In Hiding Read online

  Next was to come the endless legal documents and complications to do with the estate.

  He had felt the blackness of despair and exhaustion about to swallow him up until he had met Lady Eunice while out riding one day.

  He knew nothing of London Society. Many of the older traditions and etiquette had been swept away with the turn of the century. The pace of life was much faster now.

  He had been away from England for too long and had lost touch with all his friends.

  Lady Eunice’s brisk sympathy had been very welcome compared to the cloying affection of other acquaintances and he was now beginning to think that perhaps their new friendship might well blossom into something more lasting.

  It was good to meet a girl whom he could trust so implicitly.

  Loyalty and honesty were his first two requirements for a lifetime companion.

  Tonight was the first time he had ventured out into Society since the funerals.

  Eunice had insisted that as it was fancy dress, he could attend without all the tiresome business of having to talk to people and listen to their sympathy.

  But was he enjoying himself? He could not say; the music was so loud, the colours so bright.

  A few months ago, he would have thrown himself into the jollity, but now he looked back on that person as a different man.

  The Ivan then was not the Ivan now.

  He could not think clearly. He was so tired.

  Just as he realised he had groaned out loud, a small hand touched his and he turned his head to find his neighbour’s green and blue masked face turning towards him.

  “Sir? Are you unwell? May I call someone to assist you?”

  He stared at the brilliant feathered headdress and a smile smouldered in his dark eyes. As if this little thing could possibly help him!

  The Earl had noticed her dancing earlier – a brilliant flash of colour against the paler pinks and creams of most of the other costumes.

  Some sweet young girl at her first dance, he thought wearily. He nodded at her and Tamina thought, crossly, that she could see amusement gleaming in his dark eyes.

  But it was hard to be sure because the bottom half of the headdress hid his mouth.

  “I am scared to talk to you in case you fly away, little bird!” he said jokingly. “But please, have no concerns for me. I am in perfect health, although I must admit to being just a touch tired. And on that note, is it not long past your bedtime?”

  Tamina frowned behind her mask.

  She realised her lack of height and slim figure could make her seem young, but surely she did not appear of school age!

  “I am glad you are not unwell, sir,” she replied stiffly. “Are you enjoying the evening?”

  “Very much.”

  “Your partner, Lady Eunice, is a wonderful dancer,” added Tamina warmly.

  “You are acquainted?”

  “I have had the pleasure of meeting Lady Eunice, yes,” she answered enthusiastically.

  “And her fiancé, Mr Marshall, a very interesting American gentleman. Indeed, I believe he is over there at the moment. He travels backwards and forwards across the Atlantic all the time, which must be fascinating. I would love to travel the world on a great ship.”

  “Mr Marshall – ?” his voice sounded hoarse and Tamina wondered if her companion might be catching a bad cold.

  She laughed lightly.

  “He seems a very clever gentleman, but that is because he is much older than me. I believe he is nearly fifty, the same age as my Papa! I hardly understood a word of his conversation about bonds and finance when we met.”

  There was a silence and Tamina suddenly felt embarrassed.

  Had she said too much about Mr Marshall to a complete stranger?

  Her old Nanny always used to chide her for ‘rattling on without thinking’. Oh, dear, had she been guilty of an indiscretion?

  But surely Lady Eunice would have mentioned her fiancé before agreeing to dance with this gentleman in public?

  Tamina knew that she would certainly mention Edmund to everyone, as soon as their secret engagement became common knowledge.

  The stranger pushed his chair back a little further into the shadows so she could no longer even see his eyes.

  “But Mr Marshall is a very kind considerate person, I am sure,” she continued hastily, trying to make amends.

  “I have not had the pleasure of meeting this Mr Marshall,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

  Eunice engaged to be married! How could this possibly be so? She would have told him.

  No! This was insane. Why would a girl who was already engaged, pledged to a forthcoming marriage, enter into a close friendship with another man?

  Where was her honour to her word? Where was her honour as a lady?

  Obviously this girl in the blue and green mask had made a silly mistake.

  She is very young and probably did not even know Eunice that well. She was tired – the hour was late and had muddled her with someone else.

  Yes, that was what had happened.

  But Tamina was speaking again and every word from behind the feathered mask dropped into his mind spreading like poison.

  “I loved the story of how they became engaged on board ship when Lady Eunice was travelling back from New York. Her mother told my Mama that they were the only two people not affected by seasickness and one night they had the whole ballroom to themselves!”

  The Earl stood up abruptly.

  He could remember Eunice telling him when they first met that she had just returned from a visit to New York and that the voyage across the Atlantic had been terrifying because it was so rough.

  She had even mentioned the empty dining room and ballroom. She just had not mentioned Mr Marshall, her fiancé.

  She had smiled and sympathised and lied to him for weeks.

  But why?

  That was the question his tired brain kept asking. Did she possibly imagine that an affair was what he himself wanted? Did he seem like that sort of man to her?

  And what did other people in Society think? That he was the sort of blackguard that would seduce another man’s fiancée whilst he was out of the country?

  The Earl was quite well aware that because he had been living abroad and was not in touch with the news and gossip, it had been easy for Eunice to deceive him.

  But other people would not see things in that light. No, he would be the villain of the piece and Eunice the sinned against victim.

  At that moment the Earl knew he would never trust a woman’s words again.

  He felt a fever sweep over him. After enduring such grief during the past few months, this betrayal was the final straw.

  He made a distracted bow to the small elfin creature sitting next to him and strode away.

  He did not want to face Eunice – he had no idea what he might say to her in this state of mind.

  No, all he wanted was to go home and then get out of the country, as far away from Eunice as he could.

  Tamina watched the stranger leave, then jumped up, determined to follow him.

  She had the distinct feeling that she had somehow upset him by something she had said and knew she would not rest easily until she had discovered her fault and put it right.

  Her old nanny had often told her in the nursery,

  “Never let the sun go down on your anger.”

  Well, this was not anger, it was guilt, but the sentiment was the same.

  She walked swiftly round the outside of the house, weaving her way through the chairs and tables, past Emperors and Roman Legionnaires, Mermaids and Nursery Rhyme figures, all laughing happy couples.

  The stranger had headed indoors into the throng of dancers. Tamina was quite sure that she could reach the hall where the staff would be fetching his cloak before he could battle his way through the crowded ballroom.

  But as she rounded the corner of the house, she suddenly stopped, hesitating to take another step.

  In the shelter of a doorwa
y, she could see her darling Edmund talking to a tall thin girl in a plain green dress.

  The girl was very pretty, Tamina noticed, with long brown curls that cascaded down her back from a complicated knot of ribbons.

  But her dress was plain and rather shabby. Her only jewellery was a small silver cross, worn at the neck.

  Tamina could not believe that dressed in such a way the girl was actually a guest at the party. Perhaps she worked for the Mercers, or had come to the house with a message?

  She knew that Lady Mary-Rose Mercer had several small brothers and sisters, some of which were still young enough to be in the nursery. This girl could well be their governess.

  She started to walk towards the couple – and then hesitated again. They were standing very closely together. The girl’s hand was on Edmund’s sleeve in a pleading gesture.

  Tamina bit her lip.

  She had already apparently been less than discreet once this evening. She did not want to upset Edmund by interrupting a private conversation and the girl did look very upset.

  Dear Edmund’s expression was most solemn and concerned. Perhaps this girl had a problem and wanted him to help her solve it?

  As a Member of Parliament, it was likely that he would often be asked for advice and Tamina felt that he would be cross if she interfered.

  She turned and hurried the long way round the house, but knew in her heart of hearts that the stranger wearing the Arab headdress would have long gone.

  The black and white marble hall was in fact deserted, except for a footman standing to one side, resplendent in the blue and red of the Mercer livery.

  Tamina sighed. She would return to Edmund and ask that he take her home.

  The ball had lost its charm and interest.

  Suddenly she felt very tired and oddly unhappy that she would have no chance to undo whatever wrong she had inadvertently done to the dark-eyed stranger.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A candle burned in a little scullery leading off the vast kitchen of Daventry House in West London.

  The room was dark and smelled of carbolic soap, the vegetable soup that had been cooked for dinner that evening and the rags the housemaids used to polish the brass fenders every morning.

  But to the couple seated at the table, clasping hands on its rough white scrubbed surface, it was a haven of peace and happiness.

  Joe Goodall, the Earl’s valet, was only nineteen. He was far too young for such an important post, but like his Master, had been catapulted into his job when the former Earl had died.

  Joe’s older brother, Jacob, the late Earl’s valet, had also been killed in the tragic coach accident.

  Joe had been an under-footman at Daventry House at the time of the fatal crash, but at Jacob’s funeral he had been approached by the new Earl and offered his brother’s job.

  He sat now, stocky and fair-haired, holding hands across the table with his sweetheart, Nancy Rider.

  Joe had known Nancy even before he entered the late Earl’s service. In fact, he had known her since they were children, neighbours in the same dirty rundown London street.

  Nancy had lost her mother when she was ten and had to take over caring for her no-good father.

  Bill Rider was a truly ghastly man, a contemptible bully who treated his only daughter worse than a slave.

  “I must be goin’, Joe,” whispered Nancy, hearing the distant chimes of a Church clock. “Dad’ll be ’ome from the boozer soon and if I’m not indoors with his dinner ready on the table, you know what’ll ’appen!”

  Joe tightened his grasp, wishing he need never let her go. His beloved Nancy, seventeen, slim with long dark red hair that gleamed bronze in the candlelight. He loved her so much.

  He glanced down at the pale skin showing at the edge of the long sleeve of her dress.

  He could see the dark bruises and felt his blood boil.

  Her father was a wicked brutal man and even more so when in drink.

  “Why don’t you let me tackle ’im?” he growled angrily. “I’ll show ’im what for!”

  Nancy shook her head.

  “No! He’ll ’urt you somethin’ wicked, Joe. He cares for nothin’ and no one.”

  “P’raps the Earl –”

  Nancy pulled her hand away and stood up swiftly.

  “No, Joe! Don’t you even be thinkin’ that. You’ll get us both into dreadful trouble.”

  “Then we’ve only just one choice,” he insisted stubbornly. “We ’ave to get wed! If we’re man and wife, your Dad can’t keep you at ’ome.”

  “But where would we go? What about your job?

  We’d be out on the streets. We’d starve.”

  Joe stroked her cheek gently.

  “No we wouldn’t, sweetheart. I’ve got it all worked out. We elope to Gretna Green and get married, like I said. Then we’ll come back, wait until the Earl’s in residence down at Daventry Hall and ask him for employment.”

  Nancy’s lips trembled. She was a brave girl, but had never met the new Earl.

  “Why would he ’elp us if you’d already left ’im without givin’ notice? You wouldn’t even get near enough to speak to ’im. Some old butler would have you thrown out on your ear.”

  Joe bit his lip.

  “The Earl’s a good man, Nancy, a fair man. I know ’e is. Jacob always spoke so ’ighly of him. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

  “Oh, Joe, to be your wife, to be together for ever. That would be a dream come true!”

  They clung to each other for a brief moment and then Nancy pulled away.

  “I must go. It’s getting’ so late.”

  Joe helped her on with her cloak.

  “My Master is plannin’ on goin’ down to the country in two days’ time. I’ll come for you and we’ll catch the coach to Scotland. By this time next week, you’ll be Mrs Joseph Goodall! I swear!”

  At that moment there came the sound of a bell ringing violently through the still house.

  “That’ll be the Master back from the Mercers’ ball. He’s early,” Joe said. “He’ll be wantin’ coffee or a whisky, I expect. I’ll ’ave to go.”

  And dropping a quick kiss on Nancy’s soft lips, he watched her tenderly as she slipped out of the scullery door into the night.

  *

  In a great house in the centre of London, another young girl was slowly preparing to retire for the night.

  Tamina had arrived home early from the ball.

  She had pleaded a headache to Edmund and felt guilty when she saw how concerned he was for her welfare.

  Dear, sweet Edmund. How happy they would be when they were finally man and wife.

  She had been unable to explain to herself why the ball had so suddenly lost its appeal.

  The dark-eyed stranger wearing the Arabian style headdress had unsettled her. And she had felt most uncomfortable watching Edmund talking in the garden to the tall girl in the shabby green dress.

  It had almost felt as if she was intruding, which was ridiculous because Edmund was her fiancé, even if their engagement did have to be kept a secret.

  Tamina picked up the card that had been attached to the huge bouquet of pink and white roses that Edmund had sent her earlier in the day.

  “I love you, I adore you, I worship you and these flowers come to you from my heart. They are beautiful, but not as beautiful as you!

  Bless you, my darling, and I am counting the hours and the minutes until I can be with you. ”

  She had read the letter a dozen times and finally kissed it before she tucked it away in her reticule, remembering her promise to Edmund that no one should know what was happening until he could tell her their love was no longer a secret.

  Tamina had dismissed her maid for the evening and now she unhooked her blue and green fancy dress.

  ‘This little bird of paradise is going to bed,’ she said softly to herself with a laugh.

  She was sitting in front of the dressing table mirror, wearing her favourite old red velvet dressing gown,
brushing out her long fair hair, when there was a tap at the door.

  “Come in!”

  She turned wondering who on earth could be disturbing her so late.

  “Miss Tamina –” It was Angus, one of the footmen on duty. “There is a telephone call for you.”

  Tamina stared at him in astonishment.

  “A telephone call, for me?” A cold chill ran over her body. “Is it my Papa? Has something awful happened?”

  Angus, who was very fond of Tamina, as he had known her since she was a child, shook his head. He knew he should feign ignorance, but he hated to see the distress on the beautiful face before him.

  “No, it is a young lady, miss, who urgently requires to speak to you. I took the liberty of saying that you had retired for the evening, but she insists it is vital she speaks to you tonight.”

  Tamina stood up and tightened the cords of red velvet round her slender waist.

  “Very well, Angus. This is all most strange, but I will come downstairs at once.”

  The telephone stood on the desk in her father’s imposing study.

  Tamina had not used the telephone too often as she saw most of her close friends every day and had no need to speak to them except face to face.

  She spoke hesitantly but clearly.

  “Hello? This is Tamina Braithwaite. How may I help you?”

  “I must speak to you,” said a girl’s voice, “because I want to tell you the truth and the truth is what I think you should hear.”

  “The truth about what?” asked Tamina, bewildered. “Are you certain you have the right person? This is the Braithwaite household.”

  “You are exactly the person I want to speak to,” the voice replied dramatically. “I want you to realise that what I am telling you is the truth and nothing else.”

  “The truth about what?” demanded Tamina again, wondering if the caller was perhaps unwell.

  “I understand,” continued the voice, “that you are great friends with Edmund Newson.”

  Tamina drew in her breath sharply and her fingers twined nervously around the telephone wire.

  “How does that concern you?”

  “It concerns me,” came the reply, “because for over a year he has been in love with me. We are engaged and he has promised that the moment he can afford it, we will be married.”