer, Miss Olivia, but sadly I have pressing engagements of my own today. Another time, perhaps.”
He bowed to her, pleased to see a sparkle of amusement in her eyes. He acknowledged Fitzgerald with a nod of his head and headed away down Quay Street.
Adam continued nonchalantly along the rain-soaked street, keeping his senses attuned. He was under the impression that Fitzgerald watched for a good long moment. He’d not yet gotten a sense of the man and realized his opinion was clouded by disdain for Fitzgerald’s interest in Olivia.
He shrugged. While a pissing match might be amusing, it could only serve to be a distraction. And he could not afford distractions.
Adam went to the stable yard to chase down recommendations on purchasing a horse. Having his own transportation may prove useful and, besides, he didn’t entirely create a fiction from whole cloth. He would be interested in putting down roots after so long at sea. Somewhere on the water; a place by the river at Flushing, perhaps, that would give him easy access to the sea?
Having made the arrangement to view some horses over the next week, he headed toward Charteris House. One of the problems with his little daydream of a cottage, and a bit of land of his own, was that it came with the desire to settle down, to marry…Polly was right.
He shook his head. No, not for him. A life like that was for other men.
He made his way via the map door up to the top floor. Ridgeway was there reading through dispatches. Bassett, and two other men to whom he had not been previously introduced, were poring over a large mapping table. A glance at it revealed detailed coastlines of France and England, and the Channel that separated them. One of the cartographers was filling in details of Guernsey and Jersey.
“Hardacre, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.” Ridgeway got to his feet. “Are you settling in?”
He decided to get straight to business. “I’ve been approached.”
“Have you now?” Ridgeway’s blue eyes lit up. “Bassett, come join us. Take a seat and tell me everything from the beginning. Bassett will take it down.”
Sir Daniel was thorough in his interrogation. Adam had always prided himself on his attention to detail but, even so, it wasn’t until he was thoroughly questioned that he appreciated how much more attention he needed to pay.
Did Major Wilkinson have any scars? What were the make of his boots? Did he wear a watch chain? Did he have an accent? If so, from which county?
“No detail is too small to be discarded,” Ridgeway told him.
Adam took to the lesson as he had done with everything else. He was not so proud – or so old – as to believe he could no longer be taught something.
“You’ve done well,” said Ridgeway. “My recommendation is that you don’t report here for a good few days after your meeting with the Society in Falmouth. They’ve reached out to you, but they’ll be watching you carefully. Give them no reason to be suspicious.”
Adam stood to attention when Ridgeway got to his feet. The chains of command are not easily broken.
“Is there anything else we can provide you with?”
Adam started to shake his head then paused.
“Spit it out, man.”
“It has nothing to do with the business at hand…”
Ridgeway shrugged his shoulders. “Ask anyway.”
“I need some information from St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. It’s about a woman who was an inmate there twenty years ago.”
“Why?”
The question was direct and obvious, but it still caught Adam by surprise.
“It’s a personal matter.”
The clear blue eyes regarded him with silent censure. “A matter which happened twenty years ago…a criminal matter?”
“Not unless siring a bastard child on the squire’s daughter is a hanging offense.”
“Twenty years ago?”
Hardacre nodded.
“Why the concern now?”
“Because I’ve only just been apprised of the fact.”
“By whom?”
He hesitated in answering; to do so would involve Olivia.
Ridgeway lowered himself back into his seat and Adam felt similarly obliged.
“We all have a past, Hardacre, that’s why we’re here – so you’ll get no judgment from me. But skeletons have a nasty way of dancing out of the closet at the most inconvenient times. It won’t have been the first time that a nice piece of blackmail has brought a good man to heel. This is not a game. I will not be blindsided or have our operation here compromised. And you can start by giving me the name of the woman who told you.”
“What makes you think it’s a woman? I never said such a thing.”
“True. But it usually is.”
*
Olivia skimmed the address on the envelope.
St. Thomas’ Hospital
Westminster Bridge Road
Lambeth
She slid the envelopes across the bench along with the coins to pay for her postage and fought a twinge of conscience. None of this was her business. She had no right to meddle in the lives of her social betters. Having uncovered the mystery, she ought to bury it and be satisfied enough with establishing what happened to the mysterious Constance, and yet if she did not remember, then who would?
The rain had cleared and the clouds which had brought the morning downpour were breaking up by the time she came to the corner of King and St. Nicholas Streets. She paused as a horse and dray laden with furniture blocked the crossways while two men from the department store opened the delivery gates wide.
A large sign swung into view.
Furnishings ~ Removalists and storage ~ Land and house sales registered Monthly.
Kenstec House would be one of those properties registered. The removalists from Criddle and Sons had already been through the house once and many of the finest pieces were gone to storage until Mistress Denton called for them.
Even now, the thought she might have to leave Ponsnowyth or even Cornwall itself was something that was not quite real. Was she afraid of adventure? She had known no one when she first arrived to teach Miss Denton and yet she had managed to survive.
And she would again. Who was to say she would not fall in love with another part of the country just as much? If she was wise and continued to save, she might be able to retire with a small cottage and a pension when she was fifty.
Inwardly, she shook her head. None of that would happen if she just stood there.
Soon, the road was clear and she still hesitated. There was still plenty of time. She’d only just sent off her applications. It could be weeks – perhaps even a month or two – before she received a new posting. It would be time enough then to think about leaving Cornwall.
She needed a distraction – something to take her mind off Constance. And Adam.
Olivia spied a bookstore ahead and went in. The owner was delighted to show her the latest releases. She picked one up by Elizabeth Gunning with the intriguing title called The War-office, and another by her favorite author, Mary Meeke, A Tale of Mystery, or Celina.
“Are you sure I can’t tempt you to buy one more,” asked the shopkeeper, “just unpacked this morning.”
He held up the title, The Unexpected Legacy by Rachel Hunter.
She hesitated over the expense – the book was seven shillings and sixpence, and the two volumes in her hand already came to seven.
“Go on, Miss. Hours of pleasure in each one – forget your troubles, explore the world in the comfort of your armchair.”
The man’s sales pitch proved irresistible.
Peter Fitzgerald was a very punctual man. He was already waiting for her at the front of his office. As they walked toward the park by the river, he took a glance at the brown paper-wrapped package under her arm.
“A productive day’s shopping, my dear?” he inquired.
“The bookseller had a new shipment and he was quite persuasive,” she said.
“Edifying works, I trust. I certainly hope you’re not one of these unserious young women who throw away good money on those dreadful gothic titles.” The tease in his tone belied the censoriousness of his words.
Olivia treated the mocking in the spirit in which it was apparently to be taken.
“A lady never reveals her secrets – certainly not to confirm a suspicion that may diminish her in the eyes of a gentleman.”
“It heartens me to know my opinion is something you regard.”
It was a statement that could mean exactly what was meant on the face of it and yet there was something else in his tone that suggested the words could have greater meaning.
Perhaps changing the subject would be better.
“May I presume to ask a question?” she asked.
“It would be a pleasure to answer it.”
“I take it the business of settling the squire’s estate has been concluded.”
“All the creditors have accepted terms pending the sale of the house.”
“Then I was wondering about the probity of me remaining at Kenstec.”
“I hope you don’t feel too isolated there on your own. I didn’t think about that; I should have been more considerate—”
Olivia raised a hand. “Please don’t misunderstand me. Truly, I don’t mind staying at the house. But with it soon to have a new owner, and my own plans as yet so uncertain, I feel it may be best if I leave Kenstec and take up rooms with Mrs. Trellow.”
“It that where you met Mr. Hardacre?”
She frowned. What an odd question to ask.
“It is, as it happens.”
Fitzgerald came to a stop by a park bench under the shade of a large tree. He paused a moment before speaking.
“Miss Collins, a man in my time of life has seen something of the world, and he knows what he wishes in a helpmeet.”
She felt the butterflies in her stomach let loose.
“Over the past six months, you have been a source of great support and comfort, not just to the Widow Denton and her daughter, but also to me. And during this time, I have come to a deep respect and admiration—”
“Mr. Fitzgerald–” she interrupted, but he continued on.
“—We get on, so we shouldn’t be too much of an imposition on each other–”
Despite the shade of the tree under which they stood, Olivia felt a furnace blast of heat course through her. She managed to cleave the tongue from the roof of her mouth and prise her jaws open enough to speak.
“Am I to understand correctly, Mr. Fitzgerald, that you are proposing marriage?”
He looked at her speculatively. “Would it be so intolerable to you? You’ve stated previously your reluctance to leave Cornwall, and I certainly would be saddened to see you leave. Marriage would provide a measure of certainty for both of us.”
Olivia sunk down on the bench.
“You have given this a great deal of thought, Mr. Fitzgerald, and—”
“—Peter, please.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, giving her brain a chance to catch up with her still hammering heart. She was reluctant call him by his given name. To accede to that level of informality might give him hope that his tender feelings were returned. And they were not…
She felt him sit beside her and opened her eyes. She allowed him to take her hand and bring it to his lips.
“Your delicacy of feelings does you credit, my dear. Although neither of us is in the first bloom of youth, surely you must have considered your future? Perhaps even entertained the notion of marriage?”
“I am deeply flattered, sir, and humbled, that an important man such as yourself has given me and my circumstances such a great deal of thought. But I cannot give you any type of answer that would please you.”
She watched his face carefully, looking for revelatory signs that might indicate his thoughts, while she tried to gather her scattered ruminations and assemble them into some kind of order.
“I understand,” he said.
She let out a breath, retrieved her hand and kept it in her lap.
“Miss Olivia,” he continued, making the presumption of using her given name. “Rather than refuse me out of hand, may I extract another promise? Consider my offer for one month before you give me your final answer.”
That she could do. It would give her time to properly organize her thoughts. And besides, it would also take at least that long to receive any offers of a new governess position.
“Yes,” she said. Her reply brightened the face of the middle-aged bachelor. “I promise to give your kind proposal serious consideration. You will have my answer at the end of this summer.”