The Devil Defeated Page 5

  “What I suggest, Miss Stanfield,” he said, “is that you come with me now in my phaeton and we persuade the two people who Richardson dismissed to come back to Yarde as quickly as possible. At least then I shall have a housekeeper and a butler!”

  “It is very important that you should have them back, my Lord,” Dorina said. “You will understand that in sending them away at a moment’s notice without any compensation after years of faithful service, your action has created a very unfortunate feeling among all the others who work for you.”

  She paused for breath and then went on,

  “What is more, Carter, the new butler engaged as footmen the worst boys in the village whose families have only recently moved here and are not yet accepted by those who have lived in Little Sodbury all their lives.”

  She spoke so seriously that the Earl could not help saying, as his eyes twinkled,

  “I find it extraordinary, Miss Stanfield, that you, looking so attractive, have not far more important interests of your own to occupy your mind than these petty domestic difficulties of mine. After all, Yarde is not really your concern.”

  “Perhaps you are unaware of the fact that my father is your incumbent, my Lord,” Dorina said, “and we are therefore extremely concerned as to what sort of person you are and if we can continue to count on your patronage.”

  As she spoke, the Earl realised that he had not understood, although, of course, he should have, that the Vicar of the Parish in which he lived was most probably appointed by him and that he could, if he wished, dismiss him as any other of his servants could be dismissed.

  Once again, he thought a little ruefully, he had made a mistake where Dorina was concerned.

  But he merely added quickly,

  “I feel, Miss Stanfield, that we will have plenty of time to discuss all these matters, and, of course, I shall depend on you to explain to me many things that bewilder me at the moment. But one thing at a time and let’s start with my butler and housekeeper.”

  Dorina held her chin high and, walking towards the door, she said,

  “I will put on my bonnet, my Lord. I will not keep you waiting.”

  “Thank you,” the Earl replied gravely.

  When he was alone, he thought with amusement that this was perhaps the first time in his life that he had been with a pretty woman who spoke to him with ice in her voice.

  And whatever answer in words she gave to anything he said, he could see an expression of condemnation and what he was certain was dislike in her eyes.

  Chapter three

  Dorina thought that even the Earl, insensitive and obtuse as she still thought him to be, could not fail to see how despondent old Burrows looked when they called at his cottage.

  Several slates were missing on the roof, the windows were cracked and it must have been years since anyone had painted the woodwork.

  When the old man opened the door, his eyes lit up for a moment when he saw Dorina.

  “Oh, it’s you, Miss Dorina!” he exclaimed. “Come in, though I’m ashamed to ask you into such a hovel as I’ve ever lived in!”

  He then saw that Dorina was not alone and he stood for a moment staring at the Earl, who put out his hand and said,

  “I have asked Miss Stanfield to bring me here to apologise to you for the way you have been treated, which I want to say firmly was not on my orders.”

  Old Burrows gasped and then he asked,

  “Will your Lordship come in? And be careful of the flags on the floor, as they’re ever so uneven.”

  When the Earl was inside the cottage and saw how sparsely furnished it was and how lacking in comforts, Dorina thought that he must be aware of how humiliating it was for a man who had for so long been of Burrows’s seniority to be treated in such a manner.

  She could not help appreciating the direct way the Earl, without any palaver, sat down on a chair and began,

  “I have come to ask you, Burrows, to come back immediately to Yarde and restore it to order. I am afraid you will find that things have deteriorated badly since you left and Miss Stanfield tells me that the new footmen should not have been engaged in the first place. I shall look to you to replace them and make everything as is was in my uncle’s day.”

  Burrows drew in his breath.

  “All I can say, my Lord, is that I can only do my best.”

  “Thank you,” the Earl said, “and, as Miss Stanfield and I are now calling to see Mrs. Meadows, I suggest that as soon as I return home, I will send a carriage to bring you both back to Yarde, which you should never have left in the first place.”

  It seemed to Dorina that Burrows became ten years younger as the Earl spoke.

  He appeared to grow taller and straighter and it was as if a magic wand had transformed him back into the man he had been before the old Earl died.

  They left and drove on to the end of the village towards the cottage of Mrs. Meadows.

  Dorina was aware that the Earl was smiling and, after a moment when she did not speak, he said,

  “Can I have done something wrong again or are you so ungenerous as not to commend me?”

  “I think once again, my Lord, you are laughing at me,” Dorina replied, “but you have made Burrows very happy, so of course I am grateful.”

  She did not really sound very grateful and the Earl suspected that she was being deliberately uneffusive because she had been shocked at the way Lady Maureen had behaved.

  He found it hard to believe that was the reason and yet he was afraid that Dorina was looking on him as a rake and a roué and, although it was extremely unfair, connecting him in her mind with the guest who had assaulted the young housemaid.

  They drove on in silence until, when they came to an even more dilapidated cottage than the one Burrows had been put in, the Earl knew that Dorina perhaps subconsciously was hoping that he would notice it as well as all the other cottages in the village that needed repairing.

  As if he had asked the question aloud, she said a little reluctantly,

  “When your uncle was ill, everything was neglected because there was no one to give orders, and also the war had made everything so expensive that even at Yarde there had to be strict economies.”

  The Earl did not say anything, he merely handed the reins once again to his groom, who had jumped down from behind, then helped Dorina to alight.

  Mrs. Meadows opened the door when they knocked and once again the Earl saw her face light up when she saw Dorina.

  Then, as she realised who was with her, she stiffened and dropped the Earl a curtsey that in itself expressed her feelings.

  Once again he held out his hand and said,

  “I have come, Mrs. Meadows, to offer you an apology for the way you were sent away from Yarde and I am begging you to come back immediately and put a great many matters right that have gone wrong in your absence.”

  Instead of the delight that Burrows had shown at such a humble invitation, Mrs. Meadows merely replied,

  “I thank your Lordship, but after the way I was insulted by your Manager and turned out of the place I had always looked on as my home for thirty years, I would not think of returning.”

  The Earl gave Dorina a look of consternation and she moved a step forward to put her hand on Mrs. Meadows’s arm.

  “I have a suspicion,” she said in a low voice, “that you know already of the terrible things that have been happening at Yarde, which would have shocked and horrified the old Earl and greatly distressed my Mama. Please, Mrs. Meadows, come back and put everything right. There is no one else and you cannot allow things to go on as they are.”

  For a moment Mrs. Meadows did not speak and the Earl thought that she was once again going to refuse.

  Then she looked at Dorina’s pleading eyes and said sharply,

  “I couldn’t believe my ears, Miss Dorina, when I was told what had happened to Mary Bell. Your dear mother would turn over in her grave, God rest her soul, if she knew about it!”

  “Such outrages must not hap
pen again,” Dorina said in a low voice.

  Mrs. Meadows looked at the Earl and offered,

  “I’ll come back, my Lord, only on condition that if anything like that occurs again, I can inform you immediately and your Lordship’ll support me whoever may be concerned.”

  The way she spoke made both Dorina and the Earl aware that the story of the behaviour of his guests, and not only that which concerned Mary Bell, had deeply shocked her and she was, although it seemed extraordinary, not at all eager to return to Yarde in such circumstances.

  “You have my assurance,” the Earl said quietly, “that the unfortunate incident that occurred last night will not be repeated. But I am afraid, Mrs. Meadows, that the young people of today do not have the dignity or the good manners of their elders.”

  It was what Mrs. Meadows thought herself and Dorina sensed that the Earl had won the battle.

  But Mrs. Meadows had the last word.

  “I’m hoping, my Lord, that everything your family has stood for all the years I’ve been in service will continue to set an example not only here on the estate, but where, my Lord, it’s very much needed, in London!”

  The Earl was surprised, but realised that the stories of the behaviour of the Prince Regent and the Society that followed his lead had not gone unrepeated, even here in Little Sodbury.

  Mrs. Meadows turned again to Dorina.

  “I hopes, Miss Dorina,” she said, “that you’ll never forget that your mother set an example to the whole village with her kindness and her understanding. She were good from the top of her head to the soles of her feet, bless her, and she was everything a Yarde should be.”

  Dorina was aware that Mrs. Meadows was in her own way preaching at the Earl and she realised that, when she let it slip that her mother was a Yarde, he looked surprised.

  As she expected, as soon as they drove away from Mrs. Meadows’s cottage, promising that the carriage would fetch her at the same time as Burrows to take them back to the Big House, the Earl said,

  “Why did you not tell me that your mother was one of my relations?”

  “Hers was a different branch of the family from yours,” Dorina answered.

  “Nevertheless, a cousin!”

  “Several times removed but, as you say, a cousin!”

  “Seeing that we both have the same blood running in our veins, it is obviously your bounden duty to help me. What do you suggest I do next?”

  It flashed through Dorina’s mind that he was teasing her.

  Then she thought perhaps he was serious and this was, of course, an opportunity she should not miss.

  She longed to say that she hoped he would help her father by increasing his stipend.

  Then she knew that in view of her still persisting dislike for him, it was impossible for her to ask for such a favour.

  But Rosabelle said it for her.

  When they drove back to the Vicarage, the Earl suggested,

  “I think now I should meet your father, if he is at home.”

  “Papa will probably be in the garden,” Dorina replied, “but perhaps, as you have to arrange for a carriage to pick up Mrs. Meadows and Burrows, you could wait to meet him another day?”

  “I feel it is something I should do now,” the Earl insisted firmly and she was aware that there was no use in arguing with him.

  She therefore went into the house, the Earl following her and, directing him into the drawing room, she said,

  “If you will wait here, my Lord, I will fetch Papa.”

  “I would like to come with you,” the Earl said, “but, as I realise that you have no wish for my company, I will do as you suggest.”

  Dorina went out of the room with what was almost a flounce which, although she was not aware of it, made the Earl want to laugh.

  He found it a new experience not only to be looked on with dislike by a very pretty woman, but also to realise that he was having to use considerable pressure to make her do what he wished.

  He knew that with every instinct in her body she longed to send him away and refuse to have anything at all to do with him.

  ‘She is shocked by what has happened,’ he told himself, ‘and who shall blame her? At the same time she is the one person available to help me – and it is really rather tiresome that she cannot forgive and forget.’

  The door opened and he thought it would admit Dorina and her father, but it was Rosabelle.

  She advanced towards him and he thought that with her fair hair and blue eyes she was the prettiest child he had seen for years.

  “I saw you arriving from my bedroom window, when I was doing my homework,” she said, “and I came down to talk to you.”

  “It’s very kind of you,” the Earl replied. “Your sister would not let me go with her into the garden to find your father.”

  “I expect she wants to tidy him up before he meets you,” Rosabelle said, “but I want to thank you for saying I could go in the Park and in the woods.”

  “You have already thanked me,” the Earl replied, “and I hope you will come to visit me at Yarde. I am sure you as a family know a great deal more about it than I do.”

  “It’s a beautiful house! We often would go there for tea or luncheon with your uncle, until he became too ill, and we always had delicious food!”

  “I hope that is what I can offer you in the future.” The Earl smiled.

  “We had gorgeous iced cakes for tea,” Rosabelle went on, “and dishes for luncheon that we have never been able to afford.”

  She gave a little sigh and added,

  “All we have is rabbit and more rabbit! I am sure my ears are growing longer until one day they will stand up on my head and I expect too I shall grow a small fluffy tail!”

  The Earl chuckled.

  “A very sad story!”

  “I know,” Rosabelle agreed, “but now Mama is dead, we never really have enough to eat.”

  The Earl stared at her in astonishment.

  “I cannot believe that is true!”

  “You ask Nanny. She will tell you it’s a crying shame and a disgrace that we should have to live on so little with the tradesmen refusing to give us any more goods until we can pay our bills.”

  The Earl remembered that Dorina had said that the living was his and he supposed this was another complaint that would be laid eventually at his door.

  He thought, however, that Rosabelle was probably exaggerating and he was not surprised when Dorina returned with the Vicar that she immediately sent her back to finish her homework.

  The Vicar had obviously brushed his hair and washed his hands before coming to meet his guest and, remembering what Rosabelle had said, the Earl could not help noticing how thin all the family were, while the Vicar looked almost gaunt.

  He was wondering whether he should refer to the matter of the stipend right away when the Vicar said,

  “I am afraid I cannot offer you what you would feel was adequate refreshment, my Lord, but perhaps you would like a cup of tea?”

  “Thank you,” the Earl replied. “I find myself quite thirsty after all the talking your daughter and I have had to do to persuade Mrs. Meadows and Burrows to come back to Yarde.”

  “You are having them both back?” the Vicar asked. “Good! It was a great mistake that they were sent away in the first place!”

  Dorina left the room to see to the tea and, leaning forward in his chair, the Earl said,

  “I need the help, Vicar, of both you and your family. Because I have taken a year to return, I understand that a great many things have been changed for the worse by the man I put in charge as Manager and which I now know was a great mistake.”

  “You mean Richardson?” the Vicar said. “I agree with you. He has got the whole village up in arms against him and, if you had not mentioned it, I would have thought it my duty to tell you what has been happening in your absence.”

  “I have learnt that already and Richardson has been dismissed.”

  “You have dismissed him?” the
Vicar repeated. “That is excellent news indeed – excellent!”

  He told the Earl how worried he had been about the farmers having their rents increased and how one family who had been farming on the estate for two generations had been given notice to quit in a month’s time.

  The Earl made a note of their name and responded,

  “You are telling me exactly what I want to know, Vicar, and these matters will be rectified and there is really no one I can turn to for help and advice except yourself. I understand, moreover, that your wife was a relative of mine.”

  “Yes, indeed, she was a Yarde,” the Vicar agreed, “and, although her family did not wish her to marry me, we were very happy and I miss her more than I can ever express in words.”

  It was easy after that for the Earl to ask whether there were any other livings of which he was the patron.

  He learnt that there were five, although two Parishes were at the moment without incumbents and the Bishop was awaiting his return so that he could interview the applicants.

  “There is one thing I want to know,” the Earl said, “for I imagine that, like everything else since the war, your expenses have increased while your stipend has remained static.”

  “That is true, my Lord,” the Vicar nodded.

  A number of questions tactfully put by the Earl eventually revealed that the Vicar’s income was hopelessly inadequate for him to keep up the Vicarage and provide for his family.

  There also had to be included those who came to him for help in times of distress and whom he felt it impossible to send away empty-handed.

  “My wife had an allowance during her lifetime,” the Vicar said, “which was discontinued on her death. Her father had left her this in his will, but because he disliked me and was angry that being so beautiful, she had not made a better marriage, the income from the Capital is to be paid to the children only after they have reached the age of twenty-one and I am unable to draw from it even on their behalf in the meantime.”

  “I think your daughter Dorina must take after her mother,” the Earl remarked.